Off the Charts!

Well, appropriate given our last posting, but we have the official #s that back up our "growth-by-highchair" experiment. He just had his 18 mo. well-visit, and blew us all away with how much he HAS grown. He weighed in at just shy of 30 lbs., and is 34" tall, so he's 90th percentile for both height & weight!! :) No surprise there, I guess!

At the Beach

In addition to getting some R&R @ Casa de los Abuelitos, B has also journeyed into Philly for a mini family reunion, seen his great grandparents, and gone to the beach in this journey East. He has found mini frogs (1"!), collected NE pinecones (very different from ours @ home!), and got to perch in a lifeguard boat @ the beach. Some pix below of the adventures at the beach. He really enjoyed it (especially digging in the sand), but was not terribly thrilled w/ the waves after one knocked him on his back after he was already sitting at the water's edge. A fun & memorable journey none-the-less, and certainly a novelty he doesn't get living in the SouthWest!

By Leaps & Bounds

We'll have to see if these pix, when compared, are truly reflective of his growth, but B has appeared to grow monstrously in our two weeks back East. He has his 18 mo. check-up on Wed., so we'll see then how he weighs in, but he's definitely packed on the pounds and is growing like a weed!
(P.S. Note his ears in both pix in reference to the lines on the head of the highchair...has he grown between the December pix and July?)

BIG Vacation Plans!

Brendan (and I!) have had a very exciting & busy trip to PA thus far. Attached are a few pix...B has now graduated from "Woof woof" for the sound that dogs make, to, "Woof woof dogs" and strings it all in one. He has two loyal boxer followers, now, and got to hold hands with cousin Katie. Tomorrow holds his first journey to the beach, so we'll see how the sand & waves strike his fancy!

Monkeys & Bananas...

I find it funny the # of times a mention of banana has appeared on this blog, the blog of a self-proclaimed banana-hater! Takes two to make a baby, and clearly, my son did NOT get my banana gene, all the better for it! This morning, he amazed me with his knowledge and did a sign I didn't even KNOW he knew. Our bananas had a tiny little sticker on one of the bananas that I didn't notice when I purchased them. It had a tiny little monkey head, and had a link to some chimp thing on Dole's website. So of course, B proclaims, "WHA IZ ZAT?" and promptly signs monkey to me. Had NO idea he knew, but he's apparently absorbed it right away from his father, who has signing sessions in secret! :) SO we now have a new sign and animal recognition to add to the list, in addition to his other newish sign ~ "grapes", which does symbolize the real thing, but he'll also gladly generalize to other fruit (for watermelon this weekend), and demand "grapes grapes grapes"! At least he knows the difference btw grapes and bananas! Ha!

Laughter IS the best medicine

Yes, this video is grainy, but really, you don't need to see, just to hear the giggles from this little one and it will clear whatever ails you, I swear! I've tried to get this to load several times already to no avail, so here's to hoping....

Refrigerator, Refrigerator, Refrigerator...

...this video is for the express benefit of his father, but we are glad for all to share. As many of you have noticed, B is QUITE animated when he wants something in the refrigerator, and has become exceedingly dramatic as a result. SO...here's for Scott, so he'll have more tears of laughter & not 2 min. of a clip to wait through, to get to our very animated baby signer...



P.S. MAKE SURE YOUR volume is turned up ~ one of our favorite things about his interpretation is his GROWLING (not part of the intended sign!), as he says "fridge"!

Fun w/ Fountains

We had a brief field trip last Sunday and introduced B up close & personal to a few fountains. :) Appears that he enjoys fountains as much as his Auntie Meg!

Fun w/ Cold Stone

For those of you not from the Southwest (or those w/o a quickly expanding franchise nearby), a guilty indulgence, on occasion, is our local ice cream chain, Cold Stone Creamery. I have been very diligent about steering B away from the sweets/processed foods, etc., thus far, but had to give him a LITTLE taste last night when we stopped by...

The obvious choice was a little taste (they have mini sample spoons) of their banana icecream. Wouldn't touch the stuff w/ a 12-ft. pole, but as he adores that favorite yellow fruit, I had to see if he liked the frozen cousin. As he slimed the little spoon and enjoyed his first taste of Cold Stone, I saw his little hands signing, "banana, banana." Guess it's just like the real thing?!! :)

Kitties, Crayons & Refrigerators, OH MY!

Another funny video ~ he's trying to give Finnegan a crayon here, as Finn will steal his crayons & chase them around the floor. :) Also a funny moment of his signing antics & his dramatic rendition of "refrigerator". ENJOY! :)