Wiffle balls are fun in every state

My mom, in her infinite wisdom, stopped at a Dollar Tree in Tucson and bought a set of wiffle balls. It was probably his favorite thing to do in Arizona. That, and drumming on old margarine containers.

Up! Up! Up!

Last week, we flew to Tucson, Arizona to visit my paternal grandma... one of Stephen's two living greats. He quickly learned her name, Nan, and has been saying it daily since we came back to Kentucky.

We were pretty proud of the kid for holding up on a total of probably close to 10 hours of flying (we had a lot of lay overs). Here he is looking quite at ease in the Continental "President's Club" lounge. Notice his legs? He did that himself.



He also liked the luggage cubby as much as the leather armchairs. Crackers in the cubby makes for some good Munchie R&R.

Update to the Stevetionary

There are number of words that have recently come into vogue for Stephen lately:

Aht-da: outside
beeeeeeeeer: Brrr, it's cold
MMammy: Grammy
Nan: Nan, his great grandma
Uh! Oh: I dropped something, you dropped something
Deese?: What is this, Give me this
Deeese eeese Dat: This is that (we think!)

Mama-son outing

Stephen and I went to Jeffers Bend on the same day as the previous post's fire station trip... I'm just incredibly behind on my posting. As usual. So does that mean I'm not behind?

We enjoyed the long shadows and the orange slats of sun. Stephen threw rocks and met two doggies. We walked the pea gravel path to the bird watching hut, which, sadly, was vandalized and covered in bird seed and gook. But there were plenty of birds to watch. A little nuthatch flitted up to the reflective glass window and nattered at himself. A chickadee clung to the ledge and even a cardinal came to pay his image a visit. We must have gotten there when the sun was just right. Because of the mess, I couldn't put Stephen down, so I couldn't get any good pictures from our bird watching.

Father-son field trip

"I'll take it from here, Chief."

Saturday was supposed to be family day... but between work, chores, errands and naps, Joe and I only managed to scrape together individual outings with Stephen. Joe took him to the local fire station while I worked a tutoring shift.
"Bbbrrooom Brroom!"

Stephen came home happy, wearing a plastic firefighter's hat and shouting "Da! Da! Da!" (his word for "head")

On a side note, we've really noticed Stephen is trying to say more words. He says "Yummy" on a regular basis. Last night I woke to find Stephen sipping apple juice in bed with us, exclaiming "yummy!" at a photo of pasta in my Bon Appetit magazine, which Joe was holding over all our heads.

Stephen took a really late nap, so that's why he was up after I went to bed.

Bunny quilt for Steve

This is a little belated, but Stephen's room became more homey last week because of the sweet bunny quilt my mom sewed for him. It's in boy colors, with boy bunnies doing lots of boyish activities :-)
Stephen likes to talk about it it when he first wakes up. I didn't capture that scene, but I did find him playing with his beloved tool set. He's playing peek-a-boo with the reflective vest.

Munchie, Mantarays and other Mystical Creatures

Saturday, we headed down to Nashville's Opry Mills Mall to eat dinner at the Aquarium Restaurant and to dip Munchie in the "Stingray Reef" petting zoo across the corridor. They also have a carosel, which he thoroughly enjoyed.