New Things

The title of this particular blog post, "New Things," likely sounds very generic and a little boring. Our home these days, however, is anything but boring! The following pictures showcase a variety of new toys, skills, habits, and happenings for our family. 

NEW HEIGHTS

After returning from vacation in July, our boys were suddenly taller. One of the ways we noticed the boys' growth was seeing their new ability to dunk into their Little Tikes basketball hoop. 

You can see some of their shots in action below. You can also see how Cody typically claps for himself after making a shot. :)

NEW HAT

Okay, not really. The hat actually belongs to Daddy, but Cody sure enjoyed the dress-up opportunity.

NEW CAR

Mommy, Grammy, and Papa discovered this Cozy Coupe at a garage sale for only $15. It was clean and only gently used, so we were excited about the find. Both boys instantly loved their new car, and it has remained their favorite toy for the past 3 weeks!

After only one demonstration by Mommy, Cody was able to correctly enter the car one foot at a time, close the door, and honk the horn.

Jaden still prefers to enter the car backwards and peek out the rear window, but he sure loves to honk the horn!

Opening and closing the side door is always a hit, too.

Now the only question is how to manage the battles and tugs-of-war that inevitably arise because we have only one car. As much as we love the Cozy Coupe, it has spent more time closed up in a back bedroom than any other toy we own! Do we look for a second Cozy Coupe, or continue to use this toy as our model of "how to share"...? Oh, the joys of parenting two! :)

NEW WAGON
Another steal-of-a-deal garage sale find this summer was this wagon for only $10. Hooray! Jaden and Cody loved their first ride (probably especially because Daddy was able to join us).

NEW EXPERIENCE

Recently, Jaden and Cody had their first successful experience with crayons and coloring (successful because they focused more on the coloring than the crayon-eating!). Cody proudly shows off his new crayon.

Jaden, too, is excited to begin.

Both boys did well with holding onto the crayons and making some type of mark on their paper.

Perhaps our "coloring" looks a bit more like crayon crushing, but, hey, it's a start! :)

Mommy didn't save the pictures from Day 1 of coloring because she had demonstrated how to draw lines on the boys' paper. By the end, it was tough to distinguish Mommy's lines from the boys' markings. On our second day of coloring, however, the boys drew their own pictures independently. Here are their very first masterpieces. :)

NEW HANGOUT

During our recent warm weather days here in MT, we've laughed to discover the boys' newest favorite place-- sitting beside our air conditioning vent!

Sometimes they'll even sit right on top of it until their legs turn super cold!

 Often, the boys will just sit beside the vent and cool off their hands (as Cody demonstrates here) or put their faces in the cool air.

NEW OUTING

This past week our whole family took a trip to our State Fair. Cody and Jaden loved their first fair experience! Since it was a hot day, we all cooled off with an ice cream treat. This was quite likely the boys' favorite part of the fair.

We also spent quite a bit of time in the 4-H building looking at all the animals. We met Snow, the llama,

several goats,

and a bunch of sheep that loved to stick their head through their cages.

NEW LANGUAGE SKILLS

Cody demonstrates his first word, "shoes."

Jaden follows directions by pointing at a couple different parts of his body. So far, these are the only two he can get accurately on a consistent basis.

We are certainly proud of our boys and amazed at how many new things they continue to learn and absorb from the world around them.