Amateur hour encore

LT missed lunch due to the premature nap so "eat eat" was the first thing on his mind and the first words out of his mouth when he woke up. What did he want? Blueberry waffles and, um, well, blueberries. Apparently the third serving of blueberries wasn't as good as the previous ones because they all had to be dunked in juice before being eaten.

After lunch we did some chores around the house to prove to mom that the boys can be trusted on our own. We did "poop patrol" together and LT walked around the back yard and pointed out the dog droppings for me to pick up with the scooper. This might not seem very helpful (pretty sure I could find them myself) but it's a huge improvement from the first time he 'helped' Kari with the chore when he wanted to pick up the poop with his bare hands.

Once we'd finished a few chores, we headed outside on our way to the playground and immediately figured out why they dogs had been so restless for the last couple hours. The builder had been holding an open house in other half of the 'plex next door.


LT loves balloons but because his mom hates them he doesn't get to play with them much. So, being the softy that I am, I let him play with the balloons attached to the open house sign for a while and he had a great time.

That is until he accidentally unhooked them from the sign and they went flying away into the trees above. I'm sure the builder is happy that we bought half the 'plex right before the bottom fell out of the real estate market. However, I'm sure he doesn't think we're doing much to help him sell the other half now that the market is in the dumps. For example, our tiny little swatch of grass in the back was once lush and green but, thanks to the dogs, is now basically a mud pit and it usually has at least a few random LT toys strewn about for added effect. And today LT tried to sabotage the open house. I was planning on going in to say hello and get a quick reminder of how nice our hose could look if not for all the clutter and junk. I was too embarrassed by the balloon incident, however, so we just quietly continued on our way to the park.

The park, as usual, was a hit.

Mom even got home a little early and brought Hailie to find us at the park. Things didn't exactly go as planned today but it was still a success in my book.

Amateur hour downtown

Kari has a full day at work today and that means LT is on his own with me. I decided to take LT to meet some friends at the big downtown library. I packed up a bunch of snacks, diapers, wipes, water, a few toys, a camera, his vest and a hat and hit the road. I decided to park at the DAC so I could get some coffee and wouldn't have to worry about the one hour meters near the library. I was also going to have LT walk some of the few blocks between the DAC and the library because that usually helps tire him out for a good nap. However, we parked the care and I took LT out and was in the act of putting him down to walk when...

I realized I had forgotten to bring shoes. So much for having him walk and carrying him and coffee didn't work out all that well either. When we finally got to the libaray, I think the first words out of (father of three) Craig's mouth when he saw us was, "amateur." He did have a pretty good point.

LT didn't mind being shoeless and had a great time running around in the puppet room at the library. The room is nice because it's almost always empty and you can close it off and let the little ones go crazy. At least that's what we thought until one of them figured out how to unlock the door...

and we had a miniature jailbreak on our hands as all five kids descended on the library (notice LT still clutching the cushion he was putting the 'baby' puppets night nights on just before the escape).

After terrorizing the library we decided to hit a nearby cafe and LT got to ride in the front seat of the Wu's double stroller (Sofi has the same stroller and LT loves the front seat on it too).

LT was having some crackers but when Altaira offered him a piece of one of her girl's cookies he didn't even finish the bite he was eating - he just spit the half chewed cracker right on the floor and started in on the cookie. I guess I can't really fault his manners because I probably would have done the same thing.

If you ignore Peter, what you've got here is a picture LT hanging out with three older women. That's my boy!

Even though I've been putting LT to sleep at night now for several weeks, I don't do nap time with him and was a little worried about it. Kari had diligently prepped me with the whole routine of eating lunch while watching "Elmo and Do-do"* before going upstairs to read a few books and rock to sleep. But it turns out I didn't need any of it because the little man crashed about two minutes into the drive home.



* LT loves to watch Sesame Street and he calls it "Elmo and Do-do" for his two favorite characters, Elmo and Big Bird.

No wonder LT likes to go to Z's house...

There's more than just fun toys and nice babooses at Z's house.

Not sure if Z is stealing the beer from LT or peer pressuring him into taking it. Either way, I think we can see who the trouble maker is going to be.

As if to prove my point...

Super Bowl Sunday

I remember thinking, "man that kid needs a haircut - the mullet is coming back" when I took the second picture shown on the post of Z and LT playing at the mall. Apparently he was thinking the same thing because a little later that day he heard me with the clippers and told mom, "da-da, cut-cut, da-da, cut-cut." Okay, so maybe he wasn't actually asking for his own hair to get cut but we decided to run with it.

LT was a pretty good sport about getting his hair chopped by an unskilled hack like me.

The new haircut came just in time to go over and watch the Super Bowl at uncle Steve and aunt Mad's house.

LT rocked out with the Wii guitar and clapped during the halftime show featuring Bruce Springsteen. I even got him to say, "Boss" although it sounded more like "Bass" or maybe even "Buss."

Boy's morning

Last weekend Kari took Hailie to Wash park and left me, LT and Bo on our own. Not to be outdone we decided to take our own walk with just the boy's team. LT (pictured below) was pretty excited about getting all geared up for the walk.

Billy's Bar

A satisfied boy from sweet potato fries at Billy's Inn.

Eggs-n-Bacon

The Cherry Creek mall doesn't open until 10 (or maybe even 11 on Sundays), but they open the doors and the play area at 9. We met Z and his family there last Sunday to wear the little guys out.
The two crazy boys taking a breather on the seating for parents.
LT hanging out in a bowl of cereal, happy as can be.
After awhile, we took the boys down to another part of the mall where there is a fountain to splash in and some geese flying above. Usually the boys are content making a watery mess, but Sunday they were more intrigued by the closed, lock doors of Saks Fifth Ave.
The cleaning lady on the other side of the glass doors enjoyed seeing two little happy boys and I think they were equally happy to watch the big cleaning machinery.

Playdough Fun

LT loves playing with playdough. He puts his "B's" (bears) in each chair at his small table and then gets right to work. He especially likes cut cutting the dough with his scissors and attempts to use the cookie cutters. Today he made a concoction and fork fed each B a piece of playdough.

Play dough is very serious business.

Park Playdate with the Boys

On Saturday, LT, D and Isaac had a playdate at the nearby school playground. D and LT were there first and no pictures were taken due to the danger of their "playing". They would climb the stairs to the top of the slide, but rather than go down the slide, they wanted to jump off the small space. Later, the two accident prone kids found the dirtiest, scummiest, icyist corner of the school and slid, ran and found disgusting items to put in their mouths. In an attempt to keep these two out of the ER, I chose not to take any pictures, but it sure was fun to play with D!
A few minutes after D left for a nap, Isaac came to play.
We were trying to get the boys to give each other a hug, but LT kept running away. Finally, Isaac chased LT down and gave him a nice hug.
The boys tested their rock climbing skills, Isaac was much more proficient at it than LT. He actually held on to some of the handles. LT just wanted me to pick him up and hold him up on top.
The highlight, in my opinion, was watching these two in these ridiculously big swings. I don't think they could see each other, but LT was loving it (and he usually doesn't care much for swinging).
The weather changed quickly and LT and I had a long walk home, unfortunately cutting our playdate short.