just because

My niece snapped a few pictures of our sweet Beckham boy this past week. She caught some great moments.

 

Thanks, Rachel!

St. Patrick's Day 2014

St. Patrick's Day started out like any other regular Monday, except every one left the house wearing green.

But when we all arrived home, Beckham found that Shawn Shawn the Leprechaun had paid a visit to our house. He left some gold coins that led to a pot of gold for our boy. 

Well actually, it was chocolate coins and some toy animals, but to Beckham that was as good as gold. 

We also went out to eat. These boys. They are fun to be with. 

And, Daddy took us to CAL Ranch afterwords to see the baby chicks. Beckham was so excited! 

All in all it was a perfect holiday for us. 

18 months

It is hard to believe that my little baby is a year and a half! He is such a fun boy to have around and we love him to pieces.

Cheese!  It's the closest thing I could get to a smile!

 

It was a bit difficult to get his kid to hold still in the doctor's office for a check up.  They had fun things on the wall, toys and books to play with, and candy.  Frankly, I don't know why I even bothered to take the camera with us.  Here are the stats from the visit.

Weight: 27lbs - 70th percentile

Height: 32 inches - 50th percentile

Head circumference: 49 cm - 90th percentile

And here are a few things that this kid has been doing lately...

*This boy is in love with animals. Literally. He plays with his farm animals each and every day. It is serious business for Beckham. We put animals in the barn, take them to the wagon, line them up on the windowsil, and start all over again. This process goes on all day long.  Seriously.   As soon as he wakes up to the minute he falls asleep!

*And, he LOVES to visit animals. He gets super excited to see tiny birds in the sky, squirrels at the park, and dogs on the sidewalk. If he gets hyped up with that, you can imagine his excitement when we see horses, sheep, and cows. Oh yeah. We talk about those things for weeks. 

*Beckham is a huge fan of hide and seek. We are not quite sure where that came from. He plays the game with us, his farm animals, and stuffed animals. 

*Speaking of stuffed animals, Mr. Beckham Boy enjoys playing with his beloved Cookie Monster, George the teddy bear, and Simba. He has serious talks with them every day.

*Beckham still uses his binkie.  He is very attached to it, and to make things worse, I have noticed recently that he likes to suck his thumb as well.  Oh dear!

*Beckham is a clean little boy. He does not like messes or sticky on his hands. When Jason and I clean the house, he enjoys helping dust with is OWN rag and dusting spray. 

*He speaks! Beckham's first words were Momma, Dada, quack(!), pleeessss, Bumpa, Nana, Papa, and Mama. He can also say just about any animal sound you ask him too. Now, he is beginning to be more animated in talking and is such a champ at try to say new words every day. He will be talking in full sentences sooner than we think! 

*We didn't realize it until recently, but this kid has some curls in his hair.  I l.o.v.e love it!

*Beckham is a good eater.  Sometimes it takes some convincing, but he usually does very well.  In particular, he is a fan of the cookies.  I think he got that from his Mom.

*Beckham runs and climbs everywhere and I have a difficult time keeping up with him! His little run is funny to watch. His legs swing a bit wide and he pumps one arm very determinedly. Most of the time he stares at the ground over his shoulder, even with our reminders to "watch where you're going." It goes without saying that we have lots of scraped knees round here. 

*I have said it before and I will say it again. Beckham is an outdoors boy. Sometimes I think he would be content to live outside - rain or shine. 

 

*This boy can't help but feel the beat to music no matter what he is doing. Sometimes I notice that he will bounce his leg to the beat in the car. Other times, we have to stop dead in our tracks to bounce and bob our head to the music. 

*Beckham is really good at folding his arms for prayers. When we say amen, he dramatically unfolds and opens his arms big. 

*We have a little boy who enjoys watching The Lion King and Spirit. Well, only in about 5 minute segments. I really think the only reason these movies capture a little bit of his attention is because they are about animals. 

*We began Nursery! However, Beckham has yet to stay the entire time. 

*Beckham gives great hugs. And, he enjoys sharing them with other children. I have noticed that when he is interacting with other toddlers or babies, he always wants to give them hugs. How sweet!

We love having this boy around. He really keeps us on our toes but we wouldn't have it any other way. 

Valentines 2014

We had a happy Valentine's Day with this cute munchkin!

Hope your day was great too!

Orlando 2014 - part 3

Jason finished up his work shortly before we left beautiful Florida.  He was a very busy guy!  The day before we left, we visited the Magic Kingdom in Disney World together.  It was a rainy day, but we set out anyway to experience the fun.

In order to get the Magic Kingdom, we had to take a ferry across a lake.  I believe this was Beckham's first boating experience.  I don't believe he even knew this was a momentous event. 

