New chair, new buggy

In the last month, John has gotten really good at mounting his ride-on toys. He started by climbing onto his train and rocket. Then he rediscovered his wagon (which we had hidden in his closet so he wouldn't demand to be pushed around in it every five minutes), and he figured out how to climb into that when the railings are off.

He's now able to climb into seats that are low to the ground, like his umbrella stroller and his Toy Story fold-up chair. It is so cute to watch him do this! Here's a video of him John with his chair:

Sitting on the throne from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

And here's a picture of John in his new favorite thing to climb into, his buggy (actually it's used, but it's new to us.....thank you, Stephanie, for procuring it from your neighbor who was giving it away!):

Reading in the car

Here's a funny video from last week of John reading a Dr. Seuss book in the car. Sometimes he is very verbal when he reads! I'm glad I got this on film.....usually when John sees the camera, he stops doing what I'm trying to capture.

Reading in the car from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

While it may seem like John can only babble, he actually can say about four or five words now. (Of course he understands TONS more.) His words include: "da" (Dad or dog), "ba" (Mama), "buh" (bus) and "kuh" (car). It makes sense that these are his first words since they are his favorite things (especially his Mama and buses). John can also imitate certain sounds such as ambulance/police sirens, engine revs, and monkey talk.

Easter egg hunt

John enjoyed a second round of Easter egg hunting last week when his female playdate friends came over to our house for a belated Easter egg hunt playdate.

It was very amusing to observe each baby's egg hunting strategy. Lillian was clearly the most experienced of all the babies (her basket was full after just 10 minutes), so she "won" the hunt pretty easily. Evie was a close second. Her basket was about half full.

Lillian, hard at work.....

A determined Evie in pursuit of another egg.....

As for Elise and John, it's difficult to say whether they actually "competed" in the hunt at all. When Elise found an egg, she'd usually just crouch down to open it and then eat the Cheerios, Puffs, or raisins hidden inside. (We found quite a few empty eggs scattered across the backyard as we were heading back inside after the hunt).

The eater in action.....

When John found an egg, he'd shake it for a while and then look for another egg so he could knock the two eggs together. Afterwards he'd drop both eggs on the grass, abandon his basket entirely, and wander off in some random direction (not at all in search of eggs). To be fair, John did have two eggs in his basket at one point.

Here is a pic of Lillian, John and Evie after the hunt was over. (Elise walked away as soon as Stephanie set her down next to the other babies, so she didn't make it into any of the photos.) You'll notice that John is holding Elise's basket. Lillian is holding her own basket and John's basket.

And here's a pic of the little egg hunter and his Mommy. The only way Stephanie could get John to look at the camera was to give him a second slinky to play with, courtesy of Elise (the slinkies were prizes inside some of the eggs)
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On the train

John loves his train. He pushes it, pulls it, rides on it, and sometimes even takes a passenger for a spin around the house.

Pushing Daddy around the dining room.....


Rounding the dining room table and heading for the kitchen.....


Pausing for a photo op.....

Cruising through the kitchen.....

Telling Daddy the train stops here.....

Mounting the train himself (he figured out how to do this a couple of weeks ago!).....

Waiting for Daddy to start pushing him.....

Focusing on steering the train in the right direction.....

Looking up at Daddy admiringly.....

Grinning for the camera.....riding the train is so much fun!

Playing outside

John would live outside if we'd let him. He is so in love with the outdoors that if we're in a hurry to drive somewhere and I open the garage door before I've strapped him into his car seat, he'll literally squirm his way out of my arms to go run out onto the driveway. The reverse is true for when we arrive home: if we've got something to do, or it's mealtime or naptime, I have to close the garage door immediately after we pull into the garage or else John is very upset that he can see outside but isn't allowed to go outside.

That is not to say that John doesn't enjoy the garage itself. When the car is parked on the driveway, John enjoys walking around the garage and checking out all the random things inside. He (of course) loves the lawnmower. He likes all of Daddy's big Army trunks too. Here is a video of John playing with some leftover trim line from the edger we borrowed from the Reclas (this was taken pre-haircut, so don't laugh):

When John does play outside on the driveway, he likes to push and pull around some of his walker toys (i.e. the Fisher Price lawnmower and the Chicco train) and the plastic shovel we have in the garage. Sometimes I'll blow bubbles for him, but he loses interest very quickly when I do. He also likes to chase around bouncy balls. We just bought John a water table so he can splash and play in his swim trunks. Here are some pics from a couple of weeks ago when we played outside:

Daddy pushes John's lawnmower as John "pushes" Daddy's lawnmower.....such concentration on John's face!

Hanging out by the new water table.....look at that physique!

John knows the word "park" now and gets very excited when he hears we're going there. Since it started getting warm outside, we've been going to the park every day. His favorite thing to do at the park is to just wander around and look at things. Most of the time he wanders right off the playground and onto the sidewalk where people are walking or jogging. Last weekend we took him to the smaller Harker Heights park, and we played on the equipment and watched some of the tee-ball games being played next door on the baseball fields.

Mom:"Where's Daddy, John?"

John: "I dunno!" (This gesture is his latest trick.)

John: "Oh there he is, hooray!"

John and Daddy walking together.....

Too cute for words!

Chillin' in the swing.....

John and Daddy by the baseball fields.....

Videos from our trip to North Dakota

Easter egg hunt from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Great Grandma Dressler feeds John from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Playing at Great Grandma Dressler's from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

In Grandpa Jeff's truck from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

John's 1st haircut: before and after

John got his first haircut about a month ago, on March 19th. We took him to a haircut place for kids in Round Rock called Snip Its. He sat on Mommy's lap as the stylist cut his hair. Daddy sat in a chair across from us so John could see him, and a second stylist blew bubbles to distract him.

Check out the before and after pics below!

Before (in the car on the way to Round Rock):



After (in his highchair the next day):