"I Do It!"

Marek now wants to do everything himself. Here he is playing with rolls of tape to create a "snowman" as he told me. I've been sick all week and it looks like the little boy might be catching it now too, poor guy! But he's still in great spirits and continues to be obsessed with playing - cars, trains, building "snowmen" and coloring. He has finally stopped requesting to watch "Frosty" at every hour. Hooray! We were all tiring of that quickly. :) He still gazes at the Christmas tree in awe and helps redecorate it often. I just love this time of year and it seems that he does too!

Look who's 2!

Marek just had his second birthday. I still cannot believe time has flown by this fast! It seems like yesterday that he was born! He's growing up to be such a great little boy. Two days before his "real" birthday, we celebrated with his playdate friends at our house. That was a lot of fun. Everyone opened gifts, played and ate cupcakes (or in Marek's case, just licked the chocolate frosting off!). He had another celebration at home on his real birthday where he had more cake and more presents! I'm still working on getting him to say he's "two", but his language skills are still exploding! He is putting two or more words together more often and talking a lot. Still making his mommy proud!

snow day

It snowed yesterday and today here! Marek bundled up and enjoyed it before it melted later today. More cold days are in store for us, so hopefully we'll see a return of snow soon! He had a great day, despite an icky cold he is fighting. He also had fun starting to decorate for the holiday season this week. He loves snowmen. I'm looking forward to this Christmas because he is starting to learn about it this year! Not too much longer before his second birthday too. Time flies by way too fast...

Leaves!

Before the rains of this past week, Marek was outside playing in the maple leaves in our backyard...occasionally directing the raking process, too. Since it has been raining so much lately, our activities have transferred indoors. He still loves his music class. He is pretty shy in class, but does all of the "actions" and moves to the music from class at home. Tonight he was bopping his head and marching around to music. He recently went to a train show which he loved and has found fellow train lovers at the co-op indoor play park we belong to.

Feeding Elmo

After a long day of play, Elmo was hungry. So, being the good daddy that he is, Marek fed him Goldfish crackers. We had music class and toddler class this morning. As usual, playing in the big gym was the highlight of the day. Playdough also made an appearance. He has been experimenting at home with painting with "dot" markers. He loves them!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Hope everyone had a good Halloween, too. Marek dressed up as a monkey, as you can see. He went downtown to the annual Children's Halloween Party at the library. He had fun looking at other kids dressed up in their costumes and got an orange balloon and a blinking light as a prize. He also got to visit mommy at work! That evening I took him to a few of our neighbor's houses for trick-or-treating. The best part is that he actually wore his costume and didn't complain about it! Pretty cute monkey, if you ask me. The pictures don't show it, but the top of his head had a monkey face on the costume. He's the best little boy in the world!!!!

happy boy

Last week Marek had a longer trip to see Daddy while I headed south to an Internet Librarian conference in Monterey, CA. I missed my little guy terribly, but he had fun with Daddy and Grandma. He even got to take a train ride home from Washington with his favorite partner-in-crime, Grandma Judy. As trains are his favorite things right now, this was great! I had a fun time in California and got to visit one of my best friends from college in San Jose. But it is always hard being away from such a perfect little boy! Tomorrow we'll see how he likes dressing up as a monkey for Halloween. He went to his first Halloween Party at our indoor play park this evening and had fun. Chocolate cupcakes always help...as does any place with lots of doors to open and shut (over and over and over...)!

Pumpkin Patch

Marek had his first adventure at the pumpkin patch this morning. We went with a group of other babies and toddlers - it was quite cute to see all of the little ones searching for pumpkins! He played on hay bales and picked out a small pumpkin to bring home. He took his first tractor hayride and liked that it was bumpy. It was a perfect foggy autumn morning and we topped it off with fresh homemade donuts at the farm. He is still an odd mixture of very shy and very outgoing around new people and situations. I never know if he'll be one way or the other! To get into the fall spirit, he has learned how to say "pumpkin, bat, ghost, spider and boo!". Unfortunately, the camera I took to take pictures of his pumpkin day had dead batteries in it...so I don't have any photos to share from our event. :(

Little Engine That Could

This Sunday we drove up to Hood River to take a ride on The Little Engine That Could at Mt. Hood Railroad. Marek loves trains, so this was a hit. The train ride was really beautiful and afterwards he played in a maze of hay, checked out a petting zoo, played some more, and had a fun day in Hood River. We shopped for some hip new baby shoes, a new train toy, had lunch and topped it off with ice cream. He can say "helicopter" now among other new words. It was definitely a fun day for him!

Marek's Fall

Marek's Fall is off to a good start! In addition to our music class, we joined a mom/toddler class that he just LOVES. He gets to play in a big gym with other pint-sized people, sing songs, eat snacks, play with toys and make friends. We also still spend as much time outside as possible. He met a snake in our garden last week. We're hosting a playdate next week...it will be his first time having to share his house/toys with other little people. I take him along with me to another mom's group I joined and he likes watching the older boys play and interact. If there is a play kitchen in the room, he is happy.

post-music crash

We just returned from our music class. It was great, although Marek's still really shy in formal settings. We know some people in the class, so that should help him warm up to it! He's exhausted now - he is fast asleep in his new bed. I'm still working on redecorating his new "toddler" room. He has started to say "train", "plane" and "car" a lot this week. He's definitely a boy!

greetings!

I am going to try posting pictures and stories about Marek on a regular basis. Hopefully it will allow others who love him to keep current on his happenings. We'll see how well I do at this...finding time is a whole other story! Marek and I are starting a music "class" tomorrow. I hope he enjoys it. He is snoozing away right now in his new toddler bed. He will fall asleep in it just fine, but still wakes up often and cries, cries, cries until I go in there. Sleep is something we're still working on...! Last night after I put him to bed I could hear him calling out "Hello! I'm fine!". We have a song we listen to that has a refrain of "hello, hello, hello and how are you, I'm fine, I'm fine and I hope that you're fine too." (It's by the Wiggleworms, if you have little kids it is a great album!) Anyway, it's his favorite thing to sing right now. And I just love to hear him say "I'm fine". My cutie!

I'm off to eat dinner (yes, at 10:00 pm) before he wakes up again and hopefully get some reading in. I have about 5 books I'm trying to read simultaneously, so I better get to it!