Ball Magnet

I realize it has been a while since I last wrote - sorry! It seems lately Gerrit will gravitate towards balls - any kind, any size. He tends to need to take one to bed with him, usually its his Gopher football, but sometimes its a little basketball - whatever is in site when it is bed time.

His first 2 syllable word was (is, its his only 2 syllable word) FOOTBALL! (I'm hoping his 3 syllable word is basketball!)

The other night we were at friends and Gerrit seemed to disappear which didn't bother us because there were plenty of other kids around to watch him. When he did appear, he was carrying a ball. I think I saw him with 4-5 different balls throughout the night. Of all the toys he could play with he stuck to the balls. Go figure...

Then, he was hanging out with Adam as Adam was organizing his bike closet and guess what Gerrit spotted....

Yep, Adam's regulation size basketball! It was as if Gerrit found gold. He played with that all afternoon and had to sit with it even. Here we are watching the MSU basketball game and yes, he had to have the basketball on his lap. He even tries to shoot hoops with it - with his fisher price plastic hoop. I did check to make sure it would fit through the hoop - if he could ever get it up that high. Luckily its pretty heavy for him so he can't throw it far or high.

Besides getting snow and being quite cold, this is what we've been up to lately...playing with balls!

I Am Glad....

we are not beer drinkers!

Note:

Gerrit, please remember:

Wrestle with Dad

Snuggle with Mom

He is ALL BOY!

Ornaments

Putting the ornaments on the tree was a bit of a challenge this year. All the soft and unbreakables are hanging low and all the fragile and 'ball' looking ornaments are high.

Gerrit tried putting this ornament on his head:

He took a liking to all the bicycle ornaments. He took this one and has been playing with it most of the afternoon.I had to have Adam take Gerrit downstairs so I could continue putting ornaments on because as soon as I put one on, Gerrit took one off! I was ready to leave the tree with just lights this year but knew how much I enjoyed putting on the ornaments I have collected over the years. I think putting the ornaments on is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

It could look better but with a 19 month old, I think it looks pretty good. He hasn't been near the tree since I finished it so we shall see how it looks after Gerrit checks it out again. (The pointy needles don't seem to bother him - nice idea Omah)

Oh Tannenbaum

Like my use of German? I still have it after all these years. No, actually I cringe at the thought of German class (sorry Joy), but thought it made a good title....

We went on our yearly afternoon excursion to get our Christmas tree on Wed. I didn't post pictures because I was waiting for the final product, here you go:

The hayride out to the trees:

Attempting a family photo:

Debating whether the tree is actually a white spruce (last year we cut a Fraiser Fur thinking it was a 'beautiful spruce' - it was in the spruce section):

One reason I liked this tree was all the pine cones it had! After they shook the tree, most of my pine cones were found here:
The final product:

An Early Homecoming

After a bit of a rocky night with Gerrit - he slept with us which is always a peaceful sleep - NOT!, we headed off to the races. Because Gerrit was up at 5 and didn't want to go back to sleep, he decided the car was a better place to continue his slumber. So he slept the 1st hr of the races which meant I stayed in the warm car and watched out the window. In the meantime Adam woke up to his stomach issues which wasn't fun. He tried to grin an bare it but couldn't. So, after starting his first lap he quit (he's never quit a race so he must've been feeling icky!). No, I didn't get him sick, its just a 'flare up' if you can call it that.

We headed back to the hotel and were on the road by 2 this afternoon instead of 2 tomorrow. Bummer we missed out on swimming and hanging with our friends as well as another day of races but it was for the best. Adam is sleeping peacefully on the coach and Gerrit is sleeping peacefully in his bed. :)

Gerrit did surprisingly well on the way home too seeing he was in his car seat for 7 hrs in a matter of 24 hrs! By the end we were getting desperate - but taking shoes and socks off and putting them back on is still fun for him so it worked. (Omah, thanks for the singing Rudolph - Gerrit knows how to turn him on and it kept him busy quite a long time and now we can sing Rudolph in our sleep, but it was worth it).

As much as we would've loved to have stayed, its always better to be at home when one feels ill. I can use tomorrow to get the rest of my Christmas decorations up - bonus day in my book!

Seeing last year I got sick at Jingle Cross and Adam got 'sick' this year, does that mean its Gerrit's turn next year? (Adam said we aren't going!)

Iowa Here WE Come!

I wasn't planning on joining Adam and Gerrit to Iowa due to my illness yesterday but I seemed to have kept the food that I was eating in long enough to feel it was safe to travel 4 hrs in a car. So, we are in Iowa City, along with 3 other families from Z-town. We had a rat race of a time finding the restaurant, which seemed to be out of business - why didn't either of the guys working at the gas stations I stopped at to ask for directions tell me this? Thank goodness for cell phones, we all made it and had a nice dinner.

I am currently sitting in the dark listening to Gerrit page thru his book as that seems to be a new nightly habit of his. We have limited it to a Curious George book because he tends to trash the pages. I think he finally put the book down and fell asleep. :) I can't complain, he took a 2 hr nap in the car - which was needed seeing he was up at 5 this am. (Snuggling with dad isn't quite the same as mom, I guess).

The weather tomorrow should be decent - in the 40s which will make being outside all day tolerable. We have 4 people racing in 3 different races plus the pros so it will be a long day. Hopefully Gerrit will make it and squeeze a nap in at some point too. Till tomorrow....