Two point Five

My attempt at setting up a family pic from a windowsill in Leavenworth, WA

Yes, that is gorilla tape. No washer means no cloth diapers, which means getting every last bit of mileage out of those Huggies. They ripped from top to bottom when I went to secure the tab, cheap!

Now someone looks like his daddy. Minus the washboards in center field.

Thank you Grandma for this awesome snowsuit find.

It's a Corona Christmas 'round these parts.

Koen is 2 1/2 now which means a lot of things in our world. It means...

• Graduating from the nursery at church
• Speaking eloquently at times, yet indulging in his own made up language because it still sounds cool
• Playing intently by himself leaving plenty of time for me to relax or get things done
• It means being able to tell me exactly what hurts and why
• Readiness to potty train if only I could remember to put him on the toilet and let the magic happen
• It means hearing a faint "Bless you, Mama" coming from the kitchen after he's heard me sneeze in the bathroom
• Giving me the tightest hug and kiss on the cheek in appreciation for taking him swimming in a hotel pool, or rewarding his good behaviors with one tiny chocolate chip, or letting him watch Curious George during our one-hour drive to Portland
• It means he still has an appreciation for Elmo, but is welcoming Thomas the Train and Land Before Time into his life
• It means he's strong enough to damage his parents when he gets a wave of energy
• He can tell us he's sorry and mean it to avoid a dreaded one-way ticket to time out
• It means he's gentle to all animals while I'm watching
• Recognizing inconsistencies like "Mama's wearing a bra, but noooo bras for Koen"
• It means 2 1/2 years of pure blessing that we are lucky enough to have him in our lives

Our new roommate

We've officially moved our little man into our bedroom because as of today the water heater has been ripped out of Koen's closet and tomorrow begins demo of his entire bedroom, the bathroom and laundry room which share his walls. Poop. That means no hot water for who knows how long. Thank goodness we have family five miles away, because I'd hate to knock on the neighbor's door and ask if we could shower, do our laundry and wash our dishes. Lately Koen has been a little on edge when it comes to change so we'll see how he handles this relocation. (example: recent freak-out when I placed a stuffed animal in his bed that belonged on the floor next to his changing table).

Family photo ops

Time for family photos, which I'm terrible about doing each year. So this afternoon I decided to kick Dad off football and kid off Elmo and we headed down to the horse barn to make the magic happen. The big smiles show me that, although unenthusiastic to begin with, my boys ended up having a fairly good time... mostly because they enjoyed watching me dance around like a monkey for giggles. And I'm one step ahead on Christmas cards this year. Woohoo!

Fall is upon us

Last days of summer and the hose/sprinkler obsession

Our neighbors happen to own a pumpkin patch. What a special surprise!

I think he likes it!

When it's pouring outside you go camping.

Koen and I are definitely housebound today with rain coming down in solid sheets outside. We've done it all - play in the sink, puzzles, wrestle, tackle house chores together, and camping indoors which proved to be a huge success.

I glanced back at older pictures of this little man and I can't believe how much he's changed in such a short period of time. He's getting so tall and strong and independent these days. He's been in his big boy bed for some time and handled the change easily. We took the front off the crib and put a mattress guard up so it's safer for him to get in and out. No longer do I get to wake up slowly while he waits for me to come get him. He bounces out of a dead sleep with no transition whatsoever then comes and jumps on my face. "Mama outside". I'll ask him to cuddle and sometimes I'll get two minutes then he loses patience.

He's fascinated with how things work and spends most of his time breaking things then trying to put them back together. I'm slightly happy the weather is turning because we can give the sprinklers and fans a break - his longest-lasting obsession. All in all this kid is as easy as it gets and I must remind myself that when I'm close to losing my temper. He can be directed out of a meltdown or doing something naughty quite easily if I am patient and take my time with him. Love this kid more and more each day.

Laugh in a box

My trial run at adding video to the ol' blog

Banged up and still smiling!

Our Koen is two!! We had a wonderful Thomas the Train themed birthday party for our little man on Sunday, June 2nd. He ate delectable chocolate cupcakes, burgers, brats and even sauerkraut like a champ. We invited a few toddler friends and they all did their best to enjoy each other's company. It was a success and Koen was showered with love, adoration and fun new toys from friends and family in celebration of his big day.

The very minute Koen turned two we noticed an edge to his personality, you might say a bipolar disposition, laced with super-charged sensitivity. This is all so new to me and I'm torn on whether to ignore it or console it. Part of this could be that he's missing his dad who is gone for three weeks at AT training in Idaho, part of it could be overstimulation from traveling and exposure to a lot of people in the last two weeks, and part of it could simply be growing pains.

Koen is proudly reciting the alphabet with very little help and recognizes many of the letters in every day words. Lately I find him counting on his fingers and counting objects around the house. I've discovered that he easily counts to 14 on his own and I must admit that most, if not all of the credit goes to Elmo DVDs rented from our local library. Shapes and colors have been mastered for quite some time, while language development is more slow paced and entertaining to boot. I'm picking up on a more developed sense of danger; he's more cautious when it comes to certain activities that were easy going for him in the past and loud noises and fast motions make him go into panic mode. His two major obsessions still include things that spin and pushing anything and everything that has wheels, even if it comes with a kid riding on top. All in all, it's an amazing journey to watch his individual development and I just don't want to forget any of it.

