What we've been up to (Part 2)

ready for the sungetting his toes wet with Nonna
in the pool for the first time
starting solids
chillaxin' (as Damein would say)

What we've been up to (Part 1)

jumping in...sometimes when we weren't even ready for him (my little fearless one!)laying out
playing with the hose (an absolute favorite thing!)
building towers (and knocking them over--that's the best part!)

4th of July

We celebrated Independence Day with some old friends of ours, the Lewis' (visiting from Indy), and our small group. We began the day in St. Charles for the annual parade down quaint Main Street and then grilled out for lunch. It was Ty's first parade, and he was in awe! He danced to the music (of course), waved at the people, picked up candy (and tried to throw it back--it won't be long before he'll want to keep it!), and clapped his hands at all of the entertainment. We saw lots of fun things--marching bands, little cheerleaders, miniature cars, tractors, etc. We had a great time with all of our friends especially watching our kids be so happy (it's the best feeling). Here are a few pictures from our day...

watching the parade go by
intently looking
little Lincoln cheering
one of Drew's favorite things...
I think this picture is so funny and it brings back memories of "the kiddie table"

First Sentences

This update is much overdue, but things have been a little hectic lately. Corey is taking two summer classes trying to stay on schedule for graduating in 3 and 1/2 years (total--only 1 and 1/2 to go!), and we are trying to enjoy this summer that seems to be flying by! I love STL summers...they're pretty great. There are plays in the park, Cardinal's games, the zoo, the Botanical Gardens, Grant's Farm, Purina Farms, and Forrest Park (just to name a few). If we don't end up staying in St. Louis, the summers here are one thing I will definitely miss!

My days have been filled with much more conversation with my 2 year old these days as Ty is learning to say more and more words and form sentences. As I was thinking about how it all began, I had to laugh. It seems like he began putting sentences together overnight, and one of his favorites was "I said no." (You would think he heard it a lot or something...). I think his very first sentence was "Mommy said I said no" (a combination of "Mommy said no" and "I said no" spoken really fast and with much excitement) which just became, "I said no."

Now, his three main sentences seem to have a theme: "I broken" which really means "it's broken" (like when he knocks the blocks over, for example), "I dropped it," and "I fixed it."

He also has a running monologue that begins with "at the zoo" (emphasizes the word "zoo" with a slightly higher pitch). Then he likes to list off all the animals that you would see at the zoo along with a distinguishing characteristic of each. He says, "bebra--stripes," "raffe--long...neck," "elephant--trunk." It's really sweet! He's learning so much! He also says, "sound" because he likes to talk about the sound that each animal makes.

A few other noteworthy expressions include:
* "oatmeal," which was first pronounced "email"
* "the end" (heard him saying this as he closed a book he was "reading" by himself)
* "wave" (giving Drew a command)
* "heine" (showing me where Mr. Potato Head's heinie was)

And my favorite to date is:

In response to, "Who made you?" he says, "God!" Then we ask, "What else did God make?" and he says very thoughtfully, "People!" And if we ask, "Why did God make all things?" he says, "for His codie" (but he really means "glory"--I think the "g-l" sound is a bit hard for a 2 year old...and he likes his Aunt Codie! :)