Gareth's debut

Our church has an annual Hanging of the Greens service in early December. During the opening number all the children in the church bring banners, lights, garland, etc. The last group to come are the Jingle Bears (the 1-3 year-olds). They have bear hats on and bears with jingles on them to shake to the music. Gareth didn't want to participate last year (which did not surprise me). I thought he was ready to do it this year and started talking it up a few weeks before it happened so he'd know what was going to happen. He was pretty excited about it. Grandma and Grandpa came down from Wisconsin to see Gareth's theatrical debut. And Aunt Mikayah and Titus (boyfriend) came up from Chicago to see it as well. Thanks to Aunt Mikayah for the pictures and video. There are many people in the way of seeing Gareth, but just look for the cream colored sweater vest and that's him.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Eric's parents in Wisconsin and had a nice, low key time. That was good considering the kids went into it with 2 colds and an ear infection between them and came out with 2 colds, an ear infection and a virus. We spent the following week recovering.

Amalia and Mama before her first Thanksgiving dinner (to attend, not eat).

Amalia met Great Aunt Robyn.

Gareth got in some good play time with Grandpa.

Uncle Josh helped make the meal (see the yummy brined turkey in the back).

Amalia had duck.

A lovely meal.


A little post-turkey Beatles Rock Band. Gareth had this guitar (unplugged) and was playing bass (so he informed us). He played watching the screen for about 20 minutes straight. He's a serious rock band guy.

The day before Thanksgiving we got to tour a business that works on train cars. It was in a giant old tractor factory in Milwaukee and Gareth just wanted to run up and down the train tracks. The business restores, repairs and creates fantastic passenger/train cars. They did Obama's car that he road in across country.

Here's the outside of the car we toured. It is a fully restored 1912 train car for repopulating fish populations. (There were tanks for ice that they'd put buckets of fish in to carry and some places for the crew.) They do metal, wood, paint (almost everything) in shop, hiring out to local artisans for what they couldn't do. They were in the final phase of a 2 year project that cost something like a million dollars (can't remember exact details, was too busy making sure a 2 year-old didn't ruin the ridiculously expensive car). It was being redone for a museum and we got to go inside (no one will get to when it's in the museum). It was really neat.

The Music of Our Lives

Over Halloween weekend, Aunt Mikayah was visiting. This is her hanging out with the kids. Gareth is humming "All Aboard the Choo Choo Train" (Disney channel thing). Amalia is complaining because Gareth has her book.

Quotable Gareth

"I will never walk again"-while throwing a fit and walking down the hall
"I got flewed by a chicken"-referring to a chicken flying by his face when Abba opened the chicken house in the morning, it was very traumatic
"I want Aunt Mikayah to go in the potty chair and flush away"-while being tacky about his Aunt when she was visiting
"I want Aunt Mikayah to go to her train station and go to Chicago"-while being tacky about his Aunt when she was visiting (yes, he is tacky about her a lot, haven't figured out how to stop that one yet)
"I wipe my spanking off, wipe, wipe, wipe"-after receiving a spanking
"Yes, Ima loves me"-to the tune of Jesus Loves Me

What I did Last Summer by Bethany Hughes

We started driving on July 13th. Here's Gareth with his purchased especially for the car trip race car driving toy.


On July 14th we made our final stop before our destination, McDonald's in Tulsa. Had to have a playground after two days in the car.

Within minutes of arriving at Bethany's parents' home cousin Liberty was holding her favorite baby cousin. Thanks to Aunt Mikayah being on snack, toy and pacifier patrol, Bethany was able to arrive sane.

Cousin Liam had to have his turn with Baby Mall Mall (his name for Amalia). Liam loves babies.

A little swimming in Abba and Ima's front yard with the cousins.

What Amalia did for most of the trip to Oklahoma. See her incredibly dry, excema ridden skin. It's a constant fight, but we have come to manage it with hydrocortizone and Aquaphor.

Gareth playing baseball with Ima. Photographic evidence of Ima playing an outdoor sport.

Liam giving Aunt Bethany the thumbs up. He is incredibly charming and very athletic.

A little night night story with Abba and the cousins.

Crazy how big Gareth is compared to Amalia!

The Cherry Girls. Both were wearing cherry apparel and therefore needed a picture.

The boys, waiting to dig in at our shrimp boil.

Amalia spending some quality time with her younger cousin. He should arrive in October.

Amalia's first visit to Ted's Escondido Cafe in Oklahoma City. It's fantastic Tex-Mex.

We traveled to Texas for a wedding and spent a little time in the hotel pool. Gareth has decided he doesn't like pictures taken of him. So that's why he always looks glum.

Gareth and Amalia with their first cousins (Liberty and Liam) and their second cousins (Anna and Alex). We had lunch with them on our way out of town during our Texas weekend.

Bethany with her sisters, brother-in-law, cousins, and the above.

Bethany's parents, aunt and uncle (mom's side) and the above.

Liberty and Liam are quite a team. Smart and sometimes sneaky :)

Gareth with a Sonic ice cream cone. The Sonic near Abba and Ima's has a playground and volleyball courts.

Had to hit the pool with Abba.

A girl has to sleep a lot to keep up with this crew.

