flying with gramps

The weather was gorgeous last weekend, and Dad invited us to go for an hour's local flight. Tim's awareness of the plane and what it does has grown tremendously from his last flight in July. He demonstrated the spinning motion of the propeller as soon as the hanger doors were opened and delighted in seeing things out the window while in flight.

just another day in the air

checking out the city below

in front of Les's RV (home built, experimental plane)

richard scarry

Looking for Lowly Worm and Mr. Frumble while enjoying a mid-morning bottle. Thanks for the book Melissa.

reading

Timothy still loves books and seems as happy to look at them himself as he is to have them read to him. Right now this Christmas story of Santa getting ready for his flight has captured his attention. Richard Scarry remains his favorite. He searches for Lowly Worm and Mr. Frumble on every page.



Yesterday, he identified the colors green, pink and orange on one of his blocks, and then the whole day, he pointed out these colors and their connection to the blocks. Mom has been especially good about reinforcing colors.

Just a PS to yesterday's post. Raptor is the name of one of his toy airplanes, a fighter jet.

Gramps and Gee Gee gave Timothy an early Christmas present last night. He used it this morning to have his breakfast of cereal and banana. It will be perfect outside this summer but for now will stay in the house and contribute to his table eating education.

a bit of milk on his chin

he hasn't been awake very long

Tim's vocabulary continues to grow if not at lightening speed, fast enough to elicit excitement and praise when he brings out a new word. His first word was 'Daddy.' He's been saying it for a while but in the week of 16 November, he actually started applying it to Paul with consistency. (It feels like I've written this before but I can't find it, so bear with me.) The following week, he added 'Momma' after calling me 'Daddy' more than a few times. To date his vocabulary includes:
WallE
Eve
ice
outside
upstairs
ow (as in ouch)
raptor
hi
Despite these signs of growing up, he still loves his bottle and demands quiet time with it every day, often while watching a video. Here he's enjoying Frosty the Snowman.

snow

Last winter, Tim was not fond of the snow. That's all changed. Where he used to avoid walking in it, he happily plows through deep drifts and prefers to walk in the mounded snow next to the sidewalk instead of where it's been shoveled away. He didn't like gloves, but now seems to understand the point of them and puts them on without complaint. He likes to eat it, sit in it and stomp any clod of it that he encounters. Thanks to our friends Jennifer and Chuck, he's got clothes that keep him dry and warm. Following are a sequence of Timothy playing while Paul clears the snow off the deck.

unpacking the decorations

We got out the Christmas decorations the first week of December, and Tim found this musical tree. I think he remembers it from last year, as my mother has one just like it. Last year, all he cared about was the airplane hanging on it, but this year his interests have grown to include trains, bears, blocks, gingerbread men, and much more.

flight simulator

Tim's love of all things that fly keeps growing. He plays Flight Sim with Paul and requests it by getting his toy planes, pointing at the joystick, and making 'ooo', 'ooo' noises. Paul plays with him for about twenty minutes almost every night before bedtime.


paul lets timothy choose the plane they will fly. on the screen are snapshots of all the planes available. tim always points at the planes that look the most like the toys that he has. his body language at the beginning shows his excitement about choosing.

Timothy loves helicopters the most. Because of this, Paul's helicopter flying skills have greatly improved.


tim's routine is to request a helicopter just after paul takes off in the first plane that tim has chosen. he likes the take offs the most. he requests the helicopter by making a 'too', 'too' sound and either holding his hand up above his head in mock flight or holding his toy helicopter up above his head.

cool cuts

My mom's neighbor told me about Cool Cuts for kids a while ago. It's a salon especially for children. I've taken Timothy there for three hair cuts, and each visit has been less enjoyable for all of us. The first time he must have been too overwhelmed by it all to notice that something was happening to him. The second time, he got upset about the water on his hair. This last time, I finally brought the camera, and he was so upset by everything from the cape he had to wear to the sound of the scissors that I couldn't take a photo of him. Despite his dislike, we'll go back because they do a good job and the alternative isn't pretty.

the child sitting in the fire engine stool can watch a dvd of their choice from the salon's collection as well as watch themselves in the mirror.

