Pictures from Andrea Leoncavallo

Here we begin with Apple picking with Andrea and Lindsay down the way from our old house. We were hoping for u-pick but couldn't find anything. However, we ran into a pirate festival and it just so happens, Grandma Amo knit a skull and cross bones. Timothy fit right in. We also found apples bigger than Timothy's head.








Sauvie Island has several pumkin patches and we picked out many pumpkins for carving.



Halloween was warm as well. We trick or treated with Andrea in her neighborhood and watched movies before Andrea graciously watched Timothy after he went to bed so I spent Halloween out with friends. It was a wonderful night, except Timothy and I only made it to four houses. Then the neighbor with the pitbull unnerved me and we retired to handing out candy. Timothy still enjoyed that and by the middle of the evening was a pro at handing candy out and calling after everyone, 'Happy Halloween!'




Peacock Lane Christmas lights with Tom and Andrea. We strolled the sidewalks on a warm, dry evening.

Wow- It's been that long?!

I didn't realize my posting have become few and far between. Thus my entry to remedy the issue. Timothy is close to two years old and he amazes me everyday with his sponge like brain and sense of adventure.

In August, we traveled to the east coast to visit Grandpa and family as well as a stop in New York for Niki's graduation, Jesse's sister. Jesse's family was very proud of her and her accomplishements and wanted the whole family contingent there to celebrate. The day began with a red eye flight where we thought giving Timothy some benedryl would help him sleep and we were dead wrong.. The reaction was the opposite: hyper activity, agitated and maybe two hours of fitfull sleep at our feet on the plane. Beyond the plane we took a short nap after breakfast in a hotel in NYC and onto the ceremony.

Although he was a little agitated, Timothy was still a sweetheart and a ham for the camera. He patiently sat through the ceremonty, we introduced him to many new faces including Jesse's other sister so he would be comfortable with her while we went to a broadway show. But that was hours away. First, a dinner with 20 others.

At this point, Jesse and I maybe slept for 3 hours within the last 36 hours and made our way to the Manhattan for a quick drink with Decker, Jesse's best friend from college whom I had met the previous year. I felt it time for some sort of reinforcement to enjoy the show, so the equivilant of a Red Bull was drink of choice.

We saw Phantom of the Opera. It was absolutely amazing. And then we got stuck on the subway platform for an hour and a half before finally hopping a bus to meet Becka and - DRIVE TO UPSTATE... I'm not sure at what point any of this was a good idea, nonstop travel, no sleep and marathon family visiting.. I made Jesse pull over at around 4am. I was beyond my limits as I am still required to perform mom duties when Timothy wakes and I needed some sort of sleep before meeting the rest of the family...

We spent the next two days in St Lawrence County and played on the farm before dropping Jesse off and driving to Ct. to spend the rest of the vacation sleeping, reading and site seeing along St Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands area at Grandpa Etherington's house.

Connecticut this year, was several days of spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Etherington with cousins to play with and a visit to the Aquarium. Timothy had the most enjoyable time running around the aquarium, impressed with all of the Nemos, sharks and sea lions. However impressed, he was also extremely alarmed when the sea lions barked at each other to get off the rock. It startled him and he was DONE with them... It began to rain as we walked from place to place.

One of the most interesting features at the Aquarium was the submarines they used to find the Titanic. We explored the inner 5' in diameter. The other attractions would have taken the entire day. That evening there were plans for a play to attend: Camelot.

Timothy played with his cousins for several days, ate dinner at the kid's table and wreaked havoc throughout Ct. with three other boys. Too much fun!


September we spent a weekend for a friend's Thanksgiving dinner pig roast, rode horses, quads and used the Element as a bed..

October was pumpkin patch adventures, hikes and accepting a new job acrossed town. I now work for IMS Capital Management in operations.

