apAdventures

A fresh tomato from the Farmer’s Market and cool green grass on a hot day:

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Grandma is in town. And now we hear “C’mon Gramma!!” at least a dozen times a day. 🙂

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Well, baby time is fast approaching and we can hardly wait. Over the last few months Paul and I have been helping Silas along in his journey to big brother status. In January we had the “bye bye binki” ceremony – Silas having the honors of “chuck binki in trash” while we all clapped and cheered. In February he moved into his very own toddler bed – only once did I come in the next morning to find him cuddled on the floor. And last month Paul successfully potty trained him in a day…no kidding! (a HUGE thanks to our dear friend Jen for the excellent recommendation: “Toilet Training in Less Than A Day” by Nathan Azrin – it totally works.) Silas is all excited for this new “baby brover” or “baby sista” to “pop out” so they can “play diggers” together and “share.” So now we’re just hangin’ out, biding our time, waiting for this new little one to make his or her appearance.

“Baby seep here”

“Si-yas seep in toddyer bed”

Showing his toys his new toddler bed

Biding our time: Reading

…and more reading

Reading to Huckleberry

Reading with mama

Reading to dad

Climbing! on his own little segment of wall Paul built for him this winter. Notice the crayon in his right hand. He likes to stash them in his pocket and pull them out at the top of the climb to do some coloring. Silly boy.

Hiking. With his toolbox of course – never know when you’re going to need a wrench.

Logging some hours on the bee…and not leaving any toys behind

Playing in dad’s dirty clothes

Playing with George

Playing with his dinosaurs

Eating pancakes. Dude. This kid can put ’em down lemme tell ya.

Playing in THE biggest box EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

And more climbing! (This is a photo of Silas trying out his new gear for the big climbs for the first time. Not surprisingly, he was too distracted by all the gear to actually make any significant vertical progress at the gym. Eh, born boulderer then I guess. That’s my boy. 😉

posted by arr

Sharing a few pics from la casa on this Easter Sunday:

Mama and Silas coloring eggs last night

5 cracked eggs out of a dozen (mr. yellow here about to be #5). I’d say that’s pretty dang good for a 2 year old 🙂

Silas agrees

And the hunt is on!

Whack. #6.

First dip in the pool this year. Excited? Or dreading the shock of ice water? You decide.

Look! Mama found an easter egg too – hiding under her shirt!

Carefully peeling

“Mmmm. Good”

And now time for dessert. Every kid knows the ears are the best part.

Awe, sweet boy wants to share. Happy Easter everyone!

posted by arr

posted by arr

This year at Hueco is a 180 from last year. Last year’s scene: Paul or April is climbing (with no spot and strategically placed pads) while the other shuffles around, hunchbacked, holding Silas’ little hands, helping him balance and negotiate Hueco’s uneven (and sometimes deadly!) terrain. It was exhausting to say the least, but thanks to Hueco being…well…HUECO, we persisted in our trips there anyway and sucked it up.

This year’s scene: Sturdy Silas not only can fend for himself on the uneven terrain, but he climbs, eats his snacks on his own, plays quietly with his diggers, dinosaurs and trusty screwdriver while we climb (and spot one another or move pads), and listens when mama and dad say “Get out of that cactus patch!” or “Don’t put rocks in the spider’s house or he won’t be able to climb out!” or (the most common) “Off the pads please while dad is climbing” – for some reason every time dad chalks up to pull on the boulder is the time Silas thinks dad needs a hug.

This Hueco season is absolute bliss for us and our little guy. He loves being out at the rocks and so do we. And him yelling “HUECO!” from the backseat with legs bouncing and arms in a triumphant Rocky pose makes Paul and I beam with happiness. Maybe we’re just lucky. Or maybe all that hunchbacked suffering, er, shuffling, paid off. 🙂

Silas with his big boy water bottle. Conveniently, his sippy nalgene got lost in a Hueco windstorm in November. Maybe it’ll end up an artifact someday.

Diggers. Yeah.

Paul on Rogered in the Shower, v10/11

More of Paul on Rogered

A poor spider’s home

Our little Hueco lover

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Tonight after dinner I announced that I would “pick up the table.” Silas, always needing to put his own 2-cents in, informed me with great concern that “pickup table hard.” He then offered to “help mama” and then proceeded to demonstrate how difficult this all would be by trying to pry up the table with his small chubby hands while making grunting noises.

Silly mama. What the heck does ‘pick up the table’ mean anyway? Why not just say what I really mean: Pick up the dishes….off the table! Sheesh, watch out. He’s on to me.

posted by arr

posted by arr

Christmas! With chilly Tucson temps and snow in the mountains, this is as Christmas-y as it gets people. So before temps move back up to the low 70’s norm, we jumped on the moment and got our tree this weekend. Silas is going nuts with it all. The first words out of his mouth this morning from his crib were “TREE!! LIGHTS!!” I love it.

Snow in the mountains

Tree in the house

Silas looking at the tree with dad and taking it all in

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Another outing over the weekend – this time a little bouldering on The Matterhorn.

The Matterhorn Boulder

Dried boogers, dried drool and a granola bar

Baby under the boulder

and on the pads – of course his favorite play area

Paul giving Jewel Thief, v10 a try

Setting up for the crux

Going big

Going down

And going home. After about a dozen falls from the top, it’s cold and getting dark. Pauls wants to try again this weekend but we might get shut down due to SNOW!!!! 😀

posted by arr