Lots of photos from the past few weeks

Lunch after some playing at Gymboree!

Reading to allllll of his babies

New shoes! 

He climbed up here and covered himself up....

...it was close to nap time and he knew it!

"BIG" book

Simon's new tattoo

Reading without pants

Trucks and boots

We have been learning how to take our pants off all my ourselves and this day we not only took them off but we needed our blue boots on too!

tea party

CHEESE

I see you over this table!!

Everyone was invited....even the trains!!

Slow train a comin' (aka Jake and Emily's Visit)

Jake Eberly and Emily Drees were in town last weekend. We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend of train playing, fort making, tea drinking, knitting, cooking and xbox. I guess that is why I didn't get any pictures of them with Simon - it was all just so chill.  

Jake and Alan awesomely woke up with Simon both mornings and let the Emilys sleep in. Here is a quick recording of morning play time from Jake, entitled A Slow Train a Comin':

Pictures from last couple days

Snuggled in and relaxing with a drink.

Funny face self portrait.

Apple!

So excited about snack time...

What a face! He's looking for the dried blueberries among the cheerios in the container.

Snack

Just having a snack of bread and water before nap time. 

Chillin and reading the sports section

Through the tube, Over the ball

At Gymboree on Friday afternoon... Push the ball into the tunnel, then climb OVER the ball and THROUGH the tunnel at the SAME TIME!

New boots

These are my new boots. We just got home and Simon saw me take off my boots and after I took off his shoes he put mine on immediately. He walked around in them surprisingly well. When he was done he walked back to the shoe rack, held onto the wall and stepped out of both boots, leaving them nicely put away. 

Weekend Fort Building

Simon and Alan have started building forts. They use Simon's chair and a blanket and have come up with a bunch of different size forts. Sometimes I forget how tiny Simon is... then I see Simon's whole body inside the fort where only Alan's head can fit. It's pretty amazing that such a tiny package can have so much personality!

Hi Mama!

Hipster kid

Showing his muscles!

Too cool.

Eating and staring at the other diners. 

Wow, what is he getting for breakfast?

Big boy - Potty Training and Booster Seat

Simon is suddenly a big boy. This past week we started both potty training and retired the high chair for a booster seat. He loves sitting at the table and he is getting used to the potty - sitting on it and the concepts. By far the best part of potty training so far is flushing the toilet.

Booster seat. Retired high chair.

Potty Training

The Best Singing and Dancing Simon Video EVER!

18 Month Doctor Well Visit

Simon was 18 months old in mid December and we went on December 17th to the doctor for his well visit and to ge his booster vaccine. To no ones disappointment it was a trifle too early for his vaccine booster so he didn't have any shots. The doctor said Simon was doing great in all departments! That being able to communicate that he has/will go to the bathroom is a sign that he's ready to start potty training and that she didn't need to see him agan until he was 2.

Here are his specs as of the visit:
Height: 32 inches (37%)
Weight: 22 lbs 4oz (25%)
Head: 46.7 cm (32%)

PS We went back to doc today for a mommy piece of mind checkup and he's all good. They weighed him again and he's already 23lbs 4oz. One pound in a month!

Picture of the Day: 1/9/13

Getting ready to leave safari cup. Hanging on the couch.

Purple

I walked downstairs today and Simon was sitting at the table eating his breakfast. He turned to look at me, pointed, and said 'Purple'. I am wearing a purple shirt. That kid is so smart.

First Snowball

We had a White Christmas this year so after he opened some presents that morning, Simon went out to the backyard to try out his new boots in the fresh snow.  He had a lot of fun eating the snow, and throwing (and getting hit by) snowballs.

 More pics and videos after the jump...

Picture of the Day: 1/6/13

Eating an apple and watching the people.

Simon opening Christmas Presents

Simon got Christmas presents from his Boston Aunties a week or so after Christmas which worked out nicely to spread out his presents a bit. As an added bonus we got to record the opening of each gift too.

Opening his present from Auntie Amy (a home-quilted bib that fits perfectly):

Opening his present from Auntie Lisa (a cool wooden construction set):

Like Mama Like Baby

Now that he has his own tea set and comfy armchair, Simon likes to relax just like his mama does: curled up on the chair with a good book and cup of hot (pretend) tea.

2012 Father of the Year Nominee

I took Simon to the park a couple of weeks ago and he was having a lot of fun sliding down the slide.  He's gotten really good at it now - he can run up the long ramp to the top of the slide, carefully sit down, and scoot himself forward until he slides down all on his own.  After he climbed up and went down the slide independently about 20 times without incident, I figured I'd take a video so we can show off his new sliding skills.  And of course that's when this happened:

He was completely fine - no tears and was ready to get right back on the slide again.  But he was definitely a little more careful about sitting down the next time...

Beeyow!

Simon has been making this weird noise for a couple weeks now.  I don't think it means anything, it's probably just a fun noise for him to make.  I managed to get it on video the other day, along with him singing Itsy Bitsy Spider to me on his own.