One of our favorite neighborhood spots

Sunny, cool autumn morning at one of our favorite parks, Monument Valley Park. First we walked a brisk mile and a half on the trail (with Timo on his balance bicycle) and then we had playtime and lunch at the playground.

Are these boys brothers or what!!

I love these boys. They drive me crazy sometimes but they are wonderful! And we LOVE being outside together. I love seeing them learning new things and challenging themselves to try new physical feats. Mattias is very close to walking (and already good at stairs and climbing on top of things) and Timo is really improving in his balance and strength and jumping.

A good-bye to some good neighbors

We really like our neighborhood - within a mile of Colorado College and downtown Springs, close to the library, YMCA, grocery store, trails and multiple walks, safe & walk-able neighborhood with lots of friendly folks and dogs and kids and people of all ages - and we like our quiet street and neighbors. Unfortunately we recently had to say good-bye to some of the neighbors we knew the best, Henry & Laura and their two kids, Henry and Chloe. (Henry the dad is actually Henry IV and Henry the son is Henry V. I think that is so cool.) Their landlord recently decided to put the house up for sale, so they had to find a new rental and ended up moving further south of town. We will miss chatting with Laura (always holding a mug of coffee), seeing the kids running around the block and yard playing football, having Henry come over to play soccer in the yard with Timo, Chloe wanting to hold Mattias, and being able to go hang out in their backyard at the sandbox and slide. "No, Mommy, that is so sad!" said Timo when I finally had to tell him that they were moving to a new house.

Of course, being neighbors who run into each other just doing daily life - watering plants, playing in the yard, going outside to run in the rain - we hardly ever took any photos with them, but they have been good friends for Timo in the 16 months we have lived here so far. On the last night that they were packing up, we managed to say good-bye and snap a quick photo (but there was so much going on, Timo didn't want to look at the camera!).

And now we have inherited a tricycle and double bicycle trailer and Big Wheel from them, so we can always remember playing together!

Fun in the leaves

Some of the most exciting words for a 3 year old boy to hear: "Let's go outside and rake leaves!" And then Timo races outside to help. "I being a good worker!" he says proudly. Don't worry, Timo, we will have more days like this in the next couple of weeks. It reminds me of last fall, just before Mattias was born, when he and I went out to rake numerous times, and I kept thinking, "Surely this will get my labor going..."  The changing colors and cooler days also remind me of two years ago, when we left the hospital, and left Gemma, and were driving home in the late afternoon on Oct 10th. There was a beautiful sunset and the leaves seemed to have changed colors during the two days that we had been in the hospital.

We love our neighborhood at this time of year!

Mattias was also elated to be outside, throwing leaves and crawling around (with no parent saying that he is being too messy!).

The best part is scooping all the leaves in the bin, and then climbing in to stomp them down. By the way, Jaja: Timo insists on wearing his "leaf jacket" to rake.
 

"Oh this will be fun; let's get a photo of the brothers in the leaves." Umm. Oh well.
 

"Mommy, what are you doing to me?"

Now, this just about captures it for Timo.
 

Birthday follow-up: Mattias at 1 year

Mattias ENJOYS: wandering from room to room in the house, opening doors, exploring shelves and making messes; pushing carts/boxes; wandering around the yard, finding leaves/sticks/mud; playing mealtime 'yelling game' with Timo, where they yell noises and imitate each other (we're working on the volume level, Grandpa, don't worry...); bathtime is still his favorite; snuggles and tackles - if he sees Timo and Daddy wrestling, he makes a beeline to climb on; crawling through tunnels; going for walks in the stroller and looking for dogs; pulling Mommy's hair and rubbing Daddy's scratchy face; seeing Timo as soon as he wakes up in the morning!

Recently, he is: learning to put things into containers (e.g. dumps all the cars out, and then puts them back into the basket one by one); getting very interested in books, with a longer attention span and while pointing at pictures and turning pages; learning to use a spoon to feed himself without help; getting close to walking but still not quite taking steps on his own; figuring out how to roll/push cars; able to open the back screen door to go onto the patio to play; getting a lot of long, fluffy curls on the back of his head; now only taking one nap, in the afternoon.

Favorite foods: porridge; bread/toast; Cheerios, pretzels, crackers, rusks, etc; applesauce; apple slices; tofu; rice mixed with anything; most soups; hot dogs; pasta dishes. He isn't really drinking from a cup yet though we try water and (now) soy milk sometimes.

If he's in a good mood (and that is almost always the case when we are playing in the backyard), he will give some BIG grins for the camera!

Mattias's birthday - 1 year old!

Wednesday, Oct 28th! A year ago we were holding this little guy in our arms for the first time - and now look at how far you have come, Mr Giant!

Jim was able to come home from work a little bit early, so we had time for supper, presents and birthday cupcakes (plus lots of wrestling with Daddy) - and wearing of the origami birthday hats!

Mattias's new pewter cup from Nonna with his name engraved on it! Timo was very helpful opening all the gifts.

Number candles for both boys!

Mattias was so cute and excited about the candle and kept trying to grab the flame, yikes! He liked the frosting (coconut whipped cream) but disregarded the chocolate cupcake.