Uncle Ben's New Job

Peter's Uncle Ben is packing up today for his new job. He is following in my parents footsteps and going overseas to teach with the Department of Defense. Go Ben!!


Congratulations on your new job! We are envious of the new adventure you are beginning and so proud of you for taking the leap of faith into something new! Good luck!! (Now he just needs to sign up for Skype!)

Ben is getting stationed at Misawa Air Base. It's in a small country town in Northern Japan.


After living in Pensacola, Flordia for the past few years I think the snow will probably take some getting used to! I'm hoping maybe someday we can visit him. With family in Guam and Japan we really need to take Peter out to that side of the globe! Maybe someday!

Poolside BBQ with Friends

Friday night we headed down to the Tucson Racquetball Club for their poolside BBQ with live music. A family night on the town! Yay!! It's so nice to hear music, kick back and relax, let Peter run and play, have a beer, and see some friends.

Our friends little Jack and his mom Stephanie were there and hung out with us for a lot during the night. Peter and Jack looked like such buds sitting together in the little chairs.


The boys were able to run barefoot through the grass. Peter had so much fun running around and dancing without his shoes on.


One of our favorite things was the baby pool. It was only 1 or 2 feet deep which meant that Peter could touch everywhere. He liked moving around in the water and started dunking himself in up to his shoulders.


Jen & Peter, and Stephanie & Jack. I'm so sad that Stephanie and Jack are gonna be moving next month. They have become really good friends. It was nice to get a great night out with them to play a little!


At one point Peter kept arching backwards like he wanted to get his hair wet. He ended up floating on his back! With mom's help of course!


Me and my happy baby at sunset. I tried to hold him steady for the camera but he just wanted to kick his feet to splash the water everywhere.


John didn't want his picture taken...can you tell? :-P


Peter loved eating a big piece of watermelon. I think he would have eaten the rind if we let him.


He and his watermelon ended up falling out of the chair when he reached for his ball! Silly Peter!

Bouncing Off the Walls!

Friday morning we lucked out and got a last minute chance to join our mommy group at Pump It Up, the bouncy house place. Some of our friends we haven't seen for a while were going to be there so we got ready and rushed out for an early playdate.


Peter still has a little trouble getting used to the loudness and overwhelming aspect of the place. We got into the "baby" jumper and he just sat in my lap clutching Chewy for the first 10 minutes. But then he seemed to get a burst of courage after watching his friends jump around. He inched away from me and started running and bouncing around the entire castle! It was the first time I've seen him completely enjoy himself and find true joy there!


Peter's personality started to come shining through. He climbed out of that bouncy house and into another one all by himself as I quickly tried to squeeze myself around all the kids and through the tunnel entryways. I try to stay close to him to catch him if he loses his balance, but he's just off and going all by himself. He ended up finding his friend Jack. They have explored a lot of things side-by-side over the months. Peter got upset at him when Jack wanted to touch his face.


But it was ok. Jack's mommy stepped in and the boys were all smiles again. Here's silly Jack sticking out his tongue!


The biggest news of the day was that Peter went down the slide! He saw other kids going up and down it all the time and I think he got intrigued. He ran over to the slide. There's like a two story ladder to get up to the top. I've never gone down the slide because I never really wanted to try to climb the ladder while carrying Peter, so I was NOT excited when he went over there.

Peter started climbing the ladder all by himself...step after step he just kept going. He was motivated to get to the top! He kept climbing and climbing and I just followed slowly after him amazed that he was getting so far. Eventually we made it all the way to the top. Peter and I sat down together and WHEEEEE!!! We FLEW down the slide so fast together! It was so much fun! The minute we got to the bottom Peter took off and just went running to the next bounce house. What a brave kid!


We had to leave the bounce house party early to head to Peter's first dentist appointment. It was nice to get somewhere relatively quiet. They looked in Peter's mouth, said he had great teeth and gave him a new toothbrush. Not much to it, but atleast that's done. What an exciting morning!

New tricks!

Peter's new skills this week:

Started trying to walk down stairs WITHOUT holding on to anything!! And succeeded!

Is walking backwards...moonwalk baby!

Can jump and get both his feet off the ground.

Walks on his tip toes and likes elevating on them. (These are all skills of a 2 or 2 1/2 year old!)

Started hiding behind the side of the couch then bouncing up and flashing us a smile so we say "Peekaboo!"...then hiding again. Tonight he started saying "Boo!" when he did it!

Understands the word "No" and doesn't like that word, has started whining about it.

Sometimes in protest he will pull away from me, drop to his knees and turn into a lead weight. Mainly this is when we are out and trying to get from Point A to Point B. He'll drop to the ground and just sit there. Every once in a while he's even laid on his stomach. He doesn't really complain, just sits in passive resistance. So frustrating!!!

Climbing Trees

At the park today Peter found a low hanging tree that he was almost able to climb. Mommy helped him to get in the little crook of the tree trunk and Peter thought it was the coolest thing! He has been learning what a tree is this week and going up to pet them a lot.


Anyways, while he was stuck mommy got out the camera and I think these are some of the best pictures I have ever taken of him!!! Peter was smiling at the camera, kept giving me big grins and showing off those teeth!


He's such a handsome kid! How on earth did John and I create such a looker!?!?!


