backyard bbq

the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and we celebrated that last week by dusting off our grill and enjoying our first outdoor meal of the season! 

We have a screened-in porch and plenty of outdoor seating to make it comfortable to bbq, and it is one of our favorite activites.  Turns out hendrix thinks it is alot of fun too, though somewhat distracting....

He was thrilled to help daddy cook, chatter at the neighbor's dog, climb around on the lawn chair, and play with his corn on the cob.  Eating, well that didn't really happen......maybe after a couple times he will get used to the experience and get down to business! 

I was so excited to eat corn, and it did not disappoint!  

Now that shorts season is here, hendrix is going to have to learn a more graceful way to climb up and down our cement steps, or his poor legs are going to look like this all summer.

Now that spring is really here, i guess we better start thinking about our garden. Wanna fill this little boy's belly up with fresh vegetables this summer!  yum ;)

Happy spring! 

photoshopping the boo-boos.

here is hendrix's most recent boo-boo healing up.  it is in the really colorful bruise stage.  

lovely.  did i mention that i just had a little photoshoot with him for valentine's day?  yes, i admit that i photoshopped his boo-boo out of the photos.  

is it because i don't want people to think i carelessly allow my child to fall all. the. time.?

is it because i am embarrassed that he seems to have inherited my lack of coordination?

or is it just plain because i thought that it might detract attention from his cute, sweet little smile?

i am not really sure, to be honest.  

i remember sharing a post a while back about how hendrix seems to be a lil' bit accident prone.  as he is getting bigger, stronger and more capable, he seems to have more boo-boos.  probably because he tries t o tackle more dangerous activites with seemingly no fear.  

climbing from the stepstool, to the dining room chair, to the table to stand up and turn the dining room light on and off with the pullstring?  why not?

jumping up and down on mommy and daddy's bed?  sure!

climbing out of the cart (even while buckled in) at the grocery store?  i'm so cool.

and on it goes....

i am trying to figure out the balance of not smothering him, letting him explore, and still trying to teach him NOT to try things that are just plain dangerous.  

is this a boy thing?

scraped noses...

fat lips...

and goose-eggs.  

i guess every fall makes him (and me) tougher.

;)

school of hard knocks

hendrix has had his share of bumps and bruises, but now he has had his first real scrape.  the kind that draws blood and gets puffy and swollen (i think they are called strawberries) and it is right on his face.  

the culprit was the concrete front staircase.

hendrix has gotten really good at stairs, he can crawl up them so well that i don't really worry about him too much anymore.  but now he is trying to get all fancy, and thinks that he should hold onto the railing and walk up them.  i get it.  he is watching us and trying to imitate us, but that is not nearly as safe.   

as you can see from his forehead.  

oh but it makes him so proud of himself to try and be a big boy.  

i finally understand now why there would be some moms out there who feel the only way to keep their child safe is to completely wrap them in bubble wrap. i get it.  

i think my son would find a way to still get hurt.  

he pinches his fingers in cupboards and doors....

he runs too fast that he trips and falls....

he bonks his head on everything.  i don't know if he has had a hard time adjusting to being twice his original height (going from crawling to walking) because he is always trying to walk underneath things (like the dining room table) and finding that he is too tall.  he also cuts the corners in the doorway too close and rams into the doorframe. 

his newest adventure, which has been mostly successful, is coming back down the stairs.  he refuses to turn onto his tummy and crawl back down; instead he sits down (while forward facing) and scootches down them one stair at a time on his bottom.  

it looks kind of scary, but it really does seem to work okay.  

i bought this shirt for him several months back (before he was walking) and i chuckled all day about it while he wore it yesterday.  

i had NO IDEA how many stunts he would do, or how many near-heart-attacks i would have on a daily basis.  i want my child to have a healthy dose of adventure and exploration, and i don't want to smother him, but it is hard to watch him fall down again and again.

and i still have the 'bandaid-fixes-everything' stage to look forward to. 

oh joy!

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