When hugs turn to wrestling

Lately when LT wakes up in the morning, one of the first things he says is, "see fends, people coming?" He is a little social butterfly (not sure where he gets this, but we do have some pretty social relatives). Regardless, yesterday was no exception and the poor kid had to hang out with his parents most of the day. However, we did have plans to go to jazz in the park with Z. LT was crazy when we got there, climbing like a monkey all over Bri and I. Just as we were getting slightly tired of being jungle gyms, Z showed up! They played, chatted, ate and entertained each other while the adults all had some time to chat. Then, hugging started. LT starts out very innocently with his hugs and for some reason, his innocence often turns more rough (not just with Z, but the dogs, Brian and I and other friends).
Above, LT is giving Z a very innocent hug (although he's not always aware of his sheer body mass when he leans on people).
Below, you can see Albert's hand intervening as LT leans a little more and more into Z and would clearly just tip him right over if no one was there.
Above, LT starts out innocently just giving Z a pat, but below you can see his actions turn a bit more into a wrestling move. I think the wrestling will only increase in the years to come.
*** Before Z broke his leg, we let the boys wrestle a bit more, but the game isn't too fair right now, so interventions are required!

Making "pizza mato" strawberry rhubarb pie

We have had some pretty stormy afternoons in Denver this June, making for difficult outdoor adventures as planned. I had a lot of strawberries and some rhubarb and so I decided that during today's tornado/ flash flood/severe thunderstorm warnings, LT and I would make a pie (something my dad made often when I was younger)! He was very serious, as you can see in the video, about making his "pizza mato".
***Yesterday, we took him to Parisi and he watched a man make pizza after pizza after pizza (mostly tomato pizzas), which might be the reason that everything we made today was a tomato pizza.

Fathers Day outting with the Playgroup

LT has a regular playgroup on Thursday mornings. We usually go to one of the kid's houses, make a mess, eat a lot and talk a lot (oh and since they are two, there is quite a lot of toy stealing/crying, but its how we all learn, right?) Last week, Shawn had the great idea of taking the kids to the pottery studio to paint goods for all the dads for fathers day.
Z and LT waiting for their moms to get the painting goods ready.
LT was very serious about his painting...


But soon realized it was much more time efficient to dip your whole hand into the paint and just paint with your hand.
And then, Stanley style... why even bother painting just the plate and cup when you can spread paint all over the table too!
Sadie and Nicole working on their masterpiece.
Sophia and Annick working on a glass toothbrush holder for her dad.
And when they were done, they headed outside for some snacks and playing.

Etti read it!

For the last several months LT's bedtime routine has consisted of a bath followed by Kari and/or I reading a couple of books. Recently, however, LT has decided that he wants to do the reading and will demand, "Etti read it" when one of us starts to read. I shot this little video of him reading about Franklin's bike helmet. Translation and subtitles below.



LT: "Franklin new helmet, please"
LT: "Yep"
LT: "Next page"
LT: "Franklin new helmet too big" (I think he's trying to capture the conflict in the story here - he's not too far off!)
Kari: "Who's that?" asking about the raccoon character.
LT: "Craccoon. Dis Crackaroon. Dis Crac-a-roon." ("Craccoon" for raccoon is one of my favorite LT words)
LT: "Another book, too."

Rockin' the I Pod

You know your parents are true native Coloradans (word? sure) when you turn on your mom's Ipod and Big Head Todd and the Monsters comes on. He seemed to enjoy them just as much as we do.

Picnic, loft style

We have very few pictures of any two, let alone three little buddies now that they all have their own agenda. Here are Z, Sofi and LT having a picnic on Sofi's loft floor last week.

Thomas Party

LT's 2nd birthday party was a couple weeks ago. Luckily, Papa and Grandma hosted it at the community club house in their neighborhood and we didn't have to subject anyone to the disaster of a house that we are currently living in as the basement finishing project drags on. The party theme was Thomas the Train and LT's Grandma (Kari's mom) did a fantastic job with the theme down to even the little details.

The 'real' Thomas train was a hit and my mom is shown here taking the two youngest Wu's on a few laps around the track. I'm pretty sure their parents offered to let her take them home more than once.

Kaden wanted more train but even with Sofi's help they couldn't figure out how to make it go.

