Going to school

What was that anonymous comment the other day about daddy insisting on going to school in boots and shorts?

Post-shower do

When Graydon makes his own choices...

...he ends up in a shirt with milk and orange juice stains, shorts, cowboy boots (no socks), and riding his tricycle in the kitchen.

Dizzy Bucket

Daddy and Graydon went for a long walk this morning, exploring the neighborhood. Then, lo and behold, they ended up at the park! Mami joined them just in time to shoot this video of the boys in the dizzy bucket. (Mami can't ride it at all without risking loss-of-lunch, and even Daddy has complained of motion sickness after a ride in it. But Graydon evidently has no such problems...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmJjetIG0cE

A message from Graydon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Cad4YR8JY

Stringing three words together is still just about his limit.

The great pyramid of California

Either Graydon has a great future as a civil engineer or his mother has appropriated his toys for her own nefarious purposes.

Do you think he'll be an engineer?

When I put Graydon in the car this morning, he desperately wanted something on the floorboards. I couldn't tell what it was he wanted, so I offered him a tennis ball, a book, a toy airplane, and a pair of sunglasses (yes, my car is a mess) all to no avail. When I finally grabbed the OBD2 scanner (barely visible under the front seat) he squealed with glee and played happily with it all the way to school.

Graydon's new tricycle

After a brief shipping delay (surprising since amazon in normally so great) Graydon got to take his new tricycle for a spin this evening. He has been very excited/jealous about other kids' tricycles recently, so we decided it was time to get him one. It doesn't quite have a Mercedes hood ornament, but since Mami picked it out it is of course made in Germany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fJBxa2H5tY

Hop on pop

This has always been one of Graydon's favorite games. Unfortunately, he is learning how to jump for real now (not particularly well demonstrated in this clip) so at 30 lbs the actual hopping on pop part is getting harder and harder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKyxLrO62_k

Secret passage way

There is a really nice park that backs up to the townhouse we just moved into, but because there was a fence in the way we had to walk around the block to get to it. The solution to this problem seemed pretty obvious to me...

... a gate! Now we can step directly from our back yard into the back corner of the park and walk right out of the bushes like we're in Field of Dreams. We showed the new "gate" to our landlady yesterday and she thought is was fantastic.

In other news, we've been working with Graydon on the concept of 1 versus 2. He surprised us this morning by suddenly counting from 1 to 7 (then skipping 8 and 9 to go directly to his favorite number, 10) without prompting.

More daddy shoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ad_z2xMsw

A desert specialty

Our Texas contingent will recognize this stuff. It's actually quite tasty!

Last Day in Arizona

I have been at a conference in Phoenix since Sunday. It's been a great experience and this morning was a beautiful walk from my hotel room to the conference center. It's even still a little bit cool! But I can't wait to get back and see my boys!

Daddy's shoes

This was all his doing. No parental prompting involved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0YI-mQZxVY

Marcus's Truck

Marcus lived across the street from us in Austin growing up and I spent many a summer day hanging out in his garage learning woodworking. Denise and I always had (and still have) neat wooden toys that he made us over the years. He made this truck for Graydon a few months ago and my parents brought it out to CA this spring. Now that we've got nice wooden floors for it to roll on, Graydon is really having fun with it.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6-703rlmm4