Yogurt Body Lotion

Bowie sure is getting better at using a spoon. Very messy still. It's quite warm here if you hadn't guessed. Bowie wants to spend every moment outside jumping on the upside down wading pools (his homemade trampoline), throwing rocks at the ladder (the designated okay target), tossing Tuba's ball, diggin sand out of his play table and dumping it on the ground, riding a rolling plant stand like a skateboard. I would like to be able to capture more of these moments, but I hope you can appreciate how much supervision is required.

Diplodocus

Meet Bowie's Diplodocus. His first dinosaur. He points out the Diplodocus in his dino book. I can't believe that we are already learning dinosaur names. All the years I dreamed about having a family, all the years Chris and I waited for a child and now I am learning and teaching dinosaur facts to my nearly 2 year old son. It's all as good as I hoped it would be. And it's so much more amazing than I ever expected. Saddly, Bowie's Diplodocus met Bowie's "sharp teeth" (as Bowie likes to say) in an accident that left him three-legged.

Big Hair

A friend came over for a playdate and shared her hot tofu dip with us. Bowie loved it so she offered it to us. Here is Bowie's sanck yesterday. No interest in the caroot, turkey, or cheddar cheese. Just crackers and dip. Look at the big hair! I love it. He looks like a little rocker.

The Skateboard

This is the skateboard that I made for Bowie.

Skater

Last Monday we went to our favorite thrift store and Bowie always looks for skateboards, footballs, roller skates, black bicycle, and baseball bat. Well, he found some rollerskates. No longer would "too big" be believed because, well, they do fit. He practiced amongst all the shoppers, then a bit yesterday evening with Chris. Today he started out with a firm grip on my hands until he was distraqcted by older boys across the street tossing the football. He slowly loosed his grip and I gently slipped my hand from his. He stood balancing for at least 5 minutes. When he realized he wasn't being held up, he was excited and confident. At one point he skated (well, more clomped) all the way up the sidewalk by himself without falling, about 10 feet. I am so amazed by him, all of the time.

Central Market Pond

It was very foggy and moist today. But we needed to get out so we played at the Central Market playground and pond. Bowie loves to go look for ducks and ride dinner trays down the hill. He tolerates the playground, willing to bounce the bridge but his final goal is to make it to the bike rack or the duck pond. He sure got wet and dirty. He is nearly fearless.

Grey Sweater

Ah, my quiet, thoughtful Bowie. My boisterous, giggly Bowie. He's all of it, all of the time. The last photo is him reacting to the little indian figuring skateboarding on my ear. This totally cracked him up.

We had a super fun day with friends. We spent 2 hours at the local thrift store for the everything half off president's day sale. We finished shopping after about an hour, but friends kept showing up! I left hurting after pushing Bowie around (holding him up by the hands) on in-line skates (him skating, not me). Of course we had to bring them home with us. And for dinner we went to a pizza party for some of our childless friends. This is something that we rarely get to so and we must do it more often. Bowie had a total blast. He got so much attention. Loud, physical attention . He was immediately best friends with each person there crawling into their laps and giving huge smiles to people taht are dear to us, but whom he's rarely seen. He stayed up until 10:30 and didn't even fall asleep during the drive home.

Hungry Little Man

I've been taking a lot of pictures while Bowie eats. I always have. Our dining room table is north facing, so it gets nice light and Bowie stays relatively still. But I get a lot of chewing and messy pics. Yet, this is a very realistic capturing of the way we spend a great deal of our time. Bowie lately has been on a very strict sausage and berry diet. He wakes up in the morning asking for sausage before he even sits up! I have to ration the blue, black, and raspberries. It is a difficult job. But he'd turn into Violet if I didn't.

The Trike and Dress Up Party

Yesterday Bowie and I spent the morning at the park. I think that I've written before about how much I love spending our time there. Bowie loves to watch other children and take over any of their transportation toys. A playgroup arrived at Ramsey Park all children riding, tricycles, bicycles, or the beloved plasma car. Bowie was already riding his tricycle on the tennis court when they arrived, almost like a parade. He could not take his eyes off of them. The mothers had baskets of dress up capes, hats and masks, too. But Bowie wasn't the least bit interested although they very sweetly offered to share all they had. After the kids dispersed to the playground, Bowie went over to inspect and explore and ride on toys. He even rode, really pedalled a little bicycle with training wheels. I expected him to overjoyed and worried that I'd never be able to get him off, but he deemed it "too big" and dismounted quickly.

