Movin' on Up

Today after work I suggested to Gerrit that he ride his bike. Its been pretty rainy and cold lately so its been about a week since he last rode his bike. He jumped at the opportunity (surprise, surprise). After a few minutes he put his push bike back in the garage and came out PEDALING a trike! (he has 2 trikes - both hand me downs) How exciting is that? He has been saying for about a month now that he 'pedals at Julie's ' but when I ask him to pedal, he can't do it. He was pretty proud - a huge smile as he pedaled down the driveway. He was pretty excited to show dad his new trick too when he came home. He's not quite 2.5 and moving right along in his cycling skills. We may have a kid who can ride a 2 wheel bike but not be potty trained! (Let's hope not!)

Training Camp

This weekend we started a new training in our house - training Gerrit to sleep the whole night in his own bed! Yes, he was in the habit of of coming into bed with us at some point in the night. At first we didn't mind because it usually occurred around 5 am, but somehow it moved earlier and earlier. It was easier to let him sleep with us then deal with his crying and he usually slept well between us. Then we'd be reminded when he'd sleep perpendicular to us and either shove his head into my head or kick me, depending which way he was laying. We knew we had to break him of this habit but were too lazy to do anything about it, until this past weekend. My parents come this coming weekend and Adam and I are going away for a few days so we knew he had to be sleeping in his own bed before we left him - imagine him coming in and seeing no one in bed??

Anyways, Friday night was night one of training camp - not the best timing as Adam was dealing with a cold/flu and I was just getting it! With Adam on the couch, I dealt with Gerrit crying for about an hour from 12-1am and then again from 3-4am. Yikes. (Adam says he heard him via the monitor but I'm not buying it that he was up the whole time like I was!) I felt so bad for Gerrit, gating him in his room and telling him to go back to bed. Man, it would've been so easy to just let him in bed with me and we could all get a good night's sleep! Sat. night wasn't much better. At least Adam was back in our bed so I felt like he heard the crying as much as I did. Sunday night was great - only a few minutes of crying and he was back in his own bed! Here's hoping he sleeps the whole night tonight!

Growing Pains

Changing of the seasons is an adjustment, especially when it comes to changing out the wardrobe. I struggle daily to find pants that are long enough for Gerrit. My judgment as to what will fit is a bit off these days; I guess I'm not ready to believe he is getting older!

Left: these jeans are long enough, they just don't stay up!
Right: yep, ankle length overalls - he wouldn't let me change his pants when I realized they were way too short (I was a bit embarrassed to drop him off at daycare that day!)

Sunday he wore khakis and those too were too short, today it was another pair of overalls! So much for my big stock of pants for him this winter; it is getting depleted every day! :) (Don't get me wrong, he still has plenty thanks to hand me downs from his cousin.)

Sports Fan

Gerrit is obsessed with sports (is he his mother's son or what?). It's not just Sport's Center either that he is into:



Left: he insisted his jeans be rolled up above his knees - we figured he wanted his pants to look like a real football players pants???
Middle: Sat. morning donut (in his special eat in front of the TV chair) watching College Game Day on ESPN - football starts early at our house!
Right: sitting on the couch watching the Twins - yes, he often needs his glove and ball in hand during baseball. (The glove and ball are hand me downs from a kid that is in college now - its the old school velcro ball that looks more like an egg and barely sticks to the glove which is made out of plastic and some of the laces are missing so you can't grip a ball well, but he loves them)

Wisconsin

Last weekend we headed to Madison for a big bike race. Adam raced on Sat and Sun and did well for his first race of the season. He really wanted to go to see the professionals that came for the race too. Unfortunately, Gerrit and I were at the hotel napping during the pro's so we missed seeing their race. It was a fun family weekend for us. A few pictures from the weekend:

Adam at the barriers, a staple in cyclocross

Relaxing in the hot tub after the races and dinner

I realized I'm missing some pictures...Adam downloaded the camera on the desktop before I had a chance to download them on my lap top...hmmm I'll have to hunt those down as there were a few good ones! It was hard to watch the races and keep Gerrit from riding his bike on the course as he was so excited to see all the bikes and think that he was old enough to compete! 7 more years and he will be old enough...scary!

Creative and Obsessed

Gerrit's obsession is still football, but now he wants to watch Sports Center all the time. Luckily when he asks for it, it is usually on. Photo in top left is Gerrit chillin' and watching SC.

Bottom left is a creation by Gerrit. He found his Mr. Potato Head...
Center: Gerrit insisting on eating oatmeal on the potty. I allowed him to eat his oatmeal there once during the potty training attempt b/c it was taking him soo long to go! This picture was taken around dinner time...pre dinner snack I guess.

Right photos are of course football ones. The top one is of tackling daddy which he always asks to do, the bottom 2 are of his great football skills: holding the ball and getting ready to hike it.

Tears...

of JOY

and of WONDER...

Sunday afternoon Adam worked with a friend to fine tune his barrier technique and Gerrit was able to go along. Gerrit had his own barrier at his level that he could practice on too.

Saturday Gerrit enjoyed trying on high heel shoes! It was too funny not to get a picture of it - he looked really good in the lime green heels, I just wasn't fast enough with the camera. We took a break from the garage sale to watch Luke's flag football game. Gerrit was hoping it was tackle and that he could play. Seeing he couldn't, he decided to play 'tackle' with the pylon instead.