Yet Another Game Changer

I am completely SOL once this kid learns how to climb onto the couch. Based on this evening's performance, I have about 16 hours before it becomes a reality. He also figured out how to climb up and stand on Ben's foot stool, so he can now access the counter tops. But then he fell off the foot stool and didn't like that too much, so maybe that scare will deter him for a few days (or I can only hope it does)

Wolny Fight Club

I am going to break the first rule of fight club and talk about fight club. Some of the highlight of this evening's fight club:
- Full body slam
- Head butt
- Open handed slap to bare skin
- Repeated head first dismounts off the couch
- Pow, pow, pow punches to the kidneys
- And the two-fisted, ear-yank body slam, as illustrated below.

And all with the hilarious laughter of two little boys who thought they were just sooooooo funny.

Batting Practice

Playground Fun

We took a walk over to the park this evening. Ben is not quite big enough for all of the equipment yet, but he has grown into some things he's never tried before, including these island jumper things. After I took this video, he did all 6 of them with Adam's help and then he did them a second time with minimal help.

Needs a Bit of Practice

Ben finally got to play with his T-ball set he got for his birthday. However, his technique needs a little work. Adam said he did pretty good batting left-handed using the tee, but he wouldn't use the tee while I was watching.

We'll Just Call It Good at Spring

Fun With Cousins!

Saturday we had fun with cousins! Jenny, Jimmy, Grant and Maddie were in town so we got all the kids together for a play date. It was a lot of babies, all on the go! It was also a lot of blue eyes (and snot as they all had colds) :) And all three somehow have the same hair style. Of course getting them all to sit still for a picture is just crazy talk, so I worked with what I was given. I was just happy all four were in the shot!

Comfy Chair

Nick got a new chair for his birthday. It took a couple of tries to figure out how to sit in it, but after he got past the initial breaking-in, he made himself at home

I'm Not Sure Why I Buy Toys

All these two need is a box.

Words, Part 2

In case you'd like to hear more cute baby words, here is Nick saying tickle, tickle and uh-oh. I think there might be a few hi's, mama and maybe a dada in there too

Words

Nick has started talking in the last two weeks. He started with mama and dada and quickly added tickle tickle, uh-oh and hi. I tried to get him to say all of his words at once, but that wasn't about to happen, so I pieced together this video. He taught the other 1-year-olds at day care to say tickle, tickle on Thursday. It was pretty amusing to have all three of them walking around, randomly saying tickle, tickle. In this video you will also get to see Nick climb up two steps and climb back down them. It also features his hilarious penguin walk (he's a total waddler).

Stamping Art

I thought I'd be adventurous and get out some stamping supplies for Ben to create some art work. I covered the table in craft paper and let him have at it. I don't really use my stamping supplies any more, so I just let him make a mess and didn't worry about the condition of the stamp pad or stamps. Somehow he managed to get ink all over his face, including his nose. I bet he was trying to smell the stamp or the ink or something. Daddy helped him a bit but overall, he did a decent job. I think it is something we will work on, though.

The final piece

Stacking Blocks

Nick was so good at placing the balls inside the Peek-a-Boo octopus, I decided to see how he did at stacking. He definitely could do 1 ring, but then he just got silly and started banging them together. But hey, at least he got one!

The Snake

My mom bought this ninja costume for Ben right after Halloween when everything was 75 or 90% off. It's been in the play room since and he's never really paid much attention to it, until this week. He brought it to me on Saturday saying he wanted to wear the snake suit. Note the snake on the chest... So I obliged and put it on him. He then said he had to go outside and look for snakes in the garden. You see, you hunt for snakes in the snake suit, which totally makes sense of course. Well, I wasn't going to deny him the opportunity to hunt for snakes, so even though it was 30mph winds, we bundled him up and shipped him to the backyard. I did not get any reports of snake sightings in the 32 degree weather, but I did see a lot of dirt moving around the yard, so he must have been looking hard.

Peek-A-Shoe

Last week Nick got a fun surprise at the front door - a birthday present from Aunt Sarah! It is a super cool Leap Frog Peek-A-Shoe. You drop balls into the octopus' head or hand and they come out in his shoes. The kids look under the shoes to find the balls. The octopus says, 'Peek-a-boo!' when you find it and tells you either the color or the number of the shoe that you find it under. It was a big hit with both boys! I was actually a little surprised at how well Nick did putting the balls into the hat and hand. I think he watched Ben do it a couple of times and then started doing it himself. They were about to start throwing elbows going after the balls, though! We are working on Ben's sharing skills.

And like everything, sometimes the box is just more fun. Nick got stuck in the box going head first - his preferred method for anything, including getting off the couch.