Sunday Mornings

On Sunday mornings mom makes whole wheat pancakes for dad and for me. I like blackberry jelly on my pancakes. Mom also sneaks some fruit on my plate, but I always eat the pancakes first. Mom always says that since she does the cooking on Sunday morning it is dad's job to clean me up. As you can see, dad probably has the harder job when it's all said and done. Mom also wanted me to tell you that I have some new tricks this month. I can now count to 10 on my own! I have lots of books about counting that I love to read and I like to count the fish in my "fish tank." This week at daycare after reading my report card mom and dad had a good laugh. The card said that I wake up from naps and start dancing and asking others if they would like to dance with me. I also love to play on the swings at daycare and I ask the teachers for "big pushes!" Dad and mom take turns picking me up from daycare and when I see them I run as fast as I can to get to them and get my hugs. I yell "mommy, mommy!" or "Robbie, Robbie!" when daddy comes to get me. Mom thinks this is really funny that I always call dad Robbie. That is what mom calls dad and so I guess I just get it from her. Mom thinks that at daycare they will think that dad is just her boyfriend instead of my dad since I call dad Robbie all the time. Yesterday grandma Eckert and great grandma Van took my cousin Andrew and I to the zoo. I was really brave and ran right up to the lions and bears. Andrew was nervous until he saw how comfortable I was with the lions. Then he came over and told me not to be afraid. Grandma and great grandma got a giggle out of that. Andrew and I are good friends and we like to spend time together.

Church clothes

Last night mom and dad went to Nick and Brandi Bear's house for a dinner party. I was fine with this because Grandma Moldenhauer came and picked me up and I had a slumber party at her house. Grandma said I was a very good girl. This morning I went to church. I like to dress up for church. When I got home mom thought I looked so cute that she wanted some pictures of me. I couldn't be bothered to stop long enough to pose. My new favorite thing to do is climb! I climb on top of everything...the couch, my toys, chairs. Anything I can get up on before mom comes and puts me back down on the floor again.

Baby Benning is here

Tonight we stopped over at the Bennings house to meet their new baby boy Greyson James. He was very quiet and a very good little baby. Mom says that I was not quiet at that age or a very 'good' baby, although she still loved me just as much as she does now that I am a good girl. I really didn't have a lot of time to watch this baby sleep because I had to play with the Benning boys. They are wild and like to run around the house and jump off the couch. I can climb on couches too and so I chased them around all night. Then as a special treat mom and dad took me to TCBY for frozen yogurt. I kept telling mom, "Mmmmmm, num!" so she would know that I loved my yogurt flavor that she chose for me.

New daycare

Today I spent a couple hours at the new daycare I am going to go to when mom goes back to work Monday. I didn't even notice when mom left and when dad came to get me I made a big fuss about leaving daycare. I really had fun there with the new toys and friends. The ladies who watched me there told dad that I was a really smart baby (not that my parents didn't already think that), very social and outgoing and definitely extremely talkative. They said I was happy and content the entire time and seemed to have a great time. This made mom really smile. I think mom is going to really miss me next week and is having a difficult time knowing that we don't get to hang out as much for a while. When I got home I read mom some books. The book I liked to read to her best tonight was about how to pray. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Daddy's girl

I am such a happy girl. Here is a picture of me with dad. I really am a daddy's girl. I ask about "Robbie" or "daddy" all day long when he is at work. He plays fun games with me like "rocket ship" where he throws me up in the air after a 3,2,1 blast off. Sometimes mom and I go watch from the front window for when he pulls up into the driveway from work.

One last summer trip to the park with the Lundeen twins

Mom, her friend/coworker Heather, Connor, Olivia and I met up at the park. Mom and Heather go back to work next week and so this was our last time to meet up and have some fun. We played for almost two hours at the park this morning. We went on the swing, we rode on these fun toys too. I rode with Connor since he is kind of my boyfriend. Mom and I have been doing a lot of fun things this week. She's also been giving me extra kisses and squeezes. She tells me that she misses me already just thinking about being at work full time next week.

I have been having a great time dancing to the singing balloon that grandpa Eckert gave to me. You have to give the string a good tug to get it to play the tune. Then this afternoon after I gave it a hard pull, it flew away and landed up in our ceiling. Dad and I could not reach it up there so now I don't know what we are going to do. Mom did say something about this not being such a bad thing because she is getting really sick of that song......

On the way home and while running errands today I kept asking mom if we could watch "Yo Gabba Gabba." This is my new favorite show to watch, dance to and sing to. My favorite songs are about the eyes, nose and mouth on my face. I also like to sing and dance to a song about teamwork. I like it best when mom dances and sings along with me and the cartoon characters.

