Shoes and Smarts

One of Gerrit's latest loves is shoes. He loves to wear his crocks in particular. He usually can get one shoe on and brings us the other shoe to put on for him. We normally take his shoes off when we get in the house because its easier for him to move on the hardwood barefoot (his sandals are slippery). When playing, if our shoes are laying around, he often carries them around and here he is putting my sandals on. I think most kids have a picture of them wearing shoes that are way too big so now Gerrit has his too - I should get a picture of him wearing Adam's shoes, I mean canoes!
I was at it again using my smarts! Gerrit has figured out his way through the barricades of chairs we've been using at the bottom of the basement steps. So I had to come up with another plan.

The chairs aren't necessary anymore, they just haven't been put away yet. Since using my smarts and outsmarting Gerrit yesterday, he has thrown a wrench into my great idea! He now likes to try and climb the gate. In fact today after church, he fell attempting to climb over the gate. We shall see if my 'smarts' are really smart enough for him!

Mac and Cheese Please!

With Adam not home for dinner (traveling for work), we had a casual dinner. I didn't feel like making much so tonight was Mac and Cheese, can you tell?

I made a single serving pack and if I told you he ate most of it, you'd say ya right - 1/2 is on his face! True, but he did eat most of it and left a few for a snack later tonight! If you look close you'll see a noodle stuck on his cheek. He does eat quite well and tries hard to use his fork. He realizes it is faster to use his hands so by the end of the meal, the fork is usually on the ground.

Following dinner we went to see Paul's football scrimmage with Luke and Anne. It gave us something to do seeing Adam wasn't due back till 8ish. (He put on 1400 miles this week! ) Gerrit didn't know what to think of the boys in their pads and helmets but enjoyed running on the field! I got him off before he could get tackled by the players, don't worry. It was fun to watch 6th grade boys play football with only a week of practice so far. It could be Gerrit out there someday... Personally, I'm hoping for soccer as his fall sport because it has a bit less contact but we shall see!

Shoe Mystery

I don't know about you but when I see a lonely shoe on the side of the road I always wonder how that can happen. Logic says that you would notice if one of the 2 shoes you were wearing would become missing but it seems like we often see only 1 shoe, not both. But after this morning I think I understand how this can happen. There must be 16 month old shoe fetish children that like to carry one shoe around and the drop it when something more interesting comes along. Case in point:

That was what I saw this morning when we came down for breakfast. Where are their mates you ask? The boot is on the step and tennis shoe in his bedroom!

The next photo explains what happens when you have become one of those people who have lost a shoe on the side of the road. (He's crying b/c I wouldn't pick him up - I had to get the photo!)

Busy Monday

It was my first official day back to school. Adam is out of town one more night so it was just Gerrit and I after work. I worked my part time hours today (workshop week things are a bit flexible) so I was home by 3:30. We headed to the pool and met our friends Nikki and her 2 kids, Abby and Olivia. From there we headed home for some dinner. Being just the 2 of us, I decided it was a good night for Belgian waffles! Gerrit was so cute eating his waffle and trying to use his fork, I had to capture the moment. No, the camera usually not in the dining room, but it happened to be in the living room from having it at the pool. Anyways, here are a few photos from dinner:


I got a good laugh out of dinner tonight. Watching him use his fork to get the entire quarter of that waffle up to his mouth took some talent! He ended up eating 1/2 a Belgian waffle which shocked me! I don't know where the kid stores it - he can barely keep his pants on!

Following dinner we were invited to do 'chase' to Northfield. Even though Adam wasn't home or riding tonight, Gerrit and I went along with Anne and Luke to get 3 of the guys in Northfield. We always stop at this little bar for some snacks on the deck and then head home. While we were waiting for Anne to pick us up, we played outside a bit. Gerrit ran into the garage and headed right for the tricycle. This was passed down to him from Dahlen's, so we are storing it until Gerrit is big enough to ride it. Well, he thinks he's big enough for it:


My back gets quite sore as I have to push him seeing he can't reach the pedals yet! He knows how to hang on quite well without anyone telling him what to do. Guess all those times watching Dad ride his bike has paid off!

Ya, he's sporting his new crocks. I know his outfit is pretty hideous looking but I figured as cool as our nights have been he should have pants on so I grabbed his knit pants. I didn't think his sandals would look good with these pants and didn't want him to wear his new tennies so I put socks on and then the crocks (plus they are so darn cute!). And I was too lazy to change his shirt. Thus, the odd looking outfit!

