Drip, drip, drip

Tonight was Open House at Illinois American Water's 100+ year old facility in north Peoria. Boy, did they put together a cool event. Let's see, I can't decide what I enjoyed the most - the chocolate cake with blue icing and a completely edible 8x8-inch high yellow duck topping, the free umbrellas and tote bags, the bath tub rubber duckies (one brushing its teeth, the other carrying a tool box), the plastic hard hats, the tour of the historic water plant/museum (a beautiful brick building with four gargoyles on top), the Zoo lady with her parrots, the front loader with tools and pipes on display, or the three teenage girls dressed up as blue rain drops. M & D had an enjoyable time too, by the way.

I've been munching on strawberry Twizzlers all day today as I'm teething again. D thinks my runny nose last week was all due to my dental growth (and NOT due to germs) - who knows!

Tool man

I'm writing this from dreamland tonight (pretty talented, huh?). For starters, I had a grrrreat weekend; the weather was in the low 70's, I visited with friends and got to paint with water colors in their playroom as well as check out all their cool toys, I hiked with M & D on the river trail (a wooden deck above Illinois marsh land), I also rode on a horse pulled hay wagon and then chilled out at home running wild indoors but calming down frequently to help the parental units move furniture around (I grunted alot, took small steps sideways and squated down to lift things - just like M & D).

Today, I happily helped M dust (the walls?!?), wash the windows (then press my tiny hands up against the glass), and vacuum (with my plastic lawn mower, of course).

Before going to bed, M read a book about a teddy bear's toolbox. Oh boy, did that ever get me going - I tried to pull the pictures of the hammer, screwdriver and drill off the book pages, but they weren't real!!!! I was mad (and overly tired, but I wouldn't admit it). I REALLY wanted those tools. M quickly found a little screwdriver in the dresser drawer and I tried to open the battery compartment of the Jay, Jay-The Jet Plane toy. I had to hold the screwdriver while M rocked me to sleep.

Next weekend is the Spoon River Drive - D says there are lots of garage sales along the drive and I'm certain to find cool tools to add to my new toolbox that he is already designing.

A whole lot of Julian

Cheese! This photo of me was taken with a kaleidoscope held up to the camera lens. Cool, huh?!

Well, I'm a bit under the weather today with a runny nose and sneeze. It didn't stop me from heading outside to play barefoot though. Right now I'm filling up my tike-size wheelbarrow and hauling my blue plastic bowling pins around the yard. I'm busy! You can't keep a good man down.

Yesterday, I tried a new way to play basketball - I slipped my head up through the net from underneath the basket. It was silly pressing my nose through one hole then sticking my tongue through another hole. The beach ball mom kept tossing would just bounce off my head; it never could go through the basket - I think I finally figured out why.

You can take the boy out of the woods, but...

Hi ya'll! Me, maw and paw are good. Got a bit hungry this mornin', so I stuck me's whole face into the bowl of cereal - awwww!!

In other news, I caught a green walking stick and had fun examining him in the insect jar today. I added some grass clippings and sticks to create an "at home" habitat. He was a big attraction when the neighbors came to play. Unfortunately he didn't make it till evening to show to D. :-(

At the Morton Pumpkin festival (home of Libby's Pumpkin cannery), I rode my first carnival ride. I absolutely loved the car merry-go-round. A little girl sat in the backseat and I sat up front, so I took my job of steering the wheel very serious at first. However, it didn't take long for a big, happy grin to break out across my face. I put up a little fuss when the ride stopped and I had to get off. However, we enjoyed a pumpkin pie Blizzard at DQ, and I was quickly in good spirits again. That is, until I was strapped into my car seat for the ride home - ugh, I hate being immobile these days.

This evening I tried out my very own potty for the first time. I made some grunting sounds which pleased the parental units. I also had to read my "Babybug" magazine out loud while I was doing my busy. The result - a drop of pee! Whippeee!!!! :-)

1,2,3...ready or not, here I come!

I could hardly wait for lunch to finish so we could play a game of Hide N Seek -- I had a really great hiding spot in mind. Did you find me??

Entertainment came to my front door today - the street crew was outside with a front loader, back hoe, two big dump trucks and five workers in bright yellow shirts. I stood on avvvv chair M had pulled over in front of the window for me, and intently watched the commotion outside. I think I figured out how to operate that back hoe now!

