Boots

We pulled out some of Rick's clothes from childhood. Howie particularly liked the boots. They are about 3 sizes too big for him, but that didn't stop him from tromping all over the place in his diaper.

Crunching

This is one of my favorite sounds. Perhaps because my child is little and needs to pack on the pounds (therefore I am conditioned to crave the sound of him eating), or maybe it's just because it reminds me of a little squirrel.
Go ahead, enjoy life with us... Turn up the volume on your computer and enjoy a crunchy snack.

Man's Best Friend

Decorator For Hire

Howie has recently taken to decorating our home.  He does excellent work, his jobs are always very thorough and he works quite fast.  Here is a sample of his most recent kitchen project.  It's amazing what the guy can do with simple cloth from a basket on the floor.  I always had all the washcloths and bibs in the basket, but now I see the potential of the scattered look. 

Mulch Heaven

I took Howie on our daily trip to a park.  He is so use to getting up, eating breakfast and going out that he now stands at the door and bangs on it to get out if we haven't left the house by 9:00 am.  Winter is going to be tought for us!  Anyhow, we hiked it over to the local school via the stroller and enjoyed the multiple playgrounds there.  I like to stroller it to parks; Mommy gets exercise along with Howie. 

Although we have visited this park many times before, today we found a new captivating area that involved dumping mulch.  Howie stood for a VERY long time, dumping mulch into the bucket and watching it fall into the container below.  Please note the mulch in his ear- I think he was storing it there for later.  I have a feeling that if we return to this park, he will probably make a bee-line to this area and spend his entire playtime dumping mulch.  Too bad school is going to be starting soon- I can't think of anything else we would rather be doing at 9:30 in the morning. 

Rollarcoaster Enthusiast

Howie got to experience King's Island for the first time.  I thought he might be afraid due to the fact that there are loud rollar coasters, lots of movement and some interesting people who look like they just crawled out of the sticks.  And considering that the giraffes at the zoo terrify him, I thought we would end up leaving within 2 minutes of being there.

But he LOVED it.  Go figure. 

He rode all the rides that he was allowed on (a total of five) and giggled the whole time.  We watched the Vortex loop around and around as he clung to the fence, trying to get closer.  And of course, he enjoyed some Eiffel Tower love with his friend.  He's a PKI junkie. 

Friends Forever

Howie's friend came over to play today.  He adores her.  I think the feeling is mutual. 

We went the park, colored, ate snacks together, you know- the fun date stuff.  Howie crashed from being exhausted after she left. 

These are some pictures from our busy morning.

A Yummy Afternoon

My friend (who is a mother of children with allergies) gave me a cake recipe that her children like. It is an egg-free and milk-free recipe that originated from the Depression years when eggs and milk were scarce. Howie and I tried it this afternoon- he is a real help in the kitchen. I let him explore with the different tastes of sweet, salty, and bitter ingredients as we measured and mixed everything together. He liked to feel the various textures of the powdery flour to the course salt. It really was a delightful experience and the cake turned out really yummy!




Recipe:
(From http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/featured_recipe5.php)
Allergy-Free Dessert Recipe: Kathy P's Wacky Cake
Recipe Information
Category: CakesRecipe Created By: Kathy Przywara
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder (optional)
1 cup sugar1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt1
Tbsp vinegar
5 Tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F.Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl and stir to combine.Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until you get a smooth batter. Do not beat.Pour into greased and floured pan (8" square or 9" round) or 12 cupcakes. Bake in oven until tests done - about 35 minutes for cake, about 20 minutes for cupcakes.

Taking Myself for a Walk

My parent's sweet little dog came to visit us for a night while they were out of town. Poor Chlesea endured a weekend of loud pots banging, hearing crying through the monitor in the kitchen and lots of chasing from uncertain feet that fall often. Howie LOVED having her here. It added a few items to his downstairs work-out routine. He busily put little presents in her cage, mostly toys that he retrieved from his play chest. He would stick his fingers through the door of her cage to let her lick him. This typically resulted in eruptions of laughter- so silly! And the best of all: he found her leash and paraded it around the house... around and around and around. Here is a photo of him having the time of his life with Chelsea's belongings as he wears the leash like a belt/necklace.

Chelsea has now been safely returned to her home where she will take a three day nap. We love you Chelsea!

Everybody is Growing Up So Fast

Happy Birthday to our friend Leah! She turned one this past weekend and we celebrated baby-style with her. We are looking forward to inviting ourselves over to play with all her awesome new toys... even the purple purse looks interesting!

"Those Fish Are Not So Harmless" -Howie

We went to the Newport Aquarium on Saturday. It was a fun place for Rick and I, but Howie was not entirely impressed. Granted, he is scared of just about all foriegn sounds and objects outside of the house, but the aquarium really was a scary place. It was dark and there was scary shark-like music playing in most of the exhibits. There were tunnels of fish so they were swimming above your head (very scary) and goodness help us, the two inch seahorses were the most frightening of all.

He did enjoy the frog bog where he could climb on the fake frogs and press the button to make the noise. He also tolerated/enjoyed petting the crab and starfish. Oh, and the gift shop was also a highlight. So many interesting (non-moving) things to touch there.

In general, I wouldn't recommend the Newport Aquarium for children under the age of 6 or 7 unless they are super brave.

Mommy's Little Helper

In trying to keep up with the housework, I resolved to try and clean while Howie was awake. It was mildly successful. He allowed it for about 20 minutes, then needed my attention to be held and played with. My floor took a little longer to clean due to his eagerness to help out with the chores.

The rest of the house can wait until he is down for his three hour nap this afternoon.