Black Eyes, Rain, Awards, and Month 18

May 17th-June 17th
June is a summer month, right? I feel so accomplished finally blogging about it. Nevermind the fact that it's almost the first month of what (in my head at least) is fall. . . .

 
This month was another month full of cars, hats, and just enjoying life as a boy.

Speaking of life as a boy, Anthon sported a black eye a lot of this month. Not sure how he got it, but he woke up one morning with it and it took foreverrrr to go away!

 It's not to often we get all dolled up for a fancy date, or that when we do, it's on someone else's dime. My amazing husband got an award at work for his work on a big project last year. We spent the evening hearing (in small talk and the presentation of his award) upper management in awe of him being at the company for such a short amount of time and receiving this particular award--it's virtually unheard of. I love to see my hardworking, competent, amazing husband recognized for all of his efforts. I'm so proud of him and it was such a neat night to be a part of.

Also....if you look closely, you'll notice my baby bump started to appear this month!
Wahoooooo for Anthon becoming an older brother!!!

 

That hard-working hubby kicking back with Anthon at home...you know, watching videos of himself :D

 

Found this STEAL of a deal bike and infant seat on a facebook garage sale group for 25 DOLLA! Do I have a bike already? Umm... yes. Do we currently already have 3 bikes on our little apartment balcony? Why, yes...we do. 

Can we pass up $25 bike and infant seat?

Well, I think you've gathered the answer. 

Our balcony count is now four. 

By the way...Anthon is wearing an age 5-8 helmet...as he wouldn't fit in anything smaller.

Tooooo much braiiiiin! 

Also, at his 18 month appointment we learned he's still 97+ percentile for head size. 

No surprise there ;) 

Anywho, bike rides are a new favorite thing for Anthon. 

He stands by the closet with the helmets in them and points at his head to let us know when he wants to go on a bike ride.

 

Walks to Hannoford  were a favorite this month. This usually included feeding ducks/geese and playing with the ball bin at said grocery store. Not surprisingly, Anthon would only ask for the orange balls. Every orange ball, actually. haha. I'd get him one and barely turn around to look at him before he was pointing somewhere else in the tall bin to another orange ball, requesting I grab it for him. 

We found these little soccer outfits in Oregon at the Addidas outlet and I am in LOVE with them. We got this one and then an orange one. They were on clearance and....were labeled size 6 months. haha. No wonder no one bought them, as they fit Anthon, who's in 12-18 month clothing. 

 

It's hiking season! Wahoooo! We lost Anthon's shoe a whopping ten strides into the trail. Someone made us aware of it about ten minutes in, so we made the trek back to find it. haha. One of Matthew's co-workers gave us this hiking backpack and we loveeee it. Handy-downs are my favoriteeee :)  Here are a bunch of pictures from our first hike this season--we went to Plotter Kill, a hike that's only about thirty minutes away. 

 

Of course, we had to stop to throw rocks in the water. . . 

 

  

Oh, and he's sporting his other Addidas clearance steal...

 

 And there's that belly! We were going to use this as our facebook 'announcement'...but Anthon just doesn't look like his happy self, so I couldn't bring myself to use this one.

Nursery started this month. As you can tell from the fact that I sat and took pictures through the peephole, it was probably harder on me than it was on him ;) He did great the first week, but the second week was rough after spending two full hours with a little guy in there who cried the whole time...it kind of traumatized Anthon...which led to tears in the following weeks and a bit of a harder process thereafter. Breaks my HEART to see him cry. I usually stayed for at least the first hour after his setback, though he seemed to do fine after I left. I can't get enough of standing in front of that peephole, watching him sit at that snack table, or enjoying singing time.

Hanging out outside after doing some grocery shopping. My child has to be one of the best behaved 18-month-olds there is. I asked him to sit on the stairs while I carried groceries from the car and he just sat down, happy as anything, kicking his little feet in front of him on the ground.