To help with the theme, Kari found this Thomas table on Craig's List earliler in the week and it was a hit with the kids.

Even baby Ofelia enjoyed playing on the train table.

Each kid got to decorate their own little train car cake.

Even if they didn't get to eat it...

Dylan was checking out Maike's color schemes for some ideas about how to decorate his own train.

And LT was very serous about his decorating effort.


Blowing out the candles.

LT loves to chase around girls a year or two older than him and Elise may be his favorite target.


What? You think being in medical residency and having two young kids is some kind of excuse for being tired?

Even as the party was winding down LT was still going strong. Shown here pretending to drive the train with Baba.

Etti Fix it

I took LT on a little bike ride this morning (him riding in the Chariot behind me). While I was setting up the whole system, he took it upon himself to fix my bike. "Etti do it, Etti fix it" is a very common phrase we hear with him. What better sunglasses to wear for this type of work than moms?

Zoo fun

A friend of mine from grade school and high school is in town this week with her two kids (and due with her third at the same time LTs brother is coming). We met another friend and her two kids along with this friend yesterday for some afternoon zoo fun. It ended up being a perfect afternoon as far as the weather was concerned (we have had quite the stormy June this year). The zoo was also nearly empty which made for lots of running room.
LT and I arrived a bit early and so we played outside the zoo with the little metal animals. LT liked giving them all "yittle kisses".
LT and Phoenix watching the polar bears pace back and forth while their dinner was being prepared in the neighboring cage.

As usual, the most popular thing to do was just chase each other around the zoo finding rocks and dirt and other fun stuff to play with. LT was exhausted last night from all the running after the big kids.

Mountain Adventures

We took LT up to play in the mountains last weekend to spend some time hiking and to see his Baba and Grandpa.
Baba has a guest room with a big bed and a pack-n-play in it. We told LT it was his "special room" and he was most excited to go to sleep in it. I wasn't sure if he would still fit in the pack-n-play, but we asked him which bed he wanted to sleep in and he promptly replied, "yittle crib". As you can see above, he still fits in it, luckily.
He spent some time cooking a hot dog in the oven with Baba. Wearing the hot pads was the best part!
The whole drive to the mountains, LT pointed out each mountain and said, "hiking dat mountain". Luckily, we had made plans with Cynthia and Maike to take the kids hiking. We took the kids on the 10 mile trail (only making it about a mile or so between two obnoxious untrained dogs and two kids who wanted to "run run" on their own), but it was fun none the less.
LT found some rocks to play with of course.
Towards the end, Maike didn't want to be in the back pack, so poor Cynthia had a dog dragging her down the mountain while carrying her 2 year old.

2nd annual birthday blowout

Last Saturday was the second annual birthday celebration at Sofia's house which always proves to be a nice location for entertaining. The guests of honor, Z, Sofia and Dylan shown above getting ready to blow out their candles. It's crazy to see how much the kids have changed since last year.

My wife played with the littlest baby at the party. No surprise there.

We brought swim gear for LT but he jumped right in the water in all his clothes on. I'll admit this happened while I was watching him and his mom probably wouldn't have let it happen. But I figured, why not? Let the kid have some fun.

Phoebe seemed to think LT's reckless party attitude was pretty cool.

LT is a tall skinny guy

We took LT to the doctor this morning for his 2 year visit. He had a blast at the visit and didn't even flinch at the vaccine they gave him.
Here are his stats:
Height: 33 3/4 inches tall (80th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs 13 oz (20th percentile)

Party DOWN!

High on sugar and ready to party, the boys headed into the next room where my brother promptly taught them to say, "PARTY DOWN!"





Shawn got LT a combination toy of his two favorite things, muck truck/backhoe and a drill to take the truck apart. It has been a huge hit! Unfortunately they make the toys next to impossible to get out of the packaging and the anticipation was almost too much for the two boys.
LT (aka Bob Builder) fixing his new take apart dump truck (safety first, gotta wear the hard hat!)
One of the biggest hits was the card Shawn got LT, both boys piled onto Brian's lap for some "stories".
When the party gets a bit too crazy, you can always curl up in a dog bed to read books (actually a cat bed that our 85 lb dog sleeps in).