The bottom drawer on Forest's changing table/dresser, is almost empty. The only things in it are some new blankets and a special quilt that have been made for the new baby(whenever he arrives). I have shown Forest the blankets and i have told him who they are for. And now, i am always guaranteed to find him like this once a day. If the house has suddenly gotten just a little too quiet, and i havent seen the crazy blonde boy running by recently...you can bet it means he is curled up in the drawer. I should get mad at him because its actually very dangerous. At any moment the entire dresser could fall on him. But he is always so quiet and so cozy looking when i find him in there. He's usually just humming quietly to himself, and he likes to remind that the blankets are for the baby.

The two blondies spying on the parrot

Best Friends

Forest and his best friends Chuck and Jack, went out to the Turtle Bay Exploration Park.
We have yearly passes, so we get to go pretty often and we love to take our friends with us.
It was drizzling all day, but we still ventured out to see the new mini parrot exhibit! The boys loved being in the parrot house. We were able to feed them and watch them for as long as we wanted. The parrots happened to love Chuck and Jack's yellow rain coats, so they had quite a few landing on them and hanging out on them.. Forest wasnt quite sure about the parrots landing on me or darting past his blond head, but he sure did have lots of fun being so close to them. I even got to leave the exhibit with a lovely souvenir.....yep, bird poop in my hair! Put all my hair up in a bun and our outing goes on.... nobody ever knows! hahaha
We are so thankful to have such special friends like Chuck and Jack and their mom Mandi.
Mandi is pregnant with a little girl! So pretty soon we will be adding a girl into our little gang of boys! I always figured she would have another boy and i would eventually be adopting a baby boy. Which would put us at a total of 5 BOYS! So adding her baby girl into the mix this Sept will be pretty fun and interesting.

2 doesnt need to be terrible

Pancakes in the morning. The picture was taken this morning. And it was at this moment, that i looked at him stirring the pancake mix, he looked back at me, and he said "thank you". And it hit me that he is growing up. Lately all ive been able to notice are the awful meltdowns brought on by not being allowed to watch the Curious George movie for the 100th time, or by telling him he HAS to wear pants if he wants to go shopping with me. But i have to remind myself that this is actually a good thing. Its good because it means he is growing up. He is practicing his opinions and independence. I could do without the tantrums that are so intense that i lose my appetite for the day....but i guess thats part of it. I should actually be proud of him for how opinionated, confident, and expressive he is at such a young age.

Ive been trying to get a good picture to use for his bday invitations, but a photo shoot with an almost 2 year old is not very realistic. He never wants to smile when i need him to.

Though, he's pretty good at providing me with plenty of other animated looks.

Waiting to flip the pancakes (im a little scary at 8:30 am)

"Bubble"
His latest word and latest favorite activity. Every time he blows a bubble, he has to say the word as loud as he can. My poor, yet understanding neighbors.

Forest and i hit the road on Fri to head to the Bay Area to see our family. I kind of love these mini road trips just the two of us. We always start out with a stop at Starbucks for my coffee with cream and his mini scone and water. Once i have the caffeine greatness in the cup holder next to me, we are set to hit the road and begin our 2.5 hours drive. He usually passes out after he comes down from his sugar high and after we have had a van concert to our favorite songs. (songs will remain nameless in order to keep both our reputaions in the clear)
Once he's asleep, its a great alone time for me. Silence. Or talk radio. And hes usually waking up by the time we take the Livorna exit to my parents house. Thats my favorite moment. His favorite moment is when we pull into their driveway....he instantly starts calling out to the dogs and trying to free himself from the car seat. Going to my parent's, is like taking Forest on an overnight trip to a park...a park that has dogs! He is happy to explore the huge yard, go on the tire swing, run with the dogs, play hard with cousin Lil, and be barefoot and free. And i feel like im in heaven, because i get a slight break from watching him! A huge yard with a fence, what a concept!
Needless to say, we both have a great time and its always fun to hang out with family and see a couple of friends. We are usually exhausted by the time we get back home. Somehow, the drive back is never quite as fun. The concerts are minimal. The pre-hit the road coffee is more important then ever. And i look like a real gem by the time i walk up to our apartment door to be greeted by my lovely husband. What a treat for him.
The day after, Forest was in a horrible mood and so tired. It happened to be an extremely busy and scheduled day. He got very quiet while i was making his lunch. I came around the corner and found him tucked into the diaper box, in the living room, about to fall asleep. Poor guy.
I promptly grabbed my camera. I was very surprised that he actually wanted to eat his lunch, but he did! But he HAD to eat it from in the box. What a troll.

yogi in training

Forest watches every move i make these days. Ive been trying to fit in my exercise every morning before we are full force into our day. I have a much better day when i actually accomplish this. The other morning, i unrolled my yoga mat. Left the room. Came back, and this is what i found! Forest in full yoga practice. I was quite proud of him. And i like to think that maybe he felt nice and stretched out for the rest of his day!

"Downward facing dog"

"sun salutations"

concentration

Its been such great weather! Forest has been spending most of his days playing outside, and desparately trying to get a tan. haha or maybe thats just me. Last night he was extremely busy working on a tower of blocks and coffee containers. It ended up being as tall as him! He had no help in building this. He was really proud! Sometimes he concentrates so hard on his "projects" that i wonder if hes even having fun. I would never know by the look on his face. He can rarely crack a smile until the project is complete...in which he then lets out a loud a proud "TADA!" and a "OOOO YAAAAY". He definitely does not get this deep focus and concentration from me...his projects are causing me to fear the days when he needs home work help after school.