Ahh, paradise.

Poor sick Koen two days before take-off.

Checking the temperature before his daily shower.

This outdoor shower kept Koen busy for a long time.

We threw crackers out to the pigeons so Koen could chase them.
He helped himself to many of these crackers.

Koen had to nap on the go during much of our trip.
I thoroughly enjoyed this special cuddle time.

Our little E.T. walking the rock wall at sunset.

My new favorite sport.

Now it was my day to sleep in so I missed this event, thankfully. My main
concern was Justin thought it more important to capture this
traumatic incident on camera rather than help is poor mother.

In celebration of 10 years of marriage, we were fortunate enough to fly off to Hawaii for six days and although our time was way too short, we had the adventure of our lives. One thing that made it so special was bringing our 1 1/2 year old with us. Skeptics were quite vocal about us "being crazy to take a baby that far", but this kid knows how to travel. He was an angel on the plane, a trooper as we traveled Oahu, and a champ on the way home. Not only that, our little guy was vomiting all over our house just two days before we left. You can imagine how stressed I was considering this trip was non-refundable. Just two major blowouts on the plane and the rest was a breeze. I have the fondest memories from that trip, including stand-up paddleboarding/surfing, whale watching, making sand structures with our little guy, watching Koen chase the pigeons in front of our cabin, the Hawaiian Luau at the Hale Koa, the best chicken and shrimp plate lunch I'll ever encounter at Mike's Huli Huli Chicken food truck, Koen napping on the go cuddled up with me in the Ergo, seeing Grandpa Bruce in shorts and sandals for the first time and Grandma watching horrified as Koen yanks his hand from hers just to get swallowed up by a wave. Scary, but knowing that he's safe and sound, the pictures are priceless. I have so many great shots, and when Koen is occupied I will add a link to the rest of them.

Snack Crafting

When it's freezing outside, and baby's not feeling well, what do you do? You let him make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I got about 30 minutes out of this activity and relatively contained mess. Bravo, Mom.

Boy meets chicken

So the boy in Koen is oozing lately, actually this picture was taken around Thanksgiving so it's been oozing for awhile, and what you see here is an experimental live chicken kabob. Watch out kitty because you're next. Our little guy loves the outdoors and we spend a large part of our day romping around in snow or skidding on ice. The other day he insisted on being pushed in his tree swing in 15 degree weather at 9 in the morning. I couldn't feel my hands and I was wishing for a nice extra layer of his baby fat. Now it's no -7 degrees which is what my brother and sister-in-law are dealing with in Wyoming, but hey, it's still relatively uncomfortable. Each day I notice something new with this child and I try to write down everything so I don't forget. He's starting to sit on his potty chair, make his poop face and "wipe" with whatever object is near him - hairbrush? Sure. He'd rather leave his pants on for this activity though. Baby steps. He's attempting to jump off the ground with two feet which is hilarious to watch; he bends his knees and goes up with gusto then falls down without his feet ever leaving the ground. He is making more of an effort to imitate sounds, so at 19 1/2 months, he is finally forming words like "tractor", "out", and his favorite, "uh-oh." He is speaking very clearly in a foreign tongue, even rolling his r's, which I call his Spanish/Mandarin dialect. He uses hand gestures while maintaining a very serious face and we can have a conversation like this for twenty straight minutes, each of us using our preferred language.

So I vow this year to make at least one monthly post on this blog. Somehow watching favorite TV shows, checking emails, and keeping up on housework have taken priority.

Fall day

So I didn't think about the fact that by wearing camo little Koen would blend right in with the leaves. So here's his head.

Ahh, summer.

Eggceptional

Our little chickies have given us their first batch of eggs and they are so unbelievably good. There is nothing like a rich yellow yoke and crisp, thick shell. No longer do we need to pay $3.99 for a dozen local organic eggs, which lasts us four days on average. Or worse, throw our money away on crappy Lucerne or EggLand's Best. Yes, folks, this is where it's at. Next up, a dairy cow:)

Mmmm...kay.

So for the past week or so, our little monkey has picked up on a couple words that we say quite often, now that we've been paying attention to it. His first official word at 15 1/2 months is "mmmkay", translation, "okay". "Koen, would you like to help me feed the chickies?" "Mmmkay." Love it. His second word is "eye". His third word is "yeah." He is signing up a storm, and by now has added "shoes", "all done", "water", "bird", "cat", "ball", "spin", "sleep", "brush", "please" and "thank you" to his repertoire. He picks up on signs as fast as we can teach them, so I've ordered a couple more Signing Times DVDs so I can keep up with him... yes, they're mostly for me.

Why talk when you can sing?

What else is new, oh yes, he has developed a high pitch squeal that he makes whenever any cat is around and then he proceeds to chase it, hoping he might get a fist around that tail so he can swing the poor thing like a toy. Sorry Nano, Ruby and Roxy, ugh.

It is so much fun to watch this kid develop, and he's got such an interesting little personality. The other day I left my banana peel on the table next to our couch and when he noticed it, he grabbed it and marched it right over to the trash can, shut the lid and I swear that kid rolled his eyes. And on another occasion he tripped over his batman bucket, threw a bit of a fit and after I hugged on him and settled him down he went over to that batman bucket, opened the cupboard door where some of his toys are stored, threw it in and slammed the door closed walking away in a huff. Wait, is he trying to say I keep an unkempt household?

I just started taking him to tumbling class in The Dalles, which he absolutely loves. The uneven floor mats, trampolines, obstacle courses and beach balls are a safe alternative to the gopher traps, thorny blackberry bushes, chemicals, and machinery he gets to play with here on the orchard. Til next time...