I love ice cream!

Last weekend we flew to Chicago to see my Grandpa and Grandma Heemstra, and also to celebrate Uncle Rick's (he's my Dad's cousin, so I think that makes him my uncle . . .) wedding. I got to enjoy some of the fun things that come with summer, like splashing in the pool


and eating ice cream (yum!).


We also stopped in for a visit with my Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Heemstra, and they fed me cookes (also yum!).


Although I had fun playing outside, I also found many ways to entertain myself indoors. At home in Boston, I'm not allowed in the kitchen because I try to tip over the bikes and eat the dog food. So, it was a big treat to be able to wander around Grandma's kitchen and take things out of the cabinets to play with (yup, in that last photo I am in fact trying to drink a can of baked beans).


I also discovered the joy of climbing stairs and getting blanket rides around the family room.

What a busy weekend! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for all of the fun (and ice cream!). I can't wait to visit again!

Blocko and the waterpark

When we put down the alphabet mat in Evan's playroom, we had exactly six pieces left over, so we made a "blocko" for him to play with (I don't know why we have this odd habit of adding the letter "o" to the end of words . . . blocko, bibbo, spinacho . . . perhaps we are under the delusion that if we make it sound more fun, then Evan will like it more. Anyhow, the fact that blocko isn't a load bearing structure made for a few unfortunate events as Evan was learning to pull up on things and cruise around. But, today he discovered that blocko can be disassembled and provide fun in many forms.

The starting point.


The stages of disassembly (I especially love the first one).


And, once the destruction is complete, moving on to another toy.


After all of the heavy demolition work, we decided to cool down by taking our first trip to the spray park up the street. At first, Evan was NOT a fan because the water was too cold. But, once we found a nice little pool to sit in, he enjoyed splashing in the water and watching all of the other kids running around. We told Evan that his Grandma in Chicago has a kiddie pool, and I think he is pretty excited to splash around with his cousin next weekend!

Run, Mama, Run!

Last weekend the boys got to spend some quality time together while I competed in my first post-baby triathlon. The race was in Waterville Valley, NH and the setting was absolutely gorgeous - mountains and pine trees everywhere you look. Unfortunately, due to the cold rainy summer we've had, the water temp was 53 degrees - a bit more chilly than the average of 72 that I was expecting when I signed up. I did have a wetsuit, however said wetsuit did not have sleeves as when choosing it I had reasoned "well, I don't need a full suit because I would never want to do a tri where the water is colder than 60."


The race was fun , but by far the highlight was getting to see John and Evan at each transition. Thanks to their awesome encouragement, I even finished under my goal time! After the race, John told me that he was surprised that he was able to get a picture of me on the bike because I was going so fast . . . thanks John - that made me feel better about getting passed by a bunch of racers in pointy helmets (if you don't know what I'm talking about, google "time trial helmet").


While waiting for me to finish the run (yeah . . . that was probably a long wait) Evan was playing in the grass and decided to share his cheerios with the local wildlife. We returned to the scene of the crime later in the day to capture these photos.


Evan seemed to have a fun weekend people watching and taking in the action, but he was also a big fan of the new water bottle that mommy got for finishing the race.


Thanks John and Evan for an absolutely wonderful weekend! I love you guys!

Best buddies

With all of the fourth of July festivities, it ended up being a pretty rough weekend for Nicky (fortunately Evan was completely unfazed by all of it). Nicky spent most of his time hiding in various places around the apartment, but he discovered a new favorite one under Evan's crib. We think it's pretty cute that when Nicky gets scared, all he wants to do is go hang with his best buddy Evan.

Walking in its many forms (and first steps)!!!

Anyone who has spent much time around Evan has gotten to witness his "knee-walking" technique. This evolved from his realization that it is difficult to crawl with things in his hand, but not wanting to walk yet. Both of Evan's Grandmas said that we have to get this on video before he starts walking, and we finally got a good clip . . .

At it turns out, we got this video just in time because Evan took his first steps yesterday!!! One of the parents at daycare has a daughter who also started walking kind of late, and they said that what finally made the difference was having regular shoes instead of the soft-soled slippers. This weekend I picked up some shoes for Evan and we tried them out on Monday. He was much more confident standing with the increased stability, and when we put him a couple of feet away, he walked right back to us!!! The really cool part is that after we changed him into pajamas (we waited until this point to take the video because the outfit he came home from daycare in was pretty ridiculous) and took off the shoes, he was still able to stand and walk! In the second part of the video you can see him shaking his head to say "no, mama, I'm tired of this game" but then he humored me anyway . . . thanks kiddo.

Table manners

For some time now I have been putting off giving Evan a spoon to feed himself. This is largely because I imagine spoonfuls of food being launched catapult-style across the room. But, yesterday we finally decided to go for it and let Evan feed himself some pears (yes, I did intentionally choose something that matches the neutral decor of our apartment . . . just in case). We were pleasantly surprised by his display of table manners.

At some point the feeding experience devolved into the irresistible fun of sticking our fingers in the bowl of pears, but given his squeamishness about certain food textures we decided to let him enjoy. I guess we'll work on that table manner for next time . . .

Has it really come to this?

About a month ago, Evan went through a bit of an eating regression and pretty much stopped eating anything "chunky" except goldfish crackers and cheerios (thankfully he is still a champ with pureed fruits and veggies). So, we are pretty excited when we find a new "chunky" he will eat. But as you can see, this does get a bit ridiculous. I never thought I would say "Yay, way to eat that doughnut! Great job!" Ahhh, the unexpected twists and turns of parenthood (though I wouldn't have it any other way) . . .