Tim likes to help in the kitchen and is doing the dishes while Daddy cooks. I took these to show off his new hair cut because he wouldn't let me take a photo at the salon.

happy to clean

what a big helper

haute couture

Timothy inherited these 'wellies' from his friend Karsten. He loves them, I think, because he can put them on and take them off himself, usually on the wrong feet, which he does several times a day.

work the look

does this nappy make by butt look big?

walking on the foothills

After our heavy snow, we've returned to warm weather, what we call Indian Summer (not very pc). In Bulgaria, it's called Gypsy Summer. Do you have a name for it in your country? Taking advantage of it, we walked for as long as Tim put up with the mud on the foothills near our home.

contemplating the great outdoors

where's daddy?

with daddy in the bright sun

first snow

tim holding his mittens on the front porch

paul shoveled the path in the backyard beside the house while the storm was still here

and then shoveled a maze in the back yard while it was still thick like the previous picture. tim enjoyed it for several days because our back yard faces north.

james viner

The Viners came for a visit from England in the first part of October. Their son James is one month older than Timothy. The boys got along like great friends for the first half of their stay and like brothers for the second half. Timothy woke up every morning pointing at the living room, wanting to see his buddy.

james and tim hanging out on the couch

james and tim at the environmental center

getting a lift from stuart and me

best friends

james and tim watching winnie the pooh

james and tim in old town

it's a guy thing - riding around in the thing at the cabin

Having visitors meant the camera was always handy, so I've got some photos of just Timothy to post as well.

at the stanley hotel in estes park

making faces at the cabin

staying warm at the cabin

in our front yard. all of these leaves fell in one day when we had our first snow. it took two days and two trips with dad's trailer to the composting site to clear them (thanks mom and dad). in order to have a lush lawn, the leaves have to go.

in old town

fishing with mom at jenny lake in front of the cabin

watching mom and dad fish at jenny lake

examining the local flora

halloween

We dressed Tim up last year for Halloween but the holiday was lost on him at 10 months old. He won't remember this one, but he certainly got the point. It took one trip to the front door of our neighbor for him to figure out that there was candy waiting for him. From there, he walked happily from house to house carrying his pumpkin bucket and collecting booty.

rummaging around in the bowl of chocolates from his trip around the neighborhood

examining his selection

chocolate!

Pete and Tracy bought Tim this outfit in Hong Kong. We put it on him briefly last year, but it was too big. It was perfect this year, and he got lots of compliments and questions from indulgent neighbors. One retired neighbor asked if it was Mandarin. Pete? Tracy? Do you know? Tim liked the dragons and loved the hat.

don't touch me

We let him have his fill of candy from his booty. The blue M&M came after several mini Twix, Hershey, and Almond Joys (he doesn't like coconut apparently), and he sucked on it rather than eating it. He wanted to eat it, but he just couldn't seem to handle any more chocolate. While I worked on my blog and Paul organized photos, Tim happily watched Bob the Builder. He let us take off the Chinese outfit, but insisted on wearing the hat until bed time.

east meets west

mommy blogging and tim watching bob the builder

I bought a cheap pumpkin carving kit, and Paul and I managed to produce some pretty fancy pumpkins. Next year, we'll do a traditional jack-o-lantern as well. My sister, Debbie, grew the pumpkins for us.

pumpkins on our front porch with the remains of the snow on the front yard in the background

paul's first ever carving of a pumpkin. bravo!

kathleen's witch

diy boy

Timothy loves to help with work around the house. He helped Paul hook up the washer last night by insisting on 'using' the wrench to tighten the hoses. He 'helped' me unscrew face plates from the outlets on the wall we painted. He 'sweeps' the floor. It takes twice as long to do anything, but it's wonderful to watch him do it.

of all his diy skills, he's best at painting.

in the new house

Even though I have totally neglected his blog, you have to trust that the same is not true for Timothy. He continues to be the center of my existence and a constant source of joy.

asleep on his mattress beside our bed on the first night. we're still getting his room sorted.

his serious look (and his seriously dirty look)

enjoying yogurt on the deck

watching winnie the pooh in his camp chair while we work

amidst his toys

he climbed even higher all by himself. getting down is another story

he loves his bath, and by the end of the day he's so covered in dirt that he needs it