More walking

Simon got to do some more walking at the Lake last weekend. This walker toy used to belong to Emily & William. Still works just great! :)

More walking from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Beach ball

At the lake this past weekend, Simon had a lot of fun playing with a beach ball. We didn't inflate it all the way, so that he'd be able to grab it easily. It was a fun toy inside and out on the deck!

Beach ball from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Walking some more

When we were at Eliza's house, she was kind enough to share her big toy truck with Simon. He immediately took off with it and had a blast pushing it around everywhere! (Thanks to Eliza's parents for the video!)

Walking from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Madison and strawberries

It seems as though I'm a week behind in posting photos. Will try to catch up this week!

Last weekend we drove to Madison on Saturday. First we met up with Langdon, Anna and Eliza (see "Baby Babbling" under "Other Cool People" below on the right!) and went to the Sun Prairie strawberry festival. There was lots of grass for Simon to play in:


There was also a wonderful playground, where Eliza did lots of playing. Simon also got to have his first time in a swing! Not sure if Simon or his daddy had more fun:



Then we went back to Eliza's apartment, where we had some delicious lunch and both kids took naps while the grown-ups played some Settlers of Catan. When the kids got up we got a photo of the grown up LBTs and the little LBTs. (lLBTs?) (LBT = lanthanide binding tags, the project Langdon and I worked on in the Imperiali lab at MIT)


Then it was on to Jess's house for her birthday BBQ, where we saw the Thompsons and the Carlsons. Unfortunately, we failed to take any photos there. (Admittedly, half of the photos above were kindly provided by Langdon & Anna.) But we had lots of fun!

Then we headed home, with one very tired little boy in tow:


And we brought home some wonderful strawberries! (Whenever I have fresh summer strawberries, I wonder why on earth I ever buy them from the grocery store during the rest of the year...)

Getting his groove on

Of all the recent videos, this one is my favorite. Just too cute. No clue where he picked this up - he just started dancing one day! I love how he clearly knows how to turn the music on, but can't quite figure out why it keeps stopping early.

Dancing from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Stairs

Final video from Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tom's - there's a set of two stairs from the kitchen to the living area that Simon enjoyed learning to go up and down. (No worries - we're now teaching him how to go down the stairs properly (ie. backwards).)

Stairs from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

New games

Simon also discovered some fun games to play at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tom's.

New games from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Pancakes

I think Simon's new favorite food is pancakes. Here he is in his new portable high chair, at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tom's house, enjoying some! (There's just a hint of him showing his way of asking for more at the end - a little bop up and down in the seat.)

Pancakes from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Catching up

Sorry for the lack of posts - life got very busy recently. We bought a house! It's in Cedarburg, which is about 20 miles north of Milwaukee. After looking at over eighty houses between the two of us, we're really, really happy to have found this one. We've had our inspection and all went well, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that things work out. We should close on July 23.

In the meantime, we had a very quick whirlwind trip to the Twin Cities the weekend before this last one. I'm sorry to those of you we didn't get to see - it was a really short visit and there were too many family events. But it was wonderful to finally have Simon in MN! He was especially thrilled to finally meet Sarah, Eric, Emily and William.

A few photos: one of him in his new portable high chair (thanks Grandpa Tom and Grandma Karen!), one of him playing with Emily, and one with Aunt Biz, Emily, and Emily & William's new puppy Buster - the last one was taken at William's baseball game. (Which his team won - hooray!)

The little things

Once again, Simon demonstrated why "fancy" toys are not necessary by having a blast with a cardboard tube from a paper towel roll:

Crawling

I realize this may be less impressive on the heels of the "walking" video, but for those who have followed Simon's progress and have seen how he's done his "army crawl" for so long, this is a pretty cool development too!

Crawling from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Walking!

Well, sort of. Simon has started taking some steps sideways while propped up on things - like the windowsill! It helps if you bait him with a favorite toy, like the camera strap, or some paper bowls.... It's pretty cute to watch, if we do say so ourselves.

"Walking" from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

More laundry

Simon still enjoys "helping" with the laundry. Now that he can pull himself up, he's even better at getting in the basket and getting everything out!

More laundry from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Strawberries

Simon really likes strawberries! But they aren't easy to pick up and get from the tray to his mouth....

Strawberries from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Photo backlog

Here's a few random photos from the past few weeks:

Snuggle time with Daddy:


Curly hair!


And a fun "real" new toy - a table to pull up on and play with! He takes his play time very seriously, as you can see.

New toy

Simon got a new toy last week... honestly, what could be more fun than a BOX?

New toy from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Memorial Day weekend

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend in Princeton, IL visiting Simon's Aunt Sonnie, Uncle Scott, and cousins Elise & Allison!

Simon got to go for wagon rides:

And play in the yard:


And play in the fountain with daddy and his great-aunt Marlene (he LOVED the fountain):

And take baths in the brand-new sink in the brand-new finished basement:


And listen to Uncle Scott make silly duck noises:

And go for yet more wagon rides with Elise and Alli:


Thanks for a super-fun time!