You're cute as a button, but you burn like a bo-tard

This is just a post of random pictures of daily life. They really add up. Only three months until Levi's second birthday. Craziness. This year we'll actually have a good big birthday party with all his friends. It'd be a good time for family persons to visit...achemm....


Levi is talking quite a bit. Although, I think he's a little more on the reserved side. Which is fine. Both Nathan and I can be pretty quiet and reserved, so it's not surprising. We're working on his animals and the noises they make. A few weeks ago we passed by a store that had a stuffed monkey in the window for valentines day, and he said, "oo ah oo ah" It took me a minute to catch on, but he meant, "hey look, a monkey!" He points out birds like crazy. I think he might be a bird watcher. He'll point and say, "Bead!" (which is how he says bird) and I'll have to really search for it, but sure enough, there it is. Perched on top of an electrical pole or something. It's really cute to have him preform his animals and noises for us. He knows lion and that it goes "roar." Elephant is particularly cute, because he puts the back of his hand up to his mouth and says, "wooo!" He thinks a bird might bark, because apparently tweet tweet sounds too much like woof woof. I got him to make a fish face once for what a fish says. But, that one didn't stick.
Levi yells at the sun when we're in the car. I think, with his blue eyes, he has my same sensitivity to the bright light. He always sneezes when we go outside, just like I do. (We usually sneeze at the same time.) And, he does not appreciate the sun in his face when he's in the car. I have no way to make it better for him, because those things that are supposed to stick to the window and block the sun do not stay up. I give him sunglasses, but he won't keep them on. I think he'll learn to treasure them soon though. Anyway, when the sun is shinning in his face he yells, "No!" and points at the sun. Sometimes he'll throw in a "mine" just cause he knows 'thems fightin words.
He's also learned what the moon is, and searches for it anytime we're out at night. Now I'm trying to explain to him that the moon is for night and the sun for day. It's a little complex.

Here he's trying on my high heels. He's a shoe enthusiast. Much to his papa's concern. I'm pretty sure it'll be OK though. I like the face he's making though.

Just playing a tune while pottyin'. He's doing pretty well with the potty training. Except that we're having a hard time transitioning from naked to underwear. As soon as I put anything on him, he thinks he doesn't need to tell me he needs to go to the potty chair. He assumes clothing means he can just go. But, when he's naked he doesn't have any accidents. So, we'll figure it out. The other hard thing is, when we leave the house, he has to be in a diaper, because he's not ready to go out with underwear. So, anytime we're not just home, he's not practicing. There just seem to be lots of inconsistent loop holes.

Here he is wearing the socks that Aunt Lora sent me with our Valentines package. At first he wore them on his hands when he rode his motorcycle, like papa's gloves. But, then he saw me wear them on my feet, so he didn't want to do it wrong anymore. When he first put them on and was prancing around, Nathan said he looked like a Faun...from Chronicles of Narnia, ya know. But, here he looks more like an aerobics instructor.

Nathan put a pair of overalls on him the other day with no shirt, and he looks so country and huck finn-ish. It was pretty cute. So, naturally I took about a billion pictures. His mouth is slightly pink here because he was munching on some candy hearts.
This is the note that Grandad had in the Pollywogg book he just sent for Levi. Levi took the note out of the book, and kept bringing it for me to read to him. So, then after reading so many times, Nathan stuck it to his forehead.

This is from "Nathan and Anna's day of fun." It's the only picture I really took, cause it's a little hard to take pictures when you're on a motorcycle. We spent all morning driving all the way around the Island. It was so fun and beautiful. I saw stuff for the first time on this Island. Part of the Island I hadn't even ever seen. I love riding the bike with Nathan. It's really not scary at all, cause I trust him. And, it's like being on an amusement ride. Except with amazing scenery. Sometimes I would put the visor up on my helmet, let the wind blow against my face and just close my eyes like I do when I swing. I love the wind on my face. One thing I like about riding, is that I can smell all the plant life as we drive by it. Pine trees, blooming flowers, Ocean breeze. It's nice.


We also went out to lunch and went to a movie. It's felt like a memory. Like when we were dating and would spend the entire day galivanting. It was a nice break. But, we did miss Levi by the end of it all. He did really well with Nancy and Valentino by the way. They even both took a nap, which is always good.

Levi inherited my love for dough. This is chocolate chip cookie dough, one of the best. This was the first time he got to have the mixer wand. He got down on it, big boy style. I used to treasure those things when my mom baked. It was such a treat to get it. So, when he had it I had to take pictures. It was like passing on the torch.

I even taught him to scoop out stuck dough with his finger in the hard to lick places. He appreciated that piece of information.
And Pippin appreciated the whole thing. Naturally Levi shared here and there.
And this is Levi trying to make Pippin dance with him, cause there was music playing. Pippin could care less, as long as that cookie dough stayed in his sights.

Levi's really gotten into playing games with his little people and animals. He'll set them up how he wants them, make them talk to each other, make them dance, make them fly by throwing them across the room (papa taught him that one). It's really fun to see his imagination grow.

And these last few pictures are of Levi's new shoes. He loves shoes, and he's pretty sure everytime we pass them at the store he should try them on, and never put them back. But, we've been looking for some crocks for him. Finally we found these, although they're a little big. He's really into them.

Look at his cute little legs. They're particularly tan, because we spent a couple hours at the beach today with Nancy and Valentino. Levi's still not really into the whole beach scene. Well, neither of the boys were really. But, we're gonna try to get them over it. Nancy and I decided that our husbands are taking too long to go out and really enjoy the Island, so we're gonna do it together instead. I think it's a pretty good plan really. We'll take the little boys with us, and get some play time and exercise. And the hubbies will appreciate it, I think.

Here he is ready for bed, hoping to wear his new slorps (as Chandlier calls them aka shoes) to bed. We ended up kissing each shoe good night and putting them in his shoe holder on his door. That wasn't quite what he wanted to do, but he went with it.