Gideon is a studly triathlete

This past weekend Gideon completed another mini-tri. He did so great this year! 1:07...so under the 1:10 marker and a full 20 minutes shaved off of the time he originally did this! We all got up early to watch him and celebrated with our traditional dim sum afterwards.

Look how big Joaquin is! I was definitely feeling it Monday from carrying him around in the pack!

16 months old!

Joaquin is 16 months old this month. I get these developmental emails and this month's said something like, "Where did your baby go? You have a full fledged toddler on your hands these days!" and they are right. When he turned 1 and those emails changed from "Your baby" to "Your Toddler" that seemed really wrong...he was still very much a baby. But now he really is a toddler running all around the house, talking away, and having his own opinions on things.

He said thank you the other day without prompting, that was a proud moment! He is very interested in brushing his teeth. He has been watching us for awhile and imitating the sound of our electric toothbrush, but didn't like it when we tried to do his teeth, so this is a good step!

What started as coming over and putting his head on us has evolved into also taking pillows and putting them down to put his head on--very cute. He's also much more interested in figuring out how things work than playing with toys. So he had a music box the other day and he wanted to figure out how to get the horse off, that was much more important than playing with the box. He also likes to drum on everything. It's great fun to see what kind of sounds things make!

Food

I still like chocolate...













...but not as much as I like fruit....




























...or yogurt....



















...or dirt.

Future biker!

I recently bought a brand new bike for father's day and have been riding rather prolifically. Ever since then, I have been trying to find the right baby carrier seat so that we could take Joaquin biking. We ended up getting an ibert, specially because we like that he gets to look forward and I feel that I somehow encapsulate him for better protection. The seat is great because not only is it easy to install, his weight is directly on top of the handlebar stem, not the handlebar making steering very easy. We also finally found a helmet that he was willing to wear. He really likes when we go fast and we start doing some off road stuff - on/off sidewalks, nothing crazy. Now if I can only find Anjelica a bike.

Over a month! We've been busy!

I've been pretty good at keeping this updated and even managed to do his monthly birthdays when we've gotten very busy. We're over a month on this posting though and I have obviously missed his 15 month birthday! I'll try and re-cap although things move so quickly...I went back to see where he was at 14 months and I thought to myself, "Airplanes and helicopters? Surely he has been doing that more than a month and a half! It is so much a part of who he is...a month and a half?!?!"

Ok, so at 15 months we have mastered climbing up stairs although he still asks for help going down stairs. He practices letters quietly to himself (ssss, ffff, and last night, pppp). He has started to put his head down on people to show them he loves them (I love this, there is nothing so endearing as him walking over, putting his head on you with a smile, and then going about his merry way). He has become quite adept at figuring out how things work (i.e. buttons and such) and having the strength to make those work. The other day he picked up a brick with one hand! And not sure if this belongs here or at 16 months, but at about 15.5 he figured out walking backwards, which he finds funny. Gideon has also started saying "How you doin?" and "Whoa" to him which he finds HILARIOUS. That's showing our age, right? Nothing like referencing 90's sitcoms to make your baby laugh!

He's also turning into quite the dancer. He started awhile ago with the baby bounce and added one foot stomping this summer. Lately, he has added turns and a fast foot thing a la Flashdance. He likes it when we dance with him.

And that's what Joaquin has been up to! Gid has become quite the biker and I have started a very intense semester of classwork, work, and the beginning of my dissertation!

Two things I love

Two things I love right now...

1. Awhile ago I started laughing like the count after we counted anything. Now whenever we count he goes, "Ah-ha-ha" at the end

2. This picture is one of his favorite toys right now (from Diandraann photography--his 9 mo. session). He likes to bring it to one of us so we can point out "Mommy, Daddy, Joaquin!" And then we'll spend a good amount of time with him pointing and us saying who it is.

Joaquin at 14 months

Joaquin turned 14 months last week. We took him to the doctor and he is 32 lbs. 14 oz...he is a big boy and I have not yet lost my beautiful, fat little feet! This month, he became particularly fascinated with planes and helicopters in the sky and pointing them out to us. He has done that before, but he became acutely aware of it this month. He is very interested in helping me out with whatever I'm doing...he picks up the little broom or dustpan when I am sweeping, pulls plants out of the ground when I'm weeding, and likes to stir things in the kitchen. This last one has become a particular favorite...any long, stick like thing can be used to stir and any hole or bowl can be used to stir. He likes to stir everything! He has also finally moved out of his baby bath and started to walk around when we take a shower now. No major spills yet!

This month was also marked by Uncle Nate moving out last week. He moved in with us for one month back when Joaquin was about 3 months old and moved out at 14 months instead...we are that fun! Joaquin and Uncle Nate have a special bond...no one can provide the physical antics like Uncle Nate can. One of their favorite games is to throw Joaquin in the air in full 360s before catching him again. And Uncle Nate has the best toy in the house...a small remote to his ipod dock that fits perfectly in Joaquin's hand. Joaquin will miss that remote (and Uncle Nate too, I guess) and I am so grateful of the time we've all had together to form that bond between them.