Fun with Finger Paints

It rained all day today, so I decided it was a good time to introduce Jesse to finger painting.  I made the 'paint' by adding food coloring to some yogurt.  Jesse had fun.  For about five minutes, until he was done and started trying to rip up all the paper I taped down.  I was kind of surprised by how he didn't make much of a mess.  He got a few spots of paint on his chest, but the rest of the mess was contained on his hands.

Then Jesse worked on his newest 'trick' while I cleaned up.  He has just in the past couple days learned how to climb onto our couches.  I looked up from my cleaning to find him seated on the couch like a big boy just jabbering away in his own little language.

  

A Long Bike Ride

This morning we set out to ride bikes as soon as we could get out the door.  We were supposed to see a high of 93 today, so we thought that getting an early start would be best.  It wasn't too challenging to leave early, as Jesse was up at 5 a.m. and was super cranky because of these pesky teeth that are slowly working their way in.  The only thing that seemed to distract him from his pain was when James got the bike trailer out; he perked up a little then.

Here is Jesse all ready to go in his trailer.  Any mention of biking, and he is ready to head out the door.  Sometimes he randomly goes and finds his helmet and brings it to me, like he's trying to tell me he wants to go for a ride.

We set out a few minutes after 8 and made it to Navy Pier by 8:45. It was a perfect morning to take a long ride because Lake Shore Drive was closed to traffic since there was a biking event using the road.  This meant that we got to enjoy a peaceful and quiet ride along the lake.  We even made it to Navy Pier so early that there was just about no one there.  We all enjoyed a snack at the picnic area there, and since it was still so early and we were having so much fun, we decided to continue north towards Lincoln Park. It was an absolutely gorgeous ride, and it was about this time that the whole city of Chicago decided to join us.  There were literally swarms of people biking, walking, running and skating on the trail, not to mention all the people  lounging on the beaches.

James and Jesse having a snack at Navy Pier

A sweet father-son moment

I couldn't get him to look at the camera to take a picture with me, but this is the best I got.  He loved seeing all the boats in the lake, and even got the policeman in the police boat to wave back at him.

After stopping at Lincoln Park for another short break, it was about 10:00, so we thought we'd stop back by Navy Pier and treat Jesse to his first Happy Meal.  He was definitely a fan.  By this point it was time to head back.  The ride back was definitely much hotter, but it got less and less crowded the farther away from downtown we got.

Yum. Chicken McNuggets.

Our outing ended on a slightly sad note.  Jesse took a rough tumble down several concrete stairs outside our building and now has a large knot to prove it.  Considering how awful it looks, he really didn't cry that long, and he was acting completely fine after a few minutes.  What a trooper.

Taking a bath after our ride and sporting his new bump

A Beautiful Evening

The NATO conference has overtaken Chicago for the weekend, so it has been a good excuse to stay in Hyde Park and take it easy.  James had to work most of the day, but we decided to take a walk to the beach after having an early dinner this evening.  Jesse and I went to the beach earlier in the week with some friends, and James was wanting to see Jesse's reaction to the water (he loves it).


I guess a lot of other people had the same idea.  The weather was pretty perfect, so I can't blame them! There were tons of people cooking out on The Point (below) and all along the lake, and even more people hanging out on the beach.  

When I stopped to take the picture of The Point, Jesse noticed the water for the first time, and he was QUITE disappointed when we had to keep walking and he didn't get to get in. This is about what his face looked like until we arrived at the beach, and he kept looking/pointing towards the lake and saying water. He obviously remembered how much he liked getting in the lake earlier in the week.

Needless to say, Jesse made a beeline for the water.  Last time he ended up just plopping right down and sitting in it and having the time of his life, and he pretty much did the same this time, although the waves were higher tonight, and I think they frightened him a little.  The water is pretty cold, but Jesse didn't seem to care at all.

16 Months

I guess it has been nearly a month since I last posted.  After spending a week and a half in Arkansas, it has felt like there is lots to catch up on, and blogging has gotten pushed to the bottom of the list.  I will post about our trip to Fayetteville, but I didn't take along my camera, so I will have to wait until I get pictures from my parents.

I wanted to jot down a few things for me to remember about Jesse at 16 months.  He is changing so quickly!

• This boy loves to be outdoors.  After spending time in AR, I decided I was glad that we don't have an outside door in our home, because Jesse would be looking outside all day long begging to get out, like he did when we were at my parents' house.  He loves taking long walks, and he especially loves going to the playground and the beach.  
• His favorite things on the playground are the stairs and slides.  He hasn't yet figured out how to go down the stairs completely on his own (sometimes he seems to think that he can just walk off the stairs and that the air will catch him), so he still needs quite a bit of close supervision.  He loves to go up the stairs and then down the slide and start all over again, over and over and over and over and over.  The other morning we were playing in a friend's backyard and it seemed that all he wanted to do was go down one flight of stairs on their deck and then up another set.  It is exhausting!
• One of his favorite toys is the shape sorter.  He has gotten pretty good at it, and now knows to turn it over to find the shape he wants to put in.
• I fear that I might jinx this by saying anything, but he is getting into everything (trash, drawers, and everything else "off limits") much less and is better at playing with his toys. Other people have noticed this about him, too.
• He is really good at shape, number and letter recognition.  He continues to point them out wherever we go.  We can get him to count to ten with a little help.
• He loves his books and many days we spend a good bit of time reading.  He will come to me with a book and sit in my lap while I read it, then he will be off to get another one.  We can ask him to go get most any book from his book bin and he will look through his books and find the correct one.
• He has 12 teeth and is working on at least 2 more.
• Taking just one nap most days (from 11:30-1:30 or 2), but he can still take two some days if I need him to (for instance, on Mondays we have to keep him out past his bedtime, so he is better rested in the evening if he takes two).  If he only takes one, he is pretty tired by dinnertime, and goes to bed easily around 6:30.
• Speaking of going to bed, he goes to sleep extremely easily for his nap and at night.  I usually sing him a song, we pray in the evenings, and then lay him down and say good night.  He smiles and says "bye bye" and is usually asleep within a couple minutes.  I think he just loves his sleep.  If he gets really tired, he will ask to go to bed by leading us back to his room.  On Monday night we were at our community group and we could tell he was getting tired, so we asked him if he wanted to go "night night" and he started bouncing up and down and getting really excited about it.

Here is Jesse sitting in his Lil' Zoomers race track.  He thinks it's a pretty good seat. In the second picture he is saying something to Alyse, but I have no idea what.  At one point, they were both sitting on the track, but I didn't have my camera then.

The rest of the pictures were taken yesterday afternoon at the playground.  Jesse is carrying around sidewalk chalk in some of the pictures.  He is much more interested in carrying it around with him than drawing with it.  His favorite game is to carry it to the top of the red slide (below), let it roll down, and then slide down after it.  I think he did this for 15 minutes the other day.

Eating blueberries outside.  They are now one of his favorite foods, and I'm pretty sure he would eat a whole pint of them in one sitting if I let him.

I know I'm biased, but I think Jesse is getting more and more fun everyday!  I remember how long the days could seem when Jesse was just a little baby, but now they seem like a blur of activity (in a good way).