Play Dates

A big hug goes out to my friends and family who added so much happiness to our summer. Monday I return to school and Mehandis returns to daycare. A bit bittersweet but we have so much fun ahead!!!


I have also become more familiar with the world of play dates... and Mehandis is now doing more of the playing with the "dates" versus along side them. The following 3 photos are from a fun morning with Natalie and Rachel.


My "new" sprinkler find, from a resale shop, leaked a bit more than it sprinkled. But the kids still loved splashing in the puddles it made.

Don't ask Natalie to be the bubble blower of the group;) My speech therapist skills helped out with getting our homemade bubble solution going.
Mehandis loves to do his somersaults any chance he can... especially if sand or water is involved. All you have to say is "tumble" and he goes into a version of downward dog.

Our friend Carrie brought Gisela over for some playtime as well. Mehandis kept trying to get into Carrie's lap since that is where Gisela was. He also rocked his new little friend in her carrier and loved touching her toes. Gisela gave little smiles and kept her eye on Mehandis... smart girl.

Okay... we are now off for the cabin. One last Friday off for Michael before the family falls into the school year routine.

I learned something new!!!

Yippee!!!! I am officially You Tube literate, so now I can post videos on the blog. Just don't tell my husband that I am still struggling to remember how to use the external hard drive.

The video in this post rocks... literally. Mehandis is a dancing machine. He picks up moves from 3 year old friends (like Quinn and Julia) as well ans from things (like the washing machine). He asks to dance at least 15 times a day... and we happily oblige. What a great way to exercise and bring a quick smile to our faces :)

What I've Done My Summer Vacation

You would think that I would have tons of time to post pictures and write little blurbs on the blog since I am off of work this summer. However, it seems the computer is a little harder to have access to these days. We have started a pattern of finishing dinners at 8:30 or 9 and only computer is taken by Michael to work all day. We have lost our wireless, and thus sitting in the office on-line does not seem the most appealing after 9 these days. But geez... we have had a lot of fun off-line. Check it out-

Mehandis graduated from his first swim class, which ran from June to July. We met some potential playdates and babysitters through the process. Our little guy never did get the nack for blowing bubbles; however, he charmed the teachers ever time. Erin came along for the last class. She sat in the upper balcony and still managed to get the following pictures.
I was amazed how the group of 18 to 36 month olds got to understand the routine and learn a bunch of new songs in the process!
Mehandis is supposed to be learning how to blow bubbles from me here; however, he ended up getting a belly of water and belches instead.
Here is Mehandis and I doing his favorite back float to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He is now saying "diamond" in the bath whenever he lays on his back. Another little aside is that he is loving to stand up in the bath and pretend he is the parent - pointing his finger saying "sit down" with a stern look.

I took the Amtrak to Chicago with Mehandis and myself earlier this month. We stayed the week and had a pampered and perfect time. Mehandis, or should I say my mom especially, loved Lincoln Park Zoo. He kept running back to this egg tube and fought his way to either end.

Given the number of photos and catching up I have to do on this entry maybe it is good that the following photos are space efficient? Don't know why these ended up so tiny... but click on them for a full screen showing.

Mehandis and his grandpa running down the Lake Michigan Beach.
Beach toy fun in his "Sunday-Best".
Yikes, my parents hope that my in-laws know that this outfit did come clean in the wash. Michael's parents gave it to Mehandis for a recent family wedding... and I was not planning on adventures sand/water play when we set out in our fancy duds.
Mehandis and I both needed a deep clean when we got back to the condo.

Did you Millennium Park has great ice cream? Just ask my mom and Mehandis about the orange sherbet. Mehandis has surprisingly accurate spoon skills when eating this frozen delight.

Okay, I also learned of the wonders of the Children's Museum while in Chicago. Navy Pier's Museum is awesome... thanks Kerbie for the suggestion and group tickets!

