Wallace Falls

We are making the most of our last few days here, and Carl selected this great hike for our Memorial Day weekend.

A few more photos of the trip can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/esfeldman/WallaceFallsHike?authkey=Gv1sRgCPr3nsvBuZqMAQ#

boxing

Here is alden duking it out with (someone else's) birthday balloon. To add to the randomness, hes punching the balloon with a toy animal and a domino, and I think he's yelling "touch" whenever he punches the balloon. At the end, I ask him about who the president is, which is reference to his random answer earlier in the day: "uncle nate."

Watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiE9zG3l4BU

croquet in stehekin

We (crammed in) a trip to a true northwest destination -- Stehekin, a town accessible only by 3 hour ferry in the middle of the state. It was sort of like (very comfortable) camping -- carried all our food and diapers, and stayed at a rental house with no TV, internet or phone service. Alden took to croquet right away -- with the non tradtional approach of throwing the balls and mostly dragging the mallets -- he also threw the green ball squarely at dad's knee-cap, which was a big bummer. He was quickly distracted by a much more satisfying game - kick the ball to ZuZu the dog. Don't be fooled by ZuZu's size; she spends her mornings chasing (and occasionally catching) goslings in the lake basin below. Mom (far below) kept an eye on the games from the hot tub. . .

Little Blue Ball

Alden and I went out for a walk this evening and discovered this funny little ball on the sidewalk. He was fascinated because it had little knobs on it and so it didn't bounce correctly.

He practiced his throwing (notice, left handed, much to the excitement of his father)...

With a good follow through of his torso...

But was then completely mystified when it dropped down this small (but fairly deep) hole in the sidewalk. For quite some time, he repeated, "Mom, go get it." Sadly, it is still down at the bottom of that hole -- visible, but not reachable.

its a drty job, but . . .

. . . someone has to ineffectively sweep the deck with an enormous broom.

table playing

Growing Up

We have been hearing a lot lately, about the inevitable transition from bottle to cup and the chaos this change can bring to many families. Kids stop drinking their milk because it's no longer in a soothing bottle, then as a result they stop getting enough calories before bed, and ultimately, they begin waking up hungry in the middle of the night again. Carl and I have been bickering over when to make this change for Alden, knowing that it could be rough but that he's probably old enough at 19 months to begin weaning from the bottle. So tonight we began a similar discussion after Alden rejected his nighttime bottle and we weren't sure what to do. Carl said he was "giving us a sign" and I said he was just trying to get out of going to bed. Ultimately, we decided to try a cup, just to see what happened. And here's what happened (pictured below) he drained the milk in about 3 seconds, snuggled into his dad while reading a book, and presently he's talking himself to sleep. I guess in some things, pediatricians really do know best!