Peek-a-boo (and other fun too)

Hilarious is the only way to describe the above photo.  I'm not sure where he got it from, but completely on his own Austin decided to hide behind the curtain and then pull it away giggling over and over.  Its so amazing to see him develop a personality and a sense of humor.  How do kids figure out how to be funny?  I love it!

We had a really fun visit with Grandma and Grandpa 2 weeks ago.  My niece graduated from highschool, so my parents were in town for the graduation and party.  No pictures from the party - we were pretty preoccupied with keeping Austin happy.  Its tough to have activities in the middle of the afternoon these days - usually leads to a naptime fail.  But...worth it.  I remember when Aleigh was Austin's age and she's already going to college.  Crazy.  Its hard to capture Austin on camera these days because he's just moving around so quickly - but here's a sweet moment sharing his ball with Pop. 



Oh, and finally a picture where you can see those teeth...sure, he has to be laughing upside down to get a shot of them, but upsidedown is fun, so we do it often!

Speaking of starting to get a personality...look at this expression.  I'm not sure what look he's going for, but it might be 'mom, seriously, more pictures?'

Now that its basically summer, its become a routine to play outside on the weekends or at night before bedtime.  Which is fine with us b/c we'd rather be outside...although, we're finding we need more outside activities/toys to keep Austin entertained (aka keep him from wanting to walk into the street).  Most recent purchase - sidewalk chalk.  At our friend's house recently he seemed interested, although mostly just ate the chalk (and then spit up pink saliva for a while).  Not much has changed as you can see below - but, after a few nights with it he seems to get the idea of coloring with it!  The question is - right hand or left? 

For father's day we took Mike to the Montgomery County Model Air Park to watch people fly model airplanes.  We arrived mid-nap and sat in the car for a bit and watched some pretty cool stunts.  When Austin woke up we got out and watched a few buzz by - he definitely noticed the planes.  Its pretty likely that Mike will get a plane one of these days and hopefully Austin will be able to learn to fly it in a few years!

This week and next, Mike is in Seattle taking a course for work so Austin and I are hanging by ourselves for a while.  Its given me time to be fairly productive after bedtime - I've painted the basement bathroom and cleaned up the basement floor to get ready for carpet installation.  But I doubt I can keep up the productivity...last night turned into ice cream and a movie.  I haven't taken too many pictures lately, but took out the camera the other night to get some good shots to send to Mike while he's away.  Here's a few good ones:

Happy kiddo- laughing at Julian - apparently he's figured out that if he annoys the cat, the cat will swipe.  Instead of being afraid, he provokes him and attempts to pull his hand away quickly to avoid the paw.  This is very funny.  Until somebody gets hurt...which miraculously hasn't happened yet.  I think Julian knows its a game and isn't really using his claws. He's remarkably tame, even when irritated.

 

Mommy's phone is soooo interesting that he's working on climbing up onto the couch just to get it.  Its probably my fault - I downloaded an app that turns the phone into a rattle.  Awesome app, but I probably need a better case to protect the phone now! Oh, and do you see those curls?  Where did they come from?  I cannot cut them off...

Already talking on the phone...we must set a bad example by using our phones pretty often because he knows exactly what the phone is for!

Mommy, its bedtime and my teeth hurt.  I need a hug:

We've been having lots of fun.  We've even added a few words these past few weeks - 'nana' for banana, 'baby', 'me' (which he says while pointing to himself...where did he get that from?).  At daycare when I pick him up he points to himself and says mama when he sees me as if to say 'that's my mama'...its quite cute.  'Hi' and 'bye' are much more regular.  None of his words are really consistent, but its still very cool.  He's mimicking more and more of what we do and say too - which can be hilarious.  I took a sip of water and said 'ahhh' afterwards, and now he has started doing that.  At dinner time I was blowing on his food so that it wasn't hot, and now when he sees food in my  hand he sometimes blows air like he's cooling it off.  It makes me laugh every time.  He's definitely a sponge...perhaps we need to start watching what we say and do in case he picks up any bad habits!!

This weekend we're headed to my sister-in-law's baby shower and hopefully spending some time at the pool.  Looking forward to daddy's return next week!