Driving

Perryn and I were out running errands this afternoon. When we got back home, I opened the back door to unstrap him from his car seat. He apparently wasn't ready to get out of the seat, because he wasn't cooperating with me. So I undid the straps and started bringing groceries into the house, figuring he'd climb out when he was ready. This is what I saw after dropping the bags in the kitchen and coming back to the garage.

Snowball fight

Dallas saw some record-breaking snowfalls this weekend. Only a few inches, so I'm not complaining to my family back east, but record-breaking nonetheless. Here's a picture of Perryn throwing his very first snowball.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here are some photos of our Thanksgiving.

First, I try to sneak up on Perryn reading to get a photo, but of course he put the book down right before I got there.

From November 2009

We head over to Auntie Bert and Uncle Dave's house to go to a Thanksgiving buffet with Dave's brother's family. Perryn immediately checks out the kitty toys.

From November 2009

Our best attempt at a family photo

From November 2009

Perryn cheers on Auntie Bert and her soon to be niece, Katie.

From November 2009

Everyone's favorite Thanksgiving pasttime... especially for a toddler after a long day with no nap.

From November 2009

Perryn Learns to Play with Molly

Perryn has been very interested in the kitties since he first noticed them at a few months old. He always tries to chase them and they are just plain faster than him. He has very rarely had the opportunity to even touch them and that would only be with mommy or daddy helping.

Recently I let him feed Molly treats (she's the only one of our cats that eats treats). Although mommy almost had a heart attack thinking Molly might accidentally bite his little fingers, Molly actually ate the treat out of this hand and Perryn was thrilled.

This weekend I decided to play with the kitties and Perryn was quite excited about this. I don't think I've ever played with them in front of him. I handed over the cat toy and although Molly was a little nervous at first (remember she normally runs from him and doesn't let him catch her), she did eventually take a couple swats at the toy while Perryn dangled it in front of her.

Here's a pic of Perryn enjoying this game:

From November 2009

Molly takes a swat at the feather:

From November 2009

Now of course, Perryn did chase Molly around the house trying to play with her for quite awhile after she was "done", but I think it was a great first step at making friends. I know our kitties don't get enough play time with us since Perryn came along, so maybe we can entertain the toddler and the kitties at the same time by continuing to work on this. :-)

Momma

Perryn said "momma" to Rachelle for the first time last night. You should've seen her face light up.

Halloween

Perryn had fun on his first trick-or-treating adventure. Here's a pic of Perryn and Mommy getting ready.

From October 2009

Auntie Bert and Perryn headed out to trick or treat

From October 2009

Wondering why this person is digging in a big bowl of candy and what exactly is going to happen next

From October 2009

"OK, I got it now, let's go to the next house. And thanks for taking that hood off that kept falling over my eyes"

From October 2009

Best shot of the full costume

From October 2009

Checking out the loot

From October 2009

Helping Daddy

My jeep has had a recurring problem over the years. The rear power windows quit working and then they fall and won't stay up either. This has happend 5 times since I've owned the car and only once was under warranty. Unfortunately, this is a $400 repair at the dealer. This time around they BOTH decided to break at the same time, so Gary did some research and discovered that Jeep makes a cheap, plastic part that causes this. He found another solution and fixed it all up. Yay Gary for saving us $800!!

This is a picture of Perryn "helping" daddy fix the problem.

From September 2009

Playing catch

The latest video that we shot ...

Special moments

In the past four days, I've learned the following about my son:

1. He prefers to walk up the slide and down the steps.
2. Even though he doesn't want to eat his dinner, he doesn't want you to eat it either.
3. He knows how to wave bye-bye; he just doesn't know the appropriate time to do so
4. He's even more special than I'd previously given him credit for.

Love ya, kiddo.

A tale of two hats

Rachelle bought one of these hats. Gary bought the other. Any guesses as to which is which?

Rough-housing with daddy

Perryn loves to rough-house with me. If I just lay on the floor, he'll come over and start beating me up. Here's a clip of him in action from August 22.

Gary and Perryn's Excellent Adventure: Day 1

Rachelle headed up to Fargo for the weekend, so Perryn and I are hanging out together.

Today started with some waffles for breakfast, followed by a trip to the splash pad and play ground. It must've tired him out, because he was just about falling asleep as I drove home. That wasn't good, because I didn't want to put him down for a nap in his swimsuit. So, I tickled him a little and kept him awake for the short drive home. We had lunch (I made grilled cheese sandwiches) and then he was out like a light.

After his nap, we had a little snack (of course, I had to join in) and then headed out to run some errands. We dropped by the bank and did some shopping at Target.

I decided that my birthday dinner would be my favorite fast food restaurant: Chick-fil-a. I headed over the mall, because I figured we could walk around or play on the playground before and after. I ordered him a kid's meal (nuggets and waffle fries), and I brought some cantelloupe along, too. Perryn saw me dipping my fries in ketchup and decided he wanted some too. He started handing me his fries and I'd dip them and hand them back. Then he started handing me his chicken nuggets, but I just couldn't dip them in ketchup, now could I? So, I dipped them in some barbeque sauce.

Now, here's the thing I learned: you've got to watch Perryn as he's doing this because sometimes he just licks the barbeque sauce off and hands the chicken nugget back to you.

As we walked out of the mall, I bought Perryn a toddler-sized baseball cap. It's time he had one of his own.

I got him home, gave him a bath, and we read some stories together before bed.

No pictures from today, but here's a recent snapshot.

When did that happen?

After we got home last night, I sat Perryn down on the living room floor to take his sandals off. I then handed him the sandals and said "Could you put these away, please?" He stood up, took the sandals, walked out of the living room, through the kitchen, opened the coat closet, put the sandals away, closed the door, and then came back to where I was.

Holy cow. He actually understood and acted on the request. I wonder how long he's been able to do that, and we just didn't know it because we haven't been asking him to do things.

I then tried, "Can you please make me a sandwich?", but it didn't work. One step at a time.

Splash Pad Adventure

We discovered there is a park nearby that has a splash pad... which is a slab of concrete with a bunch of different squirting, showering water. I have to say, it's way better than what we used to do as kids... makes running through sprinklers a whole new thing.

Perryn wasn't too sure at first. Here he is just taking it all in, in the safety of daddy's arms:

From August 2009

Then, he started to get into it:

From August 2009

And here he is having fun, trying to catch the water:

From August 2009

It was fun. They had a nice playground area with a toddler section too.

Using a Spoon

Here's a video of Perryn having breakfast

New Video

Here's a video from tonight (yes, I actually got it posted the same day I took it!).

Trip to Rhode Island

I took lots of pictures of our trip to Rhode Island. We had a lot of fun. Here's a couple and if you click on one of them it will take you to my Picasa album where you can see more.

Visiting Grandma's Office

From June 2009

First Carousel ride at the mall

From June 2009

Perryn and Cousins at Uncle Michael's Cookout

From June 2009

First Beer (just kidding - he was digging in the recycling)

From June 2009

Feeding the Ducks at Grandma's

From June 2009

Father's Day

Gary went out of town on Sunday, so we celebrated Father's Day on Saturday. We went to the park for a picnic. Perryn had his first Subway sandwich. Then we played a little bit on the playground equipment. Here's a couple pics of Perryn and Daddy swinging.

From June 2009

From June 2009

Ahhh

Here's Perryn in his coordinating outfit - tshirt and matching dog hat.

From May 2009

Video from Garage Sale Day

Here's a quick video I shot during the garage sale on May 16th