Liberty is a reading girl, introducing Amalia to the wonders of the written word.

Amalia meeting her Great-Grandpa and his wife Sherry. We had lunch with them on our road trip back to home.

4th of July

Daddy helping with a sparkler.

Throwing "snappers"


We had a small gathering at our place on the 4th. Just some neighbors, Grandparents, food, sparklers and snappers. It was a nice day. We watched some fireworks the night before outside of our apartment building. We could just see them over the tree tops. Gareth told us we needed an airplane so we could fly over the trees and see all of the fireworks.

Gareth dancing

Here's a recent dance Gareth did at his Grandparents' house. Grandma is singing.

Mama Should Know Better

Yesterday I made Gareth cry. I felt awful. We were outside having some bike riding time, which translates to riding the various tricycles that live outside our apartment building. He pointed out a plane flying overhead and informed me it was a jet plane. Knowing how much he likes songs I started singing Leaving On a Jet Plane to him, thinking I'd add a song about jet planes to his repertoire. I only know the opening and first chorus, but by the time I stopped singing his lower lip was quivering and then he burst into tears. It took hugging me, getting back on the tricycle, bursting into tears again, hugging me again, getting back on the tricycle again before he was sufficiently recovered from the song. At which point he informed me he doesn't like the jet plane song. I asked him if he thought I was going to leave and he said no. It's just the song that makes him sad. I should know better. I was the toddler who cried at songs, too. And what's worse is this is not the first time I've done this. I learned last Fall that Little Bird, Little Bird from Man of La Mancha makes him cry as well as reading the Velveteen Rabbit. I totally agree with him on all of these fronts. We don't read Velveteen Rabbit anymore since it makes him sad and it's always made me sad. Interestingly all three of these things are about separation and people leaving.

Owie

Gareth got a small (think tiny) scrape on his leg from falling down a few cement stairs. We put an Elmo bandaid on it (from Ima), but as a result he walks gingerly. He informed us he could not run because of his owie. Here he is showing Eric the bandaid.

Gareth the Guitar Boy

Gareth loves drums and guitars and particularly The Imagination Movers. If you are not familiar with The Imagination Movers, it is a show on the Disney channel about a band that has a business solving problems. I wouldn't recommend the show, it's not that well written. But, there is a band and several songs during each episode, which is what Gareth loves. Here he is with a Rock Band/Guitar hero controller singing part of the Imagination Movers theme song.

Elephants

Tonight Gareth and I read an Animal book for his nighttime story. He was telling me all the different animals he knew and what sounds they made. We got to the elephant and he asked me what sound it makes. I told him I did not make a very good elephant noise, that Daddy and Grandma were much better at it (also, with a cold, I didn't think trying was a great idea). I told him they sort of trumpeted. He said "trumpets go do-do-do-doo" in a heraldic sort of way and then informed me that's what elephants say. Just so you know, elephants basically sound like they're announcing the entrance of nobility :)

Here comes the music

Singing the alphabet, minus a few letters.

He just started singing Baa, Baa, Black Sheep today. I forgot that you can't take video longways on my camera. It's probably just as well, he sways for the entire song, which might cause a bit of motion sickness in som.

Here is a song about a fire truck, fire fighters, fire engines and sirens.

This is Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Here are the words he's actually singing:
Take Me Out To Ball Game
Take Me Out Poud
Buy Some ...Cacker Jack
I Carry Never Get Back
Woof, Woof For Home Team
They Win Shame
1, 2, 3 Strikes Out
Old Ball Game




Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star arr. Gareth

The last month

He's becoming interested in having his picture taken. But timing the "cheese" with the actual picture taking is a nuance that he has not grasped. This is the end of "cheese"

He was having a snack one day as I did dishes in the kitchen (his table is in our living room). I walked in to find him, feet up, snacking :) Note the play-doh on the table. He really enjoys it.

Gareth sleeps all over his crib, but lately he enjoys sleeping across it with his feet sticking out between the slats. We've mostly given up trying to fix this, it just happens too frequently. And he normally fixes it all by himself and goes right back to sleep.


Eric and Gareth playing with some Legos (Duplos)

Big Boy Haircut

I finally told Eric he could give Gareth a real haircut, not just a trim like I'd been doing. So here he is brushing his teeth and you can see how short his hair is. I miss his baby hair, but he looks very grown-up with his haircut :)

Gareth's 2nd birthday party

The giant crane he got. Most of the birthday presents are still in their boxes in his closet, because he got so much for Christmas we don't have space to keep them on his shelves and in his baskets (and he doesn't need that many new toys at once, so we're spacing them out).

Lego set with Thomas the Tank Engine. The legos have been a big hit. Mostly he wants to build steps, cars, airplanes, buildings, towers and occasionally a train.

A little cake and ice cream to celebrate the day. Gareth is a pretty clean eater, which disappoints other people, but makes me happy :)

The cake was decorated by Liberty, Ethan, Elijah and Gareth

Grandpa spoke and Abba prayed, we all sang and ended the dedication with a prayer.

I love picture like this of my son.

Here are some pictures for Gareth's 2 year-old birthday party, which also included his dedication. It was just family and our next door neighbors.