New Year, New Hobby

Climbing is the new thing. Plus, when the stairway is blocked, what else is he supposed to do?

And new favorite shoes! They're shaped like the Wiggles' Big Red Car, and look enormously silly.

(I don't mean to feature the staircase, just a coincidence.)

The last two weeks have been one impressive vocabulary-building session. A new partial dictionary:

- Shoe - Any shoe, but especially ones that are big and red and have wheels.

- Haa - Anything that can be put on the head. A hat, a shoe, a sippy cup.

- Ow - A bird that says "Who?"

- Taw - A shape with 5 points - often seen in the sky or the ocean.

- Puh-puh - A color. Looks blue to me.

- Nana - SA's first food word! He looked with disgust at a chicken noodle dish I offered this evening, pointed to the fruit bowl and said "Nana!" So I gave him one.

Christmas! Part 2

The Christmas roundup continues:



A new cousin!







A visit to Santa - I have to admit, SA was not totally thrilled to sit on Santa's lap.








But the old guy pulled through anyway:

Two balls!

Choo choo! I'd heard that Thomas and Friends were pretty much royalty among the toddler set - definitely true here.

SA went for several short walks around the neighborhood with Poppa. Apparently, puddles are for splashing.

They're never too young to get them out on the ice, eh?

Christmas! Part 1

Better late than never - holiday photos! We three went up to Kingston, Ontario to spend Christmas with RB's family - some highlights:

SA flew like a champ this time around - he's finally started enjoying looking at the pictures in books and magazines. The Sky Mall provided much enjoyment.

We were met at the airport by RB's parents.

We spent a magical half hour in the basement of one of RB's college friends - his boys were at school, but Oh! the toys!

RB and his dad:

A little father-son duet:

The decorations were mesmerizing - these penguins and snowman sang and danced and rang bells, and SA was entranced. And the tree ornaments were too high to be exciting, but the lights!

We think this old horse belonged to SAs great grandmother, maybe? It was a hazard - every time he tried to ride it he ended up on his head. Naturally, it was the toy he had to drag everywhere he went, including several lengthy sessions of trying to ride it on the hearth.

Obviously one important aspect of the holiday season is dressing up in festive clothing - specifically hats. We wore many hats.

Belated Happy New Year! More photos to come...