16 months old!

I forgot to take his picture until bath time...had to improvise so we didn't get a naked shot!











Josh and I made Dave a homemade Cubs shirt. We just used iron-on transfers that you print out images on. You can tell Dave is very happy to have his picture taken. He has been sickly since last weekend.











He found a new toy-the vacuum hose. Here's a video of him making noises into it. Vacuum hose video.









Popping over the shower curtain during shower time with Dad.











Making Mom and Dad a painting on his heater using Desitin as a medium. Such a mess! Apparently he can get into the top drawer of his dresser now.





Here's a video of him in his crib. Waking up video.

We had a great visit with Tony last weekend. A bunch of our guys went home, so we had a small cottage. Same goes for this weekend-we'll only have 4! Good for us, and good for them. Otherwise, Josh and I are both coming down with colds. Probably caught it from Dave.

I almost forgot! We finally found a show that Dave will watch (for a couple minutes at least). We've been trying to find something he'd like for our trip out west this summer. Since we'll have a couple pretty long drives, we thought Dave could watch a show or two on each drive. Anyway, he loves this new show called Bubble Guppies. It's actually pretty cute, and not annoying like many are now.

Outdoors!

The weather has been very cooperative this past week, so we have been enjoying lots of time outdoors. Unfortunately, we took a turn for the worse today, but I'm hoping it'll get back on track next week.





It's hard to tell, but he's pushing around the golf bag to his golf set. He runs all over the blacktop with it.











Working on his swing. Maybe he'll be the next Tiger...minus the personal problems.












He stole a curtain rod out of the garage. Why do we buy him toys?








Dave and Josh have been working on getting the band back together.





Here's Dave tuning up his mandolin.











And here they are working on some chords. Check out this video where Dave drops the pick inside the guitar.
Guitar playing with dad.



Here's Dave on his favorite instrument. Dave on kazoo.

This week we went to Dave's 15 month appointment. His doctor was very impressed with his growing vocabulary (he's up to 30 words!). He weighs 21 pounds (17th percentile) and measures in at 31.25 in (50th percentile). That's a 3 pound weight gain, which brought him out of the 0 percentile.

We are gearing up for our long weekend working, but my brother's coming up to hang out...should be a good time!

Children's Museum

We have had lots of activities going on in the last week. My mom came up to watch Dave for the night while Josh and I went to Mishawaka to get away on Saturday. All went well with Dave's first overnight without us.

Then on Wednesday we met Josh's sister Brittany and our niece Sophie at the Children's Museum in Indy. Here are some pics...




Bouncing on the animals at the entrance.










They really loved the Playscape area of the museum. It was hard to get any pictures, but here's an action shot of Sophie.










I think Brittany is dressing up as a possum and Dave is either a bee of some sort or a dinosaur. They had vests all over that you could try on and be a different animal.







Riding around in style.











On the carousel.











Sophie riding the carousel.








We had an awesome time and a big thank you to Brittany for getting us in-they have a membership. Pays to know somebody.

Cottage Life

I realized this weekend that I don't do a very good job of representing what goes on when we're on duty. Almost all the pictures that I take are from our apartment, or when we're out and about, so I decided to put together a post about Dave's daily activities in the cottage.

These are from last weekend, but it's pretty much what he does everyday that we work.







He has learned to climb up into the office window by using a chair. He'll perch here for a while before climbing back down and trying to get on our desk.







Stopping for a snack break.











Last week he learned how to climb onto the fireplace. He brings all of his stuff up there and sits and plays for a while.











Dave loves to pitch in and help with details. He also likes to hit people in the head with his broomstick.











And when it's time for me to make dinner, he's always around to lend a helping hand. He is so close to being able to open the fridge by himself.






As you can see, Dave pretty much runs the place. The guys love to get him to say words (appropriate of course), and they get him to show off to their parents when they visit.

Lately we've been working on animal noises with him. He can consistently do: cow, monkey, elephant, and sheep. He's hit or miss with rooster, cat, horse, and pig. So, here's a video of his animal sound skills and him saying "ding". Animals sounds.

Florida Recap

When we left Indiana last Tuesday, it was a whopping 35 degrees. So Florida was a very nice change of pace, especially weather wise. We had beautiful weather the whole week-it only rained Sunday morning, and Dave was able to play outside pretty much all day.

Here's a look at our week in photos.

Dave did a superb job on the plane rides. He was awesome on the way there, and only fussed the last 20 minutes on the way back.




Making a walrus face with the straws on the plane.








Once we landed, we immediately changed into shorts and t-shirts. Then we went to visit the grapefruit eating cows. You just picked the grapefruit and tossed it over the fence, and they smashed it with the juice going everywhere-Dave loved it.




One of our many trips to the cows-they were on the edge of Josh's grandparent's park.








Dave spent all of his time outdoors. As soon as he woke up, he would start saying bye bye.










We took a trip to the orange grove where they have delicious ice cream.




We also spent lots of time at the beach. Here is Dave's first experience on the sand. One night, we went for a sunset and walked down to the weekly drum circle to listen.




After this picture, one of the drummers let Dave play the maracas for a bit.





We visited Oscar Scherer state park, which was just down the road. They have lots of trails and such, but we only went for a short walk.




Dave and great-grandpa Dave.











He loved all of the seagulls at the beach. We threw cookies and chips to make them come near us and Dave would chase them away. Here's a video.




On Saturday we visited Jungle Gardens in Sarasota. They have a lot of exotic pets that people couldn't handle (like parrots) and some reptiles and monkeys. There was also a flock of flamingos roaming the park.




First sight of a flamingo. They were really creepy close up. This one followed us around and every time we looked over our shoulders it was right there. We did find the nicer part of the flock and Dave kind of fed them (along with some ducks).








On another trip to the beach. He really started to enjoy hanging out and even put his feet in the water. He didn't like it too much when a wave knocked him over though.




Dave really did an excellent job staying around us outside. We spent most of our time sitting out in the sun (I went to the pool while he took naps) and watching him run around. Towards the end of the week, Josh and his grandpa went golfing. When they came home, Josh cleaned the clubs and Dave just loved it.




Cleaning golf clubs-he would dip it in one bucket, and then take it over to the other one. Back and forth. Then he'd hit a pine cone and repeat the process.







So, as you can see, we had such a great time. Josh's grandparents went above and beyond (they even babysat while we went to our dinner place we always go to while there). All of the older people in the park just loved having a baby around (he gave the old ladies lots of kisses). We got the rest and relaxation that we needed and are back in dreary Indiana.




Last day at the beach-miss it already!

Back from Sunny Florida

We just made it home from our vacation-since we have to work tomorrow, I'm going to make this a very quick post, with a more in depth one to follow (check back Thursday if you're interested).





Our flight to Florida left at 6:30 AM. That meant we had to leave our house at 3 AM to get there on time. You can imagine how we looked while we were waiting to board the plane. Dave was his typical, chipper self.












First experience of the beach. Not thrilled.














By the end of the trip, he was loving the ocean scene.







We had an awesome time...great weather the whole week, and Dave was able to play outside everyday and not have to wear a heavy coat and hat! I'll post videos and more pictures later in the week. Here's hoping for warmer weather in Indiana soon...