November Highlights

Here's a varied collection of shots from our November adventures...

Sidney is a big fan of pockets and enjoyed teaching TJ about sticking hands in 'em.

TJ assists Raminta with cleaning out the front flowerbeds.

The big score of the fall was this Craigs List kitchen set with lots of velcro food.  TJ loves to cut cut cut.

"Finding Nemo" is officially TJ's first favorite movie.  Thankfully, we enjoy it and still see the humor after seemingly endless viewings.  He's since expanded his favorites to include "Up" and "Toy Story".  Pixar FTW!

Thanksgiving may be known for football, but TJ prefers foosball... mostly inserting the ball through the side of the table.

TJ is surprisingly pleasant to hear at the piano, despite lacking even a single lesson!

Tree Hole!!!  (While hunting for our Xmas tree, TJ would fill the gap left by whichever tree we were considering.)

Coming soon... the first installment of "State of the Kid", in which we recap TJ's favorite foods, words, activities, etc. (and followed by updates every 3-4 months.)

Pumpkins and Halloween

The three of us took a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Although there was some mild entertainment in the animal barn, the real fun was walking around with the pumpkins.  Although I'm usually fairly ruthless about filtering images, I kept quite a few of TJ lifting, stacking and sitting on and around the candidates we considered for carving.

 

 

 

Halloween was a bit low-key, as Raminta had to work and TJ is still a year or so from understanding what the dressing up and c-a-n-d-y are all about.  ;)

September Highlights

I'm catching up on some pictures from before our trip to Europe.  September started with a weekend at the beach for Ra and TJ while JT was playing an ultimate tournament in Salem.

 

 

The Bobs is a great stroller, but I believe this is the first time it was used to haul gear as well.  At this point in the hike to the campsite, TJ was inspecting the in-flight magazine selection.

This Megabloks set has been a staple of playtime in recent months.  We have a few other locking block (ala Lego) sets, but this is definitely the best.

We set up the portable baby jail for a few weeks before heading to Europe.  Thankfully, it didn't take much for TJ to become acclimated to it, and it was an outstanding item to have during our travels.

TJ's eating skills have improved immensely, but certain meals still give us the joy of shirtless messy eating.

TJ takes neighbor Zan's trike for a ride.  We'll be picking him up a balance/kick bike very soon.  :)

Europe (Part 3) ==> Paris

TJ and KFalk relax on the non-OSHA-approved staircase soon after our arrival in Paris.

TJ frightens the locals.

Best playground ever... a high ropes course for kids 6+.  The maturity, concentration and joy of these kids was amazing as they moved around the course without any direct adult assistance.

The family enjoys a pic-a-nic at a giant suburban park.

Octopus slide!

Our first evening in Paris was spent walking from home, past Notre Dame to a spot on the river from which we could see the Eiffel Tower.  By lucky happen-chance, we got to see the 5 minutes of each hour when lights twinkled like pixie dust.

HOLE!!!  This small but deep hole in the courtyard outside S&K's home fascinated TJ.  Every morning, he would shout "shoe, hole", wanting to put on his shoes and venture out to peer into the hole.  The best part was that his pronunciation of "hole" sounded like "whore".   SHOE! WHORE! ...  SHOE!  WHORE!  tee-hee.

TJ enjoying a kick-arse French playground near the Louvre.  (well, okay, Shoe and I had to test the toys for a while to make sure they were safe.  I think we let TJ play on them a bit later... for a minute... or two... before we had to leave.)

TJ does his "Cowboy Small" imitation.  Yee-haw!

We believe the kid on the right was explaining that TJ was under-age for this spinny-thing, but since his French was too well developed for KFalk to translate for us, we rode on it anyway.

Monument(al) nap time.

In case you were wondering, TJ is letting us know that the eternal flame at the Arc De Triomphe is "hot".

TJ became fascinated by boats on the river.  We had to stop and watch every boat passing... which still wasn't enough of a deterrent to have us take any route that wasn't along the river.

TJ takes his favorite Parisian girlie on a romantic sunset walk near the Eiffel Tower.

iTouch = Toddler crack

I don't know how they make these (one part butter, one part sugar, two parts cloud), but the French know what they're doing.

TJ gave a so-so grade to Notre Dame...

...but an A+ to the playground adjacent to Notre Dame.

TJ and Tay-Tay.

Everyone loves Camper brand shoes.

We are sorry to report that TJ broke (bobblehead) Greg Oden's arm and that he will miss yet another season to injury.

TJ waved "Hi" to an officer at the Toronto airport on this vehicle.  The officer whipped around, turned on his lights and sirens for show and then let us take a picture.  It was really sweet.  Damn I love Canada and Canadians.

Travelling with a toddler?  A balloon is absolutely the best toy to pack any time you're hanging out in airports or plazas or anywhere that can handle some crazy running around joy.  I can't begin to tell you how many people smiled and kicked the balloon back to TJ as they were passing through or seated nearby.  As Tree said, he really was our "sunshine spreader" for the whole trip.