Side note: while in Northfield, Gerrit decided to 'season' the pitcher of beer - with his sock! He was sitting on dentist Dave's lap and had managed to get his shoe off and was working on getting the sock off too. He got his sock off and once he has something in his hand, he usually throws it - well, this was no different. He threw it across the table and it landed in the pitcher of beer! So we had a good laugh at that and how the taste of the beer was altered by Gerrit's sock. Good thing we are good friends and they didn't mind - I did tell them that it was a clean sock at least!

We look forward to having Adam home (he's only gone 2 nights) tomorrow and there are no guarantees that tomorrow will be as eventful as tonight either.

Some New Firsts

Its not always easy to catch Gerrit doing something new with a camera so I'll just update you on what he's up to for which I don't have pictures of...

1. Discovered how much fun his rocking chair can be...He loves to sit in it and rock back and forth. This is the rocking chair that was his grandma Marcy's when she was a child.

2. Let me brush his teeth! We have tried brushing Gerrit's 8 teeth but he would laugh at the funny feeling it made until tonight. I was able to get him to lay on my bed and had baby toothpaste on his toothbrush and he laid there while I was able to get to all 8 teeth for once! (Dentist Dave will be happy!)

3. Can fit into his crocks I bought him earlier this summer and walks in them fairly well (for being a hard soled shoe which he's not use to).

A Little Alone Time

Adam spent a lot of time with Gerrit today which was great for both of them. I was busy with the BBQ (and relaxing by the pool) and Adam watched Gerrit. At one point I looked up and saw this:


It was too precious of a picture I had to capture! How sweet to see Dad and son watching the sailboats on the lake. (Adam later told me he was telling Gerrit how much work needed to be done on the lake - a lot of pollution in that water!)

After arriving home late afternoon, Gerrit was still tired (2, 1/2 hr naps to and from just didn't seem like enough of a nap!). He rarely snuggles with us these days but today I was able to get some precious snuggle time.

Besides being a fun day with friends, it was a great day for each of us to have some 'alone time' with Gerrit.

Just Like Max

Today I thought I was living in the year 2000...watching my nephew Max (age 2) isolate himself from others 'doing his business' but it wasn't Max I was looking at, it was Gerrit! (Sorry Max for bringing this up!)

We were at Lake Pepin for a baptism BBQ/pool party in honor of the 2 newest additions to Team Beat when this picture was taken:


My goal here was to get Gerrit ready to go swimming but he had other plans in mind. I looked up and he had ran into the sun room to hide and 'take care of business'. He was deeply concentrating and his face showed it! Max use to do this and now I see Gerrit has started that phase of life too....it made me smile and brought back great memories of watching Max grow up. We love you Max and miss you!

Happy Birthday!

I have learned recently that the car makes for a great 'play pen' for Gerrit. I put Gerrit in the car but let him 'roam' while I load it. He loves to push the radio buttons and play with the keys. I just leave the windows open and he goes to town.

For Adam's birthday he wanted to go for a ride (surprised?). He came home early and due to the high winds, he chose a destination ride to Red Wing. Gerrit and I met him at Fiesta Mex, our typical destination dinner spot. Tonight I left him with Adam as I ran into the restaurant to go to the bathroom. When I came out to the car to help carry things in for dinner, this is what I saw:

How sweet to see Gerrit 'helping' Adam take care of his bike stuff! What a great birthday gift. We finished the birthday evening with dessert and drinks at Dahlen's [celebrating Adam and Paul's birthday (Paul turned 11 on the 19th and is SO similar to Adam!)]. We didn't get home til almost 9:30 and Gerrit went right down - no crying tonight! Maybe we've turned the corner - or he's being nice to his dad seeing its his birthday.

Boots

This is how our day started yesterday....

Until after nap time I decided to try on Max's winter boots to see if they will fit Gerrit this year. Little did I know Gerrit would become quite interested in these boots!

He ate wearing the boots*...

Played basketball wearing the boots*...

"Modeled"wearing the boots*....

Showed off his toosh wearing the boots*...

Practiced walking as if a model on the runway wearing the boots*...

