A Few More...

I was able to get a few more pictures from Sunday's big day from Pam:

From top left: Dan and Lizzy (they brought the bacon explosion and announced they are expecting in Oct., also the daughter/SIL of John and Deb). David, Gerrit and Emmit's godfather, the ladies and Emmit, Emmit's gift from Langley's: an ark, beautiful flowers from Langley's, David teaching me the 'rocket' (if you don't know it, I'll teach it to you, or my mom and sister can as I taught them), proud aunt Cara, Gerrit's mess during the service, godparents: Pam and David with us, and a great picture of Emmit and his smile!

Saturday

We decided that a good group activity would be to check out the National Eagle Center in Wabasha (also home to Grumpy Old Men movie). Here are a few pictures from our time there:

Gerrit admired from a distance and didn't want his picture taken with an Eagle. They had a few parrots there as there was an event involving them at the local school auditorium later in the day. We did see a few eagles out on the water while we were there too. MN has the largest eagle population in the lower 48 (FYI). [Remember to click on the collage to enlarge the photos.]

Following our outing, we celebrated Gerrit's birthday with the relatives that came for baptism:

He requested football for the theme so I make sure we had plates and napkins to go with the cake. We had our first grilled burgers of the season for dinner followed by cupcakes. When we started to sing 'Happy Birthday', he was embarrassed and hid under the table. He opened a few gifts too: a nice T-ball stand, play doh stuff, and a pop gun (from Opa). The rest of the weekend he wanted to either hit the ball outside or play with the play doh.

Baptism

We had a nice service for Emmit's baptism. He was able to squeeze into the gown my sisters and I (as well as niece Ella) wore that my mom had knitted. I knitted booties for him that were too big and kept falling off (hence the bare feet in the photos). Gerrit did well considering the late nights and lack of naps.

Following the service we had brunch sponsored by Team Beat at Wilkinson's home. Emmit slept through most of it but the rest of us enjoyed the great food and fellowship.

Keepin' Busy

I realize I havn't posted in a while and honestly can't think of anything 'great' to write about. The potty training still goes on...he's getting better and catching on. At least once a day he will tell us when he has to go, so we are making progress. It beats changing diapers (at least on 2 kids).

Emmit continues to grow as many comment that 'he must be a good eater' when they hear how old/young he is. He goes with the flow and is pretty content. He is even sleeping longer at night for me which is great. Not every night but more often than not, he'll go 4-5 hrs w/o needing to eat! He's helping me out seeing I have to go back to work in a week.

The weather has been pretty good lately so Gerrit has been riding his bike and playing outside. Emmit hangs out in the stroller, usually asleep so I am able to keep up with Gerrit.

Other than that, nothing grand to report on. Getting ready for baptism this weekend and the arrival of my parents and sister on Thurs. night and Bob/Geri on Fri. night.

Gerrit just came home from Julie's and I was reminded of how he is dressed today: Maroon and gold Gopher wind pants, long sleeve t with a MSU green football jersey, Minn. Twins throwback jacket, Twins baseball hat and sunglasses. Yep, I definately have a sports junky for a kid!

Memory

Sometimes it is frustrating that Gerrit has a good memory: like when he remembers I promised him he could wear dad's socks after Julie's.

But then there are times I'm glad he has a good memory: like remembering to stop at an intersection while riding his bike!

Now if only he'd remember to tell me when he needed to go potty....

