Hiking with Janelle

Our friend, Janelle, has been living in Australia since just before Sawyer was born. She is home for a long winter visit. This morning we went for a wonderful little hike with her and our friend Altan. We are so grateful that the deep freeze we have been in for the last 2 weeks has broken and we can enjoy some time outside!




cereal box

It has been noted that Sawyer is always smiling in our pictures. Though he has a wonderful temperament, rest assured, even Sawyer has days when not being able to play with a cereal box during breakfast is too much to bear.

Sinterklaas!

When we were in DC, Omi showed Sawyer the puppets that my grandmother, Petra, made- including Sinterklaas and ZwartePiet.
We decided that we want to celebrate Sinterklaas on December5/6th so that Sawyer learns more about his Dutch heritage. So last night we put Sawyer's new wood shoes out by the fireplace and this morning we opened a couple little gifts and ate huge plates of blueberry/banana pancakes!

other DC pics

Love this picture of Jurgen and Sawyer. And this one of Sawyer and Grandpaji (who Saw calls Boppee right now).
Sawyer did some more reading on his own...
some of his reading was pretty heavy stuff!

Klompen

So we are happy to report that Sawyer got his first pair of wooden shoes- straight from Holland. With his footed pajamas, they were a perfect fit! At first he tried out the great sounds they make on the wood floor...

And then he really got going! He ran circles through the house klompen his klompen just loving the noise. He mastered those shoes really quickly despite the fact that they have absolutely no traction- especially on a wood floor!

and then he came in for a big hug!

Air and Space museum!

We took Sawyer to the Natural History museum and the Air and Space museum. He had a blast checking out all the planes.
There was an area that was all about air craft carriers- he was completely enthralled by the movie that showed the planes landing and taking off from the deck. I caught this pic of him watching the play by play.
Sawyer has always been very determined. He usually has a pretty good idea of what he wants. Here is a good example. When we were at the museum, he saw a row of chairs. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to them and said "Mamma sit." He then went and got Dan, pulled him to the chairs and said "Poppa sit." He then rounded up Omi and Grandpaji. He filled the final chair and we quickly begged a stranger to grab a picture of the moment. Here we are:

Turkey Day

We took a wonderful trip to DC for Thanksgiving. My brother flew in from Seattle and we had a great time visiting museums and hanging out. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful traditional turkey dinner-- complete with sweet potatoes with marshmallows, which Sawyer found particularly appealing!Dan got a little loopy along the way...
...as did Sawyer. Luckily, playing under the table kept Sawyer pretty entertained.

Maine Visit

It has been a few weeks since my last post. November was a very hectic and sad month. Dan went to Maine at the end of the first week of November to help care for his ailing grandmother, Dodie/Nana. The following week we all went out for her funeral. It was very sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful woman.

While we were in Maine, we spend time with lots of family. We also took an afternoon to go to the Maine Maritime Museum. Sawyer loved all the boats. Here are some pics.




growing boy

Here is an update to this summer's jumping video- this boy is growing up.
We got a couple of place mats for Sawyer to keep him at the table longer. It has been fun to watch him explore them and learn some new words. Here are a couple of videos...


Sawyer is stringing two words- sometimes three words together. Most of his sentences are about himself or Dezi. He refers to himself as "baby" or "the baby" as in "Up, the baby" when he wants up and "Outside, the baby" when he wants to go outside.

I forgot to update his stats: at his 18 month appointment Sawyer was in the 80th percentile for height and 70th for weight.

i love you, Poppa

Hey Dan- we miss you!

love,
hannah and sawbug

Happy Halloween!

Sawyer went to his first Halloween party on Friday at school. He and his friends had a lot of fun and even were part of a parade that went through the big-kid rooms. On Saturday night we went to another Halloween party and by then Sawyer had figured out how to say "party" and what it might mean. Then we took him trick or treating for his first time- He can say "Happy Ween!" but hasn't mastered "Trick or Treat" yet- I imagine next year he will be in true form. He definitely go the hang of it and ran from one house to the next with his little turtle shell bouncing behind him.

Here are some pictures from his party at school.





Feeding Dezi

We are really happy that Sawyer is starting to help us with chores around the house- about time, huh? ;)

Snow day!


We got an amazing October snow that lasted a couple days. Over 21"!
Sawyer absolutely loved it!He decided pretty early on that he didn't want to wear his gloves, so Dan had to do some hand-warming interventions.



What to do on a cold and rainy day

Boxes make for some great play time when you are stuck inside the house!
Sawyer wants to be like his Poppa....We made pumpkin bread together this weekend. Sawyer helped me measure the flour, sugar, and spices. He absolutely loves watching the KitchenAid do its work.
And finally, Sawyer seems to be picking up some habits from Dezi....

Leaf Jumping

After we got all the leaves raked, we decided we needed to do some leaf jumping!