I thought after a good nights sleep he'd forget about the boots, oh no...today wearing the boots:

I guess I'll take days when he wants to wear his boot over days when he wants to tear into a cupboard!

*NOTE: Gerrit normally does not walk around the house 1/2 dressed. I tried his boots on after a diaper change and couldn't get the kid to let me take the boots off to put his shorts back on. I figured it wasn't worth the battle at that point.

Slam Dunk

I forgot I had tried video taping Gerrit Sunday with his new hoop. Our camera allows for a 20 sec. video and the clarity isn't that great, but at least its something. Hopefully you can view it ok.

Gerrit's cousin Max taught him to say "ya" and thumbs up once he's done something good - like score a goal, make a basket etc. Gerrit hasn't figured out the thumbs up part but raises both hands and says "ya" quietly. I tried to get the gesture on video but he didn't do the hand motion - just the ''ya" part. I'll work on getting that on video now that I know how easy it is to download videos on a blog!

Note, we normally don't have a step ladder in the middle of our living room - we were getting ready for the France photo viewing that night and used the ladder for the projector.

Brave Little Man

Ya, this is my third post for today, I'm getting caught up I guess. Today Gerrit decides to be bold and walk upstairs like a brave little man. He usually crawls on his knees and uses his hands to help keep himself steady as he goes up the stairs. I did notice he's become interested in the railing lately which makes sense; he decided to be brave and tried walking up the stairs using the railing. He was a bit unsure of himself trying to get up to the next stair without using his hands on the step or letting go of the railing. He managed to use his right hand to brace himself on the wall as he took a step up.

After practicing a few times he became much more confident.

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time on the steps today! It made for great entertainment. He stood at the top of the stairs and wanted to go down like a brave little man but decided he wouldn't push his luck today and crawled down. Maybe tomorrow?

Move over Martha and Rebecca - here's Caryn!

With Adam on a ride with Gerrit, I felt motived to made a nice meal tonight. Not having a kid nag me to be held while I get dinner ready is a real treat! So, I started with a little left over pesto - homemade with fresh basil thanks to next door neighbor Nick's herb garden - and topped chicken with it (top right). Then, I went and picked fresh green beans from our garden and cooked them with sprigs of rosemary from Nick (top left). The salad was made up of cucumbers from Dahlen's garden, the tomatoes, green pepper, and red pepper from our garden (bottom right). A plate of cukes left over for Gerrit in the bottom left are from Dahlen's too.



I must say I was pretty impressed with myself and my homegrown dinner! It tasted yummy and hopefully we will have more meals with our homegrown ingredients.

For those of you who don't know who Martha and Rebecca are: its Martha Stewart and Rebecca Coles the gardener...

Someday...

Sunday Adam was getting ready for a quick ride and needed to do a bit of work on his bike. I needed to get food ready for our evening gathering so I helped Gerrit stay occupied. Gerrit loves to watch Adam work on his bike and hopes that he is planning a ride with him.

Maybe someday Adam will let Gerrit work on the bikes. Until then, he must watch from afar.

A Sad Night

We had a lovely summer evening. The guys rode to Northfield and the women/kids followed behind with the cars and their change of clothing. It was the perfect night to eat dinner on the patio amongst a great group of friends. All the guys rode and all the women/kids took up the rear. Everything went as expected - Gerrit fell asleep nicely in the car on the way home seeing it was way past his bed time by the time we got home! Now for the sad part...tonight we officially took the pacifier away. Gerrit only got it in bed and would look for it immediately once he was in his crib. He knew he only had it then too and liked sneaking under his crib to find ones he had thrown out during previous naps/night time (see past posts for pictures). Anyways, he was put to bed at 10:19 and now it is 10:49 and as I write this, I finally hear silence. I wanted to run up and give it to him but know better. We just have a few bad nights/naps ahead of us and then he'll forget he even had one! It is just EASIER for us to give it to him! Pathetic but true. I think I will literally throw them away tomorrow so we can't go back on our word and give in if it seems 'tough'! Seeing we said when he turned 1 we'd get rid of the pacifier and now he's almost 16 months, it is time. Plus, we want to take the brunt of it before he heads to daycare full time next week. As I end this post, I can say I made it through the first tough night...however, we shall see how the next few days go!

I just HAD to...