November was a move to a new daycare and a new home for Timothy and I and a wonderful visit from Amy and Liv.. Timothy had his firt slumber party and we quickly found that when one wakes in the middle of the night, so does the other. Since the move, I have started commuting to and from work on mas transit. I can walk Timothy to his daycare in the hiking pack or stroller. It's such a relief to spend 20 or so minutes relaxing on the Max on the way to pick up Timothy than sit in traffic with the same amount of time it would be by car..

And now we are into December. It's cold outside and I'm laying in my bed while Timothy plays in his room and the living room. My new place is a one bedroom apartment with a basement. Timothy has his own room while I utilize the sleeper sofa in the living room. The set up is working quite well. Timothy loves his room and when we are home, Timothy is very happy with the space he plays in and the walks we enjoy together.

I hope all is well with everyone!

~Sandra and Timothy

Timothy's Big Head Strikes a Balance! sort of

Although Timothy is growing into his head size as he gets older, his last few months in reaching one and a half years of ages has proven difficult. Difficult to explain all of the bruises.. He tumbles onto the floor and smacks his forehead. He independently climbs stairs only to miss his footing and whacks right above where he got too close to a shoe on a swing. This most recent smackaroo was in Hells Canyon at an information booth at the half way point of a fire tower. He didn't even see it and ran right into it... Poor Mister...

He is now 23 lbs and growing very well now that he has been clear of any lung issues for two-three months. He is the apitomy of a little boy playing in the dirt, with trucks, likes to watch bikes whizz by and finds it especially amusing to play games of stop and go! Goooooo and he runs right into your arms and colapses onto your lap! This also helps when close to a road since the concept of danger isn't as cool as stopping for a game..

Grandpa came for a track meet and Timothy clapped for the competitors. We enjoyed the company of Geoff and Marie for entire afternoon and finished with a very nice dinner.

Grandma also made it down for breakfast and some play time and charmed Kathleen into buying him a dump truck! Lucky boy!

I have sent out some wonderful pictures recently to all of the family. Day care had a wonderfull woman come in and not a single picture of Timothy wasn't perfect in capturing peices of his inquisitive nature and simple happiness!

I don't have them in electronic form so if you didn't receive one and would like to, give me a call.

In other news, two of Timothy's family members have passed away. My last remaining grandparent in Pennsylvania and my aunt in Aumsville passed within weeks of each other. We also packed Jesse up to start fire season this year only to visit him over Fourth of July weekend. Beyond the startling deaths and sadness, we took a little time to adjust and then start to have fun again. I floated Timothy down a section of river with the fire crew on the Grand Ronde. Everyone rode and walked their inner tubes, while I navigated in my play boat with Timothy on my lap. He loved it! This was a momentous occassion since this was the very first time Timothy has been on moving water. We were carefull and focused on a great experience for him and I don't know if he has worn himself out more trying to paddle with the paddle himself than any other activity we shared! Such a great time!

Happy Summer and see some more family soon!

Happy Father's Day

Timothy would like to wish everyone a Happy Father's Day! If you're close, you might even get him to lean in and kiss you!

Thank you, Kate H. for the wonderful pictures during your visit!!

Springtime fun!

Timothy and I have been adventurous in the months of April and May. We took advantage of the Element's ability to act like a less hippy mobile version of a Vanagon and more like a sleek mobile tent. Better gas mileage than the hippy mobile and more fun to look out the back moonroof for constelations.

His social skills are off the charts! He is getting smarter everyday. A barbque at a friends house showcased Timothy's two comand sentence with "Hey Timothy, grab that stick and go hit Porter with it.." Unbeknownst to Jesse, he would follow those exact instructions, passing several friends he could have struck, and once he reached Porter, Timothy swung the stick and smacked him with it! We shall be more mindfull of our instructions we give him!

He now gives knucks but can't blow it up... Babysteps, people! We've added to our vocabulary, exponentially. He understands so much now and his words are coming along just as well. His newest word is helmet. His newest body part is his knee. We have about 15-20 animals, 10 body parts learned and he loves to play with the Wii's life sabers for the Lego version of Star Wars my roommate and his son have come clost to conquering.

