Happy Birthday James

James is 2 years old today!

At 2 years old:
1. James loves to sing. His favorite songs are: "Backhoe, Backhoe," "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" and "Only a Boy Named David" which he refers to as "Round and Round."
2. James likes things to be neat. He doesn't like sticky fingers or things dropped on the floor. He does insist that "Mommy do it." Already in his 2 year old eyes it is Mommy's job to clean up spills, pick up after him, etc.
3. James loves to jump on the edge of his bed and sing songs. He likes us to watch and sometimes to sing along.
4. James says a lot of words and more and more phrases. His newest favorite words are "mine" "what's that" and "go away." Still he is a sweet, sweet boy.
5. His favorite toys are still cars, trucks, and recently trains. He also loves Elmo. He knows many different construction vehicles and wants to know the names of every part of a train, car, truck etc. He'll drive his cars all over the house and sometimes his cars have conversations with each other.
6. James likes to draw and has just started painting. He really likes the color yellow. He knows yellow and blue and sometimes red. He'll proudly point out everything yellow or blue that he sees.
7. He can count to 11 and sing his ABC's. He misses the number 7 sometimes and mumbles over the "LMNOP," but he practices this over and over again through out the day!
8. James loves to cuddle. He gives great hugs and kisses. He also gives licks, which he calls "yucks," but only to Daddy. He gives Mommy more hugs a day that she can count, and he loves to sit on her lap.
9. James is great a stacking things. He really enjoys building with Duplos and working at nesting blocks. He'll work to figure things out and then exclaim "I got it!"
10. James helps Mommy set the table, and he holds the dust pan when she sweeps. Sometimes he'll help with laundry, but mostly he wants to explore tools when he is in the basement.

We feel so blessed to have our little boy who is growing bigger every day. Happy Birthday James.

Halloween

James dressed as "Bob the Builder" for Halloween. He really enjoyed fixing things around the house. He went trick or treating with his cousin Haley. We only went to a few houses, but he kept looking into his bucket and saying "yummy." Of course, he couldn't eat any of the candy since it all contained milk, but we enjoyed it for him. And we gave him a little candy he could enjoy too.

Back from WI

September has been a chaotic month for us. We were blessed with a job in Jesse's hometown - Spirit, WI. This meant we've been in and out almost the whole month. Part of the time James and I were here alone and part of the time we stayed with J's folks.

Here is Jesse painting the barn - before and after.

Here are some James pics at "Grampa's farm."

Picking grapes with Grampa. James would have eaten them all himself, but he was strongly urged to share them. So tempting - so sweet.

This was our favorite part of the week - Gramma played "what a friend we have in Jesus" - James cooed in the sweetest voice trying to match the pitches while he played softly on the keyboard.

Enjoying Gramma's special treat in style.

Dress Up Duds

As you can see, our son likes accessories. He is also doing more and more pretend play. It's fun to hear him imitate us and listen to him hold conversations with a stuffed animal or GASP - doll.


James is also making great strides in overcoming his fears. He'll go into the water up to waist or more. This is big progress from a month or so ago when getting his feet wet was greeted with a round of applause. Check out the new video on the side of James playing his guitar and singing. So sweet.

Life in process

The summer months are flying by! We are staying busy with a little remodeling. Jesse is working hard. He tore down our hideous paneling and the pine ceiling in our bedroom and dining room. Now he is getting the walls ready for paint. This means all of the stuff that was in the two rooms is now else where in our house and we've been sleeping in the living room for two weeks now. But it is really exciting to see the progress.


James is enjoying his trucks. The larger one is "Mommy car" and the smaller one is "Daddy car." He's really into ownership. He also moves our outdoor chairs around. We always have one for Daddy - even if Daddy is at work. James loves to talk to Daddy on the telephone. His 1 year old babble usually includes the words "mommy, truck, go , or cracker." It's hard to understand him without context, but his vocabulary is growing daily along with his independence. However, somehow he learned to call a barn an "owl." He's very insistent about this. We're trying to convince him otherwise. He is also into wearing pretend glasses and hats. I wish I had a picture of him with his glasses on it's adorable. They are yellow and missing the lenses and he wears them upside down, but has had them on for the past 2 days pretty much constantly. He feels pretty important in them. Well, that's all for now! Blessings abound.

Our backyard

Our best new toy - the sandbox... Hours and hours of fun. James sits for 20-30min. at a time totally entertained. We do have some issues with sand flying through the air or being shoveled out of the box. Then it's time to do other things - like play in his new car or his wading pool. As you can see from the picture, James loves his car. I love our backyard. And maybe next summer we'll add a garden. This year we planted some roses and grape vines. I hope they take off. In the fall we'll reseed some areas that really need it and maybe I'll even buy a sprinkler.

Here are some other fun pictures from this past week. James knows exactly what to do with crayons without even being taught.

James thinks Isabelle is "the best." We think she's pretty great too. Notice J's hat. Thank God he loves it!

The duck pond. There are so many cute baby ducks and only a few mean, ugly geese. James throws rocks into the water and the ducks chase them thinking they are food. James almost always "fills his diaper" when we go to the duck pond- relaxing I guess. Since I was prepared with dipes and wipes - he didn't this time. Not that I'm complaining about that.

