The Tractor

Graham has loved tractors ever since his Great Grandma and Grandpap Smith gave him a set for Christmas 2 years ago. He played with them inside, he rode the lawn mower, he pointed them out when they drove on the road, and he could barely contain himself when he actually got to sit on one. We finally decided to get him a toy ride-on tractor, but I refused to pay $300 for one. We got a very nice used one from Craigslist, bought a new rechargeable battery, and have basically stopped needing to entertain Graham outside.




The toy has its price, though. There's a reason they don't give 2-year olds a driver's license. Once Graham discovered that a second gear exists, he could now go 4.5 mph without watching where he was going. He has run into things at full speed more than once, prompting me to wonder if a seatbelt and mini airbag wouldn't be appropriate.

Unfortunately for Baby C, it's when Graham IS watching that he needs to be careful. Twice now I have seen Graham run him down like a helpless animal with amazing accuracy. Baby C, on the other hand, doesn't have long enough legs to drive the tractor. He prefers to ride side-saddle, standing on the pedal with both feet, cruising across the yard with a huge grin on his face, completely oblivious to the fact that he's heading straight for the garden fence. The steering wheel's function has not entered his realm of consciousness. It is so funny to see him gliding across the yard that we were laughing too hard to stand up straight.

The tractor has come in handy for yardwork--we have used it to dump about 8 wagon loads of apples into the garden. Graham also used it to chase geese in the backyard. He took off at 4.5 mph with those fluffy prizes in his sights. As he got closer, they split into two groups. He went after one group in hot pursuit, all the way up the neighbor's hill, where they finally tired of the pesky game and flew away. Graham sat there with arms outstretched, sobbing, "Hold geese! Hold geese!" I'm hoping this falls under the category of non-lethal hazing and we won't be hearing from the DNR.

Those Summer Nights

While Rebecca & Adam were here, we had a few of those perfect summer evenings where the kids played in the sprinkler, drew with sidewalk chalk, rode bikes, ate popsicles, and enjoyed the weather. I took a picture of all of our kids one evening. Baby C is wearing one bright yellow shoe, and his rear end is covered in chalk dust. Gabriella just finished a chocolate chip cookie and is begging for more with Bambi eyes. Graham is not wearing bicycle shorts--those are underwear. And Risa's bicycle helmet. And the crocs that are 2 sizes too big.

Back from the Blogging Hiatus

The past month has been just as busy as any other, with some traveling and a visit from my sister's family. Rebecca, Adam, Kaiden, & Risa came up and we were able to go to an indoor waterpark, a science museum, and a very nice outdoor mall. We enjoyed having them here.




Kaiden has a way of declaring things, like "This yogurt tastes like curtains" or "Gabriella wants me to swallow her eyeballs so she can see my teeth." He had his first visit from the tooth fairy when he used a remote controlled car to yank out his tooth. Risa is a sweet little girly-girl who is still learning English phrases. For instance, she would yell, "You scared me out of the daylights!" After 2 weeks, she still couldn't get the names right for Graham and Baby C and would resort to calling them "the big guy" and "the little guy". Baby C was constantly pulling her hair, so one day she went upstairs. When Rebecca asked why she was up there, she said, "That little guy is every time bothering me."

Kaiden & Risa found an unexpected favorite toy: Gabriella. For the most part, she tolerated the attention well.



Graham loved Risa. When she was out of sight in the grocery store, he would yell, "I see Risa! I see Risa!" They've been gone for 2 days now and he is still talking about her. Here they are sitting on a huge mound of blankets. (Why is that fun?)



We'll miss them very much!

Budding Rockstar

Gabriella has reached another milestone and is now sitting and scooting/rolling across the floor. She also has a very lopsided grin, with one of her top outside teeth showing up before the middle two. You can catch a glimpse of them in this video, where I think she is saying she wants to be a recording artist.



We met with the attorney for Baby C's adoption, and it sounds like it will be about a month away! He is starting to chatter a lot more and obviously understands more than he is letting on. His favorite pastime lately is to turn the tv on and off.

Graham has discovered fishing. My mom had a little fishing game at the July 4th celebration, and he has asked for his fishing pole almost every day since. Here he is in his traditional fishing garb:



I think he and Grandpap Smith will have a good time someday.

A Big Deal

I was upstairs putting Gabriella to bed this morning when I heard Graham yelling "Diggadee!" (jellybean) at the top of his lungs. When I went downstairs, he proudly showed me that he had gone potty all by himself for the first time, completely on his own and without being prompted. We made a big deal of it, jumping around, clapping, and shouting. In my jubilation, I didn't notice that Baby C was carefully dipping my wallet in the potty chair.

More Erratic Behavior

Seems like our kids are always up to something. This morning, Baby C decided to carry the bathroom scale around with him wherever he went. Then I noticed that his cheeks were pudgier than normal, so I reached into his mouth and fished out my watch.

On Friday, Graham came into our bedroom at 6am looking very sleepy. Will said, "Graham, what are you doing awake?" and Graham suddenly started yelling at the top of his voice, "Caw! Caw! Caw!". He was telling us that he had heard a crow outside the window. Yesterday, he dumped out an entire bowl of pasta salad on the floor (which I scooped back into the bowl for us to continue eating). His favorite song lately is "Onward, Christian Soldiers".



Gabriella has a knack for rolling under things until only her head is exposed. For example...







We bought a playset for the kids and put it up over the weekend. Turns out all we really needed to get was a slide for the front porch.



They had lots of fun putting it together, though. Not sure what Graham's face is doing in this picture.



Thanks, Aunt Kim and Chris, for all of your help!

Baby C Update

For all of you who are wondering about the status of Baby C's adoption, he is now in adoptive placement with us. Time to lawyer up. We could be about 6 weeks away from the official adoption, but it depends on how busy the courts are.