Beautiful June!!

In the book I just finished reading, there was an excellent chapter on "Beauty." It said:

Beauty nourishes.

Beauty inspires.

Beauty comforts.

Simple reflections, but so true---and as I watched Timothy run around in the mountains last week on our trip, I couldn't help notice how inspired he was by the beauty around him. The open space ahead of him as he ran. The soft grass when he took a tumble.  The flowers which he loved walking up to and smelling. The sunshine on his skin and the raindrops that landed on his nose. He could feel the beauty of his surroundings.  He felt nourished. Seeing him nourished made me happy. Comforted my heart.

 

Beauty comforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fun we had as a family and the fun we had at our friend's wedding definitely outweighed some of the more hectic moments of the trip (a 7 hour plane delay on the way up, driving through severe rain on more than one occasion....losing our car keys on check out day thanks to little man hiding them between the sheets at the hotel/ie. an hour of frantic, frustrating searching...). The bride was stunning, the setting was breathtaking, and catching up with friends from near and far was a treat. We got to stop by my favorite yogurt shop not once but twice (we indulged a bit knowing it's a once every 2-3 years opportunity), and of course making ourselves available to some Carolina barbeque made for a delicious decision as well.

 

 

Upon returning home Timothy went straight for his trucks. He missed them while we were gone. (The miniature ones I had packed with us for convenience sake were designed to hold him over, but clearly he was excited to get back to his big ones.)  He has been a "trucks and cars" stage for a while. But only over the past 2 or 3 weeks have we upgraded his collection to the Tonka ones that make noise. Some of them are my brother's hand-me-downs, others are ones I have found. He absolutely loves them and wants to play with them constantly and even carry them along in the car when we go places. He frequently makes the siren sound  (weee ooooo   weee ooo) when he's playing with them . And whenever he sees a firetruck or ambulance in real life, he is mesmerized. It's making him feel more like a 2 year old than a 1 year old lately. It's also making me happy that I chose a transportation theme for his nursery (trucks, trains, cars, planes, and boats.)

 

 

On our trip we were having lunch one day and an elderly man at the next table over was observing Timothy roll his miniature trucks back and forth. The man walked up to us and told us he had something in his car he wanted to give to him. He walked out of the restaurant and came back with a small wooden car, which he had made himself. Timothy's reaction was the sweetest thing....he leaned over and wrapped his arms all the way around the man's neck for a big hug and then kissed him on the cheek. The man surely felt "thanked" and he got a big kick out of watching Timothy roll it back and forth on the table for the remainder of the lunch. Underneath the wooden car was a label that said "Praying for you." Sweet old man. Thoughtful gesture. And clearly cars are Timothy's "love language" right now. LOL

I love this picture of Timothy telling my dad something verrryyy important. If only we knew what it was. haha

 

In general, he has been very talkative among family members lately. Gets super animated and babbles up a storm whenever they are around. Doles out hugs and kisses galore and loves playing hide and seek and games of chase, especially with Granddaddy. New words are tub, wawa, apple, tick tock, knock knock (knnaa knnaa thanks to our"knock knock family ipad app), off, pop, me, Aaapppp for "Help," woah/wow, open, baby (to pictures of himself and other babies when we are out and about), "Ara" for hello when he holds the phone ???, and rock for when he's rocking on a toy or swaying back and forth. (Random assortment, I know.) Woah is my favorite because he says it when he gets really excited about being handed or shown something he likes and as all of us Mamas know there's nothing better than knowing your child is happy.

Cheek to cheek---one of my favorite places to be. Ok, my very favorite place to be.

I'll take the arm wrapped around my leg position too. He lovingly does this sometimes while "humming/singing" along as he flits off to play with toys, finds me again, then goes back to his own thing.

 

Something cute.... He's been into kisses for a month or so now, but recently he has added the sound "Muah" when he does it. :) Makes it even more adorable.

 

 

Odds and Ends: He is definitely into imitating more and more as the days go by. A good thing when it comes to brushing his teeth (minus the fact that he wants to imitate so closely as to use my toothbrush instead of his own....)

 

Funny:  He LOVES music by Michael Jackson. We'll be out some place or have the TV on in the background and we'll catch him dancing. Usually it's a Michael Jackson song that has come on. He seems to save one maneuver in particular for the King of Pop--bending over sideways and bobbing his head up and down/side to side. Whereas for regular dance moves he tends to twist his shoulders while lifting up one foot in a stomp motion. (None of his dance moves look particularly comfortable I should add.) He does still "moonwalk" frequently but so far we haven't had any luck with synchronizing that to an MJ song.

 

Wound up:  Timothy's favorite thing to do when he gets wound up is to walk a few feet in front of me when I'm sitting down on the floor indian style. He then "falls back" using the whole weight of his body. Not sure how exactly he discovered this one day but I'm reminded from years at camp counselor training that it's a form of a "trust game." Timmy says "weee" every time he falls back and giggles when I catch him. He usually likes to do it about 20 times in a row. He also loves walking off the ottoman (ie "the cliff") both faceforward and backwards into my arms as I'm sitting on the couch. ??? Endless, uncontainable energy. I wish I could bottle some up for myself! Last night he would have run laps around the golf course if we had let him. That was at 8:30 in the evening when most kids are asleep. People often comment that we have our handsful. I'm afraid we do! I'm also afraid that a second child down the road (no I'm not pregnant now) will seem dull compared to this one. I'm so used to energizer bunny mode with this one! Then again, a little reprieve might be nice. Guess we'll have to wait and see what God has in store!

 

My eater is finally back!! After going through a long picky stage, he is finally up for a variety of flavors and textures again. Woo hoo!!! Dinner times aren't nearly as frustrating as they were there for a while.

Loving his new navy sun sandals, and using up every bit of size 6 already.