Future Firefighter

Our church, Damascus Community Church, has a Freedom Celebration every year and every year the local fire department brings their fire trucks for all to enjoy. Nikolas has been obsessed with fire trucks and anything with sirens lately so as soon as I saw the fire trucks I knew where we would be spending a bit of time at. I started pushing the stroller over towards them and when we were about 200 meters away Nik saw them and about jumped out of the stroller. He ran straight to the big fire engine and demanded to be picked up by one of the firemen and put into the truck. The firemen were all more than willing to make a little fan happy.
He ran from truck to truck yelling "beep, beep" and wanting to be picked up and put inside. He had to "drive" each one as well. A very nice fireman spent about 5 minutes setting Nik up for the below picture with his arm on the door and one hand on the steering wheel. It was very sweet:)
I thought we were done and was walking away when Nik suddenly ran back to all the firemen, stopped right in front of them and just stared at them while they all stared back. It was the cutest thing and they all started smiling.
I asked one of the firemen if these 100 degree days made fighting fires even more miserable and he said, "when the temperature in a building can reach 800 degrees it really doesn't matter what the temperature outside is". Hmm, good point. I am so thankful there are people out there who are willing to place their lives, as well as their comfort, on the line every day. Firemen, to me, are some of this worlds real superheroes and i am glad my little boy looks up to them, and hopefully, always will.

I'm a Big Boy!

Nikolas is officially potty trained!
He has been wearing underwear now for 3 weeks and has been doing very well with minimal accidents. We even have been out of the house for whole days and he has done great, though we have had to find a few bushes around town to pee on. He loves his new unders, especially the "choo choo" ones, (Thomas the Train to be specific).
I thought that once he was potty trained that would be that and hadn't put any thought into what happens when you potty train a new two year old. He keeps me on my toes, to say the least. I was in JC Penney the other day having pictures taken of the boys when all of a sudden, "poopoo, poopoo!" . Would you believe that the portrait studios at JC Penney has NO BATHROOM!!!! Isn't their customer base MOSTLY SMALL CHILDREN???? So, I had to leave Lukas with the photographer, (yes, i know i left my 5 month old with a total stranger, but i was focusing on the possible incident about to happen and wasn't thinking), grab NIk and start running for the elevator telling Nik, "hold it, hold it, don't poop yet!". I even spied a garbage can and thought for more than a few seconds on using it but decided to keep going. We made it to the bathroom and wouldn't you know it, THE CHILD DIDN'T NEED TO GO. How can it be so urgent one second and not the next?
I never realized until now what mamas go through while training their little ones. Nik had just peed and normally dumps it into the toilet. Then, the unthinkable happened. He decided to taste it! It was like slow motion, I was saying "noooooo" and somehow managed to pull it back from his open mouth and into the toilet. Gross. Boys are disgusting. I can tell you, though, it is so nice to not be wiping a toddler bottom anymore. Well, at least not as much as before as i still have to help a little bit.
My current wondering is, "how do i convince him that it is okay to pee in our backyard, but it isn't neccessarily okay to do that just anywhere.".
Each day I become a little more confidant with going places and though he may have an accident somewhere inconvenient, I know it is just a phase of life we all must go through and it will be over soon. I hope. In the meantime, I just stuff my diaper bag with extra choo choo unders and call it good.

Typical Big Brother

Surprisingly, Lukas actually was enjoying the attention of his older brother. It could be that since Luke is only 7 pounds lighter than Nik, he didn't notice that he was being sat upon and since i am trying to encourage Nik to actually like his little brother I only intervene if Luke starts to get a pouty lip.
I really have no idea why Nik is buck naked, other than that is his preferred fashion at home. I do try to keep him clothed, but he knows how to strip himself so it is somewhat pointless and since we are outside mostly now it doesn't bother me. When we have visitors i do wrestle him into clothes though:)

A Climbing Mama's Dream Come True

For my 32nd birthday this past Friday the 13th all I wanted to do was go rock climbing. So with the help of my sister Kellie, my friend Estie and two of my climbing buddies, Dave and Tymun, my wish came true. Of course, we took Nik and Luke as I wanted Nik to start climbing with me this year and Lukas, well, he needs me for sustenance so...you get the picture. The day started out perfect with blue skies and warm weather. Quite a switch from what we have had lately so I was very grateful. We headed out to a local climbing area and began a most wonderful day at the crags.
I bought Nik his very own harness recently as i am so excited to pass my love for rock climbing on to my children. I envision many mother/son road trips in the future:) I am sure one day one of them will climb better than me and though my ego may be bruised a little, it is always nice to have someone else take the sharp end of the rope. Though, if it is my own son, I probably will be more worried than if it were me. (By the way, the "sharp end of the rope" means that person attaches the end of the rope to their harness and is the first one to climb up the rock and thread the rope through the anchors) for all you non-climbers out there.

