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.