We spent a relaxing Memorial Day weekend in Central Oregon with our friends who have a five month old son. The weather was gorgeous and it felt so nice to escape. The house we stayed at was walking distance to downtown Bend and just steps from the whitewater of the Deschutes. On Sunday we went for a long hike along the river with Carson propped up high in the Kelty pack. Stinkz refused to wear his fashionable floppy hat and after the fifth time plucking it off the trail I decided a better way to shield him from the sun’s harsh rays was to slather his noggin with SPF 50. Sporting his new rock star ‘do we were able to log over eight miles without turning his scalp into a sun dried tomato. Carson also took his first dip in a pool. He didn’t exactly take to the water like a fish, but in his defense it had been a long day and he was pretty cached out. He still looked adorable in his swim trunks.
Chatterbox
He’s been babbling for months but now it’s official. His first word. Not Mama or Dada or Stinkz (thankfully). B-A-L-L. It happened at the library last week following story time. After the teacher dumped the toys from the bin a bright blue ball rolled away from the pile. Carson took notice and confidently claimed it as his own, shaking it above his head. Now he says it constantly. He’ll wake up in the morning and before I open his door I’ll hear him chanting a chorus: ballballballballball. He’ll also say it in a hushed whisper. And sometimes he’ll use his Yoda voice. That sounds a little creepy.
So Many Toys, So Little Time, and they’re all Mine, Mine, Mine!
Last week I took Carson to his first storytime at the local library. A half hour filled with singing, games, books and babies along with their moms (and quite a few dads and grandparents). Everything was going smoothly until the teacher presented the grand finale…an enormous basket of toys.
As the basket landed in the center of the circle, Bubs’ eyes bulged and from that point on it was complete and utter chaos. He made a beeline for the basket, taking out anything and anyone that stood in his path (including an adorable six month old he had been flirting with moments earlier). She toppled to the ground helplessly, and just as I was helping her back up, I heard Bubs shrieking at the top of his lungs. I looked up to see him pulling toys from the
basket and flailing them around the room. Then he stopped momentarily, distracted by a noise coming from over his shoulder, and turned to spot another baby shaking a plastic rattle. He then proceeded to lunge over and swipe the toy from his grasp, showing the kid how to really make some noise. I maneuvered my way through the obstacle course of crawling infants and discarded toys to reach him and attempted to give the toy back, attract his attention to something else, but he had a death grip around the handle and was not about to release…but rather protest LOUDLY. “It’s alright, looks like Carson wants the toy more than little Noah here,” the boy’s dad offered up politely, patting his docile child on the head as I watched Carson giggle with glee, then toss the toy aside and return to the basket for more.
This was Carson’s first post-crawling outing with other babies. We’ll be making more public appearances in the coming months to get him used to this whole sharing idea, although I think it will be awhile before he’ll understand. 
Let the Childproofing Begin…
Following weeks of backing himself into corners and getting trapped under couches (his gears were stuck in reverse), our little guy has figured it out. He can crawl! He debuted his new trick for the first time last night and today he was moving all over the place. With limbs flailing every which way, he’s still working on his form. It bears a striking resemblance to Phoebe’s running style:
{ daily chatter }