The hard way

Simon has decided that it's much more interesting to go up the slide backwards. He gets very frustrated if he's wearing socks or his footy pajamas, as it only works well when he's barefoot!

The hard way from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

This was taken when Grandpa Tom was in town for a few days to watch Simon while daycare was closed. He even stayed an extra day so Troy and I could go out to celebrate our anniversary. Thanks Grandpa Tom!

Apples and pumpkins

Yesterday we had a lot of fun visiting an apple orchard / pumpkin patch just about five minutes from our house. They also had a really great play area for kids! Simon was a bit too small for all the bouncy balls:

But had fun digging in the sandbox:

And was of course very excited to climb the ladder and go down the big slide:

Grandpa helped him get started, but after that he went down by himself! (No photo as I had to catch him - it was a pretty long slide!)


Then it was time to hop in a wagon and head to the pumpkin patch and the apple orchard:


Simon chose his own pumpkin. He took his choice very seriously:


He took his pumpkin with him while we picked lots and lots of apples:


At the end when we were going to check out, he decided it was his turn to push the wagon:


And on the way out we got to look at hens & roosters!

Applesauce

Simon's starting to get pretty good at feeding himself with a spoon. Here he is eating applesauce. (He had quite the audience for this event - they're very quiet in the background, but the Blockis were there!)

Applesauce from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Stacking

Simon has always really loved these blocks, but now he's getting really good at stacking them. He only gets his towers up to six high in this video, but since then we've seen him get up to eight!

Blocks from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Playground

Simon and I went to the playground this weekend, and he had lots of fun! He enjoyed grabbing the fence and making it rattle:

And swinging:


And he can now climb up the stairs to the smallest slide, and go down all by himself. He did this at least ten times in a row!

Playing outside

Simon loves to play outside! Here he is in our front yard.







He's a very busy boy!

Bye-bye, baby curls

So we finally got Simon's hair cut this past weekend. Thankfully Aunt Biz came with us, because Simon wasn't so fond of sitting in one of the "truck" chairs at the kids hair place, and preferred to sit on my lap. So she was able to take lots of pictures!













Simon was a wonderfully good boy throughout the whole process. At the end, he got to pick out a "prize" from a drawer. He wanted ALL of them, but in the end settled on a green elephant.


He looks SO much less like a baby and more like a little boy now. And he also looks even more like Troy, if you can believe it!

Words and sliding

Simon is almost always babbling. He "talks" a LOT, and makes a lot of different kinds of sounds. But as of yet he hasn't said anything really recognizable. He does seem to make the "ma ma ma" sound directed toward me sometimes, and he'll say "da da da" around Troy sometimes. And sometimes he'll say "dee" while pointing at one of the kitties. But all of this is just "sometimes."

He is, however, definitely recognizing and responding to words. That is evidenced in this video, in which he takes off for his slide when I mentioned it. (He did subsequently ignore my suggestion that he then play with his blocks, as the slide was just too much fun!)

More sliding from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

He's also getting quite daring on his slide and has taken a few mini-tumbles like the one he took on his first run down in the video. But he seems to take it all in stride!

A blustery day

It was feeling a lot like fall last week! Simon insists on going outside to play whenever he can now. He seemed a bit pensive on one very blustery day last week, though...

Playing on the bed

One of Simon's favorite new spots to play is on our bed. Almost any time he's in our bedroom, he'll go up to the side of the bed and reach his arms up, begging to get up. Then he'll "fall down" on the pillows, and roll around being silly.

Double-fisting

Labor Day weekend

While Troy had a fun weekend with some friends in Chicago, Simon and I went to Gilbert Lake. Despite the fact that he didn't have an afternoon nap before we left, he only fell asleep for the last 15 minutes of the trip:


It was a cool weekend, so we didn't do any swimming, but we did play a LOT with sticks and dirt. (The hat was to keep the dirt off his head - he kept picking up handfuls and throwing it.)



Grandpa Tom also put up a swing for Simon! He insisted that Grandma Karen try it out first to make sure all was secure:


Simon liked it, after taking a little while to get used to it!