More spray please!

More 95 degree days in Portland means more time in the turtle-pool and more getting sprayed by the hose when Dada waters the garden. Theo signed "more" and then said "please" (this instance not shown in video) - we think that might constitute a sentence. Earlier this week Theo also said "Dada Ni-Ni", also a contender.

Stopping to smell the flowers

What could be better than smelling flowers with Theo?

Feeding the ducks

Last weekend Theo fed the ducks himself. He's a fan of duck-feeding. This weekend, we took him to his first car dealership. Most of you know he's a HUGE fan of cars. It is probably his most-used word. Going on walks with him, or just looking out the window, he's bound to utter "car" several times. When we walked into the showroom, and Theo saw all of the cars INSIDE, he was so excited and awe-struck, I'd never heard him say "CAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR" with such drawn-out, incredulous, childlike enthusiasm.

First live music

We spent a couple of hours with Grandpa Steve and Grandma Linda at the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival on Sunday. This free, low-key neighborhood music festival was the perfect way to introduce Theo to his first live music and event crowd. He was most taken with the balloons and the crowd, but busted a little dance move here and there once he got over his awe. He also had fun playing hats with Grandpa.

Pop and Grandma Janet come for a visit

Pop and Grandma Janet were here last week for a visit and had such a fun visit with Theo. They went to the park, the zoo, on walks, read books, and had so much fun playing all week long. Theo learned to say "two" playing the game "one two three lift".

Tackling little challenges

Theo displays a remarkable pattern in his learning behavior: he often identifies challenges and re-creates them over and over again. He seems to be drawn to challenges, teaching himself how to overcome them by practice. For instance, he'll find difficult terrain to walk over and walk back and forth over it carefully over and over again until he becomes more comfortable. This evening, we put some water in our kiddie-pool turtle, and let Theo play in it for the first time. He found it challenging to step into it and out of it, so he did so over and over again until he could do it without using his hands!




























Later, he played under the spray from Daddy watering the garden. There's Lucy's friend Big Head in the background.

Sweet boy

Giggle fest

Sometimes when I get home from work, Theo, tired from his day of play, can be very fussy and not very much fun. Other times, we have fun like this!

Crossing bridges

We took Theo for a walk in the woods behind the Audobon Society this morning. Theo enjoyed walking down the steep trails holding our hands, saying "wa" for water while checking out the creek, and walking across bridges over and over and over again. He walked all the way back the steep slope by himself, then we checked out the birds in the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Theo practiced saying "bird" as we looked at the raven, peregrine falcon, owl, and turkey vulture in their enclosures.

Happy Birthday, Grammy Betsy

Here's a recent video of Theo singing and saying some of his words, including two of my favorites, "home" and "poop". What more could a Grandma ask for other than a new video? Happy Birthday, Grammy! We love you!