Birthdays and Halloween and Fall

  So Lincoln turned 2 recently and he got all sorts of presents. Then Halloween came and he got all sorts of candy. October is a double win for him now that he is big enough to trick-or-treat on his own. He dressed as Finn the human from a cartoon called Adventure Time. Here is a picture for reference:

  It's about a post-apocalyptic world where Finn is the only human left and his talking magic dog friend Jake helps him fight monsters and an evil wizard called the ice king. They save princesses and just generally are totally ridiculous. It's one of those cartoons that has just enough funny innuendo that I love it as much as Link. So Gena made him this costume:

From Halloween Past and Present

  ...and he went trick-or-treating 3 nights in a row! Halloween was on a Monday this year, so Lincoln, mommy, grammy and pappy went to Romeo Saturday afternoon for some downtown tricks-or-treats. Then Sunday evening, our friend Malice's church had "trunk-or treating" where everyone parks in the church lot and sits on the trunks of their cars to give out candy. Finally, we took Lincoln to Roseville for real Halloween on Monday night. We walked about 3 blocks before he and his cousin got tired and wanted to quit.

  While it was fun to watch him walk around from house to house and say "thank you" to everyone so politely, we did have an issue for a couple of days after trying to get him to stop asking for candy every five minutes.
 
  Below are samples from 2 new Picasa albums. One is his second birthday album, which will expand as I get all the images sorted out. The other is a Halloween album. I'm dropping all Halloween images into this one in chronological order from now on. The newest ones will be at the top and the older ones will be lower.
 
  One final note, today Lincoln discovered the wonders of a pile of leaves and how much fun it can be to play in it. I recently raked our front yard (not that it did any good) and left the leaves piled until the city comes to collect them. We dropped Link in before going to get his hair cut and, although he was hesitant at first, he ended up loving it! Here is a picture. I also have a video to upload soon.

From At home with Lincoln

2nd Birthday

Halloween Past and Present

Again, I've been away too long

I suppose once a month is reasonable since things aren't changing nearly as quickly as they were. Lincoln has learned sentences like "Daddy, I want choco." And "Thank you for my toys." Although, they don't come out quite right all the time. He is very polite and usually says please and thank you when asking for something. He knows a lot more about the workings of the world around him these days too. Sometimes, as we are getting in the car to leave, he likes to play a game where I shut the car door and he yells "open the door!" to get me to come back in the back seat and tickle him.

His birthday was quite eventful. On Friday, he got a sweet kitchen set from Grammy and Pappy along with a few other small bath toys and food related items. He also got his wish for cake, as Gena treated him to the cupcake station that afternoon. He had been yelling "I want cake!" for a week leading up to Friday.

We held a small gathering of family to celebrate yesterday and Lincoln had a blast. He got a little frustrated when we made him move on after opening each present, but he got over it after he realized that every time he put one down, he got something new. Everyone was so great, he has too many gifts to play with all at once. We have been opening them slowly since last evening.

I posted some new pictures and I have a video to upload of him opening gifts. He has grown enough to actually be into it this year. The new album for the birthday pictures is here.

And here are a couple of the pictures:

From 2nd Birthday

From 2nd Birthday

I've been lazy again!

I should be attempting to update this thing at least every week or so and here I go not doing it for a month.

This weekend is the DIY fair in Ferndale. It's a huge festival that celebrates the artistic atmosphere in this city. There is a huge stage that blocks off Troy street and bands play all day long. There are a bunch of tents set up behind the stage area with local artists and craft makers. I love this festival. Every year it gets bigger and more wonderful. This year there are some new companies displaying products and ideas that are quite unique. There is this great new place going into Allen Park, just around the corner from us, that offers people the opportunity to learn how to use large equipment to produce their products. The place is called Tech Shop and the idea is that not everyone can afford a laser cutter, but for a monthly membership fee you can use theirs. It's a pretty awesome idea and what is even more awesome is that we know one of the guys behind the idea.

Lincoln loves these kinds of events because he is a people watcher like his parents. There are always interesting people to see at these things and this year is no exception. We may seem weird to some people, but there are definitely weirder people out there. Especially when ICP comes to town.

So Lincoln will be 2 next month. He is running around like a mad man all day long. He speaks in full 4 word sentences. He is really good at telling us what he wants. He goes to sleep on his own a large percentage of the time. It is definitely a great age for him. It's an even better age for us!