"Houston, We have a Problem"

At bed time Gerrit wanted 'bank' (his blanket). He usually doesn't take it to Julie's but today he did and left it there. The timing of when I picked him up was odd - they were headed out for a walk just as I got there so I never made it in the house, hence leaving bank behind (he wasn't going on the walk). Bed time was a bit rough without bank. When I finally went up to check on him, he had calmed down, but wanted bank. I told him he left it at Julie's and he wanted dad to go get it - it was close to 9pm at this point! I said it was too late but asked if he could use his 'little bank' (a small square blanket he got as a baby gift that is also in his bed). He didn't really give me an answer as I was hunting for it in his bed. Its amazing what I found tonight when I started digging in his bed! Anyways, I found little bank and that didn't seem to do it so I suggested he sleep with Emmit's bank (same fabrics, different colors). That seemed to do the trick and Emmit doesn't know he even has a 'bank' yet so he won't miss it. Gerrit was also trilled to see some of the toys I found when I went looking for little bank so that helped ease the pain. (I really should 'clean' out his bed one of these days - and I'm not talking dirt but toys!)

On a side note: Today was so nice out, I decided to walk to get Gerrit and let him ride his bike home. Luckily his bike is small enough I was able to carry it and push the stroller at the same time. Gerrit loved riding his bike but couldn't understand why I didn't have the car...I can't win! I try to do something nice and he's hung up on a little thing....

A Second and a First

Look familiar?

We decided to try the potty training business again (for the second time) this weekend. We didn't have any plans so we had no excuse! It was a bit more successful than this summer's 1st day's attempt. We had 2 accidents but also 2 personally initiated visits by Gerrit. (And a few prompted by mom/dad.) He walked around most of the day with a long sleeve shirt and his underwear - not much different than the photo above. Here's hoping tomorrow is even more successful! He's 1/2 way there as he goes quite often at daycare (when prompted) and will go for us at home occasionally. We shall see...

We also thought that wasn't enough so we thought we'd try skipping the nap too. Gerrit has been a pill to get down at night this week so we thought maybe it was the nap. We thought an earlier bed time and skip the nap might be the ticket. As I write this, we had to put 2 gates up to keep him in and he's exercising his voice quite loudly too. As much as I like the 'nap time', he actually was pretty good today and I was able to get some work done (not a nap though). Not sure how well this idea is either...

It'll Come Back to Haunt Him...

I had nothing to do with the above outfits...but had everything to do with documenting them!

The 2 on the right were from Mon. night - what you don't see is David L. getting Gerrit to flex his muscles.

The 2 on the left were from tonight. I love the no pants! He wanted to put my cell phone in his pocket and then realized he didn't have any! The one on the far left gave me a good laugh. He put Adam's cycling cold weather head piece on all by himself and then added the gloves to go with the upside down sunglasses (he's still learning which is the right direction in wearing them). With Adam putting in a late day today, Gerrit sure kept me entertained!

Cheap Fun

Today I received a box in the mail and left the empty box in the living room. Gerrit had a great time in it - if only it were slightly bigger he could've closed the lid.

Can you guess what came in the box based on the pictures above?

Yep, a MSU football jersey. I couldn't resist the $10 clearance price! And now that there is a little brother to hand things down to, it'll get lots of wear. (At least that is what I'm telling myself and justifying the purchase.)

Let the Comparisons Begin

Here are the boys after their 2 month check up:

So who is bigger?

Gerrit: 15.4 lbs, 24 " long

Emmit: 14 lbs 11 oz, 24" long

Some Day

Gerrit: "Dad, someday I want to ride up the hill* with you".

*Mt. Ventoux

Last night Gerrit was looking at pictures of France with Adam and David L.

Tonight, out of the blue he made that comment to Adam at bedtime.

The only hurdle for Gerrit's comment to come true - is for Adam to take me some place tropical first! :)

Bible Lesson

Lately Gerrit has asked to read his 'Noah' book he got from Oma and Opa for Christmas. Its a cute book and helps him understand why he has a huge Playmobile Arc. While reading it tonight, I was pointing at the animals and asked Gerrit to name them. When I pointed to the giraffes and asked Gerrit what animal is that, he replied:

"Dragons!"

I don't think there were dragons on the arc but figured I'd save that lesson for another day.

On a side note, it is neat to pray with him before bed time. I started saying the prayer that I learned as a little girl in hopes that in time, he'll be able to pray it with me.