Noah really knows how to embody his outfit!  I finally got a chance to put him in his skull and cross bones sweater the Chinda’s gave him shortly after he was born since we finally got some cooler weather.  He had it on for 10 minutes and slipped into the refrigerator giving himself a giant bump on his forehead and upper lip.  Not only did he look tough but he was tough – our poor little bruiser!  If only you could see how crazy scarred up his knees are!  Anyway we went to the park to get his mind of the new marks and snapped a few photos.  Thanks again for the uber cool sweater Maria and Raul!

Yes, I know it’s been forever since we’ve given you a Noah update.  He’s growing like a weed and keeping us busy.  He’s inching ever so close to that second birthday; can you believe it?  I promise to try to keep you in the loop at least a little more often!

Ok, so we didn’t see lion, tigers or bears but we did go to Lion Country Safari.  Last time we went Noah couldn’t have cared less about driving through the animal areas since we let him in the front seat with us where he enjoyed erraticly changing the volume and temperature and frazzling our nerves.  So this time we went right to the park area where there is so much to do.  We went with Rachel, Robby and Ayla and the kids had a great time!

We fed giraffes which was a pretty unique experience.  They were so tall and their slimy tounges were so long!

Then the kids fed and pet the sheep.  They weren’t quite sure about this…

Lion Country has some great rides!

And then “we” fed the Lorikeets.  I say “we” because first Ayla freaked out and then Robby lost it.  You didn’t have to be there, these photos say it all!  We were laughing hysterically!

Then Ayla wanted to try holding th cup…

But it feels so creepy to have them on you!

Freaking out is such hard work!

Poor baby!  So then we hit the water park!

But boy was it cold!

Either way they had a blast.  I think you can almost feel Noah’s excitement in this next photo…

Today was day one of paci detox.  It went so much better than we ever expected.  We told Noah to say “bye bye” to them and he started to cry (break my heart!) but we threw them away anyhow.  Things were going well even though he kept asking for them – “ba?” – which is what he calls them.  And we reminded him that they were all gone and he moved on.  Everything was fine until nap time where he cried HYSTERICALLY for a half hour before we gave in and let him out of his crib.  We tried again a few hours later and although he cried it wasn’t nearly as bad and he fell asleep about a half hour after we laid him down.  That was it, then end.  Tonight at bedtime he went down without a fight.  We were a little nervous about the day we picked since we went to Chima for dinner with my parents and friend, Jaime, but it all worked out.  It always does.  Life will be so much better without a paci!  Having to pack them, keep them clean, sneak spares – sigh.  If we knew it would be this easy we probably would have done it sooner!

We were having dinner last night (hamburgers, yum yum) and Noah points at the table and says “yeah-yow”.  Dawn and I look at one another and give a “what was that?” look.  Over the past couple months, we’ve had some frustrating times at the table as Noah points at something and gets increasingly frustrated as we offer him everything we think he could want to no avail.  Well, this was no exception, we offered him ketchup (he likes to dip), onion rings, more of our food … nothing.  Finally, it dawned on me … he said yellow!!!  He wanted the mustard!  Sure enough, we give him a little squirt and were rewarded with the biggest grin.  Needless to say, Dawn and I were amazed.  You would have thought he just solved his first Algebra problem.  That was the first time he’s said a color.   Woohoo!!  We’re so proud!  LOL.

Noah got it good today!  At his preschool he was on the playground when one of his little “friends” came over to hug him and before his teacher knew it she clamped down on his cheek, just under his eye.  Poor baby!  We took him to the doctor who said he was fine and told him to stay away from women, they are nothing but trouble.  Great advice, bad timing.  I’ll have to post a second photo of how it looks now.  The teeth are perfectly visible now that the swelling and redness have gone down.  Check back for an update.  (This photo was right after it happened.  You can see the upper and lower impressions and how warn out he was from the drama.)

Noah has been getting up bright and early lately, too bright and too early for my tastes.  Today I took him to the park right after breakfast.  It was nice to be the only ones there and I had fun taking photos.

(Caption: Can we get an adult in here?  My parents don’t have a clue!)

Walter, Noah, and I went to the beach last weekend to take Ayla’s 18 month photos.  We got there a little early to let Noah run around.  He was sick as a dog and didn’t enjoy it like we hoped he would but that didn’t keep us from taking his photo.  It was also VERY windy and for some odd reason his reaction was to open his mouth every time a gust hit.  That explains the “O” face!

 Oh, did I mention we were there for Ayla’s photos?  LOL!  Walter did a great job.  Here are a few of Mom’s favorites…

The bloomers are from lil’ sugarpie (www.lilsugarpie.com), Lindy’s site.

We thought it would be a great idea to take Noah to Lion Country Safari.  He loves pointing at birds and barking at dogs, etc.  What better fun could it be but to drive through a safari with all those animals to point at!  Since we’d be crawling around the park, we let Noah come up front with us so he could get a better view … and that’s when it all went downhill.  Noah thought all the new buttons and knobs at his disposal were much much more intersting than anything going on outside the vehicle.  He blasted the radio, changed the channels, made it hot and cold in the car.  He had a great time.  NOT what we had in mind.  We did still manage to get a few pics in.

 This is Noah acting as our Safari guide …

There was also a little water park inside.  That’s where Noah had the most fun.  It was pretty hot out and this was a great way for him to keep cool.  He loved the squirting water!

What a face.  He loved it. 

Noah’s best friend is his monkey.  Very creatively, his name is “monkey”.  We picked him up on our first visit to Texas when Noah was 11 months old and they have been inseperable ever since.  If monkey isn’t in Noah’s crib, he’s not going to sleep.  If we let him he would carry him around the house all day – kind of like this…

Notice the love for the paci too!