17 Months...

Well, today Chase is 17 months old. This also happens to be Abe's Aunt Barbara's birthday. Happy Birthday, Aunt Barb!

Abe is putting him to bed right now. I here "Praise, Praise Him" right now through the monitor. That is still his favorite night-time song. He has a new favorite car song right now. He loves the "B-I-B-L-E." He asks to play it "gain." I think he mostly likes it because I sing it in a funny way. He laughs and has big smiles which makes playing and singing it over and over again worth it :)

He is learning more names. His new name this week is Aunt Katherine. He calls her "Kay-Kay." Too cute. She is coming over this week to babysit for the first time. Chase will have a blast!

One of Chase's favorite activites right now is turning light switches on and off. He likes to stand on his stool and flick the switches on and off. He will do this for long periods of time. He has also discovered electrical outlets. He has been trying to stick keys in the outlets. That would not be a good thing. He loves turning the printer on and off. He loves to help me with the microwave. He likes to open and close it and turn it on.

He is beginning to learn how to help me around the house. He has put a few things away for me. he will also go and get things out of our room when I ask him to. It is kind of cute to see him busy and helping mommy.

Overall, he is in a really cute and loveable stage. He is very attached to us right now. He loves us to hold him and just carry him around. It is an armload, but I am enjoying every minute of it :) We love our little man!!

16 Month Update

Even though Chase is 16.5 months I thought I would give an update. It has been too long since I wrote a thorough update. He is doing so many new things lately. It has become very apparent that I easily forget the special little things that he does and says. It really bothers me that I can't remember things from just 2 months ago. I guess that it what blogs are for. :)

If we could use one word to describe Chase, it would be ACTIVE. He is always on the move. He loves being outside. He loves to point at stuff and walk over and feel and touch it. He is very tactile. He loves to look for kitties outside. At my grandparents' house he loves to play with the chickens. He feeds them and tries to pet them. My grandma let me know that he would love to sleep in the chicken coop if they would let him :)

Chase loves animials. He knows how to make the chicken, cow, dog, and kitty noises. He loves to look at animals in books. He also will point out different animals on the television.

Chase loves books. However, he has chosen 4 books that he likes. His favorite books at the moment are "Amazing Ants," "Ten Little Ladybugs," "Goodnight Moon," and "Corduroy." He asks us to read those books over and over. He also likes to sit on the floor and just turn the pages back and forth. It is so adorable.

He loves to look for the moon at night. He points the moon out in the sky. He also likes to point at the moon in books that we read to him.

When he sees pictures of himself, he will yell out "Chaaa." That is his version of Chase.

Chase also loves music. We listen to children's CDs in the car. He has chosen some favorite songs. His current favorite is "The Wheels on the Bus." He asks us to play it again by saying "gain." The same CD has "Turkey in the Straw" on it. As soon as that song comes on, he will yell out "Hay!" There is a certain part that talks about hay, so that is his way singing the song. At night I have started to hold him and sing a few songs before I lay him down. I started by singing 3 or 4 songs. The last song I started singing was "Praise Him, Praise Him." He will tell me to sing it over and over. I can't refuse him :)

When people walk into the room or Chase walks into a room full of people, he will say "Haaa." That is his version of "Hi." It sounds like he says "Hi" with a Texan accent. It is hilarious. Hope to get a video of that.

One of Chase's favorite activities is to sit in the front seat of the car and "drive." He will beg, whine, and plead with us as we are getting him out of the carseat to let him drive. He loves it!

He is also going through a naughty phase right now. He is hitting people. It is so discouraging. We have had to discipline him quite a bit for that lately. :( It is not easy to be faithful and consistent. We are working on it.

That is all I can think of right now. If you have gotten this far, thanks for reading. :)

Using a step-stool...

Chase decided that he wanted to help make oatmeal this morning for breakfast. He pulled up the little stool that we have in the kitchen up to the counter and was reaching for the bowl of oatmeal. He learned this new trick all by himself. It was fun to observe his determination and perseverance. It is so funny how much kids can do when they want something. :).

Alcatraz

On Presidents' Day, we decided to go on a quick trip to San Francisco to go see Alcatraz. My mom and Bridget came along for the trip. We had such a good time. We had an interesting drive down. Chase and Bridget found quite a bit to fight about it. Yes, they fight already :)

We got to SF around 11:30. We started with lunch at Bubba Gumps. It was very yummy. After lunch, we headed down 6 piers to the ferry to get over to Alcatraz. The trip over was quite nauseating for my mom and I. Oh well! Once we got to Alcatraz, we were made aware of why the prison guards wore 100% wool uniforms. It was so cold! We made our way through the prison. We only stayed about 2 hours. It is kind of tough to keep 2 little ones interested in an old prison. We were ready to head back and thaw out as well :)

Overall, we had a wonderful day. It was fun to see something historical and beautiful. I would like to go back sans little kids or wait until our kids would appreciate the history a little more. We didn't get to see and read everything, so another trip might be warranted. :)

Bubba Gumps for Lunch

Pier 39

On the Ferry

On the Island

Staff Housing

Watch Tower

Brrrr!

Visitors' Area

Daddy and Chase

Mommy and Chase

Bye-Bye!

Swimming

Last week Abe had a great idea to take Chase over to our community hot tub. It was the best idea. It was freezing outside and windy, but we decided that once we got over there it would be nice and warm. We had so much fun. Chase is such a little fish. He loved every minute of it. He was blowing bubbles and kicking his feet. He was letting us help him float on his back. He has no fear. He just walks up to the edge and jumps in. It is almost crazy. I think we might have a swimmer on our hands. I am looking forward to teaching him how to swim. This Summer is going to be so fun! Can't wait. We went again tonight, but I didn't take any pics. I will try to get some more pics of him actually swimming and maybe some video :)

Getting Ready! Hurry up, please...

He just wanted to leave already! No time for pictures :)

Naughty Boy

Here is Chase being so naughty! We have been battling him for months about the TP. He loves to play with it. I finally just got the camera out and laughed about it. His shirt says Big TROUBLE comes in small packages". I got it wrong the first time. That was another t-shirt that said my middle name is trouble. Oops!

Happy birthday to you...

We would like to wish our good friends Ethan and Stef Arnold a very happy birthday. Ethan turned 3 today. He is such a big boy. Chase has learned a lot from Ethan like climbing all over the furniture! I will refrain from posting Stef's age. :)

We hope you guys have a fabulous day!