Many New Adventures!

James & I just arrived last night from a lovely trip to Buffalo, NY to visit his Nana & Papa, along with Great-Grandma Nina, Great Aunty Suzy, Cousins Matt & Jonny, and lots of other friends! We went swimming, watched trains, visited the Czar of the Woods Farm, and had a great time playing with all the toys that Nana has collected for Jamie. See some photos here:

10.06.21 -- Buffalo

Last week Thursday, James and I joined his friend Benton and Benton's daddy at the park...the boys have so much fun together! See some photos here:

10.06.17 -- James & Benton at Park

The Sweetest Boy

The other day James and, probably more truthfully, I, were looking for some new activity to do besides playing with trains or crawling through the tunnel. We came upon his basket of stuffed animals. In there we found baby Elmo dressed only in his diaper. James pointed to Elmo and said, “Elmo diaper.” Next, we got out a teddy bear, this one sans diaper. James pointed at the bear and asked, “Diaper?” After a brief exchange we decided to put a diaper on his teddy bear. I went and got a diaper and came back. James looked at me questioningly, pointed at the bear's butt, and said, “Poo-poo. Wipes?” So off I went again to get the wipes. James then gently held up the leg of his teddy, used the wipe to clean the bear and then, with my assistance, diaper him. As I watched I was overwhelmed by how cute and sweet he was – as well as my own wish that he would be as cooperative as the teddy bear when I changed his diaper.

On another day we visited the Cherry Creek Mall and the fake food play area. Revealing himself to truly be my child, he gravitated toward the bacon. Shortly thereafter several other boys came up with toy trucks and cars and raced them down the bacon ramp. James stared longingly at the cars and trucks and you could just about feel his fingers itching to get a hold of those trucks and race them himself. Suddenly, a truck jumped off the ramp and landed at his feet. He immediately picked it up and I watched to see what he would do. He looked down at the truck, up at the boy, and handed it back to the boy. This happened probably 2-3 more times and each time he kindly handed the toy back. It made me so sad, I just wanted those boys to share their toys with him and wished desperately I had a truck for him to play with, and so proud of how kind and sweet he already is.

A Boy's Laughter

Today James laughed like I have never heard before. For some reason, he thought it was hilarious to use his toy excavator to dig inside my mouth. I would hold the toy in my mouth by the arm and repeat James' favorite exclamation: "Scoop! Dump!" Of course, this would come out somewhat muddled (ever try talking with an excavator in your mouth?), which made it even more funny. After a round of this, he would lean his head back and I would nuzzle/tickle him in that sweet spot where the jaw meets the neck, which sent him into convulsions. It was a combination of belly laugh and exploding giggle, as if his little body just couldn't hold back the joy. Then, we would do it again: excavator, scoop-dump, head back, tickle. And he would laugh hardily again, this time perhaps even more than the last. Best of all, after he caught his breath, he would let out a long sigh as he looked at me, a sort of, "Ahhhh..." that said both "I need a break" and "do it again."

New Photos!

To make things a bit easier, we're trying to post Jamie's photos using Picasa...try these links for some new photos!

May:

James May 2010

April:

James April 2010

Jamie's First Complete Sentence

Ordinarily, James delights in eating strawberries. This morning, however, he was caught by some toddler whim and decided to throw his strawberry pieces, one by one, from his cereal bowl onto the floor. After our meal as I was taking him from his booster seat, he pointed down to the floor and said, "Messy."

I replied, "Yes, it's messy. Who made that mess?"

James stated, "Jamie mess."

"Yes," I said, "Who's going to clean the mess?"

With astonishing grammatical accuracy, James replied, "Daddy clean the mess."

Oh boy.

Lots of New Adventures!

Hi Everybody!

James & I went to look for trains this morning and, while we didn't see any, I still insisted that James wear his train hat (that used to be my cousin Jason's).

We've just uploaded a bunch of new photos! See some pictures from Nanna & Poppa's visit in March here:
http://www.flattenedpenny.com/babyjames/babyjamesmarch10/

Also, a few more from a nature walk last week:
http://www.flattenedpenny.com/babyjames/babyjamesapril10

And, as promised, here is the video of James navigating the Atlanta Airport!

Back from South Carolina Adventures!

We just returned -- early, early this morning -- from a lovely week in Charleston, SC visiting Jamie's Grandpa and Grandma. We all had a great time playing at the beach, looking for turtles, exploring the playground, running around, and doing all those things that energetic, unflappable toddlers love to do. Well, mostly unflappable.

Jamie's list of new words from this trip is impressive: grandma, grandpa, froggy, upstairs, downstairs, tanker car, and fire. Please don't ask us to explain the context in which these words, together, were important.

See some fun photos here:
http://www.flattenedpenny.com/babyjames/babyjamesapril10/

And coming soon -- a video of James fearlessly navigating the Atlanta International Airport!