Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Making Daddy and Tim the Tool Man proud!


This evening, we were out front and Axel decided to cruise south down the sidewalk to Wade's driveway, two houses down. That's a long way to crawl! Turns out, the lure of motor oil and manly machinery was too much for Axel to resist. I couldn't keep him away from the motorcycle and car parts and the associated repair/restoration tools, so I had to pick him up and carry him home. He then proceeded to crawl back there a second time...

Intriguing for a budding Hee-Man Woman Hater, I'm sure, but it's not the safest place for a little boy with grabby hands and an attraction to all things dangerous.


About a month ago, Axel started getting really curious about Brillo's doggie door, which provides a portal from the dining room onto the back porch. He liked pushing the flap open, and he would often hang out in front of it and get clobbered by Brillo as the dog blindly came in from the outside. That didn't really phase the boy, though, and his curiosity intensified. Right before my mom arrived for her visit, I began to suspect the inevitable was fast approaching. Sure enough, the day after my mom left, Axel took one giant leap for babykind and suddenly found himself in a whole new world, on the porch. I had noticed him playing by the door while I was picking up around the house, and I knew he couldn't be trusted. I needed to go into the other room to work and knew better than to leave him there, so I dashed into his room to set down the laundry I had in my hands and turned to go grab him. To my (semi) surprise, he had vanished.

"Axel?" cried the mommy. No reply. I peaked through the sliding glass door, and there he was, his squirmy little body already halfway down the top step--the top step of a whole series of very steep, very scary, razor-sharp, metal-edged killer steps. "Danger Boy," as I have taken to calling him, had no fear and intended to go out into the yard to play under the pepper tree. I grabbed him, brought him inside, grabbed the camera, set him down, and managed to capture the little cat burglar ninja baby in action...

I used the door blocker for about one day, and that really pissed Brillo off, and then I gave up and just relied on vigilance to keep him out of harm's way...vigilance and scolding. I started waggling my finger at him "Babu Bat" style (Seinfeld reference, ya'll) while telling him, "No, no." He quickly got the point, and he cries every time I foil his efforts with a stern, "No, no," but he no longer goes out Brillo's door. Instead, he now, as of this morning, uses the sliding screen door, like Mommy.

Yep, I was putting dishes away, and I poked my head out of the kitchen to see what he was up to, and he was outside. The screen door was cracked open about a baby-width, and there he was, playing in Brillo's water bowl, which, by the way, was recently relocated to there from the kitchen because he who will remain unnamed kept spilling it all over the kitchen floor. Incidentally, since I have also been forced to secure all of our toilet bowls, the back porch is the ONLY place Brillo can go for a drink of water. It's really too bad the lock is broken on the screen door, because now my little Houdini has double access to the wonderful world of the backyard. I guess Danger Boy is gonna continue to keep Mommy on her toes! Witness:


Snail trail.


A few weeks ago, I decided Axel was old enough to use the Rody horse that Uncle and Auntie gave him for Christmas. YAY! I have been dying to inflate him and put Axel on him, and we finally got to! Axel got the hang of bouncing on him right away, and he loves to ride him and kiss him. He's awesome, because you can adjust the amount of air in him to fit your kid. For Axel's little feet to reach the floor, I let out half the air I had put into him (using Dave's compressor; yay Baby). Rody is super cute, and he's so much fun for my little cowboy! Thanks Auntie and Uncle! I guess I need to find a little sheriff's outfit for the boy, now!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Sour Puss.

We met up with my childhood best friend, whom I haven't seen since the fourth grade, in Coronado today, and Axel surprised me by chowing down on a LEMON. Crazy kid didn't even make a sour face. He just happily munched the lemon, rind and all. Weirdo.

Groomer Has It...


Axel is very interested in my "beauty" routines, and he loves to watch when I style my hair and brush my teeth. I always end up running the brush through his hair or letting him brush his teeth, and he just loves it. Well, I guess he was watching when I was brushing Brillo yesterday, too, because he grabbed the doggie brush and attempted to coif the pooch.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Grandma's Visit!

Axel's Grandma Olson was here visiting June 7-16, and we had lots of fun!

When Grandma was here, we had a lot of fun playing in the yard!

Grandma is freakishly strong, and she helped me chase Brillo around the yard while I giggled.


Grandma taught me lots of things, like how to catch and throw a ball!


And we practiced walking and balancing. I'm getting better.


I still like crawling best, but I think I might walk soon.


