Little rascals

Some pictures from last week (still trying to catch up!):

We played in the pool on Monday. Grant loves the water hose right now, and he enjoyed that much more than the pool itself! I think he only got into the water once or twice.....the rest of the time he splashed in it from the outside or just wanted to run around with the hose!

He's also amazed by the storage shed, and ALWAYS wants to go in there! He'll stand and point to things, describing in his own language what they all are!
I used a popsicle to lure him out of the toolshed.....and I think I still had to drag him out! He likes these but gets frustrated because he can't quite push the ice up to the top without all of it coming out!
Funny random picture.....he'll do this sometimes if he pushes a ball under his legs....he just sits there for a minute and takes a look at the world from a different perspective!
On Wednesday, our friends Sierra and Jacob came over. We ate lunch and the boys played outside for a while (even though it was 3pm, sunny, and SO hot!).
After Jacob left, we played in our new sprinkler! I knew Grant would have a fun time with it!
Taking a drink of my diet coke. Strangely, he didn't seem to mind it!
He soon found out that it was even more fun to carry the sprinkler himself....at one point he sprayed me and I made a funny noise. When he realized he had gotten me all wet, he thought that was REALLY funny! He kept doing it, while laughing and laughing! I definitely didn't mind it, though....I felt much better in the heat when I was soaking wet!
Later that night, Dean, Grant and I went over to the little league fields to watch some of the games. I've been wanting to go all spring.....I like to do random things like that, and I thought Grant would probably enjoy it. We watched some kids who looked to be 7 or 8 years old (it's hard for me to tell), and we had a great time! We bought dinner at the concession stand, and Grant ate his entire corn dog! He enjoyed looking around but didn't pay too much attention to the game. But Dean and I had fun watching those little kids play....it was just something out of the ordinary that all of us could enjoy (Grant almost always enjoys anything outdoors).


I've been thinking the past few days how much I've been enjoying Grant at this age. The past month (17-18 months old) has probably been one of my very favorite stages so far. When he started hitting and having tantrums at 13 months, I thought the best was over and the next couple of years would be difficult! But it's almost like he's already gone through his rough patch and now is getting better (who knows....maybe I will be eating my words a few months from now!).

It's not like he doesn't throw fits and we don't have bad days anymore....we definitely do! But I think back to when things started to change, and I think it was when he started saying words (six or so weeks ago). I feel like we're actually communicating pretty well.....he will say "no" (not just short and choppy, but very cute!) if he doesn't want to do something, and if he hurts his hand or foot, he'll want me to kiss it! He also scrunches up his face and says "ow!" And lately he's been copying sounds that I make right after I say them. Tonight he was so cute.....I was putting him to bed pretty late (8:30 is when Dean left the room), and there was an Apache helicopter flying around at Ellington. Every time he heard the noise, he'd lift up his hands in his "I don't know?" pose. He always does this when he hears a plane but can't see it, or when I ask him where something is and he can't find it. Then we started hearing this faint beeping sound, and he started beeping, very quietly! I finally opened the blinds so we could watch the helicopter, and I said, "ooooh!" He copied me, saying it with the same inflection that I say it!

It was one of those times when I wish he'd never grow up....it was 9pm and I knew I needed to leave him to go to sleep, but I didn't want to! Days just fly by so fast and before I know it, an entire week or month has gone by and Grant is a little bit different than he was before. I'm glad I have a video camera, although there's no way I can capture a fraction of all the adorable and funny things he does.

Maybe I've enjoyed these past few weeks partly because we've been doing some new activities that we haven't done yet (going to the pool, playing with the hose in our yard, etc). This is Grant's first summer that he can actually enjoy a lot of outdoor summer activities, and I'm excited about doing a lot of fun things with him, aside from just letting him play with his toys or going on errands. But I really think that he's been more agreeable lately.....or maybe I'm just getting better at letting him have his fits and not letting them bother me!