Finally

OK, so I know it has been way too long since I posted something. So here are a few new photos. Including James first day skiing! We are so proud that he LOVED his first skiing experience. Sean and I are totally excited that he got on skis before he turned two, and totally loved it. He did great. We let him play with his skis before he got on them, and he was really excited to try them out. When we put them on him, he was actually really into it, which we were pretty excited about, because he can be tentative in these types of situations. He LOVED riding the little "magic carpet" (basically a conveyor belt for taking kids up slope) and at first this was the highlight of his experience. Then he realized what fun it was to ski (slide) down the hill. He was giggling and laughing and kept saying "do it again"! Too cool. I am going to take him again this weekend. We have a skier!!! Woohoo! I see years of fun ahead of us. He was a natural.

James is WAY verbal, and is speaking in full, six or seven word sentences, can count to ten, and can sing the whole Ba Ba black sheep song. His favorite song is "Baby Beluga", by Raffi, which he sings regularly, and he loves to read stories about cowboys, horses, and trains. He is also super into airplanes at the moment. Nothing beats a garbage truck (semi's are also garbage trucks), or a school bus. When he sees a school bus, he always waves and says "hello children" with great enthusiasm. Cracks us up. He also has amazing manners and says please and thanks or thank you, and whenever you sneeze or cough, you receive a "bless you, mommy". We are so pleased with how good he is. How did we get such a great little boy. He is also much more snugly and affectionate now, and loves to give kisses. He has a little baby doll that Grandma U got him, that he carries with him everywhere and sleeps with him. He says "baby sad", then gives it a hug and kiss and says "baby is happy, now". Kills us.

He loves his tricycle, wooden puzzles, and playing outside when the weather is good. He is really into his stroller. He loves meat bones (see below). Tonight we were at dinner with Bill and Maggie (he is obsessed with Bill) and started into this pile of fatty rib bones that Bill discarded. He was doing it with purpose. We were all cracking up. He pumps his fist in the air saying "steak bone"!

His favorite toys are these little Swiss postal cars (2 of them) that Bill and Maggie brought back from Switzerland, and tractors (2) and these two (what do you know) little trucks that he calls busses. He has a thing for twos. They have to travel with us in matched sets, and he has to have at least two of the sets with us at all times while away from home, along with all four of his little blankie, animals which we call friends.

We sure do love our little Sweet Pea, and don't know how we got so lucky. He sure is a good one.