I've Got Somethin' in my Pocket

All at once, David realized a fascination of pockets and rocks.
Wow! It was exciting when he put the two of them together.
(Can life get better than this!?! I submit that it cannot!
He snuck out back one morning before bathtime, happily playing with his rocks.
I was in the kitchen doing dishes when he came back inside saying, "Hewp, Mama. Hewp Mama."
"What do you need help with, David?"
"Ummmmmm . . ."

The problem was simple. David found a new "pocket" in the front of his pajamas.
But in this "pocket" he couldn't retrieve them like he usually can.
. . . as the "pocket" proved to be deeper than he expected.

Another First

I wanted to serve spaghetti sooner, but David didn't have chewing down until recently--so the long noodle just choked him. His improved munching abilities are well rewarded with spaghetti.

I think he liked it.

Adoring

We love this little guy.

Abosultely . . .

Positively . . .

Adore him.

One Sunny Day

At the city park near Daddy's office, during lunch break,

we grabbed a handful of bread and met up with Daddy.

Their bread managed to call ducks from the other side of the bridge.

We ran out of bread just as the front-row geese began getting aggressive and came out of the water towards Daddy and David.

Now David knows the difference between "bird" and "duck"--for bird he looks up, for duck he looks down.

Mischief: Gym time, Computer, and forty-eight

Yes, we adore our little fellow. But I have to admit that we have a little mischievous one on our hands. A few stories to illustrate . . .

Gym Time
Yesterday we went to the gymnastics club for Toddler time. They have a warehouse size room full of padded walls, padded floors, and every kind of safety precaution for little kids to literally bounce off the walls. It was a great time together--I really enjoyed playing with David on all of that equipment. We were there with other toddler friends and their moms, and it seemed that the other moms actually got to chat with each other. I found it humorous that stopping to chat was not even an option for me. (I really didn't mind . . . I was having too much fun playing with my son, which is why I was there. I just found it humorous that standing around to chat wasn't even an option for me. None of their kids found the "opportunities" David seemed to find.) David managed to find a way to reach the open window (imagine piles of gymnastics pads, stacked to different heights ranging from 1 foot to 8 feet in the air).

He managed to find the only place in the whole gym where you could get wedged between the pads and the wall. He kept wanting to act like a bowling pin for the kids swinging on the rope (and he thought it would be fun . . . if only he could finally get the chance to stand there while they swung out). In short, he was everywhere in that huge gymnastics arena. And I was right behind him--only not quite as agile at getting myself up the stacks of gymnastics mats.

Computer
Our laptop has had its own experience with Toddler Time. David loves to push the buttons, open the CD drive, and has been known to pop the keys off whenever he can get a little leverage under them. Have you ever tried to piece back together the missing keys of a keyboard?

Forty-eight
Two years ago, Target opened its doors to the Anchorage market. It was Target frenzy here, to say the least! Have you ever seen live bands playing in the men's section of the local Target? Well that's the kind of excitement we had going on with a new retail giant on our doorstep. I was sucked in to the frenzy, and on its second day open I went to "check out Target" with a co-worker. I was determined not to buy anything . . . unless it was too good of a deal to pass up. I held true, and my friend Judy and I were the only ones in the entire store just browsing without even a shopping cart.

Then I saw the ottoman. It was exactly what I wanted for my living room, and it was 50% off as the one-time deal for the store's grand opening. There was only one left. Judy sat on it while I went to find a cart to haul it away. As we put it in the cart, I pointed to a slight scratch on the surface. She said, "Well, aren't you planning to have kids?" Yes, of course. "Then that scratch is nothing!" Hmph. Having kids doesn't have to mean your entire house is destroyed.

Fast forward to last month. I was in the shower, and David was left for a few minutes while I was indisposed. As usual, as soon as the shower water turned off, I called his name and asked him to come knock on the bathroom door. It's our routine--so I know he's in the vicinity and we can chat through the door while I finish dressing. I heard him come up the stairs . . . a little slower than usual, then we had our usual chat. When I opened the door, I was shocked when my son handed me my sharpest 8 inch fillet knife. Yikes! I didn't know he could reach inside of the top drawer in my kitchen! I checked for any cuts or pokes. Nothing. Phew! We escaped that one.

Twenty minutes later, I wandered downstairs to put the knife away. I happened to glance over at the ottoman, and I gasped because it looked something like a crime scene. I counted the number of stabs into the ottoman. Forty-eight.

