Faces of Lunch

It's been awhile since I've done a Clark-facial-expression-grid, so here's a sampling of what lunchtime looked like this afternoon.

Comparing

Yesterday afternoon I was fixing a little stuffed decoration while Clark was entertaining himself by throwing chunks of polyfil at my head. Pretty soon the stuffing found its way under his shirt and we got to compare bellies. 

Making Room

Clark got a special delivery today: a new bed! As you can see, it suits him for watching garbage trucks on YouTube, although he finds most places to be suitable for that. Now that we have a bed I have just 12 more weeks to transform this room into a magical shared girl nursery/toddler boy room.

Hopefully the novelty of getting on and off the bed wears off soon so he can actually lie down and go to sleep sometimes.

iTechnology

My son loves Apple devices. A few days ago when we got home after running some errands he asked for my iPhone. I told him we weren't doing iPhones just then, so he immediately said, "iPod!". I told him we weren't doing iPods either, so a pause...then he shouted, "iPAD!" ha ha. Had to tell him no again.

On Saturday he breezed past me in the kitchen toward the stairs. When I inquired where he was going he said, "up. iPad." Two minutes later I turned around (and quickly snapped the pic on the right) to see him muscling Daddy's iPad downstairs. Steve asked me if I had brought it down since it was apparently hidden away. Alas, no hiding spot is too secretive for my determined little iClark when he wants to "puh-yay" a "gain" of "bir"s.

From the Phone

Here are some recent gems captured by my phone:

 1. We turned Clark forward-facing in the car a few days after his birthday. Now anytime I go to put him in the car he says "ride".

2. Photography by Clark. The subject: Steve changing a diaper. 

3. Clark in nursery on a day I was helping out. He looks good as a construction worker caring for a baby, no?

4. & 5. Clark doing "essasize" at the playground. He's watched his daddy do pull-ups every weekend so that must be what he knows as exercise.

6. A post-exercise cool-down.

7. I tried the sock bun 'do that is ever-present on Pinterest. Looks like I have some more practicing before I get a look that's more bun, less UFO.

8. Clark and Daddy playing Angry Birds. He likes taking turns and makes sure that Daddy gets plenty of "tie"s (tries).

9. Last week of my second trimester, taken after a walk this morning. People are already asking me if I'm full-term yet. ha ha! Not even close!

Loaf Love

I recently purchased this:

so I could get some more foods in the rotation for Clark. Aside from the frosting I made for his birthday cupcakes, my first recipe attempt was the Potato Bread. It took a lot of preparation, time, and dishes, but it turned out great! errr...ignoring the scorched top, but that won't happen next time. Clark won't eat potatoes in anything else I've tried but he WILL eat this bread. In fact, he says "ooooo!" every time I give him some. Steve and I also like it.

As I was making this loaf, looking at all the strange ingredients on my counter, preparing my egg-replacer slurry, making sure all the right things were at the right temperatures, it reminded me of my days in Organic Chemistry Lab. If I've ever had any practical application for that class, despite working as a Chemical Engineer for 5+ years, this would be it. 

August End

The rest of our Utah weekend at the end of August included:

sports

 visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house in progress

 learning to drive a digger

coveting my brother's enormous garden

 playing with toys, toys, and more toys

 making cheesy faces for pictures and spending time with cousins

Between all his cousins and their toys Clark was in heaven all weekend.

I Love to See Brigham City

and the new temple there! We went to the open house with my parents back in August. Clark got to go too, which meant I saw a lot of the flooring in the temple because 1) I couldn't stop looking at how cute those tiny feet looked in booties and 2) those tiny bootied feet were pretty active and I had to make sure they weren't getting too far away!  

We walked around a bit of the temple grounds afterward where we met the friendliest little bird that let even a curious little boy touch it.

While in Brigham City we indulged in burgers at Maddox where Grandpa taught Clark how to use his shirt as a napkin. Grandpa...

Steve also picked up a bag of food souvenirs in the form of peaches. Between the three of us we ate the whole bag--except 3 or 4--during our weekend trip.

High School Reunion

I went to my first high school class reunion a few weeks ago. It was a casual get-together at North Canyon Park in Bountiful. It was fun to catch up with everyone that was there and meet their cute families, though I wish more people had been able to attend. 

After the reunion we swung over to Nielsen's for some frozen custard. I've had a gift certificate for a free cone there since graduation (thanks Megan's mom!) that I've forgotten to use for the past 11 years so it was totally fitting that I finally redeemed it on reunion day.  so much high school nostalgia...

FAAN Walk 2012

Last night as I was cleaning out the pantry and came across some sample packs of Sunbutter I had the thought to find out when the Houston FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) Walk would be held this year. Turns out, it was today! I found out in the nick of time. Instead of our usual walk at the park I took Clark downtown this morning to attend the allergy walk. Steve couldn't make it since, ironically, he was working at the Houston Food Bank.

We each got a ribbon when we registered: blue for food-allergic and green for no allergies. Our walk was kicked off and led by local news anchor Dominique Sachse on the back of a Toyota Tundra. (This is Texas, so no surprise with the truck.)

Clark entertained himself on our 2-mile, sunny and way-too-hot walk with a fan, not to be confused with FAAN. hee, hee...

We visited all the vendor booths before and after the walk. We even got to say hello to Clark's allergist. Clark was fascinated with all the blow-up toys but wouldn't set foot in the bounce house or obstacle courses. If you look real close, you can see a tiny picture of my belly below:

We came home with t-shirts, and samples and coupons (yess!!) a-plenty. It's my once-a-year price break on "Top 8-Free" foods. 

Although I don't necessarily celebrate food allergies, I think it's great to celebrate the kids that have them. Hooray for FAAN and that they hold events like these.

Clark is 2!

But if you ask him how old he is he says, "old." I guess it's all relative. 

Though his party was on Monday, Clark's actual birthday was fun too, especially since it involved another round of blowing out candles and making a chocolaty mess.

Here are some of his favorites at this age:
Favorite Toys: diggers, cars, trucks, and balls
Favorite Game: playing in the pillows with Dad
Favorite Book: The Little Red Hen
Favorite Songs: Twinkle, Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and Keep the Commandments 

He loves enthusiastically waving and saying, "hi" to animals and birds, he loves to hop, run, and somersault, he has a great throwing arm and surprisingly good aim, he's very mild-tempered, he's fascinated with babies, and he can recognize the letters "Y" and "B". Funny little tidbit: whenever we go to the store he always tries (and sometimes succeeds) to take a bit out of whatever produce I'm buying. ack! 

We went in for his 2-year checkup this week and he's still my small little guy with a big head:

Height - 32.5" - 9th percentile

Weight - 29lb 8oz - 69th percentile

Head Circumference - 20" - 94th percentile

Party!

Clark had a digger party on Monday to celebrate his birthday. The theme was an obvious choice, given his obsession with construction equipment. In fact, "digger" was his first word. I decorated on Sunday night and when Clark came downstairs on Monday he was thrilled with the look of his "para!"

I created all the printables in Illustrator, and I even made frosting this year for the gluten-free, vegan (aka allergen-free) cupcakes. One of Clark's trucks made a perfect serving platter. 

We had a 100% Clark-safe meal.

He really tore into his cupcake!

Testing out all the loot:

We all had a fun time. Thanks for coming Gma&Gpa B, Mark, Amy, and the twins. When I asked him the next day if he could remember who came to his party, he named every one of you!



Bad Hair Week(s)

Just when I thought I was getting better at cutting hair I went and did this. on both sides. Note to self: do not use this technique in the future.