Timmy: Fifteen Months

 Timmy has become quite the goofball.  When he's not whining for me to hold him or get him some milk or something to eat, he's usually wandering around finding things to get into and funny things to do.  He likes attention and loves to make us laugh.  He has been teething lately which makes him grumpy and needy.  It seems like those one-year-old molars have been coming in for months.  We're done with the tops and working on the bottoms.

 Timmy wants to be big and independent.  He will not let me feed him anything.  He has to do it all himself and he's so messy about it too.  Every meal ends in food all over him and everywhere else.  He is a pretty good eater, but has a special place in his heart for any kind of fruit.

 He loves to play dress-up and is always looking for something to wear. Brian's swim goggles were the attire of the day above.  He also likes shoes.  He likes wearing them and carrying them and throwing them and hitting the wall with them.  I often find him trying to put his shoes on even when he's already wearing a pair.  He is a busy boy always moving things around, opening drawers, and getting into everything.

Timmy is still not saying much yet.  Pieces of words come out once in a while, but we're still waiting for him to catch on to the whole talking thing.  He says "da" for Daddy, "meh" for Meg the dog, "Muh" for milk, and "Ma" for Mommy and anything else he wants.  I'm really hoping he starts saying some real words soon.

Timothy is the biggest copy cat of a kid I have ever met.  Except for saying words, he copies everything we do.  He especially watches Brian and copies his every move.  So much so that we had to buy him a blanket just like Brian's because he kept trying to take Brian's away and hold it just like Brian does.  Not only has he copied Brian's blanket habit, but he has copied Brian's thumb sucking habit as well.  Yikes! I have TWO little thumb sucker blanket holders now! The only difference is Brian sucks his left thumb and Timmy sucks his right.  Well, Timmy doesn't have a "yucky corner" yet on his blanket and I hope he never realizes that Brian has a special corner because he'll start with that too.

Timmy is not very steady on his feet.  He does fine walking, but he falls a lot and he is always trying to climb on things, which almost always results in bumps and bangs.  He seems to catch himself with his head, and not a day goes by without the presence of some sort of bump, bruise, or scrape on his head or face.  You can see one on the picture above for some proof. I hope he gets a handle on that head soon, because I am worried about too many head injuries.

Through  it all I just adore our little Tim-Tim.  He brings so much joy to our lives and he's just so much fun to watch.  He has the most contagious smile and the most lovable cheeks you could imagine.

Small Adventures

Due to Mark's very busy schedule this summer, we have not gone on any grand adventures together as a family (yet).  It seems like he has been gone more than he has been here.  As the Young Men's President at church, a lot of time is spent at activities and meetings and he's taken a lot of time off of work for Youth Conference and Scout Camps.  That then creates more do to at work, which keeps him from home.  When he is home, most of his time is spent helping others with their cars, or computers, or scooters, or motorcycles, or wheelchairs, or whatever else you can imagine. Right now he's in Tijuana for work.  In the end, the time we have spent as a family is usually some treasured play at home or a visit to Mark's parents on a Sunday afternoon.  The rest of the time I try to do fun things with the kids and enjoy our small summer adventures.

Silver Lake

I took the boys up to Silver Lake one afternoon and they loved it!  

Brian ran around the whole lake.  He would run ahead and then stop and wait for me and Timmy to catch up. 

Real Salt Lake Soccer Game

This was one of those rare beautiful nights where Mark and I got to go have some fun together.  Thank you to Ruben for the tickets and thank you to Alice for attempting to put Brian to bed and for being so patient with him when he never went to bed.  We had so much fun and they won!

Backyard

We still spend a lot of our time in the backyard.

Heritage Park with Cousins

My sister Alli welcomed this beautiful little guy into her family.  I sadly have not been much help to her. I wanted to take her other two kids for a bit to give her a break, so we went up to Heritage Park.

I love this place.  When our Hogle Zoo pass expired last month, I decided to go for the pass at this park instead of renewing my zoo pass.  Mostly because Brian is terrified of the new dinosaur exhibit at the zoo and Heritage Park has just what he wants right now, trains.

We had a blast.  Taking four children ages five and under was actually easier than I had thought it would be.  Jordie, Caitie, and Brian were very good kids and Timmy was easy as he rode in the backpack where he even took a short nap.  The picture below is when I let him out to play in the little houses they have.

I was grateful to have Jordie and Caitie there to encourage Brian to get on the ponies.  This was the first time he agreed to get on and ride.  He was scared, but tried so hard not to show Jordie and Caitie, who of course had no worries at all.

It was a Civil War Day at the park where they acted out little drills and fights and even fired a cannon.  We couldn't get in too close due to Brian's extreme fears.  At this close range to the soldiers he was shaking so hard and tears were starting to run.  Jordan on the other hand loved it.

Brian's favorite part was riding the big and the little train several times.

Our Dog Meg

This is Meg.  She joined our family on Monday night.  Her previous family was moving to Australia and could not take her with them and we were the lucky family to get her.  She is a fawn colored Boxer and she'll be two in October.  I don't think that we have seen all of her real personality yet, because she is a bit depressed after leaving her previous home and loved ones, but what we do know we love and adore.  So far she is very quiet, sweet as can be, and incredibly timid around most adults.  Because she has been with me since she got here, she is pretty much attached to my hip.  She usually just wants to lie on the floor next to me wherever I am and she loves to be with the kids as well.  If any other adult tries to approach her, she cowers and slinks away like she is afraid they are going to hurt her.  She is beginning to warm up to Mark, and to Mandy and Big Brian, but it looks as if it is going to be awhile until she feels completely comfortable.

 I am actually much happier about having a dog than I thought I would be.  We are at a good time and a good place to have her and I have fallen in love with this sweetheart.  I'm pretty sure you will too when you meet her.  Brian most often refers to her as "my dog."  If he can't see where she is he always asks, "where is my dog?"  I hope that she can adjust to her new life quickly because it's hard to see her so sad.

Summer Swim Lessons

Brian took eight weeks of swim lessons this summer.  We have neighbors down the street that teach lessons in their backyard pool.  It was a fantastic experience and we're sad the lessons are over for the summer.  Every morning Monday-Thursday, the kids would hop in the stroller and we'd walk over to swim lessons.  Brian started out so timid and scared that he wouldn't even stand on the platform in the water without holding on to his teacher.  By the end, he was floating on his back and swimming short distances with his face in the water.

 Brian would not even enter the pool without his goggles on. I'm totally fine with that as long as he learns to swim.

 His favorite thing to do was play catch with the torpedoes while waiting his turn to go out with the other teacher.

Good work kiddo! I'm proud of you!

I spent my time running after this little guy on the side of the pool.  They would put out the baby pool on Thursdays, so he did get to go swimming one day each week.