My reaction? Gratitude. Total and complete gratitude that he didn't shred my couches. Even more gratitude that he still had his fingers, toes, eyes, and tongue. I can still hardly believe that he escaped without a drop of blood on him.

Now David spends my shower time in his crib with a handful of books to read to Mr. Giraffe.

Weee!!!!!!!

One very good thing about this summer was all of the time we spent at the park with David.

At first, he was a little trepid and unsure on the playground equipment.

Now he is a pro, and easily finds his way around all of the equipment.

We have already started missing the regular playground outings, since school is in session and our closest park is used by school children for most of the day.

We will look forward to more playground time next summer.

By then, I'm sure David will climb up the equipment as well as he slides down.

Nuh-night time

David's bed,

 David's room.

Yellow

Do you know the color scheme to describe personality traits?

Someone described it to me like this:

If a house caught fire, then:

the blue person would run inside to save people.

the red person would direct traffic around it.

the white person would stand back as a witness.

the yellow person would be roasting marshmallows.

This seems a little heartless on the yellow person's part--but I think it emphasizes that a yellow personality can find the fun and games in any situation.

From everything I know about David at 19 months old, I would have to say that he is a yellow personality.

One of these people is not like the other:

A closer look:

Peek . . .

a-boo!

If I remember correctly, it took us a few times to catch on to his game of peek-a-boo.

We were chatting away in the front seat, and he was giggling at himself in the back seat.

Quite the tenacious little playful fellow.

Since we taught David the game of Ring Around the Rosies, he will pull us together for a rousing game or two. But when it comes time to "all fall down," our little guy runs off--evoking a chase.

We have renamed it "Ring around the runaway."

We are glad for the extra bit of yellow that has been added to our family.

Ward Campout 2010

Over Labor Day Weekend, we joined fellow ward members up at Camp LaDaSa--the church owned camp complete with cabins, pavilion, amphitheater, and lake--all in a beautiful spot on earth.

Going to LaDaSa is cabin camping in style. You get the benefit of staying in cabins, but you don't have to hike in your gear. You just park and use one of their wheelbarrows to haul all of your gear to your cabin.

David especially liked the arrangement. I was chatting with the other adults in the pavilion when someone clued me in to the fun: "Carmin, you've got to come see this." I grabbed the camera and went to find my boys. Sam was giving David the ride of his life in the wheelbarrow.

The group gathered in the pavilion for games, and this one was by far the funniest to watch.

Three men were called up (Sam is on the far right) and a tissue box with ping pong balls inside was tied around their waste--the box was to their back.

They had to turn around and the first one with all of the ping pong balls out won the game.

Sam came in a very close second place.

I had no idea those men could dance, jump, and shake like that!

We enjoyed good company, good food, s'mores, bonfire, and another starry night.

Alaska State Fair 2010

We planned a day to go play, and it turned out to be the sunniest day we had seen in 2 weeks.

It couldn't have been more perfect. We left work projects behind, and took a much needed (and deserved!) family outing.

Our first stop was the Alaska State Fair.

I've noticed that more than anything else, people talk about the food served up at the fair. My choice was corn fritters and corn dogs. Why do I love corndogs? (I don't know, but I do!) I don't buy them unless they are fresh and genuinely deep-fried. Sam opted for the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich.

I couldn't help but share my affinity for "perfectly crisp on the outside, soft on the inside magic on a stick" with my son. He approved.

Another big draw is the produce. Only in the land of the midnight sun will you find green beans that are longer than a foot and cabbages that tip the scale at 800-1000 pounds. Here are the three prize winning pumpkins. The blue ribbon one (in the foreground) was 983 lbs. Wow! 

Here's our little guy next to the third-place gourd.

The next stop was the petting zoo.

Daddy was more than happy to take David into the animal arena.

(Which is Daddy's true love for his boy, if you know anything about Sam's memories of Amish auctions.)

The animals didn't want anymore of the feed from the little dispensing machine.

David didn't mind--he was happy to find the cow's ear.

He found it soft enough to stop and stick his thumb in his mouth while he petted it.

These little piggies went to the fair.

These little piggies had too much to eat.

These little piggies laid down and took a nap. 

This little boy wanted to explore the piggy's tail.

And the piggy snored on.

(While his mother wondered why he insisted on finding the dirtiest part of that pig).

And of course a stop at the prize chickens, rabbits, goats, etc.

We told David this was a chicken.

The next night at the dinner table we told David he was eating chicken.

He was very confused.

And last but not least, we decided on a simple ride suitable for a 1-year old.

I think you can see how much David loved the merry-go-round.