I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of boy's clothing. I think that is why the good Lord gave me a son - so I wouldn't go nuts buying him clothes! But when I do see something I like; if its reasonable, I'll get it (not that I have to buy much because he has some great hand me downs - thanks Max!). Anyways, I saw this t-shirt and couldn't resist....

Its not the greatest picture of Gerrit, but you can read his shirt. I think Gerrit would give any kid a run for his money in a hot dog eating contest!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 10th anniversary...wow! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were just moving into the dorms at Calvin, having never met.

Adam came home early today and as had a "surprise" waiting. I should've know it wasn't for me because the first thing out of Adam's mouth was "where's Gerrit"? not "Happy Anniversary". I was taking care of laundry and Gerrit was sleeping when he came home. He asked me to stop what I was doing and come upstairs . Seeing it was our anniversary, I, like most women would think - flowers! ...but to my surprise, this is what I found in the middle of our living room:

On Adam's way to a meeting this morning, he saw this basketball hoop being set out in the front of a second hand children's store. He didn't have time to stop but thought if it was there on his way home from the meeting, he would stop. HE wanted it! I had to laugh because that is so out of character for him! (He admits this too!)

Here's Gerrit after his nap, enjoying his new surprise from Dad.

Didn't take long for him to figure out that he wanted to 'dunk'! Just kidding, he just liked grabbing the net - hopefully there is enough weight in the bottom of the base that he can't pull it over on himself!

Even though I didn't get flowers on my anniversary, I was given something much more - another reason to love my husband and laugh at him too. I look forward to many more year of Adam making me laugh!

love ya sweets!

New Kicks

I put Gerrit's new tennis shoes on him today to make sure they would fit this fall. It was pretty cute watching him try to walk with hard soled shoes! He definitely is not use to that and was quite hesitant when I first put them on him. Adam tried to get him to walk towards him and had to throw a ball in order to get Gerrit to move (go figure!). Gerrit ended up crawling to get the ball but then stood up. He eventually took a few more steps and got the hang of walking with hard soled shoes. We took them off to let him play in the house with bare feet (his usual look when inside) but he kept going to get his shoes and tried to put them on himself and couldn't so he just walked around carrying one shoe. He sure is growing up fast!

Love Affair

Adam came home tonight and showed me who he spent more time with during the first 7+ years of our marriage instead of me:

He spent a lot of hours with her and thinks back to all the good times they've had together. He has missed her a lot so he thought he'd take her home for a bit to get reacquainted again. (I said it was ok, as long as she doesn't share our bedroom!)

This is actually his computer tower, key board and mouse from grad school. If you zoom in you can see just how dirty the keyboard is - and it was only used by him! Sick. He took it from the U to go through his files and make sure he has everything he needs to work on getting his stuff published.

*For the record, I am not jealous of her, although she is skinnier than me, she looks pretty drab.

Gymnist Perhaps?

I never thought Gerrit would want to take up gymnastics. I mean, neither Adam nor I have much interest in it (other than the Olympics) and with our height, we would be pretty much looked over as too tall. I'd assume the same would be true of Gerrit - I doubt he's going to be a short kid with his genes!

However, this morning he decided it was time to work on his gymnastics routine in honor of the Olympics and just in case he is a short person. Here he is on the 'balance beam' aka "balance tractor".

Score: 10* (a bit biased, but then again, who wouldn't be w/ their own kid?)

*We decided to go with the old way of scoring this event seeing we have no clue how the new scoring system works.

My favorite spot

Often when we are hanging out on the main floor of the house, Gerrit finds his way to the landing of the stairs. He loves to watch what's going on outside, whether its the traffic on the street, the people walking by, or the trees blowing in the wind. He also will go here to watch Adam when he is working on his bike on the porch. I enjoy watching him from a distance and smile at his enthusiasm and don't care about the hand prints that are constantly on that window either. Its his spot and I'll continue to watch from afar.

So cute when he puts his foot on the window ledge.

Ooooh, a Spoon

Today I was feeding Gerrit his oatmeal and because it wasn't real soupy, I gave him the spoon to see what he would do with it. He has been using a fork, with a bit of assistance (at times) getting his food onto the fork. He knew what the to do with the spoon right away. After he finished what was on his spoon, he tried to 'stab' his banana on his tray, as if he was using a fork. A great way to start our day.

