A day of shoes, parties and parks

I LOVE this picture of us. I bought the KEEN shoes for myself a couple of weeks ago and have loved them sooo much, they are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. Well, for Karl's birthday I bought him a pair too because he has needed new sandals. Well then on a whim (because we were trying to pass the time for a little bit) we went to REI to walk around. They had KEENs for kids on sale!!!! Soooo exciting. So we got Dorian his first pair and another red pair to grow into. $14 instead of the normal $49 is a great deal! So this picture is of all of our KEENs. Yup we were the matching family; sickeningly cute.

Later that day we went to Swensen's for a birthday party for Delaney (Dorian's "girlfriend"). Dorian got to wander around in his new shoes and ride on Dada's shoulders! He loved being up their and was styling Karl's hair. He did a very good "messy doo" hairstyle that is all the rage right now.

After the birthday party we went to the park to play. Well, Dorian recently learned how to give eskimo kisses with his nose. With Carrie however, he decided he likes her nose so much, that he would rather suck on it. He doesn't really do that with anyone else, just her. It was very funny. Every time she came close enough her nose would be attacked by a slobbery Dorian.

And this last picture I had to put in because it is too cute. Dorian is walking so well and is so excited that he can. He is getting tall enough so I don't have to bend myself in half to hold his hand either, which is always nice for my back.

Date with Dorian

Dorian took me to breakfast the other day. Such a good little date. :) He ate sausage and egg and canteloupe! That was the first time trying canteloupe. He only liked it if he got to eat it off the rind. If I cut it off and tried to give it to him he didn't want it.

The second picture is when he was sooo full after eating. He leaned back and said "aaaaahhhh". It was really funny

This picture, I am not sure what he was looking at. It makes him look like such a little turtle! His little itty bitty neck and then the head with big eyeballs. Very funny.

Ball!

Ball
Originally uploaded by drkarldc

Dorian is walking so well now! He was at gym class and they dump out a huge bucket of balls. He loves them sooooo much. He goes walking after them all excited. This time he got attached to the purple ball in particular and kept throwing it and then going after it and throwing it again. It was very cute.

Learning to draw

Dorian is figuring out how to draw. He used to just want to chew on crayons or pens or pencils. Now he is learning that if you hold it over paper you can make lines and dots! Mostly he just hits the paper with the crayon, he hasn't quite got that side to side motion down yet. He sure likes to throw crayons too! This picture is while we were at breakfast with Dada and Frances at Heidi's (mom's very favorite place). Dorian had eggs and sausage and ham and strawberries! Big breakfast! He fell asleep for a solid hour after that without even a twitch. NICE!

Another collection of favorites

We were at the playground the other day and Karl took this awesome picture of Dorian in a tunnel. He likes to crawl through things, especially if he can pretend to sneak up on you.

We went to feed the duckies again and our friend Carrie took a little mini family picture of us. That's always nice. Usually it's just Dorian or one of us with him instead of all 3 of us.








I was sitting in the living room with Dorian the other day and he was playing quietly while I was reading. Well, I look over and see that he has built a little LEGO tower. Oh my goodness was I excited. It was almost as good as him walking. I don't know if he's supposed to figure out that they fit together like that quite yet, but of course I think he is super advanced. :)

He also likes to "help" with the laundry, which means riding around in the laundry basket and pulling all the folded clothes apart. Very helpful little man.


Today when we were out looking at stuff, we were in a store with a hammock. So, Dorian got to lay on it and try it out. He thought it was quite nice and laid on it for a while just rocking back and forth. Wish that could fit on the balcony!

collection of cuties

I had to share these pictures because they are just so cute. Dorian is learning everything so fast now! He says toes now too and plays with his own toes and ours! He likes if you laugh when he plays with your toes. It tickles! So this first picture is of Karl's little alarm clock/radio thing. You put different shaped pieces on the lights and they make different noises. So you can make music! I am not sure if Dorian quite understands that yet, but he does like the sounds.


He still loves his books and reading so that is what he was doing in this next picture. He doesn't want us to read them all the time anymore, he likes to look through it by himself. Then occasionally he'll look up and make a noise "eh" which means what noise does animal make? So we have to make the noise and then he can go on to the next page.



The last picture is Karl and Dorian sleeping. I had to get up to go the airport, that was my Vegas work day, and the two of them got to keep snoring away. Dorian sleeps all over the place now. It's really funny how he flops all over the place to get comfortable. I like this picture too because you can see how long he's getting! Very cute, my two boys.

Fouth of July....Reno/Sparks!

For our second Fourth of July celebration we went to Sparks for fireworks. We went with Michala and her little niece and nephew. They close down the street in Sparks so that vendors can set up tables and have food and music and fun. And then the fireworks!!! We were worried that maybe they would be cancelled because of all the fires, but we got to have them.


Karl got Dorian a little mini flashing light saber...very cool. Until he dropped it and it broke into a million little pieces. Karl, being the handy man that he is, managed to get it all back together somehow, AND he made the flashy thing work again. I was very impressed, and Dorian was happy.


