Reading

Simon has really enjoyed his books lately, particularly his "big books." The small board books are old news now. In these pictures he's reading his "color book." He even climbed in to the glider all by himself to read it!

Daredevil

I probably shouldn't have let him do this, but... all worked out well and he had fun!

Daredevil from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Dirt and rain

Simon really loves to be outside. All the time. No matter what. It's a fight to get him in the house after going "ow-dat", or to get him in the house after getting home without letting him run around outdoors first. We've been showing him some Sesame Street videos online lately - perhaps he's taking this one to heart?

Anyway, here are some pictures and video from time spent outside this past weekend, even though it was cold and rainy. He got extremely dirty but had a blast. (And I figured out how to make the videos much bigger even when taken from my phone - but apparently you need to actually go to the Vimeo site to view the big versions. Link is below the movie.)

Rain and dirt from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Mother's Day at the park

On Mother's Day, Troy unfortunately had to go out of town, leaving early in the morning. But it meant I got to spend all day with the little one who made me a mommy! It was a pretty nice day and we went to the park. Photos and a video below.

I pulled Simon to the park in his wagon, which he LOVES. He also got to have a snack:

He had fun sliding:

And picking dandelions:

And swinging:

And working on jumping! Which so far is just throwing his arms enthusiastically in the air and then taking a big step forward. So cute:

Trying to jump from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

For those who don't speak Simon, I will translate what he's saying in the second half of the video: "Bee bah-boo, bee bah-boo" = "big booger". Apparently he had something to wipe off his nose. He has since improved his pronunciation of the latter word. "Ah-geen" = "again," when he steps up again (it's heard to hear this one.) Then "Dah. Dah. Dah. Dah. Dah. Dah." This is what he says when he doesn't know what the word for something is. I'm not sure what he was pointing at. Then finally, "Pee, pee, pee, pee" = "play". Hoping he'll improve his pronunciation here soon too. No idea why he thought walking along there would be "playing", but I guess he was having fun.

Easter weekend

I might be caught up soon. :) Here are photos from Easter weekend with the Rybas in Illinois!

Opening his Easter basket:

Coloring Easter eggs with Daddy, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Barb:


Excited about making a mess:


Grandma Barb to the rescue - getting the dye off his hands by filling the play table with water!

Hunting for Easter eggs:

Loving the "grass" in his basket:


Beautiful tulips!


Investigating the yard with Teuer:


And his new travel bed! It's an air mattress with raised sides so he doesn't roll out. He's outgrown the Pack-N-Play so this was a great solution and we all actually got some sleep!

Random bits

1. Part of our evening routine is that Simon gets a "tubby" every night. Whether he actually needs one every night is debatable, but it's become part of the routine and he really loves it. Lately, though, it has become very important to drain all of the water BEFORE taking him out of the tubby. He was having fits at the end of tubby time every night, until I started draining all of the water first. Now he still sometimes protests, but at least seems to understand that the water being "ah gone" means that tubby time is over.

2. He knows all of his colors, though he still won't say "orange" or "yellow." He'll point to them if you ask him to point to something orange or yellow, but doesn't want to say them yet. He does say wed, geen, boo, puh-boo, back, bown, white and peek (pink). Purple was his original favorite, but lately he seems like geen and bown the best.

3. He can say one and two, and understands their meanings. For example, he'll show you that he has two grapes ("two geep!"), and then he'll put one in his mouth and hold up the remaining one and say "one". Yesterday we saw two school buses when we were stopped at a traffic light, and he said "two bus!" He doesn't yet understand any number higher than two, though he will say three if asked.

4. I'm amazed at some of the concepts he picks up on. One day I used the word "heavy" to describe something, and he's since demonstrated that he totally gets what "heavy" means and he uses it in its proper context. Also, he seems to have no problem with the fact that "on" and "off" each mean two different things - as in turning something like a light or a toy on and off, or putting an object on a table or taking it off. He also knows verbs such as eating ("eee-ding"), sleeping (hee-bing") and cooking. He's also starting to pick up on plurals, and the use of "s" at the end of something indicating possession (pointing to my shoes or my bag and saying "Mommy's!")

5. Simon's first three-word sentence: "Bye-bye gabah gak." (Bye-bye garbage truck)

6. Cookie Monster may have replaced Elmo as his favorite Sesame Street character ("Cooo-kee!"). He can also identify Big Bird ("Bee Boo"), Oscar ("Ok-ah"), Ernie ("Eee-nee"), Grover ("goo-vah") and Abby. We have shown him many of the "Classic" Sesame Street clips on YouTube and he loves them. We also got the 3-CD set called "Sesame Street Old School" for Christmas, and he loves listening to them in the car.

Beach video

One more post about our Florida vacation - beach video!

At the beach from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

He liked splashing in the ocean, and as seen in the photos, loved when we would hold him and carry him out into the waves so they could crash against us. But he also really liked the sand. He spent quite a bit of time just walking up and down the little hill on the beach, and also requesting that we bring him buckets of water so he could dump them out. "Mo wad-uh, mo wad-uh" was a constant refrain!