Pure Sweetness....

Well, I don't have much to report this time, except that I think this age in John's life is the most precious stage so far. He is so inquisitive about everything and loves checking out new things. Just this weekend, we were out eating breakfast and he was very intrigued with the flowers out front...thus the picture for this week. He just loved touching the flowers and feeling them...right before he yanked a big handful of them off the stem...but we don't need to concentrate on those little details...just marvel in the sweet picture where he's "gently" touching the flowers. :)

Nana and Poppy (my parents) were in town this weekend and they had so much fun. They came in on Wednesday and picked John up at 2:00 everyday so they could have some one on one time with him. And, let me just say, he played hardcore for 3 hours with them until I got home...and about that time he seemed to wind down...so I would laugh and say "I don't know why you guys get so worn out watching him...he's so calm." heh! heh! John sure loved all the attention and with my dad being an avid golf watcher, the fact that he didn't watch one ounce of golf on TV while he was here showed me just how busy they really were with our little boy. My mom read about 1,000 stories over the weekend, and my dad wrestled about 100 times with John on the couch. He loves to crawl back and forth on the couch like he's getting away from you...only to be pulled back in when you grab his legs and slide him across the couch...pure sweetness I tell ya! :)

John is understanding so much now...he just amazes me. He has this quilt on his wall in his room and he was pointing at the crocodile, bird, and monkey when I would call out their name, and he actually pointed at the right animal..it was so neat! He's also really good about letting me know when he's thirsty, he walks to the refrigerator and pulls on the door, or he sits in this little chair we have for him in the kitchen. He also walks into the bathroom and plays with the outside of the tub when I say "let's go take a bath" and he walks into his room and sits in front of the changing table and lifts up his feet for me to put his shoes on that I keep on the changing table when I say "let's go put your shoes on." It's just so fun to see his little brain at work all the time...he is soaking in so much, so I'm definitely describing as much to him as I can. Although, he's probably getting tired of me using so many adjectives just to say "here's your apple"....but knowing that it's a shiny, crunchy, smooth, round, hard, red, delicious, apple is important, right??? :)

Anyway, that's the update for now....I will continue to keep you posted on all the fun things going on in our household. :)

Future Ironman....

The weather here has been great lately....usually in the low 80's during the day and the high 60's in the mornings. So, for Texas, that means Fall is officially here and people will begin pulling out the light jackets. All our Colorado friends can quit laughing now...it's windy here, so the mid 60's can be quite chilly! :) Anyway, the great weather has meant ample time playing outside. John has this climber in our backyard with two slides, a tunnel, and lots of playing room. So we usually spend every afternoon and some time on Fridays and Saturdays playing outside and letting him play himself out.

I attached some pictures below that show him having fun. He just loves the outdoors which makes mommy and daddy quite happy. He runs around all over the backyard (well...I'm not sure if running is the right word, he's still a little wobbly, so maybe I should say he "waddles" all over the backyard!) :) As he waddles around, he ususally stops to play with a stick or two, chase the dogs, or climb up the slide like a big boy...he is usually in all out play mode that you would think he was training for something. Hence, the last picture of the shirt he was wearing while we played this weekend...I truly do believe we have a "future Ironman in training!"

Mommy cleaned out the pictures from her phone....

I decided to clean out the pictures from my phone and wanted to share a few of the cute ones. Enjoy!

More phone pictures....

It's the simple things....

Just a funny little story...yesterday I was driving to Target and I heard John doing something in his car seat so when we got to a stop light, I looked back and he was pulling on the car seat pillow that is added for his extra comfort. Well, right about that moment, he pulled hard enough for the pillow to come off and he thought this was the funniest thing ever! He began laughing hysterically and playing with the pillow. I think you can see a little of his fun from the pictures I posted. I think this is a good reminder that sometimes joy can be found in the simple things of life...so don't miss those moments! :)

I Love Bananas!

