Trucks!

In honor of Fire Prevention Week, our town held an open house at the fire station! Considering Sean says the word "truck" about 700 times a day, we figured this visit would ring his bell. (Ha!)

The engine, the pumper truck, the chief's truck, ambulances and the ladder truck were polished up and open for kids to explore. Sean was a little shy at first, but he soon got his bearings and was running from truck to truck like a wildman!

Getting down from the first truck:

Exploring in the ambulance:

Up?

Cheese!
Yay! On the front bumper!

Sean really liked this little truck. He kept pushing it around the station - he was on a mission:

After awhile, we had to say a reluctant "bah-byyye" to all the trucks and the really nice rescue personnel to head home for a bath and bed.

Reading is FUNdamental...

...and so are "ishies!" It was back to the library for mommy and Sean after school today (mommy is hooked on the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series). Luckily there was a birthday party in the all-purpose room this time, so the chatter and shrieks of a dozen little girls masked Sean shouting at the fishies - it's hard to hear inside that tank, you know!

And hooray for fall and the return of carpenter-style jeans! I love Seany's little bum in these!

A Comparison

All last week, Thom John was on a business trip in Tucson -which meant that Mommy took over Daddy's job of getting the babe ready in the mornings. The very first thing I noticed when I woke up Sean on Monday morning was how tall he is in his crib!

In April, just barely peeking over the rail:

Last week, head and shoulders above the rail:

On his tippy-toes:

Just hanging around:

Let's get this day started, Mommy!

Library

How is it that a toddler always knows to choose a quiet place to start shouting "La La La La Laaa!"? :-)

After a weekend of being cooped up in the house due to one kind of an illness or another, this mama was not looking forward to spending another couple of hours in the house with her busy toddler due to the pouring rain last night. So we went to the library! We gazed, awe-struck, at the giant tropical fishtank and whispered "fishies fishies fishes." We unpacked every single baby boardbook from the crates in the children's section - and of course we put them back. We were playing with a wooden puzzle about trucks when suddenly Sean sprinted over to the quiet reference room and greeted everyone with a "Hi!" and serenaded the room with "La la la la la laaaaaa." By then we'd had our fill of books, puzzles, and fishies, so we checked out our selections (3 books about animals!) and were on our way.

Looking casual in the car on the way to the library:

Keeping busy

Keeping busy after school:

Arranging rocks on the seatwall:

Moving the rocks over to the loungers:

Getting up on a lounge chair:

I did it by myself!

"Mama wan da?" (Mom, can you please hand me a rock when you get a chance?)

"Wan daaah!" (Another rock, please?)

Counting the rocks with Pepper:

Picture Day

School is in full-swing for all of us - at the end of this semester Thom John will be halfway through his Masters program and mama will be DONE! For Seanybear, the return of "school" at daycare means school pictures! Here's a sneak peak of the Sooy Baby going off to picture day:

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Little Habits

Some funny habits that have come out recently:

When Sean is done with his bath, he gets picked up and stood up on a bathmat just before he's wrapped up in his towel. In those few seconds of waiting, he takes the opportunity to give a big, wet hug to his bather.

We're practicing washing hands and when we're all done, it's time to dry Sean's hands with a towel. He immediately gathers the towel in his little fists and then buries his face in the towel and bites it, all while sinking onto his knees and eventually laying down - and giggling like a madman. I hope he outgrows this one or there could be awkward times in restrooms for him later on in life :-)

Sean's like a little magpie with small electronics. We have to be careful about where we put things - my iPod was missing for a week after Sean took off with it from the kitchen to the living room. So many hiding spaces! Eventually it was recovered under a nook in the couch - whew!

16 months

Seanybear, you're 16 months old today! If I only had one word to sum you up this month, it's "busy." You are such a busy boy, buzzing around from place to place - you always have a project in mind. The only times you sit still are when you are sleeping or looking at a book. Even when you eat, you're kicking your feet and calling out to "Peh-puh" so you can share whatever is on your plate.

Your vocabulary is growing daily and you mimic just about everything we say and do. You are so friendly - you wave hi and "ba-byyyy" to everyone at daycare and just about every person we see when we're out and about. You're also very brave - you try anything and everything with hardly any hesitation. Last week at daycare, a moonbounce was set up and your teacher put you right in. After about two seconds, you realized it wasn't your cup of tea, but no matter - you stayed and watched the older kids jump around.

We've got some big plans this month, so we can't wait to see what your 17th month brings!

Your favorite book - a picture book about animals, of course!

Nose and Belly

Phillies Phun

We spent Labor Day Monday watching the Phillies with tickets from a game that had rained out in June.

The view from our awesome seats (no zooming required!)

Daddy and Sean

We had a lot of fun, but we took some breaks on the concourse to get out of the sun.

At one point, the Phillie Phanatic was one section away from us - I took Sean up to the concourse so he could high-five the Phanatic on his way out and Sean went wild. Sean kept shouting "dahg-eee!" (doggie) and "gig-eeee!" (piggy) over and over. Luckily, we found where the Phanatic likes to eat and hung out there for awhile:

"Muuu-ah, gig-ee!"

Labor Day

Sean's Grandma and Grandpa came over on Saturday for some Labor Day fun with the Sooy Baby: