My, how time flies. JT will be 16 months old tomorrow. We are so blessed to have him in our family!

You may have noticed in the side bar that I posted about his teeth. He has his first four molars now and all eight front teeth. I think he looks taller all of the sudden, too; he has been eating a lot and sleeping a lot. His little body is growing quickly!

Since he got his own armchair, he has been increasingly interested in chairs. I showed him how to use the ottoman to climb up into the rocking chair in his room, and now he loves to do that.

Flip Clip #1 – In and out of the rocking chair – and a little reading

Our friends the Skagens invited us to the Seattle Children’s Museum on Veteran’s Day. They had free guest passes, which made it a pretty fun deal for us! 🙂 We had a great time.

Good News: JT and I went to a new park today. He and Slider loved the big toy.

Bad News: Even though we’re at a new park, JT still wanted to spend time making sure the stroller buckles were properly latched.

Good News: JT practiced walking the stairs all by himself.
Bad News: He tripped and hit his head on the metal pole. (Use that click-to-enlarge feature!)

Good News: He recovered quickly and went back to practicing the stairs. Then we had a little photo shoot. Too bad about the giant egg on his head and the tear leftover on his face.

But the really Bad News: is that we had to go to the park while Jim was at urgent care getting diagnosed with swine flu. So I came home and spent two hours sterilizing everything he had touched in the past few days. My new best friends, pictured below.

Even worse news (update 11/6): Jim doesn’t have the swine flu. He has a hernia. Right now we are hoping it will heal on his own and he won’t need surgery. Pray for him to heal!

With winter weather in full swing, we’ve decided to take a break from swimming. Here’s a picture of JT and Emi (and their dads) from their last swim class together.

Instead, we enrolled JT in gymnastics. It’s a Mommy & Me class, and it is so much fun! The first week, we learned somersaults and I was so excited to get one on video. I invited my mom to come early the night I was packing to leave for Denver so she could see gymnastics, and we didn’t do somersaults at all! We did some other fun things, of course, and she took some video for me.

My teammates and I got the opportunity to present at the National School Board Association conference in Denver, Colorado this past week. So off I flew, away from JT for the longest time yet. We had an awesome time! No cooking, no cleaning, time with friends, what could be better?

Made a cameo at the candy-themed party

Getting ready to present

Did you hear on the news? It snowed and snowed!

While I was gone, JT spent time with both sets of grandparents as well as two days alone with Jim (read below if you missed it… so sweet!). I’m sure there were lots of photos, but this is the only one anyone has sent me. It’s JT and Grandpa Cole coloring. Too cute.

With the entire day to ourselves JT and I spent it how we wanted. First, we slept in. Since I was still on work schedule and couldn’t fall asleep until well after 3:00 AM, I was very happy that JT didn’t get up until 9:00 AM. Then we ate breakfast, on the couch, in front of the TV! For some that may not seem like a big deal, but in our house, that is a holiday.

Then it was off to Harley. We needed supplies to change the oil in the bike. We decided to eat lunch there and spend the afternoon looking at bikes. I tried to get pictures with my cell phone but they didn’t turn out. JT would stand in front of a bike long enough for me to get the camera set, then a glint of chrome from the other side of the shop would catch his eye and he was gone. So below is the best I could come up with. JT eating his lunch at the Harley cafe.

Well I made it through my first half day on my own. With Becky in Denver JT and I are left to run the house. So far so good. We cuddled on the couch and watched Christmas Vacation together. I have to take these opportunities to show him his American heritage.

Sorry there are no pictures or cute videos. This is my first blog so, baby steps. Tomorrow should be filled with rolling around on the floor in our underwear playing with giant legos and stuff. Maybe I’ll get a good picture from that. Of JT of course, no one needs to see me in my boxers.

Our friends the Shucks invited JT and I to go with them to Thomasson Family Farm this afternoon. The weather was cold and wet, but it didn’t rain on us until we were leaving – phew! It is tough to get a picture of JT smiling without Jim around, but we got some great shots anyway.

Riding the wooden horse

We met Jim’s parents and sister at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch to celebrate Grandma Keene’s birthday. True to grandparents’ form, they brought JT a present too.

‘Nuff said. 🙂