Growing up so fast!

Our little dude is already 8months old!

I look at Tam sitting there on the living room floor and just think... wow... 8months ago I was just begining to hold him in my arms.  Last December we were excited to just hold him and rock him to sleep.  Now we are excited when his face lights up in a smile when one of us enters the room.  

Now he is sitting up very well on his own, even when Brian "tries" to push him over.  He is even leaning forward and kind of falling onto his stomach.  Though, when he misses catching his balance and face-plants into the carpet, he tends to get pretty upset with himself.  We love to watch him learn new words each week.  We are pretty sure he understands bottle, mama, dada, and kitty.  And as the uber-proud mama, I think he is starting to wave bye-bye... okay, at least his fist is opening and closing when we say "bye-bye."  Then again, he might be signing milk since it is a similar movement and he still loves his bottle :-)  We've started giving him a sippy-cup of

 water too, but he pretty much just uses it to bang against the high-chair.  Eh, it will come.  

No crawling yet...but Magellon might be the motivator for this movement.  Tam still really, really, likes kitty.  However, the love is unrequited since our cat would rather not be near the little guy.  Just wait until his mobile, Magellon!

I don't want him grow up but I'm also just so proud of each of his new accomplishments. 

Tweets of Science (LOL)

Think we can train Magellon?

Nostalgia

My last post on Lake Shore Park got me choked up for other great outings back in my home town.  We also got to stop at Eddie's Grill, a hot dog joint near the Lake.  We've been stopping out here for hot dogs, lemonade, and ice cream since I was small.  I remember staying up late while hanging out here with the family...then I would fall asleep in the car on the way home.  The booth seats all have mini-jukeboxes with old hits on them.  Plus the food trays have fun mazes and hidden pictures on them to amuse the kiddies (and grown-ups).  The food is simple but good, and who are we kidding?  We all went to this joint to see friends and family and be seen :-)

Here's a couple of great pics from Tam's first time out to Eddie's.  

He's not really allowed to eat hot dogs yet but he really wanted to try!  

Still trying to keep cool...III

Tam's growing so fast...where is the summertime going? I can't believe that it is already mid-July! The school year is just around the corner and Tam is almost 8 months old. It is so hard to motivate myself to start thinking about the upcoming semester...especially when Tam is being so fun and/or cute.

It was warm again yesterday, but not hot enough to go in the pool. I tried a "parent hack" and filled Tam's high-chair tray with cool water. I stripped him down to diaper and shirt, then let him have at it. He would smack the water and then be shocked that he splashed himself :-)

Lots of giggles and laughter, and my floor got a little cleaner too.

Attack of the killer swan!

Livin' it up at the park in my home town.  It was great to take Tamlin out to all the fun places I had been as a kid.  He's still small enough that he isn't mobile so no kiddie leash needed yet.  The park was a great place to have picnics with family and friends...and I can recall so many great memories from there :-)  

We walked around the duck pond, complete with ducks, geese, and swans.  We even grabbed a handful or two of "duck-food" to feed the critters.  Then, from across the pond, one of the swans 

made a bee-line for us.  I could totally hear the Jaws theme begin to play in the background.  Once the swan made it over to where we were standing, he began to ATTACK the stroller wheels.  Yes, the swan was gnoshing on the wheels while Tam sat calmly watching.  Even when we took Tam out, then tossed food in the 

water, the swan still went after the wheels.  Once we started moving around the pond again, the crazy swan kept stalking us from the water...ready to attack if we stopped.  A bit on the odd side of things.  In the end, Tam had a great 

time watching the ducks and seeing all the new sights around him.  We got some great photos in the rock garden.  Even 

one shot in about the same spot as 

we had our wedding photos taken :-)