Baby Talk

I love, love, love listening to Stirling's attempts to communicate! He impresses me everyday with just how many words he knows. All I have to do is tell him something once, and he remembers. He says two and three word sentences quite oftne, and can even say four word sentences occasionally, such as, "dis is a button." He can now count to two, can identify and name many body parts, and is learning his colors. Right now, everything is yellow or green though, so he has a ways to go! We are trying to encourage manners too. Stirling says please appropriately, but when we tell him to "say thank you Stirling," he says "weccom," (you're welcome) instead! It just makes me smile to hear his cute little voice ask for the things he wants, and then get so pleased when it happens! He is learning the power of words! Here are some of my favorites"
"mo duce" (more juice)
"pese" (please)
"appasauce" (applesauce)
"ah-sigh" (outside)
"sues" (shoes)
The amount of temper tantrums and hitting is decreasing now that his vocabulary is growing. Yay! I am such a proud mama!

Family visits

We have enjoyed seeing both families this fall. The Smeads came down in mid-October and the Woodses came down in mid-November. We were so glad that everyone was able to come and spend time with us in Yuma.

When my folks and Erin were here we went to play at the river and had a nice time playing outside in still warm weather.






When RJ's family was here the guys went four-wheeling and the ladies went shopping. We also had our Thanksgiving dinner a little early since we haven't had family around for Thanksgiving in years.

Finally, some photos!

Broken camera + broken computer= very little blogging

Just before Stirling's birthday he dropped our camera on the ground. Since then, the flash works occasionally at best, and we can only get semi-decent pictures outside where there is plenty of light. Most of my photos for the past 5 months are fuzzy blurs of Stirling as he runs past! I would have posted some of them anyway, but in the last month or so, the computer has started crashing every other day or so. And it almost always crashes when I try to upload photos from the camera. So it has been a challenge to get any photos onto the blog. Right now, I am using my work computer, but of course my camera is not with me to add photos. Hmmm... a new camera and a new computer are both looking really good right now! Luckily I can use RJ's laptop and so am not completely without hope! I uploaded photos last night, and I'll be posting them as soon as I get a few minutes... :)

Time Outs and Vaccuums

There is not much to report right now. Stirling was sick earlier this week, so I ended up having a four day weekend staying home with him on Tuesday. My week at school was then even more hectic with a substitute, guest speaker, field trip, etc. Even though I only taught three days, it was a really long week. Even more tiring is Stirling's new "stomp feet, scream, and hit" routine. It is difficult to stay calm when he yells and hits me in the face. We do time outs by restraining him on our laps. He doesn't like be restrained, but it seems kind of like a hug and might be sending mixed messages. I think I am going to buy a little stool to be his "naughty spot."
On a more positive note, Stirling loves helping with everything. He has completely changed his previous attitude about the vaccuum and now LOVES to help push it around. He also takes his placemat to the table, helps sweep, and likes to put things in the garbage. Having Stirling help with everything helps prevent meltdowns, but everthing is twice as difficult and time-consuming!

I tried to load a video of Stirling playing with his new basketball toy, but it was sideways so I decided not to.

The desert can be beautiful

Summer Fun

Well, school has started and that means back to work, and back to daycare. But boy, Stirling and I had fun this summer. We stayed at home and did simple little activities that we could enjoy together. Here are just a few pictures of our summer fun!

Funny face.










Taking a walk.











Sweeping!











Picking flowers.








Fingerpainting (or should I say face painting?!?)!











Waterplay.









Blocks