Tears

A perfectly good game of chase ruined by a head-first fall onto the rocking chair. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Rand's first goose egg.

More words

Rand's vocabulary is just exploding. It's at the point now where I don't even count how many words he knows, because he tries to repeat everything we say. The only word he won't repeat is "please," because he signs it. I tell him to say please, and he rubs his hand over his chest. His cutest word is "banana" -- he says it "num-a-num."

Other things....when he's hungry, he goes to the fridge and bangs on it. He loves listening to music and dances by shaking his head and stamping his feet in place. He tries to grab our iPods every chance he gets. He rarely nurses to sleep anymore (I know, a bad habit, but it's almost broken now) and is very good about laying down quietly while mom or dad sings to him. He loves his blanket that Aunt Katie made for him and wants it on top of him to go to sleep. He likes to pull his bumble bee jacket out of the closet and wear it around the house, even when it's 85 degrees outside. He loves coloring and calls all crayons "yellow," but we're trying to teach him to right names. He can wriggle his nose like a rabbit, put his toys away, and puts his dirty clothes in the laundry basket. He says "cheese" when he gets his picture taken and he loves dirt, rocks, and water. He likes to eat the peanut butter and jelly but not the bread. He loves brushing his hair but hates having it cut. We sure like him.

Doggies

Rand loves to brush the dogs. He gets so annoyed when they keep moving around as he's trying to groom them. It's pretty funny to watch, and of course, the dogs are oblivious to his frustrations.

Plants are much better at staying still.

And are not his new crocs too cute for words?!

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

I somehow missed this photo when I browsed the pictures of our California trick. He's screaming with glee at the little battery-powered dinosaur meandering along the track.

It's raining, it's pouring!

Yesterday we had a major rainstorm: pouring rain, thunder, lightning, the works! It was pretty impressive. Rand was fascinated by the whole thing so we stood outside on our covered patio and watched the rain for a long time. When it started to die down, I decked Rand out in his bright yellow raincoat and let him go to town! He was apprehensive at first, but figured out pretty quickly how much fun it could be to walk through puddles.

And what better way to warm up than a nice hot bath with bubbles!

Hurry up, mom!

On Wednesday, Rand and I met Bella and her mom at a nearby park. Rand and Bella had a great time shoveling, sliding, and swinging. Melissa and I were having a nice chat when we look over, and our kids have decided that they're done and it's time to go home:

Nerf Gun + Grandpa = Awesome!

I apologize for the lack of updates recently -- it's been a busy couple of weeks as we've spent 13 of the last 20 days on our way to, from, or in California! This was one of the highlight of Rand's trip:

Rand had a great time playing with Aunt Margie and Uncle John, going to the beach, and playing at the park with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Fisher. He's getting very, very used to the car now -- no meltdowns at all, which made for a happy mom and dad.