Step 1 Vacation

We just returned to St. Louis after two mostly glorious months in Arizona and California.  We came back to a clean house and a burglarized car.  It looks like someone crawled under Stephen's car and sawed off 500 dollars in pipes, but it could have been worse.  My car was at a friends house which probably saved it from the same treatment.  

However, our trip was fantastic and Step 1 is finally behind us.  Stephen was really boring so I spent a great week up in California with Claire and her boys.  It was so fun watching Davy and Jason play.  Davy learned about the movie cars and has faithfully pointed out merchandise since our visit.  We went to the beach together and got some great pictures.  

Davy also turned two while we were there.  He had a practice session opening gifts with Grandpa a few days before hand so he knew the drill pretty well.  He said, "Oh, Wow!" to every gift, even before they are clearly identified.  For his present from us I left a trail of buzz-lightyear foot prints through the house leading to a hidden present.  He unwrapped the bottom of the buzz and began yelling "Buzz!  Buzz! Buzz!"  It was fun to see him so excited.  He also got  a fun "Cars" tricycle from his Grandma Olsen that he plays with constantly.  

We had a good time playing with family.  He hero-worshipped his older cousin Parker and followed him  everywhere.  They had a lot of light saber attacks and lots of playing in the pool.  

 He played a lot with Mom and Dad's cute kitties.  He was about fifty percent sweet with them and fifty percent tail-pulling, kitty-squeezing, leg-grabbing terrible.

 We also met with Whitni's little girl Aiden.  They had a great time playing together. I think Davy got her number.

Grandma Olsen and Davy at Railroad Park

 Dad holding Davy and juggling a cat on his foot.

 Mom and I in our matching shirts.

 Another at Railroad park with a pirate smile from Davy.

 Fireworks in the nude.

For our anniversary we stayed two nights at the Westin.  Marci was kind enough to watch Davy and so we had two lovely days by the pool eating chocolates.  Maybe we can make that an annual thing--or monthly.  Thanks for having us to stay in Arizona, we can't wait to come back.  

Easter Stitches

This is Davy at a neighbor's Easter Egg hunt.

He caught on pretty quickly and we had to discreetly toss a few back on the ground for the other kids.

Two days later  he tripped on his sandal at the zoo and fell straight into a bench.  There was lots of blood and lots of tears (both of us) but he really did remarkably well.  He ended up with three stitches, a chipped tooth, and a puffy lip.

I am amazed how quickly he healed.  We spent 3 days in a Buzz Lightyear marathon, but by the following Saturday he was ready for Easter Egg Hunt number two.

I was also astonished this week by his secret vocabulary.  We were outside our favorite little candy shop and I was explaining that it was closed.  He said, "locked!"  "keys!" and then tried to fit my car keys into the door.  After two weeks of hearing "No" exclusively, this was a nice change.  Apparently with enough motivation, he can speak pretty well.

Spring!

St. Louis is pretty crazy.  This was monday....



















And Today...

We had a great general conference weekend.  Stephen and I  Davy played with blocks and had a good time building forts  (while reverently listening.)  We went to the park three times today: before, between, and after conference.  It was so nice to soak up some sun.  David is super funny these days.  He sat in these flowers and had them kiss him on the cheek.

He also watched conference next to this baby doll.  We bought it for the little girl we sometimes watch and Davy loves it.  He wrapped it in the blanket and was talking to her.  So cute.  But he is still a boy so after that he threw it on the ground and sprayed it relentlessly with a spray bottle.

A few more from our fun day at the park.

st. patty's and sewing

Apparently, St. Patrick's Day is a really big deal here.  They had like three parades and everyone on our block got drunk.  We abstained from the drinking but did go to a parade.  Davy had a good time watching the fire trucks go by and learned to put his hands in the air so the people in the parade would throw him beads.  Several times since I have yelled beads at him and he puts his hands up.  

We had a nice day at the botanical gardens this week.  We spent a lot of time chasing birds and checking out every light post in the place.  He saw these sheep again for the first time in six months yelled, "Sheep!" and gave each one a kiss on the nose.  

At home he spends a lot of time playing with the farm set on his car blanket.  

He also takes my Dr. Pepper out of the box and puts it into the fridge for me.  He watches everything Stephen and I do, so we have to be really careful.  He knows where we stash the cookies, where we hide his milk while setting it out for bedtime, and if one of us is missing, he knows we are probably in the office checking the computer.  

Hand-me Down Suit

This little suit is 24 years old.  Marci was smart enough to save it from Stephen's childhood.  It has been so fun to see Davy running around in it.

Davy is picking up words every day now.  Despite heavy coaching he will not say hello or good bye, but these are the words he will say:  "No mama" buzz (lightyear), cookie, costco, avocado, apple, fish, who! (says the owl), choo! (says the train), clock, and "go, go, go".  

We got him a little train set and he spends most of his play time carefully driving his trains around the track.  He gets very worried if the trains derail and pushes them at a cautious snail's pace.  We are finally venturing out after the long, horrible winter.  Davy was delighted to see this frog and I suggested he give it a hug.

He continues to spend an hour or so every day in the kitchen with me.  He holds the pan when I sweep and can successfully throw away the crumbs, he empties the washed silverware into the drawer (in a heap), and does the dishes.  To counter his good deeds he also throws himself on the floor at the slightest no and likes to motion me to stay where I am while he runs off to do something naughty.  

Christmas!

We had so much fun this year in Arizona. Davy had a great time getting to know the all of his cousins.

He played at the park with Mikey,


Watched Sleeping Beauty with Jason and Brett,

Opened Christmas presents with Parker and Dallin,  (he is more thrilled than he looks.)

And watched the Nutcracker with Mimi.

During the beautiful weather he played basketball with Spo.

At Thanksgiving he chased Madeleine around her house as the "Hug-Monster".  

We have had a great time hanging out with all the cousins and their parental units. 

Zoo and Art Day

We have had a fun month of outings, the weather is perfect and David has been pretty cooperative. We went to the zoo and for the first time he acknowledged that the animals were there and slightly impressive.

I also spent a morning preparing an "art day" for Daivd. I got paints and posterboard set up, the cd player set up outside, and Davy dressed in old clothes. Perfect-the budding Picasso sat down and painted...for 15 seconds which was long enough for me to snap the picture. Apparently squirrels beat painting in entertainment value.

Also thanks Marci for sending us an air filter. Davy thought a box full of packing peanuts beats painting and squirrels. He insisted I drop a cupful of them slowly onto his face--we did this for 30 minutes.

One final shot of a staticy boy who takes his sliding seriously.