Christmas

We were lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with our families and friends this Christmas. I'm glad Brad is a good driver, we always make it safely through the terrible winter weather. A couple weeks before we left for La Grande we were driving from Albany to Corvallis. Usually it takes us 15 minutes to make that drive, but this time it took us two hours. We were in a line of cars that were stopped while many emergency vehicles passed by us. We saw a lot of cars that had skidded off the road because of the freezing rain. We sang "The Wheels on the Bus" over and over again during that two hours to keep Jason entertained. He was really good for having to sit in his car seat for two hours in a car that was barely moving.
My family has a cat that Jason loves to follow around while we are in La Grande. His name is Toby and Jason calls him Tody. Usually the cat runs from Jason, but he warmed up to him after they had a marshmallow incident together. Jason dumped almost a full bag of marshmallows all over the kitchen floor. As I was trying to pick them up to throw them away, Jason was scarfing them down as fast as he could. Toby was in the room to, so he started eating them. Then Jason started helping Toby eat them faster by putting them in his mouth. I wish I would have taken a picture sooner to catch Jason and Toby sitting in a pile of marshmallows with their mouths full.
It was really nice to be able to spend some time with both our families on Christmas. Thank you to our families for a great Christmas, we love you. I took a picture of Jason after all the Christmas fun. He was trying to fight it, but he just couldn't keep his eyes open.

Pure Joy

Here are a couple of my favorite smiles.

Mischief

Right now we are trying to teach Jason that cheerios and other objects do not belong in his ears, not to take things out of the garbage can to play with, and not to spit his food out. So far I haven't had any luck. When he gets that devious look on his face I know he has some master scheme in mind.

Always on the Move

Whenever I get my camera out to take a picture of Jason when he is doing something cute, he comes running towards me. Once in a while I get lucky and catch him before he makes his mad dash to steal the camera. We can never get him to sit still for very long, and forget kids toys, he wants to do whatever me and Brad are doing. I'm only allowed to read him stories if he can be the one to turn the pages and if I try to turn them he is gone. He has a favorite book called "Cookie Rhyme, Cookie Time," that he likes to look through while he sits in his rocking chair.

Starting Early

I wasn't planning on delegating chores to Jason at 15 months, but he can't resist the broom. He always wants to be my helper. While I am putting away laundry he holds hangers and hands me one when I need one. He loves to hold things for me and then when he hands them to me, he says thank-you to me! When I carry him and the stroller up the stairs at the same time, he holds my keys for me until we get to the door. I have high hopes for him, maybe if I pretend like cleaning is fun, he will grow up liking to do chores, HA!

Mr. Independent

Last week we went to the beach to get away from the heat in Corvallis. We spent a couple hours at the Aquarium in Newport before heading over to the beach. Jason was intent on pushing his stroller instead of sitting in it. Why would a big kid like him need to sit in a stroller anyways? He had better things to do. So to keep the peace we let him lead the way for part of the time, pushing his stroller as he went. When we use to go to the park Jason would run a long ways away, but he would always turn around and wave and run back to me. I guess he is over that phase now, because when we went to the beach we had to chase after him. When he ran he never looked back to see if we were following, I guess he had very important things to do. After he is done running and exploring though he demands our undivided attention.

Father and Son

I love to watch Jason wear his dad's shoes around the house. He likes to be grown up. He also already knows his dad's toys are the coolest toys (computer's, cell phones, and any electronic device). Brad plays the guitar for us and Jason either stands next to him and strums with him, dances, or walks in endless circles around him. Brad throws Jason up on his shoulders when we go places together and Jason seems to like the better view.