When Mehandis saw the Waterworks area he gladly donned the raincoat and went to "water-work".
I had to throw this photo in so you can understand what Mehandis is doing in the photo after this.
Yep, Mehandis wants to make a guitar out of anything these days. Or a drum. Or a dance move.
Here our little man is hunting for dinosaur bones. He ended up enjoying tossing the little broom and faux dirt down the ramp, more then the actual dig.



Okay, our family is getting pretty brave these days. Not only has our indoor kitty (actually an 11 year old cat) decided to become an outdoor explorer... but the 3 human household members recently ventured on a 2 night excursion camping at Kohler-Andrae. Mehandis loved helping setting up camp. He actually is a great camper - sleeping great for naps and through the night is all that it takes to qualify as this for a 19 month old (in my book).

The ball helped to distract from the fire pit and other 5 to 10 hazards.

Umm, please remind me that Mehandis likes to collect rocks on his tray and in his food when his high chair is not so high.

Mehandis and Michael taking their first water run together.

He kept holding his hands up saying "AGAIN"!!!

No, the MU sweatshirt never did look the same after this trip. But how cute is this camper?

Michael and I felt like kids going down this super fast curly-Q slide. Mehandis was absolutely fearless and went down it at least a dozen times. We had stop him mid-way almost every time to turn him around, so he wouldn't "land" head first.

While I still have not finished the first page of my "Mehandis" scrapbook... I feel good that I have at least been somewhat documenting our activities via this blog. Should make it easier when I finally get it all on paper. Hopefully some of you are still having fun checking our our adventures as well! It has been great hearing feedback from quite a wide variety of people :) Next entry will include video... thanks Natalie for the suggestion. Now I will conquer the next advanced media form!!!

A year ago...

A year ago today I was up early, as I am this morning. A year ago today I had the name "Mehandis" going through my mind all night. A year ago today I went to work and prepared myself to fib if asked the question "Have you heard yet?" (which I did get asked first thing in the morning, to which answered with the half truth of "still waiting"). A year ago today I could not take my eyes off of the referral picture we received via an email, the previous day, studying our soon-to-be son's tiny wet fingers, unbuttoned Mickey Mouse overalls and slightly curved ears.

Yesterday we celebrated the anniversary of receiving Mehandis's referral. It was amazing to look at the photo Michael and I took of our self the previous year, which is now framed in Mehandis's room, and think of all of the joy we have shared as a family since that time. Brings happy tears to reflect on how much our son has added to our lives.

Mehandis, Erin and I went together to the zoo recently and found the Dairy Complex the most interactive. Here Mehandis is in his milk truck, dutifully checking his blind spot for bovine. He gave some "moos" to the cows... but said lions say "meow".
Mehandis did not want to leave any of the animals when he was taken out of his stroller. He gave little yelps of excitement, jumped up and down and kept his eyes on the giraffes, elephants and donkeys. He was also excited to stand, stomp and splash in any of the puddles he could find.
Auntie "E" and Mehandis doing one of their favorite things together. Reading "a book" and another and another! I think she knows more of these books by heart than any of us do.
Mehandis had a great time with his cousins, Josh and Lauren, at the lake this past weekend. I walked in on Lauren teaching Mehandis his basic math facts, via Uno cards. Later Mehandis jammed with Josh on Rock Band, my son likes the guitar best. The three of them enjoyed cooling off in the kiddie pool and we loved watching them.

School's out for SUMMER!

Mine and Mehandis's summer officially started on Friday, June 13th. It was my last day of work and therefore Mehandis's last day of daycare. His teachers were very sad to say goodbye until fall. I walked in that Friday afternoon and found him in the arms of Ms. Shelly, who is the neighboring classroom teacher. She cheerily greets him each morning and gets his favorite breakfast of sliced banana prepared. He is known to "escape" out of his room to try and give Ms. Shelly a visit next door. Mehandis smiled for the above photo with Ms. Shelly; however, when she passed him off to Ms. Karen and Ms. Michelle, he got teary because he was ready for mom.

