Why bother

Why bother cleaning up his room when 5 minutes later he does this:

The cabin and a trip to the dentist

We went to the cabin Sunday and stayed a night.  Graesen had so much fun playing in the water, because it was finally warm enough to really enjoy it.  He went on the wave runner with Evan, and after a 30 second freak out, he decided that he really does love it.  The bay was pretty much empty when we were there and the water was super flat, so Graesen got to go tubing with Evan too.  He let us know that he likes to go fast :)  We also went out to dinner at a nice restaurant on the lake.  Graesen played on the playground and was a very good boy through the meal that took an hour and 45 minutes.  (some of these pictures were taken by me, and some were taken by Evan's mom).

Monday Graesen spent some time playing with his trains on the new deck before we headed out.

Today Graesen had his second dentist appointment.  He got a perfect report, but was VERY afraid of the dentist.  He was seriously starting to hyperventilate.  I think the dentist lights scared him, because they looked like the machines in the room where he got his pH probe placed.

Trying to beat the heat

"Kitty clothes"

My mom found a tiger costume at a second hand store a while back for only a quarter.  She got it so we could have Graesen wear it for halloween if we wanted or just to use for dress up clothes.  Graesen was terrified of it!  Today I got him to try it on by calling it "kitty clothes."  I guess calling it clothes made him realize that he wouldn't look like a tiger forever.  He still wasn't sure about it, but I convinced him to look for our cat, Walter, to show him his "kitty clothes."  (He found him under his bed).  After a while he took it off, but then we convinced him to put it back on by explaining/demonstrating to him that he will get treats if he wears his costume.  I put just the hood part on and Evan gave me a marshmallow.  Graesen was more than willing to put the costume on when he saw that it would get him a treat :)  Next up is convincing him to put the hood up.

It would have been nice to get better pictures, but someone would not quit moving a million miles an hour.

Little Rock Climber

In non-climbing related news, Graesen learned a new swimming skill today. He can now jump in then swim up to the surface and a few feet forward to me.  He still needs to figure out how to come up to breathe, because right now he can only go a little ways without me pulling him up for a breath.  I considered putting him in swim lessons this summer, but the only one for his age are mommy and me classes.  These classes are focused on getting babies/toddlers comfortable in the water, not on toddlers who can already swim a little on their own.  Besides I used to be a swim instructor and am still a certified lifeguard (even though I haven't lifeguarded since before Graesen was born I have kept my training up to date).  The funny thing is I haven't really tried very hard to teach Graesen anything, he just seems to naturally know what to do in the water.  It must have been all those swim lessons I taught while I was pregnant with him :)

Some fun at work

Graesen wore his new shirt I made him today.  He looked kind of cute.  Then again, he always looks cute to me.

There were no kids at the gym nursery tonight.  It was just Graesen and I the whole time.  We used stickers, colored, played with cars, read books, played hide and seek, did puzzles, and just had some good old silly fun.  I seriously enjoyed Graesen so much today.  He was in such a good mood this afternoon and was the sweetest little boy.  One of my friends had her first baby today.  Thinking about her sweet little girl being born reminded me how fast Graesen has gone from a newborn to a 2 year old.  The days are flying by and I just want to soak it all in.  It is really a blessing and a honor to get to be Graesen's mom.

Hiding from me...he hides in the same place every time :)

I told him to say cheese.  Usually when I say this he poses, but this is what he gave me.

To his credit, he was smiling at me from between his legs :)

We love the park

In true Graesen style he saw a kid climb off the side of the bridge and had to copy: