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...