 

A used video store has about ten boxes of hotwheels type cars that we like to go and play with. We also bought a bunch, after seeing him LOVE Grandma Shirley's collection so much. 

Anthon makes me smile every single day. From partying on our air mattress with Matthew, still putting random things on his head, building block chairs with me, doing laundry, and putting together his AWESOME new car from his Grandma Darla, we just love hanging out with this little man. 

 

 

Anthon's happy place--on the couch, with his blanket and bink, just after waking up from a nap.

 

Cats were a favorite this month, as was this Anthon-sized chair on our neighbors' porch (which was often enjoyed in the company of their cat).

 

Rain, rain, rain.
We LOVE the rain here in upstate.
Torrential downpours, puddles, rocks, walks, and just soaking in the wet are life makers for Anthon.
  
 Hoods were another favorite this month. We'd grab Anthon's jacket before heading out, he'd pull up his hood, and then point at me concertedly until I would grab my own jacket. At that point, he'd point up at me until I'd put my hood up as well.

Month 18 at a (long-winded) glance
New things:
-recognizing different animals on Winnie the Pooh
-walking backwards--he gets a KICK out of it.
-walking up to me and wrapping his arms around my legs in a hug. it KILLS me.
-making bee noises for bees (it's a 'bppppp' instead of a 'bzzz'. Adorable.)
-Laying his stuffed animals on their backs, pointing at them, and making a snoring noise
-putting both his arms high in the air when I come in to get him from a nap or in the morning and saying 'MAHHHH!!!' excitedly. That's Anthon for 'milk' :P He LOVES the stuff.
-saying 'go, go go!' all through sacrament meeting. Yes. Kiddo LOVES that part of church ;P
-Saying school bus. He LOVES school buses. Granted, his version of saying school bus is more like 'ska buh'
-shooting the basketball from farther away, rather than dunking it. Tricky business, but he actually has had some success!
-Pointing to the letter 'O' wherever we see it and calling it by name :) (he knows O, W, and S by sight...he has for about two months, actually...mister smarty pants...)
-taking his teddy bear with him everywhere. He makes sure we put a pair of shoes on him before we do. SO stinking cute.
-Hand holding. Yes, it's mandatory and mostly forced, with all of the parking lot crossing we do outside our apartment to get to our rocks and puddles....but hey, it's new nonetheless. 

Favorite things:
-RAIN
-school buses
-grapes
-string cheese
-helping me cook or do laundry (he'll pour the measuring cups and pick up runaway socks on my trek from the dryer to the couch to fold)
-Cats
-Puddles, particularly jumping and walking through puddles.
-Cars--lovessss playing with the hot wheels cars we got him.
-putting rocks in storm drains and hearing them splash
-rocks in general


Matthew took some 18 month pictures for us. I had been wanting to take some pictures in a cute little plaid shirt and shorts, on a blanket in the grass, in the sunshine, you know....
And, then, well, the weather had other ideas. You know what? These are a million times better.
They are soooo much more indicative of Anthon at this age.
Rocks, sticks, puddles, running, jumping, storm drains

 

I feel like if this picture were a video, the floor might be shaking... :D

 

A rock in one hand, a stick in the other. This is the life.

 

 

His face when he's saying 'please' (or, more, the tones of please, rather than actual word)

 

Those little teethhhhhhh!

 

An action shot :)

 

'Meowing'  at another neighbors window, where their cat often sits. hehe. This picture reminds me of Gideon on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Oh! And Matthew took some inside too that I feel epitomize this month with Anthon fairly well :) 

 hehehe. Doesn't this face just scream 'meme'?

 Clifford in one hand, remote in the other.
I'm a mother with a paranoia of technology addictions, so we don't watch much TV around here, but, when we do, he LOVES it and is absolutely mesmerized.

 cars, cars cars...

We love this little boy. We're so thrilled that he's finally back to feeling himself again. I mean, look at the light in his eyes?
He's going to be the dearest, cutest, sweetest older brother the world has ever seen.