Towards the end he started making funny faces...


But he thought those funny faces were hilarious and flashed me a big grin right afterwards.

Playing at the Park

This morning we went to a new park in Oro Valley a NW suburb. I had to laugh when we got there because right next to the park was this sign, warning of dangerous animals. You think the animals notice the sign and don't cross into the park? I didn't think so! Gotta love Tucson!


James D Kreigh park is a great park though. Lots of thick grass, tons of big trees for shade, and they even have installed shade tents over all the playgrounds. Can't beat that! They have swings, a big sandbox, 2 playgrounds, a dinosaur to climb on, lots of fun stuff! We'll have to go back!

'
One of the playgrounds is pirate themed and shaped like a big ship. Peter had fun climbing through the portholes and digging for treasure in the sand.


Peter stole one of our friends wagons and was pushing is all over the park. He was having the greatest time! He even climbed in it a few times and I pulled him back so we could return the wagon. I wish I could find a wagon to fit in my car, seems more practical than the stroller these days.


On the way home I gave Peter a banana to eat. He LOVED it. He is a pushover for a banana!

Hanging With Dad (Video)

Just a cute video of Peter playing with his hat and getting tickles from his Dad.

Zzzzzzz.... (Video)

No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow


This morning I took Peter to get some blood work done. The quicky test at the dr said he was anemic so they are doing some further tests to confirm if that is true. He had a good time in the waiting room flirting with a bunch of grandma's. He did not like the needle part though. I never used to when I was a kid. Atleast I don't get freaked out by it now though. I think it helps him. He yells during the procedure but is smiling before we walk out of the room.


On the car ride home he ate some cereal and had some juice then he passed out in his car seat. It was so cute I had to take some pictures! My little boy was so sleepy!


I even grabbed some video of his little snore. Go to the website to see it!

Open the Door

"I want to go outside to play today, but I can't talk yet. How can I let mom know I want to go outside??"


"I've seen these before! These are keys! They are very important to mommy! I've seen her use them to open the door...."


"Let's see...which one was it again? I think the big silver one..."


"Hey mom! Are you getting the hint yet??? I want to go OUTSIDE to play!!!!"


"I'll get it open one of these days. Just give me time..."

Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Jim

This summer we were lucky enough to spend several weeks with Peter's Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Jim. Half of the time was when we were visiting Jen's Iowa family and the other half they got to come down to Arizona to visit us and play tourist.


Peter gets a chance to know all his grandparents through Skype every couple weeks, but it sure is nice to have my parents around a little bit.


Peter gets so spoiled when there is family around. He seems to go crazy doing tricks and learning new things.


When we were in Iowa Grandpa Jim kept taking him out to look at this bird windmill. He now knows what a bird is!


And Grandma Cindy keeps pushing him to do more things physically. She'd make him walk all by himself instead of in the stroller. He walked the entire streets of Tombstone while we were there. The stroller was basically just carrying our stuff.


Now that they are gone he brings me the phone hoping to hear grandma's voice. He knows to hold the phone to his ear and push the buttons. He doesn't say anything on the phone yet though, just listens intently for her voice.


He likes to look at pictures of them and can identify which is grandma and which is grandpa. The other day he brought me his baby-friendly picture album saying "buhm-pah" over and over and pointing at grandpa's picture. So cute!


We had such a fun summer with our family. I wish all our family was closer, but I know with our globe trotting families we will never all wind up in the same place. I'm thankful for the internet and Skype to help keep us closer.


We also went a little crazy with picture taking this summer. (Duh!) I think I have over 4,000 new pictures. I have a hard time going through them all and getting them on the blog so I just do what I can. After posing for picture after picture Peter started to be crazy and have fun with them. He kept trying to touch Grandpa Jim's teeth so grandpa started biting him!


About 15 pictures later we finally got one where everybody is smiling/laughing! Silly kid! We love you Grandpa Jim and Grandpa Cindy!!

Shake It! (Video)

Cute video of all the kids shaking their maracas!! Ok, they are more like hitting them, but its still cute!

Gymboree Fun

Friday afternoon we had fun at Gymboree! Peter always has a blast there. There are so many things to explore and they set up the games and obstacles different every time.


Peter LOVES parachute time. The minute it came out he tried to lift the edge and was trying to go under it. Silly kid!


It was a beautiful day when we got to Gymboree. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. But while we were playing inside it turned crazy outside! It got dark and windy and spooky.


Peter likes to shake the shakers and make music. He never wants to put them away after the song is done. I always have to chase him down to get them back.


Bubble time! Gymboree bubbles are supernatural. They are very "solid". I found bubbles still on the ground 10 minutes after bubble time! These suckers just don't pop very easily! This makes it all the more fun! You can actually catch these bubbles, chase them, pop them on the floor. I don't know how they do it!


Everybody likes bubbles!


After class was over Peter and I did a potty run. When we came out only about 3 families were left. But as I was getting our shoes on all of a sudden the trees started whipping around and it started to POUR! I haven't seen rain and wind like that since Guam typhoons. The rain was blowing sideways and I couldn't see my car across the parking lot. The Gymboree staff said we could stay and play until it let up. I was grateful I wasn't on the road! We played for another 45 minutes while the storm moved through and had the place mostly to ourselves.