My Uncle Gregg was at our house when we got home on Friday the 13th. He came up for a visit from Michigan... and brought along several treats (including Sander's Hot Fudge Topping). Uncle Gregg got a wagon for Mehandis and spent Saturday afternoon putting it together.
Mehandis gives it a thumbs up! He not only loves going for rides in it, but pulls it around and fills it up with his "treasures".
On Father's Day we headed for Chicago to visit with my parents. Michael unfortunately was not able to be with us during this trip, but he spent his first father's day at the lake with his parents. A good time was had by all.

I was able to take a side trip to visit Kerbie and her new daughter, Ellory. We had some good conversation as the boys were being watched by others at that time!

Later Mehandis went to Millennium Park with my parents, uncle and myself. It was his inaugural visit and my first one since everything has been completed.

The bean was a blast! Mehandis checked out his reflection, shouted to hear his echoes and giggled his way through.
After the bean we walked over to the fountains. My parents have some great pictures of this. He was chasing the big kids through the water, blowing bubbles in the inch deep pond and making the biggest splashes he could.
We have lots of fun whenever we go to Chicago... thanks Mom and Dad!

This weekend we were able to celebrate a wedding with Michael's family. His cousin Drake married Lauren. Well... I can only assume that the vows took place since Mehandis and I were in the back of the church for 80 minutes of the 90 minute ceremony. Yep, he was a noisy little guy who really wanted to be part of the choir.

Here we are on the way to the dinner and dancing! We got a couple of dances in before Mehandis tuckered out.

And another big thanks to Michael's parents who watched Mehandis for a big portion of this past week AND got his naps in, prior to our night out!

Making a splash

I may have previously mentioned that it is not unusual for our son to go through 3 outfits a day at daycare. This is due to his exuberance with "water play". His favorite place in the one year old room is the water table. Michael and I needed to scrounge for extra pants, shirts and socks each morning so Mehandis would have clothes to change into once he super-soaked his school outfit. It reached its height when we were asked to bring in extra shoes, since he would soak these as well. Well Mehandis does not have that many shoe options... so if he drenched 2 pairs, he was going back in the morning "pre-rinsed".

Now you can understand why I jumped at the chance to register Mehandis in our park district's swimming class... for 18 month-ers and up. He loves his water play, signs "wash" whenever we mention bath time and splashes in every puddle he can make or find. Michael could not wait to see Mehandis in the water... he bought swim diapers just in case the lake at the cabin was warm enough. But we did not get the chance to try out "swimming" until the beginning of June. Michael met Mehandis and I at our tennis club, which has a pool, so we could test the waters.

Mehandis was pretty pumped about his sun hat and swim trunks!
I think he was pointing me out the door so we could get to the pool as quick as possible! But could you believe that he was so scared of the little kiddie pool. He clenched onto us and cried if we put him down. Every so often he attempted to be brave and dump water from cups or climb up and down the sides of the pool. The funniest was when a 2 year old boy came up to give us some swim lesson advice, "Just let go of him. Put him down." Then he decided to figure out the situation a little more and probed, "Why do you have this boy?". We did our best to suppress a little giggle and answered, "He is our son." This did not satisfy the curious toddler who proceeded to ask more "why's". I have found it more difficult to answer the questions of little kids since they really want to understand the deal... versus adults who are happy with the pieces we share with them!

Below are some great photos from the second half of our Memorial Day weekend. Mehandis had his first boat outing. He loved walking around the pontoon boat, prior to take off.



Thought he was pretty cool stuff, steering us down the lake with Bompa.

Then needed some cuddles from Mom when it got a little too windy for him.
Nanni was happy to offer some cuddles, away from the breeze, as well.

I want to share the news of several new friends whom were recently born. Congratulations to Lucia and Chris on their new son William. We are so excited to welcome Griffin into the Last family as well. Finally, Ellory is the new little sister to Brannon Moran! We can't wait to meet all of the latest arrivals :)