Rock the Shot: February Submission

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This month's photo challenge for Rock the Shot is something RED.  Here's my favorite boy sneaking a yummy red apple out of the cart.

New "Trick"

Gigi taught B a new trick.  First you find the perfect rock (or "wock," as B says).

This isn't hard to do, as there are lots of rocks in our backyard.  You just have to find a realllllly good one.

Next step is to lift up your shirt and find your pocket.  This is not so easy to do.  Big baby bellies seem to get in the way of finding the pocket.  A little grunting and groaning may help.

You generally have to really lean in to find the pocket.

Ahh!  There it is.

Now stuff the rock into your pocket.  This may require spinning in circles multiple times.  That's ok, it's part of the trick.

Well done!  

The rock will come out of the pocket and go back in about 36 more times after this, so it's probably best to pull up a chair and take a break after awhile.  This trick is hard work!

Exploring

 One of our favorite things about our new home is its location.  We walk to all sorts of things - the park, feeding horses/Sir Loin, feeding the ducks, the library, etc.  We also live just a 5 minute walk to a plant nursery, which will really be handy this spring as we redo the flower beds.  The other night we walked up to get some weed killer, but unfortunately they had already closed.  We did, however, discover an awesome field that Mr. B LOVES.

Thanks to Dada, now any time Beckett sees a tree he wants to "climb" it.  He thought he was such a big boy.

The best part of the field is the long grasses that tickle his face.  He ran back and forth dozens of times, just laughing and having the best time.

I hope he is livin' it up now and enjoying the field because I am pretty sure it will be snake heaven this Spring and we will NOT be running through the field then, ha.

My two favorite pictures...

Beckett also discovered that he loves to zoom fast down the "hills."  He kept signing "more, more, more."

I think one of the best things about being a parent to a toddler is how little things like a good field with trees, weeds, and hills can be the absolute highlight of a day.

Choo Choos and Yum Yums

My older sister has passed along many, many wonderful things to Beckett.  Clothes, toys, safety items, even a crib mattress - you name it, we have been very thankful to receive it.  But perhaps the greatest gift has been the countless number of trains he has received.  He is obsessed.  I mean really, really obsessed.  In fact he hardly plays with any other toys except his trains.  They entertain him for hours on a daily basis. Yes, hours.  So, you see why I say the trains are the greatest gift....ha!

The other night Guy had the great idea to take B to see some real trains.  We headed to the Grapevine Train Station to check them out.

Let's just say he was in little boy heaven.

And, or course, I was in photographer heaven.  

Happy boy + Cool metal backgrounds + Perfect Sunset Light = Some Pretty Adorable Pics

The only problem is that he did NOT want to get off.  I'm pretty sure he would have happily stayed on the back of that train car all night.  

This is what happened when (after a very long time of just sitting there) we made him get down to look at the other trains.

So, he got back on and was as happy as could be.

Eventually he did get down and I took him over to the flatbed train.  He thought that was pretty fantastic too, only Guy and I were terrified he was going to run right off it and fall.  The one thing about the train depot is that it is not exactly baby-safe.

When it was time to go, this is what happened. 

Huge tears.

But I think Mom and Dad quickly redeemed themselves when we headed to Mexican food for dinner. This boy LOVES his chips and queso.

"Yum Yum!!"

Ahh, the perfect way to unwind and end our night!  Cheers!

Sliding Books

The other day I was flipping through Lightroom (the program I use to organize my photos) and came across one of the keywords I used back when I was organized and would actually label my photos with keywords.  "Sliding books"  was what caught my eye.  Man, oh man, I had completely forgotten how Beckett would spend hours with a book under each hand, scooting all over the house!  How could I forget that stage?  It lasted from the moment he was decent at crawling until the moment he completely stopped.

I believe this is the last picture I have of him scooting books. (June 2012)

  Being both sentimental and horribly forgetful of memories makes me feel like beating myself in the head.  But it makes me extra thankful for this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and all 10 million of my pictures.

My boy has always loved his books.

And now instead of scooting them or reading them upside down, he crawls up to a comfy spot and carefully flips through all the pages.

"Dis, dis, dis, dis" I have to name off every.single.picture.

And he gets mad when I stop.

"Diiiiiiiiiissssss!!"

And, I guess, the "dis" will be a stage that passes too.

Oh I love my growing little boy!