Oh, M & I went for our tri-weekly walk up to the library (Book Babies was happening once again!), then over to the park for some play time and a picnic lunch. I met Brady who is only one week younger than I am - we had a great time playing alongside one another. The chimes at the playground are the coolest equipment ever - who needs slides and swings when you can make lots of noise!!!! Oh, did I tell you I can do the splits - side straddle. I love falling back on my bum!

Much love to all!

Welcome fall!

Oh, what a wonderful time of year - leaves are falling so I can pick them up easily, rolly-pollies are scurrying around, snails are trekking through the mud, the breeze means D and I can fly a kite and a few rain showers leave messy (but, fun!) water puddles. I loved checking out the pumpkins at last weekend - this one weighed in at 635.7 pounds. Whew, that's a lot of pumpkin seeds!

I made a "leaf buddy" at a first day of fall program this morning - it has goggling eyes (which I quickly disassembled) and is easily crinkled up in one little palm! I had fun singing about all the things that wave in the breeze - my hands, my elbows, my tongue (I'm good at this one!), my legs, my chin, even my nose. And, I tried to sit patiently through three story books, but it was more fun swimming on the carpet and trying to share my slightly used string of Fruit Loops with the little girl next to me. Right now I'm trying to talk M into sharing her cup of Pumpkin Spice cappuccino and cake with me - I'll have to be really, really sweet to get some!

Lil' Artiste

It's a good thing M decided to have our craft time outdoors the other day. Even though the package of paints read "water colour", they weren't water colors! (a UFS bargain set of paints) I experimented with the paint brushes for a little while, then decided to dig into my work quite literally! Can you say fun??? I looked a little bit like a smurf after I was done being creative, and M looked a bit like Smurfette after she carried me inside to wash up! My shirt appropriately read "I tried to be good, but I got bored".

Yesterday's craft project (again outdoors - love this warm autumn weather) involed peanut butter, yarn, pine cones, scissors, Cheerio's and GrapeNuts. You guessed it - we made bird feeders. My nextdoor neighbor came over. She was much more interested in putting big golbs of peanut butter onto the bird feeder, while Gertie, Bongo and I were more interested in putting big golbs of peanut butter into our mouths!!! We had to find really thick branches to hang the feeders on - they were loaded with good things for our feathery, wild friends.

These boots are made for...ME!

Here are my cool Spiderman boots!!! I'm ready for about three feet of snow this year. In the meantime, I've been enjoying the mid-70 degree weather we've been having. This afternoon my neighbors brought over all their outdoor wheeled vehicles they've out-grown. Boy, oh boy am I in seventh heaven. Now I can "drive" around in a Wiggles' Big Red Car, a John Deere tractor, a canopied red buggy, an all-emergency vehicle, an orange tricycle, a green tricycle, a little wheel barrow, and more. The next motor mites play time should be at my house!

After a fun, family filled weekend, today M and I enjoyed some quiet time. But, not too quiet. We danced to the Wiggles' toddler CD this morning. Then, we headed out the recreation center to splash around. I liked pull the strings to tip the buckets of water over on our heads. But, what I really wanted to do - and M wouldn't let me - was join the senior citizens' exercise class; they had neon noodles and dumb bells that looked like great fun. We had a picnic lunch and ran around the playground afterwards. I nearly fell asleep on the way home, but held out for my own crib.

Climbing to new heights

It's been a busy week - learning to climb fences, pushing my 5-year old neighbor on the swing, wearing my snow boots for the first time (no snow on the ground, I just really like my boots - it's my own fashion statement!), playing with my friends at Motor Mites again, helping with the household chores (dragging the tall kitchen trash can by the handle out to the garbage can, playing in soaping dish water, pushing the Swifter around, and the like), and driving the big red cart at Kroger's.

The librarians get a chuckle whenever I hold books up to them to be checked out and then start to "read" the books when they are handed back to me. I also left my sippy cup up at the library this morning while I was playing with the blocks and beads; M has to help me remember to look in the Lost and Found when we go back.

I love making animal sounds these days - I've added a loud clear "maaaaaaaa" for sheep to my repertoire.