THEN DAD SURPRISED US!! He took some time off from work and stopped by the park to say hello. I was so excited because I really am a daddy's girl. He played peek a boo with me in the tunnels and chased me around for a while to give mom a break. After we all left the park I said over and over again in the car on the way home, "Robbie, Robbie, Robbie....." Mom told me I was a broken record saying dad's name.

Another thing I really enjoyed at the park was climbing around on these steps. I really like going up and down steps but mom and dad have them blocked off at home so I never get the chance to experiment. Also, mom usually makes me hold her hand negotiating steps and so this was a good chance to be able to navigate them on my own.

I wanted to climb into these tunnels. Then I sat down for a nice chat with mom since she had to climb in too. Lucky for us there were not a lot of other kids there who wanted to go through these tunnels so we had them to ourselves. We could just take our time and chill out in there for a while.

I also like to "drive" the steering wheels at the park and look in the big mirrors. When mom asks me who is in the mirror I always tell her "that's Emerson!" I try to lose mom when I climb up to the high parts of the park gym. She is like my shadow, always trying to make me hold her hand.

Park and Ice Cream

Today mom and I went to the park. This is the last week that we get to spend the entire days together because she is going back to start her new job next week. Mom is the director of Clinical Education for the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program at University of Mary. She is also a professor so she teaches the students in the graduate program. I will miss our time together but mom says she will miss me more! Today we went to the park and then got ice cream. Mom didn't take pictures of the ice cream we had because she was too busy trying to keep me from wearing the ice cream. In these pictures I am playing with this fun toy at the park that made music.

Today at waterpark!

My cousins Mason and Andrew came to waterpark with me, mom, and both my grandmas. I drug mom around the entire park. I tried to get rid of her but I couldn't shake her. I don't really like to hold her hand because I am a big girl. I was glad at times that she was holding on to me though since I like to dive under water whenever I think she is losing her grip. I had a giant popsicle, but I shared with mom. Andrew wasn't having much fun. The water was pretty cold, but I really don't mind those kind of things. Nothing really slows down my fun. I threw a fit when mom said we had to go home. What can you expect, I am just a toddler!

Our time at ranch last month

In July we went to the ranch with grandma and grandpa. I had a lot of fun there. I played in the little river going through their land, rode on the 4 wheeler with mom, helped grandma eat peas from the garden and played on the swingset that was just put up for me and Mason!

Flight home

On the way home to Bismarck I was full of energy. Mom had timed the plane ride home to coincide with my nap. I was jumping up and down, eating snacks and making noise (sorry

people sitting next to us) for the entire duration of the flight. Then in the last 10 minutes before we landed I fell asleep. So did mom, she was tired from her run I guess. Although she said that she was tired from me keeping her up all night, chasing after me and keeping me entertained on this flight.

Noodle restaurant

Our last night in Chicago we went to this fun outdoor noodle restaurant. I loved making a mess! People walking by stopped to tell mom and grandma how cute and messy I was. I threw just as many noodles around and on the floor as I ate. I really enjoyed myself and my meal. Mom has been really relaxed about my messes while on vacation. I think I am wearing her down!

First dinner out in Chicago

Our first night out in Chicago we went to a mexican restaurant. Mom said she was shocked at how much I ate. She shared her meal with me. My cousins kept me entertained. Here is me with Adam and Kate.

Chicago continued

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Chicago. Mom had to take pictures with her camera of grandma's pictures since grandma doesn't want to learn how to download. Geez, grandma join our decade would ya? Even I could figure out how to download! Anyhow, that is our excuse for the poor quality, but you get the idea and I will tell the stories.

Mom put some photos from her race up on the blog. These were taken by a place that sells photos, so please excuse the advertisements.

New toys to play with at my cousin's house

I liked to play with all the toys that my cousins have. My favorite were these toy guns and trucks. I don't have any toy guns at home! I like to pretend to shoot with this and was entertained by the noises it made. I think it made mom a bit nervous that I liked the toy guns and I'm not sure I convinced her that we should get some guns for our house.

Mom told me that she would like to post some pictures from our last supper with our Chicago relatives. I guess I made quite a noodle mess at the restaurant. Some people did stop and tell mom how cute me and my noodle mess were. Mom let me throw the noodles everywhere since we were at an outdoor restaurant and she said that I hadn't had my bath yet. I did get some noodles in my mouth and grandma got some good pictures. Now mom just has to convince (and maybe instruct) her in how to download pictures from her camera so that we can get the evidence on the blog.

Trampoline!

My cousins have a trampoline in their backyard! I had so much fun jumping on it with them. Kate and Emma showed me some tricks. I repeated over and over again "bouncy, bouncy" and every time we walked by the tramp I told mom that that was where we were "jumping, wheeeee!" We really should get one of these at our house!