Timothy at Cannon Beach

Three weeks ago, we had a beautiful day at the beach. Here are some pictures Jonas took... Timothy was having so much fun being buried, we couldn't get him to break out and stand up.. He just gawked at people walking around on the beach and pointing out kites and doggies! Cutie pie!





Cheers!

Happy Easter to Everyone!

This year's Easter was a hoot! We drove to Aunt Molly's house for the Egg Hunt and potluck and like any family gathering, we split our pants by eating so much. What's a really good plan is making sure Timothy just eats from my plate versus getting a separate heaping pile of food on his own plate. His appetite is back and since he lost about a pound and a half from being sick for the last eight weeks, right after his second DTaP shot in his life because of complications after the first.. His shots were Feb 16Th and 19Th and either the DTaP shot specifically is causing issues or he just has a hard time with his immune system after such high doses of vaccines.

Anyhow, we enjoyed Saturday by watching friends at a local kayak competition and ran around a vast property close to the river with a park like setting. We did have an injury from a tricycle accident, however, Timothy came out with a bit of bruising on his foot, then went back to running around the yard with two other little boys I babysat in order to get boaters on the river together.

All in all, he's such a little cutie. He is starting to communicate more each day and I try to get him to express anger in any way other than hitting and biting, which I correlate with the time around other daycare kids.. Timothy also is such a caring little person, affectionate and sweet as well, it's puncuated with occassional outbursts of frustration like anything else. Daycare has it's benefits... This particular daycare has a curriculum and so far, he is learning more than I could cram in after I get home from work so I feel easier about parting with money every month now I can reap the benefits of Timothy learning more than I can teach.

Happy East everyone and have a wonderful spring!!

Pictures!!!

Here are the links to pictures and the like. There are a few different sets. Please enjoy!

Andrea Leoncavallo pictures

www.diannnebentzphotography.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the birthday and one year pictures!!!

Sandra

Timothy Hits the Ground Running

I have lots more to share, but here is just a smidgen of Timothy for the month! more to follow!

And today we have here, the cutest little tyke running around, making all sorts of converstaional noises and generally wreaking enjoyment at every turn. He is quite the sponge and continues to immitate people around him.

His new sounds are J and G sounds. Juice, Jesse, Ga-Ga. But most funny is when he quacks like a duck or reves the engine of his plastic Tonka Truck!

Walking has come with ease and a new curiousity of every room in the house, careful to check if anyone's watching and defiantly crosses the 'off limits' room of my roommate's son's room. All sorts of choking hazards in there! He's nearly tall enough to reach the door knobs, yet our liitle 44 percentile genius is still not able to wrap his little hands around it to open the door. Closing them is sure fun though!

We taught him how to sign a few words and use them in context. Daycare is now teaching him and reinforcing it as well, which it makes me very happy and it's easier to part with the tuition now I see such positive influences and teachings. He can sign the following: more, please, thank you, finished. We are working on kitty, tree, hungry. He can point to his nose, mouth, eyes and toes. His head and hair are a great request when changing his diaper since he found his penis. He waits ever so patiently with his hand ready was the diaper velcro tears away from the diaper. And before I have a chance to give him a wipe to play with, he's already inspecting! In order to get away from this, we have started to distract him with games to point to objects, body parts and find his hair!

He's the cutest and sweetest little guy! Until next time!

Timothy Turns One!

Follow the link for the online photo album. He is too photogenic to choose only a few to share!

His birthday celebration was fantastic. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful little one.

At this time, we are celebrating his uncle's birthday and recelebrating his birthday with Grandpa and Grandma in Texas. I will have more pictures from his birthday celebration with friends and a pony (keg) when I have access to the pictures!

Timothy and I send our love!

Sandra