Competing Cousins

June 27, 2005, 9:42 pm

Event #1: The Stairs

Evan and Lily start off on the same step:


Lily takes off, and Evan looks distraught:


Evan on the same step, and Lily looks back:


Lily pats Evan's head and gives him some encouragement:


And she's off! (Notice Evan's Mom is trying to push him up the stairs)


Stay tuned for the next event.

[ 3 comments ] ( 24 views )

Father's Day Badge

June 19, 2005, 9:21 pm

Noah was really into Father's Day and Mother's Day this year. He loves parties and presents. I took Noah out to buy Nathan a present and he picked out a tackle box (he knew exactly which one Nathan wanted), a lure, and fishing boxers with a fish pen. Do you notice a theme? He also picked out a card for Nathan which contained a #1 DAD badge. Noah was really excited about the badge. When Papa opened the card, Noah had him put on his badge. What could be cooler?

Nathan had to run into work today, and he took the kids. He took his badge off (it's a GI Joe badge). Noah noticed that his badge was missing when they were at his office. Noah asked, "Did you thought that people were here and they didn't like the badge?"

Papa was busted. So he proudly wore his badge the rest of the day...



I think I captured Papa's favorite Father's Day moment on film.

[ 3 comments ] ( 23 views )

Nicknames

June 15, 2005, 3:25 pm

Nathan's family loves nicknames. Nathan and his brothers' names are Preston, Nathan, and Jason, but they are called Pres, Nate, and Jake almost exclusively.

Then there are the fishing names. Nathan is Hookset, Preston is Fishslayer, Jason is Sledgehammer (or "The Sledge"), Lauren is Bug, and Noah is Splitshot.

Nathan's Dad never calls Noah and Lily by their actual names. Noah has always been "Hoss."



Grandpa met Lily for the first time this week, and she has been given her nickname. He calls her Lilliput from Gulliver's Travels. I think it's quite fitting.

[ 3 comments ] ( 22 views )

Lots of ice cream

June 14, 2005, 10:05 pm

Nathan's Dad is visiting us for a week. Noah and Lily love their Grandpa. Noah and Grandpa go on adventures every day. They set off in Nathan's old truck with their bicycles in the back and ride by the river. Today they also went to the park and played putt putt golf. Noah was in heaven.

Grandpa informed Noah that every time they go out they can get an ice cream. Noah thought about this for a while, and then told Grandpa he was ready to go home. Grandpa asked why, and Noah said that they could come right back and then get another ice cream. I think they had 3 ice cream treats today...

[ 2 comments ] ( 22 views )

Fishing boxes

June 13, 2005, 8:22 am

Noah looks at his tackle box while fishing with his Papa. He is obviously pondering something. Then after much thought he says:

Noah: You know, Police men tackle people.
Papa: Yes.
Noah: So they should carry TACKLE boxes.
Papa: OK.
Noah: We should call our boxes FISHING boxes.
Papa: Good idea.

[ 2 comments ] ( 20 views )

Summer Vacation!

June 10, 2005, 11:25 pm

If you read my entries last month you know that Noah has been obsessed with summer vacation. His preschool teacher told him that she would see him after summer vacation, so he has been itching for summer vacation to begin.

Now it's 80-90 degrees here, and Noah has his pool, sprinkler, and slip-and-slide out. He's pretty happy...

[ 2 comments ] ( 17 views )

Lily's new skills

June 7, 2005, 6:33 pm

Lily is communicating with us in ways other than crying or smiling. She tells us "no" now. She loves to shake her head no. She will start crawling up the stairs, stop and look back at me, shake her head no, and then laugh and keep crawling up the stairs. She knows she's being bad, but she wants me to know she doesn't care.

Lily can also wave. Noah taught her this skill. He waves at her when they are in the backseat together, and she laughs and laughs and now waves back.

And her most recent skill is clapping. She is so proud of her abililty to clap that she even does it while nursing. I was feeding her this morning and she put her hands over her head and started clapping. She was smiling as she ate. I appreciated the applause.

[ 3 comments ] ( 25 views )

Cautious boy

June 2, 2005, 8:41 pm

Noah is very cautious for a 4-year-old. We're not sure if it's my influence or just the way he is. Here are some recent examples:

We were watching The Today Show which was showing scenes from Yellowstone Park. Nathan asked Noah if he would like to go there some day and see the beautiful waterfalls. Noah looked at the TV and then asked, "Do they have rails so that people don't fall into the waterfalls?"

Noah was playing with his motorcycle toy and pretended to strap a seatbelt around one of the guys on the motorcycle. I informed him that motorcycles do not have seatbelts. Noah looked at me so concerned and now points out how dangerous motorcycles are since they don't have seatbelts.

Nathan would like to get a fishing boat some day. He was telling Noah that they would have so much fun fishing on the boat. Noah laughed and said, "I can't go on a boat!" Nathan assured him that with a lifejacket it would be ok. Noah rolled his eyes and said, "No, I can't swim! It's just not safe!"

What have I done?

[ 3 comments ] ( 34 views )