Nikolas is being fitted into his harness by Dave and is receiving beta on rock climbing by Tymun. (Once again, "beta" is instruction given about a specific climb, I know, I could have just said, "instruction" but you need to be educated on rock climbing terms if you are going to read my blog:))

Nik took to climbing like he has it in his blood. Which he does, of course:) He showed no signs of fear and was more interested in pushing off the rock and swinging then climbing, but hey, who doesn't love doing that?! Dave climbed alongside him since it was an easy route and Nik didn't go very high. It was great to have Dave and Tymun there as I have been away from the rock too long to feel comfortable leading. I have been climbing with them for the past nine years and have placed my life into their hands over and over again so I trust them completely to keep my little boy safe as well. Plus, Nik really likes Dave and not only did Dave help him climb, carry him around, let Nik poke his fingers into Dave's mouth and fall asleep on his lap at the end of the day, BUT, DAve also held him off the side of a log so Nik could go poop:)

I was even able to climb and as you can see, I couldn't stop smiling all the way up the rock. The last time I climbed was when I was a few weeks pregnant with Lukas. So to feel the rock under my fingertips and to be outside enjoying the sun and scenery while doing the sport I love with great friends was the best birthday present ever!
Stay tuned for another post on this as there were a few more pictures I just have to add:)

Nik & Delaney

For those of you who haven't heard me "kidding" about Nik's betrothed, this little cutie is her, and one has to admit they do look cute together:) I really do try not to kid about it too much, as her daddy is a bit protective on hearing anyone matching his little girl up. In his words, "Delaney can get married anytime.....after I'm in the grave and won't know about it." So forgive me Jace, these shots are too cute to keep to myself.

Oh boy, these two pictures do worry me a little. I am envisioning them at sixteen years old and Nik running out the door saying, "I'm picking up Delaney Mom, see ya later!". Then I will be praying that Tone' and I have done a good job of teaching him to be a perfect gentleman, otherwise, Jace will be beating our door down.

Seriously, what is up with that smile!? Whooboy, he is definitely taking after his Italien daddy. Resist Delaney! Resist! Well, at least for around 20 years or so:)

Oh What Fun!

First off I would like to say that I, Rebecca, had wanted a Power Wheels ever since they came out when I was around 9 years old. Clearly, too old for one, yet I REALLY WANTED ONE. I only had to wait 21 years until I had a little boy so that I could get one, although now my little tushy doesn't quite fit:( Nevertheless, it has been great fun watching Nik enjoy it. Nik received this very cool Jeep for Christmas from his Grandpa Gibson and has thoroughly enjoyed it. Today was even better as he had two friends over to enjoy it with him. Obviously, from the huge smiles in the picture, it is apparent they had fun. In fact, they pretty much had their mouths open, screeching with delight, the entire time. Nik isn't the best driver quite yet, he doesn't really get the concept of looking where you are going and steering in that direction. In fact, I don't think he even tries to steer, he mostly just lets the jeep go wherever the wheels take him, which usually means in circles:) Eventually I figured out that I could just sit in the middle of the road and take pictures as he did laps around me. (I figured this out only after Tone' and Jason pointed it out to me as they watched me run in circles for a while)
It was the cutest thing to see big brother Jack holding little sister Delaney on his lap while Nik drove. He showed great patience for a 3 year old boy, I thought.
This picture pretty much summed up the kids feelings. Sheer delight! It was pretty fun for us adults as well. I don't think any of us stopped smiling the whole time, it was just so fun and funny to see our little ones having such a blast and playing so well together. ( no small feat with my boy) It was the perfect ending to a really nice day that happened to be Tone's 33rd birthday. He had planned to go running with Jason so he and Jodi and their kids had come over for a BBQ and to go run. Well, someone decided to eat first and run last, yeah, that didn't work so well. Why is it that men seem to not be able to say "no" to seconds? At least they got their exercise in by chasing the kids around and making sure they didn't get squooshed by oncoming cars. And wasn't it nice to have ONE NICE DAY? Where are you sun???

Mooooon

Three years ago I was so incredibly busy working and co-leading high school youth group that the only time i ever slowed down was the occasional evening or weekend out rock climbing. Now, being a stay at home mama, my life is so much simpler and I am being reminded of how simple life really should be, often by my two year old.
Today, during the two hours of sun and warmth, we were outside and Nik looked up into the sky and said, "Moooon". I looked up thinking i was going to see a faint outline of the moon, but instead I saw this cloud in the shape of a moon. I thought that was so cool that he picked out a shape from a cloud and wondered when the last time I did that. So i decided that this summer we are going to lay out on a blanket on a warm day and look for shapes in clouds and just take it easy. In fact, I want to slow down all summer and not be always "going places". I especially dislike being in the car on nice days as they are too few here in the NW to waste being stuck in a car. Not to mention that staying home will greatly reduce our monthly gas cost. So instead of running from activity to activity, I am going to try to create our own fun activities in our own backyard. We have the kiddie pool, slide, sidewalk chalk and a garden to keep us entertained, ( i know, weeding may not sound entertaining to many, but I kindof like it:)) Anyone have any fun outdoor activities for a toddler they would like to share?

Size 3

My boys are 22 months apart, yet wear the same size diaper. That strikes me as odd. And as you might be able to tell, Lukas, the four month old, appears to be a tad thicker around the middle than the 2 year old. The only thing Nik has on him is length, and if Luke has his Uncle Gino's genes then it won't be long before they are the same height. Especially since it appears that Nik has his mama and daddy's short genes.
Nikolas is finally starting to acknowledge his little brother in positive ways now. He kisses him, hugs him and tries to hold him, (though as soon as he feels Luke's weight Nik says, "woah" and wants me to take him). Usually, though, he likes to lay on top of him, which Luke puts up with amazingly well. Though it might be because he can't breathe and therefore can't protest. If i am busy and Luke gets fussy i ask Nik to go tickle brother. Nik loves to tickle nowadays so he readily agrees and Lukas loves the attention and Mama gets a couple extra minutes to finish up whatever it is that Mama's do.