Heart Shaped Balloon

Here are pictures of Bowie last year and this year. Oh looky looky how pudgy he was! Today I measured Bowie and weighed him. He's 34.5 inches tall (90th percentile) and 27.5 lbs (about 60th percentile). What a long tall drink of a boy he is! He enjoyed his balloon much more last year. But this year he can say, "I love you Mama. I love you Papa. I love you Bowie." Oh, that my heart doesn't burst is amazing.

Heart Shaped Pizza

This is our fourth year of Mangia's heart shaped stuffed pizza for Valentine's Day. Bowie LOVED it. Notice the bear card on the left under our little homemade cards (which we have yet to deliver)? Both sets of grandparents sent the same exact card to Bowie. It must have just screamed out that it was the right one for him.

Waking

We went to a fun birthday party this morning. But that meant that nap was a bit short. Here is Bowie waking up. Then we went down to Town Lake with Tuba and flew a kite. The wind was vicious today, and the kite was easy to get up and keep up. Bowie loved playing with the all the dogs off leash. I'm a bit anxious with Bowie down amongst all of those dogs. He loves it and is respectful of them, but perhaps is not cautious enough. Tuba loved getting out. We need to get her out more often. She is such a sweet patient dog.

Green Hat

I can't believe that Bowie agreed to wear this hat for so long this afternoon. I've been trying to coax him into it forever. Had a fun morning at Groovy Lube getting the oil changed. Bowie was surprisingly good at waiting for an hour. He spent the majority of time balancing on the parking curb. He inches along sideways. After nap, we played out in the backyard. We are spending a great deal of time out there. Bowie loves to putter around and throw rocks.

Orange

Today Bowie and I went to story time at the library. It's been a couple of months since we've gone to storytime. The librarian is so great. Bowie was completely enraptured. I'm committed to making that part of our routine again. The theme was colors. I got out the watercolors this afternoon. Bowie sure loved the water and paint parts of the activity. Not much painting on the paper happened. Bowie also shose to wear his dino splashers for most of the afternoon.

Not a Lotta Lotta

Not a whole lotta lotta going on today. We hit the park this morning. That is one of my favorite ways to spend our time. Bowie totally took over a young boys three-wheeled scooter. And got it going for a bit too. He's really watching how people do things, and I can see him internalizing it. He'll watch someone someone scooting along, and I'll see his little foot pushing the air. There is a group of skaterboards that has been hanging out in front of our house. One of htem has a really tall spiked black mohawk. I taught Bowie how to say "mohawk". Bowie kept saying "more skateboard please" when the skaters got out of sight.

Bowie's First Drumming Lesson

I joined an online photography group and I have been really inspired by the storyboards I've been seeing there. Most of my photos are about capturing our lives and telling the story of our family. I think that these storyboards really help accomplish this. Here is one from Bowie's drumming lesson yesterday.

Garden Helper

Bowie was away from us almost the whole day. He went back to the zoo with his cousin Honey and my folks. That is defintiely the longest he has ever been away from us both. I missed him very much. That may be the longest I've been away from him. I am sad that he had such an adventure that I didn't share with him. But I am also glad that he is confident and secure enough to venture out into the world without me.

When he got home, he helped Chris do some yard work. We have a lot of rubble left in the backyard from the bomb shelter demolition. So Bowie is helping us build a big "rock" (really cement) pile. Love that he still looks like a baby in his fuzzi bunz diapers!

Little Drummer Boy

Animal!! Today Chris got out a snare drum for Bowie. Needless to say, it was a tremendous success. Bowie really enjoyed himself and Chris was beaming with pride. Looks like we need to start buying earplugs again.

Basketball

Get it! Bounce it! Throw it! Kick it! Well, we've got a little of soccer mixed in there, but Bowie is really learning the basics. He will happily sit near the court for half an hour and watch people play. When he gets onto the court, he self-commentates and really puts a lot of bend in the knees.