Russell's 5...

Today I was driving and the thermostat said 95! Aiye!

The following are pictures of things Russell has been up to:

1.) Putting things down his shirt. I believe in this particular picture he has all 12 of the blocks to his shape sorter toy in his onesie. The other day i watched him attempt to put an entire Tupperware container down his shirt. It didn't work. Sorry for the blury pic.

2.) Trying to do summersaults. He can't quite do it but he loves to get in position and squeals with delight when we flip him all the way over. Again sorry for the blurry picture. He's not too good at holding position for too long. And I hate flash photography.

3.) Picking flowers. Believe it or not 'flowers' is one of the words he knows. He always points them out in books and says "flawa". It sounds a lot like how he says "water," but as his trained and certified interpreter, I can assure you he is actually saying "flower." He has a tendency to pick a flower while we are out in our yard and carry it around as he explores. It is pretty cute to see him toddle around with a solitary flower in his fat little hand. He has started to do the same with snacks, actually. I'll give him a lone Ritz cracker after nap and he'd rather delicately hold in that eat it. Don't worry, it is eventually eaten. That boy has never been one to deny food.  And he no longer wears that shirt. It is obviously too small, I just had to have him wear it that day to 'make sure.' Don't ask. I do weird stuff like that some times.

4.) Food is the perfect segue for this next this pic. I snapped this while at a big family gathering a few weeks ago. Yes, he is eating food off abandoned plates. He is always the one to try and dig a bag of snacks out of another mom's purse or continue to ask for snacks during a play date long after the other kids are done eating. I call him "Forager Extraordinaire." He can hear a package of food being opened or a food item being crunched in a closed mouth from a mile away, I swear. And of course, the instant he hears those noises, he puts his pointer finger up to his mouth and taps his lips. As his trained and certified interpreter, I know that he is saying, "I want to eat that."

5.) Bubbles. He is more into the act of blowing bubbles than the bubbles themselves. He asks to do "babus" almost daily. He loves to hold the wand, dip it in the bottle and 'blow.' The blowing is somewhere between licking the wand and hyperventilating and it brings him great satisfaction. He no longer allows us to even hold the bottle while he dips the bubble wand...he wants to do it all by himself. Luckily bubbles are cheap and a fairly benign mess.

On this week's agenda are: finding an inexpensive tricycle toy, nursery for the first time, and maybe a dip in the pool for the first time this season. He also has his 18 mos pediatric appointment and I'm anxious to see how much he's grown.  Hope you all are well!