That is a picture of our friend Michala. She is pregnant and is going to have a little girl in October! I think I already mentioned her somewhere though... ah well, I like to repeart myself.

We were worried that Dorian wouldn't like the fireworks, he's been a little worried about loud noises lately. Well, he was a champ and acted like he's seen fireworks his whole life! He kept pointing and saying "light light"! It was very funny. Then about halway through he was done and wanted to nurse and take a nap. Well, how long can the same fireworks hold a 13 month old's attention, really? He did so awesome, we were very proud. :)

Fourth of July....Nevada City

After work on Thursday, Dorian and I stayed with Grammie and Grandpa so that we could go to Nevada City on Friday the 4th. I took the day off! Actually, the whole weekend. It was nice....

Anyway, Nevada City has a ring shop that Karl found online, with some very interesting titanium rings. I went to check it out! They were nice, unfortunately half of them were gone because the designer was at a big jewlery show in Hawaii.

So, we walked around a bit and looked at the people. I need to get a back carrier like Maria, Dorian is getting heavy to lug around on my tummy. Even though he still weighs less than when I was lugging around preganancy weight! That explains the stretch marks....hmmmm.

We didn't walk around that much because it was already pretty darn hot at 10 in the morning. Maria and I both forgot sunscreen too for the boys and us, so we limited our outside activity.

We did hear the star spangled banner sung by someone who did NOT do it justice and saw the planes fly overhead twice in formation. That was cool!

Breakfast with Milo

On the Fourth of July Dorian and I got to go to breakfast with Milo, Maria and Micah. The two boys are always so cute together! I was amazed by how much Milo can do now!!! He can crawl, and he talks a lot more, he loves to eat and feeds himself, and he gives hugs and kisses, especially to Dorian.

















I was trying to hold both of them at the same time. That was an adventure. Dorian wasn't so much jealous as he was tired and deciding that he HAD to nurse right then! It was quite the juggling act. Dorian had eggs and potatos and Milo had the same and also some spinach I think.


After breakfast we got to walk around Nevada City a little bit and see everyone waiting for the parade!

Chuck e Cheese

Dorian got to go to Chucke Cheese for the first time with Carrie and her four girls. He had a lot of fun because there are so many driving games! He also had lots of chicken and breadsticks. Lunch of champions!

The first picture is of him in one of the little driving cars. It wasn't even on, he just likes to move the steering wheel around. There was a plastic person in the car and he put his hand over the guy's mouth like he's telling a backseat driver to be quiet. It was really funny. I wish I could do that sometimes!


And of course we have to have a picture of Karl being a cheesehead and grinning like crazy. I think he needed food...


Dorian also got to ride the horse. That's our friend Michala holding him on there for me. She is due in October with a little baby girl probably named Evelyn. We have decided that we should have an arranged marriage for her and Dorian. Think that'll work? Hmmmmm....


















Here he is again driving a car. He just got the biggest kick out of steering!

Then later Chuck the mouse dude came by to say hello! I was thinking maybe Dorian would be worried about a giant mouse, but he wasn't at all. He gave him a high five and then told him all about the lights and fans and cars and steering wheels. It was funny how he was pointing to everything to show it to the big mouse.

Baby Gym Time!

Dorian gets to go to baby gym every week on Wednesdays. Well last week he was sick, so he didn't get to go. But that meant he got to do a make up class this week, and they had one for him on Tuesday morning. This is exciting because that meant Dada got to go with us! So here are some pictures of D and Karl. ;D

Dorian was learning how to swing on a bar and then they also got to do a pull over on the bar. He is so funny because she explains the whole thing, and while she's talking Dorian just saunters up to her and reaches for the bar. So she then explained what they were going to do with all the kids by using Dorian as an example. He is such a little attention hog! He also liked to shake the equipment and make sure it is sound. That's what he is doing in the picture with Karl there. Shaking the pole and showing Dada that it's perfectly safe and sound!

There are all sorts of things to climb over and around and one of them is the stairs. He likes stairs anyway, but these are softer so I feel a whole lot better about him climbing up and down these! He goes to the top and then backs down again. Very cute to watch. And of course he had to show these to Dada too.

This other "ramp" is called a cheese mat. I think because it looks like a slice of cheese. Anyway, Dorian likes to crawl up and down this as well. Down pretty fast due to the slope. And up a little slower, it is quite the hill! We roll down this too, either he by himself or with us hugging him as we roll. When he gets to the top of the cheese, he sits there and looks down all proud, like a little prince looking out over his kingdom.

Looking out at the kingdom of Dorian from the cheeze mat! All the other kids are playing nicely in the kingdom, and all was well.... :)

At the end of the day we get to play with bubbles and get stamps on the feet. He LOVES the bubbles. Of course, being Dorian, he doesn't wait for the bubbles to come to him, no, he goes to the source. That means he walks up to Miss Michala (the teacher) and tries to crawl up her legs to get to the bubble machine. Ah well, at least he has determination, AND figured out where the bubbles come from!

He took a nice long nap after his day playing. AND he gets to go back tomorrow and do it all again!