Things we Eat

For breakfast yesterday we had "green eggs." I got the recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious." And it is good. You make it by adding pureed spinach to your eggs. Yum. Both guys loved it. James could not get enough. Today for lunch I'm going to try "pink pancakes." You make this by adding beets. I'm skeptical, but willing.

On a side note, for a treat Jesse bought us a coconut. I've never had a coconut, but it was fun to watch and pretty good. First, he carved holes in it and drained the juice. Then he cracked it open with a hammer. Then we ate the insides which taste very much like a nut.

Saying Good-Bye

It caught me by surprise that I was at the verge of tears saying goodbye to Tim and Jo Ellen. Goodbye's are getting hard for James too. He does not like that word. One more picture of the 3 of them - until next year. I was thinking today that it was 4 years ago that I went to China and met Jo Ellen - only 8 months old and crawling. So much has changed in both of our lives. It was after that summer that I met Jesse. And it was only a year ago that Jo Jo lost her mom. It makes you think about what the future will hold. We were excited to learn that Tim plans to move back to the States with Jo Ellen sometime in the next 5 years.

First Camp Fire

We were super excited to have our first real camp fire and to share it with my family. My mom found chocolate marshmallows. They don't look appetizing, but they really are. Of course we kicked them out at James' bed time. There has been so much "family fun" lately that he's getting run down. Also, James is usually pretty good about sharing his toys, but he wasn't enthusiastic about sharing his car.

Cousins

James' cousin Jo Ellen is visiting from China. He's never met her before, but they hit it off. It will be too soon that she leaves and too long (probably a year) until we see her again.

My dad (Opa) and I took the three of them to the zoo. Notice how tired my dad looks. He was the hit of the show. It was an exhausting day. At one point he had all three of kids on his lap.

Puzzler

I'm not sure if it's considered neglect that yesterday was the first time James got to do a puzzle. Maybe it should be. My boy's a genius. First we gave him one of those peg puzzles with pictures underneath that match what he is taking out. simple... Then we gave him one without matching pictures underneath. hardly a challenge. He loves it. over and over and over again. in and out. Fun... fun... fun.... It may be that most 18 month olds could do the same but - yes, I'm a little proud of our puzzle master.

Perfect Place for a Picnic

Our 2nd annual picnic at Lake Harriet's Rose Garden. May is the best time to see the flowering trees and tulips. Simply beautiful.



James is defining himself away from his mommy. He will say good bye and leave us to go to what he feels is a safe place to explore. Sometimes he will tell me to go the other direction. He'll say "later," wave and take off.

At 18 months

James at 18 months

Our little boy is learning and growing so quickly. He really is a little boy. Some of his favorite things are: cars and trucks (of course), balls, and shoes. I almost forgot - he loves to make blanket tents and whisper. He is a very affectionate little guy - especially to mommy.He loves to play in the sand. He practices scooping and pouring. He also likes to practice eating with a spoon and fork and pouring and filling water in the bath tub.

Our curious little monkey would spend all day outside and enjoys adventures in his "truck" which is really his stroller. He learns new words almost every day, but they are hard to understand. He especially likes to say "See you later" pretty much to everyone and everything.

He has developed a shy side and some fears: elevators and swings. He is no longer "tall" compared to other kids his age either - falling in the 30% for both height and weight. I think he likes "crackers" a little too much.

James is just a joy to be around - and of course we are proud parents!

Potty

Today- James actually went potty on the potty chair. I'm certain it was an "accident," but what a proud moment. Now - to get him to repeat it.

And a couple of pics from our "daily life."

The duck pond (where the ducks are not hungry??)

James' first really short hair cut.
Enjoying a book with Grampa.

Sap Season

As a tradition, we make every effort to go to Spirit, WI (where Jesse grew up) for sap season. Here are a few photos detailing the process for those of you like me who thought maple syrup runs out of the tree.

This is Jesse's brother Nathanael drilling a hole in the maple tree. Apparently any maple will do, but some producer sweeter sap and some produce more sap than others. This is Jesse tapping a spout into the tree. Next he will hang a container to collect it.
The guys collected the sap in the evening and poured it into a big cooking "pot." Some days the containers were overflowing and on other days there was only a little sap. I learned that sap runs best on warm, sunny days when the temperature got below freezing the night before.
James is getting his first taste of sap. He liked it. It tastes like slightly sweet water - delicious. It makes great hot chocolate and coffee. (Notice the gigantic bruise on his cheek. Pour boy - fell off a ride on tractor the first day we arrived.)
Jesse is pouring the sap into the "pot." They cooked it overnight over an open fire. It took a good 10 hours of simmering to become syrup. You need 30-40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup.
But it's worth the work. It's hard to match the flavor of pure maple syrup on pancakes - especially if you grew up on it.

And this year we poured the syrup of fresh snow. A maple flavored snow cone. We remembered this from Little House in the Big Woods. Really delicious - but filling. We all took too much snow and were very full. We didn't want to waste the syrup.