Christmas, Slackline and Bowling Vids

A trio of quick TJ vids.  I'm really excited to be using Sony Vegas and plan to publish a lot of our footage from the last two years now that I have a quick and easy editing option.

December/January Highlights

Here's the last random assortment before TJ's birthday.  He really has turned into a real little person.  I can't begin to describe how much I enjoy who he has become and look forward to every next step.

TJ's kitchen set has a serious Spider infestation.

TJ storage system.

TJ explores the possibilities with his new toolbox.  I'm amazed that he hasn't hit his hand while hammering.  He's clearly more of a natural than his father.

MJ introduces Atticus to TJ.  In his few interactions with babies, we're seeing amazing signs about how gentle, thoughtful and interested he is in the wee little people.  He's clearly ready to be a big brother!

TJ and Vivian double-pumping the tricycle after brunch.

TJ loves waterplay at the kitchen sink.  This time, he's helping clean out cans from a jambalaya batching session.

TJ was obsessed with pointing out the star at the top of our tree this year.

JT and TJ sawing the tree for disposal in our yard debris bin.

TJ "cut cut cut"

TJ helping with tree disposal.

Crossfit warm-up: 3 minutes on the rowing machine.

Chelsea helps TJ during his first overhung ascent.

JT and TJ in the kids area at The Circuit.

The payoff for climbing the kids' wall: SLIDE!

TJ Evolution Video

It took me a year more than anticipated (technical issues/frustration), but I couldn't be more happy with the result...




enjoy,
shiv

Christmas in Denton

For Christmas, we spent a week in Denton with Mom, Barry (a.k.a. G-Ma and Pa-Pa), Carrie and Amanda.  We could not have enjoyed ourselves more.  TJ had a blast with everyone, and we have a pile of pictures to show some highlights.  Yay for holiday family time!

TJ renames all of Barry's fish to match his obsession with Finding Nemo.

Raminta found this Strider bike through Craigslist Dallas, and G-Ma picked it up a month ago.  Although TJ hasn't yet taken to mastering it yet, he was at least successful in regaining control from Carrie.

Barry's small plastic motorized train set was a huge hit with TJ.

I can't count the hours TJ spent setting up, watching and crashing this little train set...

...but at least I have a dozen more pictures just as cute as these to remind us.

The non-traditional big event of the weekend was the Christmas Eve unwrapping the outfit that told us the gender of our second child (due in May)... it's a(nother) boy!  We couldn't be more excited!

Christmas morning had a strong start with a trio of bathtub boats.

TJ would have been content to play with the boats for a few hours, but there was more work to be done.

The drum from Grandma Vince was another highlight that stood out of the crowd.

With a pile of new sporty balls to play with (two footballs, a basketball and a French soccer ball), most of our afternoons were spent in the backyard performing a never-ending kick, pass and punt competition.

GOAL!

In the evenings, we took turns running around the yard with TJ...

...and recovered in front of the chiminea.

When the time is right, this kid knows how to relax.

TJ celebrates another Denver Bronco touchdown.

For our last day, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium, which housed an impressive variety of animals highlighted by sharks, a spotted jaguar, manatee and more birds and fish than we could hope to count.

TJ and Pa-Pa check out some seriously large fish.

TJ and G-Ma placed large wagers on a turtle race.

TJ's favorite exhibit was the flamingos, who seemed to get riled up every few minutes.  Every time we tried to leave, TJ demanded to return to the "noise" exhibit.

The large fish in front wasn't familiar, but Gil from Nemo can be seen in the lower portion of the tank.

We showed up at the aquarium in perfect time to watch these South American otters get fed.  These playful and fast-moving guys were really fun to watch.

Firsts and Favorites

As TJ's experiences and abilities expand, we are seeing some fun evolution in his preferences and interests.  To track, document and share these developments, we plan on updating TJ's "firsts and favorites" every 4 months.  This first entry will include a fair number of backdated items that we missed before this series started.  Enjoy, and let us know if there are topics/items that you would like to see included!

Food
first = avocado
favorite 12-18 Months = sweet potato, pirate booty
favorite 18-24 Months = apples, cheese, hot dog, whole milk, cheese quesadilla

Words
First = dog
favorite 12-18 Months = More
favorite 18-24 Months = TJ, Bubba, Dada  (He's fully capable of saying Mama, but continues to refer to Raminta as Bubba.  Too funny!)

Toys
First = activity center

current = Megabloks, stroller (mostly for chasing dogs), kitchen (cutting velcro food), ball (kicking)

Books
6-12 Months = Llama Llama Red Pajama
12-18 Months = Born to Read
18-24 Months = Go Dog Go

Movie = Finding Nemo (followed closely by Clifford the Big Red Dog)
Video Game = Minecraft (from which he learned many of his animal sounds along with the fact that "beef" comes from cows and we get "pork" from pigs)

This little dude is growing and changing soooo much right now.  We love where he is.  A great example is yesterday when we were moving mulch.  I gave TJ a trowel.  He dug at a small hole in the yard, making a small pile of dirt nearby while Raminta and I did some prep work.  Once we were ready for our main project, moving mulch from one area to another, TJ helped shovel mulch from the yard into the wheelbarrow.  After a while, he got bored with that and started shovel it out of the wheelbarrow, at which point Ra was starting to rake in the new location, so TJ decided to take the rake and help with that.  The whole thing was alarmingly close to having another useful member of the house helping in a yard project (or at the very least, someone who didn't require one of us to constantly be managing him).  Yay for TJ!

...and yes, I realize that this story is a claim that we're excited about TJ's development into a new little person when really it's obviously a cover for our efforts to skirt child labor laws.  There have to be a few small benefits to parenting, right?