A Bucket and Some Suds

I love that the simplest things make my boy so happy.  This morning we squirted some dish detergent into a bucket, filled up the bucket with water, and poof!  Instant happiness and fun!  He had a ball dipping a wash cloth into the bucket and sloshing the suds all around.  He's also learned (I have no idea who taught him this) that it's funny to splash water on Mommy.  If I don't scream loud enough, he will look at me and say, "Aaah?" and that's my cue to be a little more dramatic.  I love it.  He has a great sense of humor and is "all boy", as they say.

This would make a gorgeous piece of wall art, if anyone wants an enlargement.  Ha!  It would be titled, "Angelic Hand Gripping a Pork Skin".  (Thanks, Grandaddy, for the delicious snack.)  Side note:  The owner of the hand is peeking under the coffee table to see if there are magazines to be tossed...

Davis is "arguing" with Grandpa about whether the toys should remain inside the pool or on the ground outside the pool.  This game went on for a long time!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

My boys

Davis L-O-V-E-S the show "Yo Gabba Gabba!" on Nick Jr.  And thank goodness for that!  We've downloaded a couple episodes onto the iPad and that makes for one happy passenger, even on longer trips.  On this particular day, weekend before last, he even wanted to stay in the car to finish the episode after we arrived home.  Derek and I get the songs from that show stuck in our heads all the time!  Oh, and he stole my milkshake!  Guess he needed it more than I did...

I'm trying to get Derek to dress up as DJ Lance Rock from the show for Halloween.  (http://www.nickjr.com/yo-gabba-gabba/about-yo-gabba-gabba/yo-gabba-gabba-characters_ap.html)  I think there is a striking resemblance, don't you?

The Big Dipper

Given the fact that both of his parents are chronic dippers, it's no surprise that Davis has already mastered this skill...

Making Messes

Davis is the mess-making KING!  The thought of anything being neat and organized makes him cringe, and he will immediately "take care" of anything that needs to be "taken care of".  To him, a bookshelf full of books is an eye sore.  He is compelled to take each book off the shelf, one at a time, and fling it to the floor.  A neat roll of toilet paper just drives him crazy.  He will pull it and spin it until it is satisfactorily strewn across the floor of the bathroom.  And the hall.  And the bedroom.  And if, heaven forbid, you have a stack of magazines on the coffee table or anywhere else, he will throw them to the floor individually like my brother used to do with playing cards after he had convinced me to play "52 pickup" for the hundredth time.  I was such a sucker!

So, you would think that finger painting would be the BEST activity for Davis.  Wrong.  My main concern was that he would eat it, but I had checked the label first and made sure that it was non-toxic.  It didn't occur to me that he wouldn't enjoy it.  And I'm actually surprised I waited this long to try finger painting with him, given my artsy-fartsy nature and preschool teacher personality.  He did not enjoy it.  I convinced him to beat on the table a few times, and he seemed somewhat interested in the bright colors, but he didn't like having that gooey paint on his hands.  I'm pretty sure I saw him gag once or twice because of the texture.  On the bright side, he looked really cute for the whole 3 minutes he tolerated it, he didn't cry, and he did something new, which I think is great.  Maybe we'll try again in a few days and he'll like it better.  For being such a trooper, he was rewarded with some serious water hose time and got to run naked around the back yard.

Summertime

A lot has happened since my last post!  Davis turned the big 0-1, and our garden actually produced food!  I'm not sure which is the bigger accomplishment, but I've really never been good at keeping plants alive.  Luckily, Derek has been vice president in charge of keeping the garden growing.  (In case you were wondering, I'm president, which means I just oversee daily operations and make executive decisions like which cucumbers need to be picked.)

We had a nice little birthday party for Davis with our family complete with cake, presents, and some baby pool action.  Davis isn't a fan of cake, which leads me to believe he must not be my biological child....maybe he will grow into his sweet tooth?  For now, he's happy eating black beans, cheese, corn, strawberries, and cucumbers in vinegar.  He also really likes Pirate's Booty, a yummy snack introduced to us by my cousin, Anna.  

And speaking of Anna, we got to hang out with her and cousin Sawyer the other day at Sawyer's big brother Jackson's baseball game.  It's so neat watching them start to interact with each other (they are six days apart in age), even though much of their interaction consists of practicing "sharing" toys.  Toddler battles are interesting to watch!  I'm so glad they will get to grow up together and have a friend in each other.

Here are a few recent pictures...

Sampling the birthday cake, just to make us all happy

Smiling at his best friend, Sadie

The twins takin' it easy after a long, hot day outside

The bees like my flowers!

And so do the butterflies!

Pretty butterfly on our patio out back

Trying to stay cool