Okay, it's been so long that I'm a little embarrassed to even write this now, as Gus has grown so much and done so many wonderful things in these past weeks (and yes, months...).  But since, just seconds ago Gus said the smartest thing in the world, I thought I'd get over to the computer in a hurry and post it before it becomes just one of the many awesome things our son does/says on a daily basis.  So here it is:

Gus:  Mama, I bullid this truck!
Me:  Gus, you did what?
Gus:  bullid this!
Me:  What does "bullid" mean?
Gus:  Made this truck from pieces, Mama!
Me:  Oh, BUILT, you said "built" - yes, you made the truck from pieces! 

This kid's a keeper...

Snack-time!

Brand-New Big-Boy Bed!!!

And he's lovin' every minute of it... 

Summer Fun

Huckle-Bluebees (huckleberries), sprinklers, and tiny walks (not necessarily an indication of the actual length of the walk, by the way) are what summers are made of around here.  Being a native Northwestern-er, Gus doesn't take to extreme heat too kindly, but luckily we've had a fairly mild, yet sunny month or so - perfect weather for fun in the sun!

 

just taking a break after the ol' rugby scrum...

Seriously though, this picture is GOLD! Thanks to our friend Jennifer who took this gem at the park yesterday. Her sweet daughter (a special little girlfriend of Gus') met Gus for fun with the ducks in the pond and monkey bars at the playground. We Mamas though, had more fun watching little monkeys near the pond...

Better Late Than Never?

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!!

age progression project: phase 2

Gus age 1, and 2

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Ask him how old he is today and Gus will say, "Two!" (of course, if you were to have asked him last week, he'd have said that too.) We had an action-packed morning of present opening and playing today, starting at about 6:30 am - So much so, that he conked-out a couple hours earlier than his usual nap time (thus, this blog post!)

Thanks all, for the fun stuff and well-wishes! Here are some photos of the birthday boy today:

*Lawn Guy...

*Tool Book Fun...

*Pizza Pie [Play] Dough...

*Lady Bugs (we got him thousands of the things to let loose in the garden)

*Cash in the Bank

[Dande]lion Hunter... Roar!

Lou

Mama: "Hey Gus, what's your name?"

Gus: "Lou."

Mama: "What is it, Gus?"

Gus: "Lou!"

Our sweet, ever-talkative child pronounces his "Y" sounds with an "L" - That, combined with the fact that he hears himself referred to as "you" (i.e. You and I...) more often that not, and you've got yourselves the cutest little Lou you'll ever meet. Truly.

P.S....

Okidoke, you asked for it!

Dear Aunt Cait (I mean Keet),

Here are a couple photos of me (and Mama) at the playground today. You said you wanted to see more pictures of me to verify my bigness, and well, here they are. I am big. My Mama and Papa say I look like I'm 10 now that I got my hair cut and now that I walk around saying things like, "Done!" when I'm ready to get down from the highchair and play, etc. or, "1 - 2 - 3!!!" when counting three items, or, "pizza pie!!!" when Mama's using the oven. Yes, big - I'm a big boy. You'd better believe it!

Love,

Gussy Magoo

it's been a long time...

Yet again, I've come to apologize for the complete lack of recent posts; I'm sorry.

In other news: Gus got a "for real this time" hair cut. Papa and I discussed it and decided that we'd better say, "so-long" to the lovely locks of Gus' and use the clippers. His hair had been posing real problems for the kiddo. His bangs were always in his eyes, etc. So, now his hair is short. Very short.

In more news still: Gus is big. He says so many things, it knocks my socks off (which is great, 'cause the weather's getting warmer these days.) So on that note:

This just speaks for itself...

But in case you need some background info: Gus is getting to be such a big boy!!! He got this pedal-less bike for Christmas from his grandma and grandpa and at first was a little intimidated by it. But he's made huge strides (pun intended, of course - the bike is called a "strider"). He's even make big improvements since the last time he was on it just a couple of days ago.

It sure is interesting to actually see learning and growing happening before our very eyes...

feeling artsy

Happy Kiddo

I eat.

As I've mentioned numerous times here before, Gus has a pretty amazing vocabulary (by my standards, at least). Up until recently though, he hadn't strung words together to make sentences. Then, all of a sudden last week: "I eat." (Spoken, funnily enough, in a southern accent.) I could not have imagined a more apropos first sentence from this kid...

In other news, Papa and Gus accompanied our friend Mazur to the beach on Saturday and they had a blast. It was a beautifully sunny day (although lacking waves for Mazur to surf) - perfect for chucking pebbles into the ocean and otherwise enjoying the shore...

fun with photobooth

GUS: Back, by popular demand

That, That, That...

Gus' vocabulary is growing by the day, but still his ol' standbys are hanging in there. Far and away, the most frequently used word in our house since words have come out of his mouth has been, "that." "That," to mean, "What is that?" - "That," to mean, "Who is that?" - "That," to mean, "I want that." - "That," to mean, "Are you serious?! I don't want that, I want THAT!"

With all the "thats" you'd think we'd tire of it, and in all honesty it tests Papa's and my patience sometimes, but once in a while it's as cute as the first time Gus ever said it...

Favorite thing to do at OMSI?

Surrounded by noise, toys, fun and friends, there's really only one logical thing to do at OMSI (the super-fun science museum that Gus loves)...

Abandon all of that, dress-up in a chipmunk outfit, and walk over to the snack table of course!

Well it's been almost a week of solid nights' sleep in our house - yeah! Very counter-intuitively, I feel a little more tired than usual now. I guess I'd been running on Adrenaline in lieu of sleep for the past 20 months and my body hasn't yet caught-up.

Enough about Mama though... Gus just came down with a cold (yes, again) and is feeling really cruddy. As yucky as he may feel he's in good spirits and still a joy to hang out with - and even has enough energy at times to dance a little. His dancing abilities are really in full force. As of yesterday, he bounces and shimmies and does some pretty impressive deep-knee-bends anytime there's a lull in the action. Hopefully quite soon, we'll be able to capture it on tape and post it here, in the meantime though:

Here's just a little something!

Sleep Update:

For the VERY FIRST TIME EVER Gus slept through the entire night last night! He conked-out at 7:45 pm and slept without so much as a peep until quarter to 6 this morning!!!

P.S. That means I got roughly 7 consecutive(!) hours myself!

P.P.S. If this trend continues, you're sure to see new posts EVERYDAY, instead of biannually (or close to it ;)

music man

He's very musical, there's no doubt about that. We've always known that Gus takes after his papa with his penchant for percussion, but he's expanded his repertoire to include all sorts of instruments. At Grammy's house over the holidays we could barely pry him from the piano bench. Gus has turned into quite the songster and he's very delicate with the piano keys - and this makes me very happy...

Of course, so does this (less delicate performance):

Christmas #2

This was Gus' 2nd ever Christmas and this time around he knew something exciting was going on. We were in Oroville and Chico with lots of family and friends, and of course, the Cousins-Cousins. Boy, does he ever look up to Maia and Jonah! The three of them were super cute together and ever since we left CA (with the kids' influence in-tow) it seems Gus has grown-up about 8 years - he's very sophisticated now...