Not my kid!

One of my favourite treats are macaroons and their various incarnations in cookie form, such as haystacks. I love the combination of chocolate and coconut. Our local cafe sells a particularly luscious version of this treat called Tits of the Andes (seriously). It's basically a giant, dark chocolate haystack full of coconut goodness and topped off with a white chocolate "snow cap", which has a chocolate dab in the middle. (I'd show a picture, but I already ate it.)

Anyway, besides the great name, they also have a great taste. So, as a treat I picked one up today. After supper, I pulled it out and broke off a little bit to give to Blake. The kid loves anything chocolate.

I put the chocolate in this mouth, and instead of asking for more, he promptly spit it out and said, "Bleah." Bleah! I couldn't believe it! He obviously takes after the non-coconut lovers in the family (including his Dad). I swear this is a genetic defect as coconut is such a delightful treat.

On the plus side, this meant I got to eat the whole cookie myself. Yum.

Budding artists

Faith is passing along her artistic talent to her brother.

Trot, trot, and more trot

Faith did it! She trotted on her own tonight...a lot. The main trick is getting her lazy-ass pony to actually move, but she can do it. It's the command, cluck, kick, kick, kick, kick....kick that gets little Texas going. She even got to use the "pony smacker", or crop in the vernacular.

I was quite fun to watch actually. :)

TV habits

George was watching The Good, the bad and the ugly on tv the other night when Faith came downstairs. Her first words, "Is this appropriate for me to be watching?"

Blake's 18th month

To Blake:

We have entered a whole new era now. The chairs are laying on the floor around the kitchen table. Any time one gets left upright, you're immediately on it. I just caught you literally trying to jump from a chair that was just a little too far from the table for you to easily make the transfer.


And, you've discovered that you can THROW things...anything, everything. In church on Sunday (a whole adventure in itself), he was playing with a purple plastic lid when suddenly his arm went up and he whipped it, baseball player style, down the pew and into the center aisle. Hello!

You are also turning into a chatter box. Cookie, cracker, cheese, milk (a theme is developing here), doggy, kitty, duck, Faith, Karen, hat, and many more. Yet, this doesn't stop you from grunting and pointing either. We're working on this. You're also using some sentences.

Me: "Who made this mess?"
You: "I did it."

At least you're honest.

You have developed a newfound love of the water. At the cottage on the long weekend you walked in and out and in and out of FREEZING COLD Lake Huron water. Even when you did a face plant, it didn't stop you. In our own backyard, you love to splash in the mud puddle at the back of the yard. Of course, when you bed over to slurp up the puddle water like a little puppy, that's when it gets gross.

You are also a good locator now too. Daddy asked you where you hid the clicker and you trotted off into the bedroom only to come back with the remote control. Today at Karen's house, they asked where Oliver's soother is (just talking aloud really) and you walked over to the pile of toys and pulled out the soother....as if to say "Voila!"

And, strangely enough, you've started sitting on the potty. Whenever I hit the bathroom, you insist on having your turn, no diaper on, sitting on the potty. Mostly this is because you like to take the toilet paper and "wipe your bum", but we may get luckly one day and you'll actually go. Although, frankly, I'm not quite sure how to get you to sit so I won't get hit in the eye with a stream of pee once you do let loose. This may be a learning experience for both of us.

Yes, you are a daily adventure. Mostly I'm wondering when you'll either get stitches or break our leg. As long as it isn't both at once I'll be somewhat relieved.

Love,
Mom

Blake's 16 and 17th months

To Blake:

Well, things got a little bit crazy the last couple of months, so I've missed some posts. A summary goes something like:

May .... sick, molars, sick, molars
June .... climbing, running, jumping, talking, exhausted (me, not you)

You are getting more and more fun, and also more and more sure of what you want and when you want it. This translates to the cusp of a temper...close but not quite there yet. I'm enjoying the teetering on the edge, and hoping we don't fall into terrible twos too soon.

So far, you are learning more and more words. Your "thank you", which you've been saying for ages, is quite clear now, and you've added "more milk", "more cheese", yes/no (head movements), dog, gramma/grampa, nana/papa, "I did it", and many more to your vocabularly. You have no trouble making yourself understood now.

The other big accomplishment for this month is your ability to climb....on everything. You scared George one night by climbing over the back of the couch onto the console table to type on the laptop. That was just the beginning. You can now officially climb onto the kitchen table at will, and push the chairs all around the main floor to climb up to the counter, sink, and stove (!!!!). Thank god I had my hair dyed a couple of weeks ago as the gray hairs are multiplying. The other night I got home to find out you had pushed the chair up to the buffet which holds our laptop. You were apparently surfing the 'net and using the IPod. The IPod also mysteriously had green crayon on it. George would only say that this "was a long story".

You are also quite good at climbing things you are meant to, such as our playset out back. You scramble up this quite easily so that you can slide down on your belly. You've recently graduated to sliding down the right way, on your bum. This is much better than your penchant for running off toward the road, which I swear is only to see me run after you yelling, "Blake...stooooop!"

I swear you have notched up the energy level, as if that were possible, the last couple of weeks. I took you to the library this week so that Faith could sign up for the summer program. This involved her doing a few crafts and games, and me chasing Blake from place to place in the library as he caused various types of havoc, including throwing the little alphabet magnets from the play corner all over the place, trying to use the phone, and climbing on the coffee table in the reading lounge. Who needs exercise classes? I was sweating by the time we left!

So, here's to an energetic summer...and hoping we all survive without stitches.

Love,
Mom

More riding lesson wonders

Faith learned how to ride bareback on Saturday. She was little tentative at first, but then she really liked it. ("Mom, you can really feel the bones in the horses back!") She practiced her balancing (no hands!) while Amanda led her around.

Then, wonder of wonders, she learned how to jump off the horse. While it was moving!!! Well, moving is not something Texas does willingly, so this is a strong word to describe his forward motion when she learned how to slide off his back and away from him. This is prep for when a horse she is riding takes off and she needs a fast exit (hoping this doesn't happen for awhile).

Faith was psyched about the whole experience though. And she's moving up to one hour lessons next week. Soon...show jumping...not.