Upon our arrival, Beckham wanted to ditch the stroller and run crazy.  It was a little hectic for Jason and I trying to navigate where we wanted to go and keep track of Beckham toddling around Disney World.  We did it though.  Sometimes Beckham would stop in the middle of the walkway and sit down for a minute (I'm need a rest, Mom!).   Also, there was music playing in the streets of the Magic Kingdom and Beckham would randomly stop to do a little dance to the tunes.  I mean, really.  If you feel the beat, I guess you just gotta let it out!

We went on a few rides.  One of the first one we got on was Pirates of the Caribbean.  Beckham was not too big of a fan of the ride itself.  The ride is in a little boat in the dark.  It made him a little nervous.  He held on to Daddy the entire ride.

The Tea Cups were a hit though with Beckham.  He loved to spin around on the ride.  I kind of wish we had more time to ride that one multiple times because Beckham loved it. 

 It's a little blurry, but here is proof of us on the Tea Cup.

Beckham also liked riding on Dumbo.  He was so excited to see elephants on the ride.  It just took every ounce of patience that he had to wait his turn to touch Dumbo.

Close by to the Dumbo ride there were some circus displays, which quickly drew Beckham's attention.  This kid loves the animals.



The whole time we were there, we didn't see very many characters, and I was a little disappointed (not just for Beckham's sake....I still like that too!).  We did see Aladdin and Jasmine in passing, but we couldn't get a picture with them.  However we did ride on the Magic Carpet, which I guess was the next best thing.

Most of the time we were there, we were wondering and exploring new things.  We got a treat at Gaston's Tavern and actually saw Gaston hanging around, which was cool for me.  The boys could have cared less.  We visited Tomorrowland in the park - where Buzz and the Incredibles would be found.  We had a difficult time there, even with seeing Mr. Incredible form afar.  Beckham didn't have nap that day (no good!).  Here we are all teary eyed and wet. 

After a few breakdowns, we decided to call it a day.  We wondered some shops in the park with Beckham resting on my shoulder, but quickly decided it would be better to go back to the hotel.

Beckham fell asleep in the upright position on the bus ride to the hotel. It was an exhausting day for a little boy.

The next day we left Florida bright and early in the morning.  Beckham slept for more than half of the plane ride and when we arrived home, this is how he looked.  A little bit haggard. 

That's what Disney World will do to you.  It is so much fun that it just plain wears you out.  But you know what, we loved it.  Our little family made some great memories together.

Orlando 2014 - part 2

The reason we went to Orlando was for Jason to work, and work he did! He was running all over trying to get things done.

This is him at "The Expo" where he spent most of his time.  Sometimes when it was not busy, Beckham and I would wonder down for a quick visit.

He also got to meet Lou Holtz at this convention.  He was one of the key note speakers, and Jason was ecstatic to meet him.

With Jason gone most of our stay, that left Beckham and I to have plenty of time on our own.  I was actually a little nervous to have so much time without Jason in a place I was not too familiar with, but we had a great time together.  Look back at it, I am really grateful for the time we had together.  I didn't have to worry about everything back home - work, housework, meal planning, etc.  It was so nice to slow down and focus on Beckham. 

We explored every square inch of the hotel grounds.  There was so much to see and the grounds were beautiful.

We also spent some time at Downtown Disney together - just the two of us.

We even went on a little train ride together in Downtown Disney.  So cute!  And, this little boy loved it.

We also spent some time in the hotel, because it was huge.  Beckham loved being on the escalators

And he enjoyed being on the elevator.  Each time we got on the elevator, Beckham would do a little dance because being on an elevator is so fun, you know.  What a funny boy.

We found out that Beckham is deathly afraid of the shower.  We only had a shower in our hotel, and he did not want any part of it.  No sir!  So we had to improvise and made the shower into a shallow bathtub, and hey, he really enjoyed it.  Some days he just wanted to sit in there with his toys and play.  (Notice the band aids on his knees.  He had many scrapes and bruises on this trip.  And we talked about them every 10 minutes and compared owies with Dad)

We also found out that Beckham wants to just be a big boy.  The night we arrived, we got a crib for him to sleep in, and he would not have it.  So for our whole trip, he slept on a hide-a-bed.  He slept so good.  So good that we are considering moving our crib out of his bedroom back at home. 

Beckham enjoyed having a real phone.  No cell phone.  A real phone.  He played with it like it was the next best thing to sliced bread.

And, at night we would reunite with Dad.  We looked forward to it every night.  We would go out to eat and play as long as possible with our Dad.

Being together at night was the highlight of each and every day.  However, I must admit, that I enjoyed every last minute with Beckham - just the two of us.  I didn't have to worry about anything and I was able to slow down and just be with my son.  I actually realized some things about him that I hadn't noticed before.  I saw that this toddler wants so bad to be an independent little boy.  I honestly will forever be grateful for the moments that we had together on this trip.