June Pics

I know, I know, I've been horrible about updating the world on Chad's adventures lately.  :(  I've been on a ridonculous project at work and am ramping up my running for another marathon, so there hasn't been a lot of time to blog.  BUT, we've still been taking lots of pictures of Chad, and since he requested an early nap today I had time to upload a lot of them.  So grab yourself a frappuccino and prepare yourself for some cute-ness.
Way back in the beginning of June, Chad met up with his buddy Luke for some Mexican food and children's museum fun.  While Luke ate his raisins nicely, Chad ignored his chicken tenders and instead ate ketchup with a spoon.  (We can pretty much get Chad to eat anything, as long as there's something for him to dip it in.  We've given him tofu with hoisin-lime sauce, portobella mushrooms with a red pepper sauce and crab cakes with a mango-y salsa.)

Then it was on to feed the ducks.  (Whoops, forgot to take pictures of that!) and explore the children's museum.

They learned to garden, and threw the fake mulch all over the floor.  Hey, if the museum staff doesn't want to find fake mulch o the floor, they shouldn't use it in a hands-on exhibit for toddlers.
They each took a turn on the mechanical pony ride.

Every cowboy needs a trowel

It was about naptime for the boys, so our picture this year isn't the greatest.  Next time, we'll get them to pose with us before wearing them out with museum fun.

For Father's Day weekend, we had a pre-Father's Day brunch at Another Broken Egg Cafe.  (Durham-ites, if you haven't been here yet, you must go!  They're only open from 7AM to 2PM, but they have a fully stocked bar.  And they make amazing cinnamon roll French Toast.  Yeah, I had to do a couple extra miles that night to burn that meal off...)

Chad got the "Little Rooster" platter, which came with an English muffin, scrambled eggs and bacon.  He chose to forego all that, and instead ate blackberry jelly from the little packet.  But hey, he used a spoon to do it, so I can't complain.  (He is obsessed with silverware  these days.  What a little gentleman.)

For Father's Day, Chad helped* me make Andy breakfast in bed.

*by "helped" I mean that Chad slept in long enough for me to make the breakfast myself.

I made Andy heart-shaped bacon, which Chad stole.  Oh, and aren't their matching cowlicks so cute?

Next, we headed to the Eno for nature time.  Walking in the mud with the bugs is not my cup of tea, but I guess love will make you do crazy things, because I went along for the fun.

The first thing Chad did when we got down to the river was to stick his hands in the mud and then wipe them on his face.

Stone skipping lessons...





I think we scared off every fish for miles around.

This was some early morning sidewalk chalk art.  (See my cup of coffee?)

Chad colored his face, but at least he didn't eat the chalk this time.

He felt our house needed some purple.  I agreed.

Last weekend he had his first hibachi experience!  He liked the onion volcano.  Hibachi is the perfect place for dinner with Chad.  There's entertainment while he waits for his food, and then they give you the check as soon as the chef is done, so if you have to make a speedy exit, there's no waiting for the bill.  He ate chicken, zucchini and mushrooms from the hibachi grill, and some of my sushi.

He'll actually say "cheese!" for the camera now, to accompany his silly faces. 

I think this is the cutest outfit ever, so I made him pose for pictures before school one morning:

I would dress him in little overall shorts every day if I could.

Telling Fenway to behave himself.  He knows that Fenway isn't allowed on the kitchen table, and will shout "Down!" if he sees him up there.  Good- we need some help keeping that cat in line.

That night, Chad decided that he is too old for his high chair.  We don't have a phonebook for him to sit on, but we have something so much cooler:

Sitting on my thesis! :)

The following weekend we bought a little booster seat, which makes Chad feel very grown-up.

He's become quite the climber and wants to get himself into the seat by himself.  Yesterday I saw him pulling himself into it and by the time I got across the kitchen to spot him he was already up on the chair and standing on the booster.  He can get anywhere now.

I know there's no Chad in that picture, but I had to take it to show Andy what he's capable of: this morning Chad and I took a trip to the playground, and Chad spotted this ladder.  I told him that it was for bigger kids, but he could not be dissuaded and climbed up it all by himself!  (With my hands about 0.2 mm from him.)  The he scooted over to the slide and slid down all by himself.  I was shocked.

Chad has been amazing with his words the past week.  (Obviously, I don't have photos showing that, so you'll have to take my word for it.)  Every day he says something new: "outside", "down", "bird", "na-na" (that means nap), "wa-wa" (I thought that meant water, but now I think it may also just mean cup) "cat" (which usually comes out as "tat"), and his personal favorite "no!".  He can give you a super sweet "peeeeease?" for please, and then when he gets whatever he's asking for he'll say, "tankoo!"
At school, they spent May learning about "transportation," and June's theme was "things that fly." Their classrooms' floor was decorated with signs pointing them to baggage claim and security, and we saw pictures of the toddlers pretending to be helicopters.  I'm not sure what July is, but now there's a frog on the floor, and they made some fish-themed crafts.  They used to have water fun Fridays, but this week we got a note saying that they wouldn't be having them anymore.  I need to get the dirt from Miss Simone about which child ruined water fun for the rest of them.  (I'm crossing my fingers that it wasn't Chad!)  We've had plenty of water fun at home lately though- every Saturday and Sunday we're outside with the water table and Chad fills his little cup from the table and then runs around to water all of our plants.
Chad has some fun planned for July, so hopefully we'll be posting more pictures soon!!