Well, I just had to write a short blog about my son's immense love for bananas. I know I mentioned a little in the last blog, but we had quite a funny experience this past weekend at the grocery store. Every Sunday, we trek over to Central Market to do our grocery shopping because they have such wonderful fruits and vegetables and we tend to eat those items more than anything else (hence the piles of fruit sitting on the fruit plate on our kitchen island at home...we could have our own farmer's market! ha!) Anyway, we went to the store on Sunday as usual and we actually put John sitting in the buggy since we forgot his stroller. This of course meant he was much higher up as we moved through the store and he could see a whole lot more. Well, as we neared the fruit section, mommy started bagging fruit and looking for what we wanted for the week. About that time, daddy realized he had forgotten something in the vegetable section so he headed that way back up toward the front of the store. I started moving John through the fruit and within about 10 seconds, I hear him start screaming at the top of his lungs "ba ba ba!!!!" and pointing with all his might. At first, I was startled and wondered if my poor little boy was being attacked by a crazy grocery shopper or if he was in dire need of something. Lo and behold...he was in dire need of something...a banana! He had entered a mecca of bananas....the banana aisle! I call it an aisle because it is seriously like 50 feet of shelves of bananas, so as we went by my little boy couldn't help but to squeal with delight and point to his favorite fruit of all time! I really thought he was going to have a heart attack going through that area. Of course, mommy kind of freaked out because I didn't know how to calm him down real quick so I just ran through the bananas and made it safely to the other side...he seemed to calm for a second but then did the rapid turn around to try and find out where his banana heaven had gone.

About that time, I saw daddy heading over and I couldn't believe he had missed that episode and I was laughing about explaining it to him. Well before I could get the words out, Barry said that he could hear John screaming "ba" on the other side of the store and he couldn't figure out what was going on until it dawned on him that mommy and son had entered the haven of bananas. :) So, as quick as was possible, Barry ran over to bag our bananas for the week and pulled out one special for John and he took a big chomp out of it and was full of joy...whew....we barely sidetracked a complete banana meltdown! :) Now, I'd like to say that after John finished his banana he was totally satisfied and sat like an angel the rest of the grocery trip, but the truth of the matter was that he noticed where we put the bag of bananas in the buggy and he spent the rest of the trip trying to wiggle his little body around to grab that bunch of bananas so he could proudly hold them and enjoy his favorite drug...oops, I mean fruit!

Seriously though, it's great that he has such a love for fruit and we are happy that he's chosen bananas as his "treat." Our grocery trip included a bulk of 20 bananas for the week....yikes! I guess that means we are a household of monkeys (that's for you Daddy John!). :)

Turning One is So Much Fun!

Well, it seems that I have finally navigated my way into the world of blogging! I officially have several pages tagged to follow and I am now contributing to the blogger world. Oh how I have evolved...although, this really just shows how "behind the times" I truly am. I figured now that John has turned one, it would be a fun time to start blogging the adventures of our life with our precious one year old. I know most people kept up with the pregnancy and John's first year on our Mac website, but I couldn't update that anywhere but at home, so I decided starting a blog would let me keep the world informed from any computer. :)

John turned one on July 15, 2008...what a joyous occasion! It is amazing how fast the first year goes by. I know everyone kept telling me that, but until you actually experience it, you don't understand just how fast that first year flashes in front of you. This first year has been wonderful...we've watched John grow from this little baby that just coos and stares at you to an active little one year old that runs around pointing at everything and asking for bananas every time we pass through the kitchen. FYI, a banana is actually called "ba" in our household according to John. :)

It is wonderful to see John so curious and interested in his surroundings. He loves to point and hear the names of everything he passes...and I do mean everything. Just coming into the house he knows about fence, bricks, flowers, car, and the list goes on and on. This is just on the 5 second walk from the car to the house, so you can imagine how much he inquires about when we are inside for hours. :) He has become such an expert little walker and he even runs on occasion...usually when he grabs a square of toilet paper and goes barreling through the house thinking he has some great "treasure"...only to find out that it's a soggy piece of paper once he plops it in his mouth. :) He is such a happy little boy and everyday with him is such a fun adventure.

John is doing great at daycare. He officially moved up to the "big boy" room when he turned one. Now he is on a regular schedule and has time for art, music, and so many other fun things! He follows a great curriculum and we are seeing advancements in his ability to understand things already. He seems to love learning from the older kids in his class, and I'm sure he's trying to teach them a thing or two of his own. :) This month began the Fall curriculum and we are kicking off with the number one and the color red....so here comes "teacher mommy"....I'm sure he will get sick of me showing him the number one and color red...but mommy wants to keep him on track with what he's learning. How can he maintain his genius status if I'm not working with him? Ha! Ha!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos from his first birthday! I look forward to keeping everyone up to date on all the fun things we endure as the Brooks Family moves forward!