Testing His Limits

The last few weeks have been all about Solomon testing his climbing skills. I will leave the room (for literally seconds) only to find him on the dining room table, a chair or an end table, smiling at me, when I return. The first video is one of him running around on the couch. He loves to stand at the end and act as if he's going to jump. Yes, we do find it frightening!

Solomon, Alex and I all took advantage of the great weather last week and turned on a sprinkler for Solomon to run around in. I think water was still a little too cold for him, but he did seem to enjoy his swim trunks and sunglasses (at least for as long as he would keep the glasses on). Of course, the sunglasses were courtesy of Grandma L. My sister and I, along with our spouses, always have to have the latest in fashionable sunwear, so why should Solomon be any different?
Alex has been super busy with work as usual. He's going to begin designing yet another local magazine, along with the bar and his web design & IT work, so hopefully we will see him from time to time at least!
I have a work trip coming up next week so things are getting crazy again for me as well.
We had a SUPER TON of rain on Sunday night into Monday morning and our sump pump decided to die halfway through the night. Luckily, Alex was working late into the night, as he often does, and noticed the pump wasn't working. We called a 24/7 plumber and they installed a new one. Had Alex not noticed, our basement would have likely flooded! There's always something crazy happening.

My friend, Cherie was in town this past weekend. We got to catch up a bit on Friday night over drinks. It never seems like there's enough time, but it was great to see her and our friend, Nora Lee as well.

Solomon has a huge rash/big red spot on the outside of his right hip/butt. I called the doctor and they didn't think we needed to worry yet. Who knows what it is? Very strange stuff happens to these little people!

He's Tickled at the moment anyway

The following video shows me tickling Solomon, which like every other child, he loves. It's cute. However, he is into temper tantrums lately and picking favorites. I can usually get him to "reset" from a temper tantrum by putting him in his crib for a couple of minutes. Then, he's like a new kid. One day, he'll only want "mama" and the next day only "daddy", so you never know. He's so cute though that he's easy to forgive. Everywhere we go, people tell me how cute he is and how sweet his hair is. That's kind of fun. One other thing that Solomon is really into is taking your hand and hugging it and just hugging in general. He used to do that more and then stopped doing it for a while. Now, he's doing it again.

It was such a great morning today that Solomon and I went on a run with the jogging stroller. He really seems to love that unless of course he's hungry or something. What do kids really enjoy though when they're hungry or really tired?

I don't have much planned for the weekend besides dropping off the recycling. I can't wait to get it out of our garage.

Easter & Zoe's Birthday!

My mom kind of makes it a point to go a little crazy with the presentation of the Easter baskets to the grandchildren. As you can see Solomon's "Easter Basket" was a small turtle shaped baby pool full of clothing, books, toys, and food. The cow thing is fun b/c he can sit on it. Although, so far I like it better than he does. I'm sure that will change though. I can't wait until the weather warms up enough to use the pool. Below is Zoe in her veterinarian costume. It was in her Easter basket. She was checking the health status of her various animals all day. Thank goodness they all checked out fine.
Alex took a little Easter nap.. He had a late night on Saturday and got up early for church.

One of the random things in both Zoe's and Solomon's Easter Baskets, a bat and ball shaped like a carrot.
Story time

Snuggle time with Sady: Mom and Dad's dog
Solomon just took a seat in the refrigerator for some reason.

The full Easter ensemble, minus the shoes.. they were "somewhere". The day concluded with Zoe's 6th birthday. Here she is blowing out some candles on her Camp Rock cake. Pretty sweet.Solomon had a few bites.

The Fur Real dog was the hit of the gifts for Zoe. She loves dogs. It's a little creepy b/c it moves on it's own.

Jimmy snuggling with Elmo

Happy Easter!

The usual program I use to scan with isn't working right now, so these pictures aren't as great looking on screen as they really are, but I still think they are so sweet. I hope everyone has a Happy Easter weekend!

Our Little Egg Decorator

We went to Amy and Jeff's house last night for an egg decorating party. Of course all of the kids loved it, mostly because I think they LOVE messy things.

Solomon became a very determined stirrer of the egg in the dye. It made me a little nervous to be honest. Amy had the room set-up in a way so nothing would be permanently dyed/damaged. However, there's that part of my brain that is wired to be a little freaked out when things get too messy! (Thanks Mom!) Anyway, Solomon tried to dump the dye over a few times and all of the kids were dropping the eggs in the cups from about a foot above. Plus, they were knocking eggs together and basically dying their own fingers. It was pretty funny. Solomon loved it so much that when it was time to quit, he had a small meltdown! It was also dinner time so he was hungry and mad that we stopped.. deadly combo.

Natalie obviously enjoyed herself as well!
Amy also made us some yummy pork tacos and brownies. The kids all had fun running around and playing with Natalie's toys. My fingernails are just now looking normal again. I had to dig the eggs out of the dye containers a few times so I had witch nails for a while. I was also able to get the egg dye out of my T-shirt! Bonus.

The rest of the weekend was fun as well. We went to Brett and Abby's house on Saturday for a BBQ and watched some basketball. We also tried to take Solomon to an Easter Egg hunt at the Y, but it was over in two minutes so it didn't work out so well!

Kandi and Jimmy are buying a new house so I helped her clean outside at their current house on Saturday. I can't wait to see the new house.

Halftime post

It's halftime of the KU vs. Michigan State game, so I thought I would make a quick post.

The weather is sooo crappy here today. It's been sleeting/freezing rain since before noon. We've also had some heavy snow, but I think it's just freezing rain again. Here's a photo outside of my house.

Solomon is up in bed coughing. He has a little cold I think, poor guy. He's been in a pretty good mood though and he's still eating well, so I don't think it's too serious. I'm also scared because he's figuring out how to use doorknobs... not good. Our basement is fairly childproof, but the storage closet, the laundry room and Alex's office are not childproof... I was hoping he would be a little older when he figured out how to open them, so he would have a little more restraint.

Here's a video of Solomon learning to use a fork. I know that it's probably only fascinating to me, but I really think it is cool. Now if we can just get him to improve his ability to get food on the fork.

Here's another video of Solomon playing around. He's been babbling a lot and saying new words. I think the babbling is so funny. He's always babbling on his toy cell phone.

18-Month Check-up

As indicated, yesterday was Solomon's 18-month check-up appointment. He's healthy. The NP said she would like him to be saying a few more words, but that it is apparently quite normal for boys to develop language skills a bit more slowly than girls. She said they often develop gross motor skills more quickly than girls. That seems to be the case with Solomon. She said those skills are advanced for Solomon. So, that's just a little something I learned yesterday. I know Alex's family always says he barely spoke a word until he was three and then started speaking in sentences. The NP said that some kids like to figure out more about the language, exactly how to use it, before they are comfortable using it themselves. Then they will do just what Alex did, speak in short sentences. Kind of interesting I think.

18-month stats:
Weight - 25 lbs., 37%
Height - 32 3/4", 64%
Head Circumference - 48 1/4 cm. 65%

So, I guess he's getting to be a skinny guy. He still eats pretty well, but not as well as he once did. I had just gotten finished telling the NP that the only veggie he would eat much of was avocado. Then, for dinner, he ate a ton of carrots and green beans. So strange how kids do that kind of thing.

He had two shots yesterday which of course he did not enjoy, but he seemed to be in a good mood later so there were no after effects.