I finally decided to attempt another hair cut after catching him squinting as a result of his bangs scratching his eyes out, and it turned out way better than expected. Elmo kept him occupied and I was able to cut two inches. Now he looks even older than before.

As for the picture, we took a walk to the playground today and he was happily pushing a cheap plastic loader truck along the sidewalk when the edge of the bucket caught on a crack and his momentum threw him face first into the cement. He handled it quite well only crying for a minute; now he proudly wears an "Adolf" blood-stache, cut lip and purple goose egg on his forehead. It's tough being a boy.

OMG a post that isn't all about our son!

Cheese! Thanks to Koen's beautiful cousin Lindsey I was able to escape for the morning and experiment with milk, tartaric acid and vinegar. We made queso blanco, lemon cheese, and mascarpone. Who knew making this delicious stuff was so dang easy. Heat milk, add acid, and drain. Next time I will add salt, but I was very happy with the outcome. Thank you Aunt Sue for the tutorial!

Like father, like son.

Koen and Dad watching Baby Einstein

Our little guy is emulating his father more and more each day from engine noises to laughing hysterically at the sounds coming from his posterior. We also have a champion noise picker; at least he's not eating them yet. As he swiftly approaches two years of age we're seeing a boy that's changing before our eyes. An ever expanding vocabulary is keeping us on our toes, he's catching real air when he leaps off the floor and now sticks the landing while flinging his hands in the air and puffing out his chest... Daddy's little football player or do we have a gymnast on our hands? He's so very aware that Mama has "boops" while he does not, ironic because mine are barely visible. He is also very affectionate, giving lots of hugs and kisses to everyone including our pets. I'm not sure where he got this, but he routinely gives close family members a kiss on each cheek then plants one on the lips; there are two rounds of this before he's done. We also have a demanding back seat driver. Now that we've flipped his seat around he expresses major disfavor when we pull into our driveway or pass the playground without letting him out to play. He's very compassionate when it comes to crying babies, usually saying "uh oh", then signing "hurt" or "sad". Today at lunch we sang and swayed together in our seats. I sang my own lyrics of "I'm with a crazy boy" and Koen repeated in singsong voice, "boppy, boppy, boppy." All in all, we are enjoying this time more than anything. I'm soaking in the last couple weeks of having a one year old, but excited for what the next stage brings. My goal, the not so terrible twos.

Fun day to rough day

One of Koen's favorite activities is playing in the sink. He drags the chair from the dining room, removes all kitchen rugs (even the ones located well beyond his path), and prepares to get everything soaked. I find it hilarious that he took the time to put on his rain boots for this particular play session. Wouldn't want those feet to get wet:) Ah, silly boy.

And just when our good day was going so well...

Every afternoon we head down to feed the horses and unfortunately Koen was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He took a hoof to the side of the head and I could literally hear my heart shatter. Of course I thought worst case scenario, that his head had been kicked right in. My first instinct was to panic and dial 911, then after I took a couple seconds to gather my thoughts decided to run him up to the house to assess the damage with Justin. God was watching out for us because the only impairment was a half-inch split in his outer ear cartilage and some swelling and bruising. His head was unfazed. I do not know if I will survive parenthood, especially knowing this will most likely be one of many scary accidents to come.

Around the house

Is he carrying a... wait is that a... chicken?

Why yes.

We finally get to make a (controlled) MESS!

Tong drop

So I'm way over a month late on posting updates to this blog so I'll pick up where I left off-ish. Here is Koen at 21 months doing things he loves to do. That includes helping me haul our free-range chickens back to their coop. Unfortunately, my desire to let our chickens roam around in their natural environment has decreased our brood from six to two. Dang those coyotes. We recently picked up seven more chicks, so we'll see how our new Buff Orpingtons fare. Perhaps they're destined to coop life, which makes me sad.

Next we have a contained unit where Koen is free to experiment with flour, water, and green-dyed sugar using varying types of containers and tools. This has kept him busy for many seconds, freeing me up to focus on housework.

And this game of tong toy pick-up was only interesting for awhile. He was able to master the bucket drop in less than two minutes, so apparently it became boring to him. You can see he's even trying it with his eyes closed as if to make it more challenging and exciting. Okay, we'll bucket-drop that one from the list. Or maybe start this game earlier with our next child.

Craftivity

When the weather stinks and Mom and 21 month old are house-bound it's time to get crafty. So we're eating a variety of cereals out of a muffin tin, and sticking shredded paper onto self laminating sheets I had stuck in a drawer never to be used (this idea was inspired from Pinterest). It actually turned into a nice piece of avante garde artwork that I think I'll keep on my fridge for awhile. Koen also experimented with picking blocks up with tongs and dropping them into my cowboy boots, dropping coins into slots on an egg carton, and putting on my make-up. That one wasn't planned and I'm kicking myself for not taking the picture.

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.