Updates

Well, broken camera or not, I suppose its no excuse not to post of few updates about what is happening with the boys.

Wyatt:
Wyatt's latest obsessions include skateboarding and baseball. He does each of these activities daily. Baseball takes place in the hallway with Papa. Wyatt throws amazing pitches and then yells things like "strike" or "home run!" He doesn't quite get that home run if he's pitching would not be such a good thing. Also, he insists on wearing a baseball hat and makes papa wear one too - backwards, of course, because Papa is the catcher. We had to put away Wyatt's real skateboard for a few months, till he and Malcolm are a little older and more coordinated, because it became a death trap around the house. For now he is using the Winnie the Poo push truck to skate around the house. Its much wider and more stable and even has a handle. It's basically a skooter, which will undoubtedly be our next toy purchase.

Wyatt is also in to reading books all by himself. He has several of his books memorized (though current favorite is The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone). Many nights he lays on the bed with Malcolm and reads him a bed time story. One other Wyatt factoid is that he eats a frozen waffle for breakfast EVERY morning and has for about a year - he insists!

Malcolm:
It seems every day Malcolm is doing something new. His vocabulary is really taking off and if you pay close enough attention its clear he is trying to imitate many words that he hears. Words and phrases that he uses regularly are: "all done" when he wants to get out of the high chair, mama, papa, Wyatt, woof woof when he sees a dog (actually when he sees any animal). He is just now starting to expand his repertoire of animal noises to include meow, moo, and baaaaaahh. Though they still all sound like slight variations on his woof woof.

Malcolm has become extremely attached to his grandmas. He gets so excited to see them and follows them around not letting them out of his sight. He does not do this for his mama and papa. He does, however, give out frequent hugs to everyone. Hug = gently placing slightly tilted head on recipient and making high pitched sound that resembles his woof woof.

As far as toys and activities go, Malcolm does not have much of an attention span for any one thing. He is basically into everything -- but only for about 4 seconds at a time. He loves to climb on furniture, tug on pictures and wall hangings while standing on furniture, bang on lampshades and dive head first in to soft appearing objects. He sometimes judges soft appearances wrong. He often - scratch that - ALWAYS has a few bumps on his head. He also loves to dance when he hears music. Latest obsessions include sitting/standing/jumping on dinning room chairs and attempting to use the Winnie the Poo truck like a skateboard.

Both boys enjoy a daily post-bath ritual that consists of running up and down the long hallway in Gammy's house while chasing each other, laughing hysterically and frequently screaming. We call it the "naked baby fun run" and somehow I don't think Gammy's neighbors think its as funny as we do.

Working hard, or hardly working?

We put Wyatt and Malcolm to work this afternoon "painting" at Gammy's house, they have to pay the rent somehow.

Cooking Dinner

Wyatt and Malcolm decided to team up to cook dinner tonight - a Pork souffle. Yum. Oh, by the way - Gammy, you're out of cinnamon.

Day At Dottie's

Yes, I've been neglecting the blog lately. But only because our camera is still broken. Here are some photos Mara took, posted on Dottie's blog, during our Sunday visit. The kiddos had fun playing with toys and then a quick trip to the playground near there house.

Photos of Our Day at Dottie's

Santa Cruz

We spent yesterday down in Santa Cruz with Umi, Mike, Lucy and Elliot. The weather was perfect, and everybody had a great time in the pool, on the beach, and at the boardwalk.

Milkshake

Going, going, almost gone!

Crissy Field

This is from a few weeks ago - a trip to the tidepools at Crissy Field. Our camera broke on this outing, so we are just now recovering the old photos. Its the reason we've not been blogging very much lately. We promise to get a new camera and get back on track soon.

Strike Three

If there's one thing Wyatt and Papa have in common, it's that we both love baseball. Lately, Wyatt and I have been practicing our pitching every day when I get home from work - something we've been doing almost every day since he was little. He's actually got a pretty amazing arm, and some seriously good command. Check out the videos below, one from tonight and another from a year or so ago.

The Fair

The state fair was definitely a highlight for me growing up so, I'm very happy to be able to relive the experience with Wyatt and Malcolm. I think we've found the perfect little county fair - the Sonoma Marin Fair - that is very kid friendly, has lots of kiddie rides and carnival games and is just the right size for the tots. Unfortunately, it was so hot the day that we went that funnel cakes were not even appetizing, though they did have them. Poor little Malcolm hardly moved from the shade of the stroller where he consumed an entire milkshake and a giant lemonade. He did manage to come out for a little pony ride and, his favorite, the petty zoo where he proceeded to kiss several goats and put his head down on a giant llama. I thought he might get kicked out when at one point he proceeded to use a goat for a step ladder and stood on his back to look at chickens on the other side of the fence.

Wyatt rode his first roller coaster and loved it! Of course he also loved the big slide but didn't go for the pony ride or petting zoo. Maybe next year. I think we'll make it an annual event. Chuck, Mara, Dottie and Brian, Marla and Oliver came too. Hopefully they'll go back with us next year.