Fun at the Garden

A couple of weekends ago, we went to my work because Norm had signed up for a class on Fermentation. A two-hour class on Fermentation.

So while Norm learned how to ferment things, Benjamin and I played about the Garden. Well, he played, I took his pictures. Walking about...

More walking about...

Then we stopped in the A/C for snack time. When it started raining we also went into the A/C to watch a video... I watched a video, he flirted with all of the guests waiting out the rain in the lobby of the visitor center.

We finally made it to the Great Lawn where he got to run around with the Chihuly installations as a background!

And of course here is a little video to bring everything together!

Yes, he was yelling like that out in public. Yes, he is my child. Yes, we were outside so we got to use outside voices!

He found some water at his level, so of course he reached in and then did his modified version of a sign of the cross... which he learned from the Holy Water fountain at Church!

He pretty much was so gross after 2 hours of running around. He was sweaty and sticky and just plain old gross.

Summing it Up

Now that Benjamin walks and gets into everything, I have become more aware with slowing down and enjoying time with him instead of always having to do "things". However, unfortunately our floors are one of those "things" that have to get done (swept) pretty much every other day.

This is how productive we are with a wondering toddler:

Then, because walking around with the dustpan wasn't fun enough, he decided to put it down and wiggle his little behind onto it:

Then he tipped over, forehead first, and all the fun was over.

Quite a typical moment.

It's that time of the year when our house gets super hot in the afternoons, so our little hot-natured baby gets overheated, hence the fancy outfit. Here he is - almost exactly a year ago - sporting the same outfit!

Hot Feet

Benjamin has been having issues with his feet getting really hot - apparently this is somewhat normal in babies, but then again he is Norm's child so there is no surprise in starting to discover foot issues.

In the search for a better shoe - because the sandals he has now make his feet very hot and then they smell - I reached out to these people's customer service via email.

The customer service rep replied right away in a very polite manner. We exchanged a few emails in one of which I asked her for her recommendation between two sandals because "my little one whose feet get very hot and sweat and smell..." and she diligently replied with:

"Hi Fernanda, I am sorry to hear about your son and his hot feet."

I am just tickled by the customer service rep's concern with Benjamin's hot feet. I can't stop laughing about it.

I haven't figured out exactly where they are from, but they are for sure foreign.

Age in Months

Well, Benjamin turned 1 in April, started walking in May now it is June and he is 8 days shy of being 14 months. I always said I'd never be the parent who refers to children's age in months. And here I am, with a (almost) 14 month old toddler. He's not "1 year old"... that was sooooooooooo long ago, he was such a baby then! Not even walking! And he is certainly not "1 1/2", that is soooooooooooo far away, he will be running by the time he is 1 1/2. So he's 14 months old, doing what 14 month old toddlers do:

- walking laps around the house
- dancing along to music
- being temperamental
- sleeping for 12 straight hours at night
- walking more laps around the house
- playing with legos
- asking "up" when he's tried of walking
- mastering sign language: eat, more, milk, please, sit, nap, all done
- babbling in his own language
- walking around barefoot outside
- trying to get away with playing with the DVD player buttons
- drinking the bath water
- stealing Pellet's tennis balls
- drinking water from straws
- stealing everyone's heart

All that and then some more is what the month of May consisted of.

It also consisted of Mother's Day Weekend, which Norm had to work from sun rise to several hours passed sun down. So Benjamin and I went to the garden tour that is sponsored by work! We had a good time (despite what his face in the pictures below) and I took lots of pictures. But I took them with my camera, because my phone memory is about out, but apparently I have forgotten how to work a real camera because the pictures did not come out good. Too bright.