Caught Him in the Act

Saturday I went to get Gerrit after he had made his way upstairs. Like I had mentioned in an earlier post, he likes to try and find his pacifiers that he has thrown on the floor. Well, here is the proof - I caught him in the act....That's a hanger and a piece of garbage Gerrit has thrown under his crib with some dust...

Knowing he is caught!

Passed the Test

When Gerrit had his 15 month check up (July 28), one of the topics of discussion was autism. I was going to ask about screening for it (not that I think he's autistic, I just see quite a bit of it at my job and so its on my mind a lot) but they beat me to it. There is a questionaire to fill out while you wait and then discuss the answers with the Dr. I filled it out and in our discussion, the only area that Gerrit didn't 'pass' was copying others. I couldn't think of times when Gerrit copies what we do. It is nothing of alarm and something that I would focus on watching over the next few months to report back at his next visit. Well, today he passed the test for sure! (I know there have been other times I just couldn't think of any). While Adam was assisting him with his dinner Gerrit farted and then laughed about it. Adam started making farting noises with his mouth and Gerrit laughed every time Adam made a fart noise. Then Gerrit started to make farting noises with his mouth! So, he has officially passed the autism test! Now telling his Dr. what he did to copy us is another story!

Our Olymipian

Not really, but he's dressed in his official Olympic outfit in honor of the Olympics. Thanks to his cousin Mia (and Aunt Erika/Uncle Jeff) for bringing it back for him when Mia joined the family. He looks pretty cool in it even if he doesn't understand the purpose of it!

Big Boy (edited)

Today we noticed more than usual just how 'big' Gerrit is getting. Today he said "ba(ll)". Here he is showing off his ability to balance:


He received this stacking toy as a gift before he was even born. I noticed on the label it said 6+ months. Gerrit is now 15 months and just figured out how to put the rings on! Hopefully he isn't developmentally behind! (Just kidding, he was into this toy at 6 months - he liked how it lit up.)

Now to the naughty side of Gerrit...He hasn't quite given up the pacifier (before school starts he will though) but only gets it in his crib. He often throws them out of his crib and has a nice little pile under his crib as days go by. He has discovered that he can go under the crib and find these pacifiers. So whenever Gerrit heads up stairs, I usually know what he's doing - trying to get a pacifier that he has thrown out of his crib. Well today was no different. When I went up to find him, I heard the pitter patter of feet and when I got to his room this is where I found him:

Hiding behind the rocking chair sucking on a pacifier - as if I couldn't see him! He totally knows what he's doing and that he shouldn't have a pacifier if he is not sleeping! Oh, what we get to look forward to in the days ahead... The plus side is he dusted underneath the crib - he was filthy!

County Fair 2008

We decided to head to the fair tonight seeing Adam got home a bit later than normal. There were little rain showers in the area so we took the umbrella just in case. The fair is just the right size for us. We get the feel of the big state fair, just on a smaller scale. Its cheaper and all the animals are represented as well as that good ol' fair food. Its fun to see all the 4Hers and their prize winning items. Tonight we even heard the sweet sounds of the demo derby (yes, Adam and I did experience the demo derby our 1st year at the fair - it will be the last too!).

We had a few sprinkles during dinner. Adam and I headed to the pork barn for our traditional meal and Gerrit had a hot dog and peas/carrots (from home). Here he is eating being shielded from the rain before the festivities began. We did stay long enough for dessert - mini donuts and a funnel cake (we shared them).


Gerrit didn't like the Roosters - when one 'cock-a-doodle-dooed' it scared him and he started to cry. We left that barn in a hurry.

Next we headed to the cow barn. I thought these cows looked cute and found them worthy of a photo.

Gerrit liked looking at the cows. They didn't make a loud noise.

The happy family at the end of another great fair experience.

We drove this year as we were unsure of the weather (last year we walked) and when we returned to the car this is what we found: (if you look close, you will count 3 cars and yes, ours is in the middle!)

The great guys at the Livestock market were walking around dumbfounded that people would be stupid enough to park 3 in a row! They offered to move the car with the bobcat (you could tell they were just waiting for the opporunity). So we waited. Unfortunately they couldn't find a spot to hook the chain to the car so we started walking home. (Adam will return later this evening to get the car.) As all of this was happening there were still people parking 3 in a row! How dumb can you be?

We did call a friend to come and meet us so we didn't have to walk because I didn't have good walking shoes and it was getting late.