Since it's been getting a bit colder lately, we haven't been able to get as much play time outside. I do try to get Lincoln into the bike trailer and go for a ride as often as I'm able. We got him a couple of really cute sweaters from H&M so now he's the trendiest kid on the block. Our neighbors across the street moved out at the end of August leaving us with virtually no Lincoln aged children in our area. It's also a bummer because they were some of the best neighbors we have. I guess we are kind of on our own.

On a final note, I haven't been taking nearly as many pictures lately. We will be doing his 2 year pictures soon, and I have a few new ones as well as video to upload. I will add those to the blog in the next few days. I'm back to school again so I have a bit less time to get things done online. Keep an eye open for another post soon and throughout the winter I should have new pictures and posts to put up frequently.

Summer is waning...

While I have completed several of the infrastructure projects I set up for myself this summer, I still feel a bit unfulfilled about my progress this year. I guess I set some unrealistic goals for myself, but I thought I would have more summer to get things done. The garden hasn't produced nearly enough, the backyard is pretty much all weeds and only one of the two rain barrels I installed are actually functional.

I suppose I can take solace in the fact that we did do a lot of other fun things. We have been up to the cabin twice this summer which we only succeeded at doing once last year. We also made it to the zoo several times and we found out there is a really awesome pool near our house. Lincoln has had a pretty eventful summer. He has played with bubbles, squirt guns, dogs and cats and the sprinkler. He has been the park many times. He got to see the rhinoceros with his Aunt and ride a bike with mom and dad on many occasions. He even got to ride in a kayak and on a jet ski. That's one lucky kid if you ask me!

There are some new pictures of him with the kayaks up north as well as a few others from around the house in the album to the right. I haven't been updating as diligently as I ought to, and for that I apologize. I'll attempt to be better about it from now on.

Here is one from the album:

From At home with Lincoln

The peanut butter bandit!

A peanut butter bandit has committed an act of terror on our local park. I live in the SW part of Ferndale and we frequently take our 2 year old son to the little park behind Machpelah cemetery on St. Louis St. between Marshall and Fielding. Today, to our disappointment, someone (assumedly a child or young teenager) had decided to take a large jar of peanut butter and ruin our fun by spreading the gooey stuff all over 2 of the slides, all of the swings and on various other areas of the playground. It was most disappointing because Lincoln loves to slide.

We decided, after seeing the massacre, that it was too hot to play anyway and elected, instead, to go to Target to get a pool to lounge in. No such luck. Target, Meijer, and K-Mart had all sold out of inflatable children's pools. We ended up coming home disappointed and made fruit smoothies to ease our suffering.

More Videos

So I finally got some of his new words on video. This is just a sampling of all the things Link can say now.

Almost all the words I know in 2.5 minutes from Lucas Harrison-Zdenek on Vimeo.

I'm amazed everyday at how advanced he seems to be. It is normally said that boys take a lot longer to develop verbal skills than do girls. I think it has a bit to do with the fact that we read to Lincoln everyday and before bed every night. We also never use baby talk with him, so there is very little of the "baby" stuff in his lexicon. I'm not sure what part the sign language played, but he now uses both simultaneously.

A couple of quick sentences! from Lucas Harrison-Zdenek on Vimeo.

I suppose I should have realized this a long time ago, but I am only now coming to the conclusion that I sound a little arrogant about our parenting choices. I would guess that most parents think that what they are doing is the best thing for their child. And I have been known to say "He/She isn't our child dear. If he/she were, we would be doing things quite differently." I have always been a "to each his own" type of person, but when it comes to Lincoln I feel like we have made all of the best decisions for him. He is incredibly healthy and active. He is making wonderful progress intellectually. I hate feeling like I'm arrogant, but at the same time all the evidence supports my overconfidence. Whatever. I am just glad he is awesome, and that is something we can all agree on.

Just a quick update

I finished uploading a new video of Link last night and I wanted to share it. He doesn't say much here, just draws.

Drawing on the Sidewalk from Lucas Harrison-Zdenek on Vimeo.

I was so fascinated by his focus and concentration. He makes a few strokes, stops to think, and finishes. Then comes to tell me all about it. I am amazed by his maturity all the time, but this day was something special.

Also, today we took him to Metro Park. It was 97 degrees in Detroit and humid and just awful so we took him to cool off at the splash zone they have at the park. There is also a beach, but it is Lake St. Clair...not sure how clean they've gotten it yet. He had a great time. He ran around and got soaked and played with the other kids. It was pretty funny. I think we may take a trip up to my family's cabin next week after the holiday crowds have dropped off. It isn't his first visit to the cabin, but it is a place that is very important in my life and I want to make sure he gets plenty of time there as well.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone. Have fun and don't blow your faces off lighting fireworks!