On Saturday, June 12th, my mommy ran in the Camp Pendleton Mud Run, so I got to tag along. Grandma and I had fun while everybody was running.


Mommy's posture is horrible in this picture, but oh well. Those are her friends, Sean and Jennifer Murphy. Jen called Mom on Thursday and asked her if she wanted to run. Sucker! Mom ran great and was very proud of herself, esp. since she hadn't been training. If you look her up in the results, use the name "Josh Hopkins." Haha.

On Sunday, we all went to Great Grandma's house in Carlsbad to have breakfast. That was fun! Afterward, we went to the Del Mar dog beach with Brillo. We all got a little wet.


As usual, I rode around on Mommy's back.


Of course, I had tons of fun playing with Grandma on the beach.


Brillo was splashing us, and it was so fun.


See how much Grandma loves me? That's the Del Mar Fair in the background. Mom says we can go when I get older.


Brillo is like a bunny rabbit.


I like to put my face in the sand. Mommy says it makes it look like I have freckles.


This is Mommy helping me walk.


Look! My hair matches Mommy's!


Sand freckles...



While Grandma was here, Daddy's good friends Russ and Andrea had a BBQ for Andrea's birthday. That was the Sunday before Grandma left. They have boy and girl twins, and they have cool toys! I got to drive Claudia's hotrod.


Here I am in Zimmer's swing, being pushed by the neighbor's sweet boy. I think his name is Christian.


Weeeee! I love G forces!!! Higher! Faster!


Here I am riding on Zimmer's fire truck. I have one of these, too. That's not Zimmer driving. That's a friend.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Flag Day La Mesa, June 5th

Flag Day in La Mesa occurred on the 5th of June, a Saturday. I'm always out of town for this down-home celebration, so I was stoked to finally get to attend. The boys and I went down to Sherri's shop, Handful of Wildflowers, to enjoy the parade and drink mimosas. It was fun to hang out with friends and see a traditional, grassroots, hometown-America parade. It had a high school band, kids in little league and soccer uniforms, people on horseback, Polynesian dancers, old cars, Shriners on mini clown cars, local politicians, proud veterans, and all sorts of floats and festivities. This was what America is all about. Patriotic flag waving, families, pride, and neighborliness.


At the parade, Axel met his future wife...perhaps. Piper is a very sweet and cute "older girl", and she taught Axel a thing or two about "first base." Daddy will be so proud.


First, the approach.


Next, lean in, and open wide.


Axel caught on quickly and started leaning in to initiate the kisses.



The head-tilt.


Going in for the kill.


One more, for luck.

Even a true ladies' man needs a break from the action to take a nap and sample a tasty beverage.


Brillo wondering why the boy is in a kennel.


Brillo looking forlorn.


Axel having a rip-roaring good time in his play pen. Note the patriotic duds and stuff.


Axel didn't care too much for the loud sirens that the police cars and fire trucks were sounding. Enough, already! Brillo and Wolfgang didn't care for them, either. They both started howling. I'd never heard Brillo howl before. So funny.


We decorated Axel's buggy for the occasion.


Brillo did have fun, despite his best efforts.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Thursday Car Show in La Mesa


Axel wore his new hat, his new Axel and Hudson shirt, and his True Religion jeans to the car show. He's quite the fashion plate.


Brillo didn't have too much fun. He would have preferred a walk.

Trying out the new hat





Axel's new hat arrived from OlieBollen.com yesterday. It's a little big, so I pinned it. Now, it fits like a glove. I think he likes it!

Coronado yields smiles...again.


Axel and I are planning to go to Coronado this Sunday to bike around to the various open houses, if there are any. We're going with a friend of ours from La Mesa. To do that, we needed to go to Holland's Bike Shop there in Coronado to buy an iBert Safety Seat and a Specialized helmet. We did our research and decided these were the best combo for our purposes.


Axel super loves his helmet and seat. He feels like he is in command when we are biking around. And how cute is that helmet? It's one of the smallest I've come across, so it works great. We were going to wait for Axel's birthday to get the helmet and seat, but we got them early, since we need them Sunday.


When my mom was visiting last week, we went to a surf shop in Bird Rock and bought a really cool little rash guard suit for Axel. It'll protect him from the sun here and during our upcoming visit to Hawaii!


That's Brillo on the left, in the background. H was pretty glad we had to go to Coronado for Axel's bike gear. He always wants an excuse to go to the beach!


It's impossible to keep this tiny amphibian out of the water. Luckily, it was pretty warm today.


My boys love seaweed.


Giggles!



BFFs...