Boyd in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania

One of the biggest buckets of sidewalk chalk ever keeps Boyd busy. He likes to lift it and announce, "Heavy". Today I taught him to flex his muscles to see the results of his chalk lifting training.







At the race with Papa, getting ready to cheer for Mom. He liked the cow bells and the post race VIP kids area complete with fruit snacks and trucks. I think we ended up with 5 packs of fruit snacks for the drive home. Boyd is sneaky.

Life on the farm in Virginia. We spent part of last week at my teammate Jackie's house in Virginia with her donkeys and cats. Boyd was pretty much obsessed with the donkeys and insisted on saying hello and goodbye to them every chance he could get. He-haw is his new favorite animal noise. Boyd also made sure he gave equal treatment to each donkey hugging them all and feeding them an equal amount of carrots. Playing in the barn was also lots of fun, along with climbing the fence-go gross motor skills. Hay is cool too and Boyd thought he had a great find later in the week at starbucks when he started pulling out the shredded paper from their display buckets and yelling "HAY".

Back in Maryland Boyd enjoys the park which at times serves as a resting place for a bus, playing with cars and trucks, and following and harassing Tiger the cat. Tiger is Boyd's idol. Boyd mimicks his movements scratching against walls, rolling on the floor, crawling through tight places, etc. Now if only Boyd would stop imitating the storybook character David from David Gets in Trouble (Boyd pulls the cats tail like David and lets out a loud "Meow".

Boyd's been awesome through all the craziness and deals well with change. He has been out on the town in Washington D.C., visited Mount Vernon, points out American Flags on monuments when we drive by, etc. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. This week he saw kids playing football and kept saying, "hut hut hike" we called dad, and dad was very proud. He reads many books especially I love you Through and Through, and Go Dogs Go. He really like the moon and looks for it whenever it is getting dark and in all his night time books. During prayers at night Boyd does prayer hands and finishes the prayer with an ,"AMEN". He does nice kisses and hugs and kisses characters in books when the story talks about kissing, Especially D.W.'s Lost Blankie. Cars is his favorite movie and he likes to be a DJ if the CD player is within reach. We may have ruined a CD or two here. I wish I were better at documenting daily he really is something.

Like father or mother, like son?

Give me a hand! Boyd has been enjoying building Mr. Potato Head and playing other games with the accessories. Today it was Caps for Sale and sticking out the pretend tongues.

Sticking with the potato theme, our couch potato.

Boyd and Mom after bath.

My little reader. He loves his books and surprises me daily with his letter recognition.

Monkey see, monkey do. Boyd insists on putting mousse in his hair like Mom.

A true first born, clapping for himself. Today he looked at his shirt, did a double take, pointed to it and announced, "Cardinal." A fan already. Go Cards!

Yesterday in the car after he requested "Wheels on the Bus" and I turned it on he told me, "Good Job!"

This week he has been intrigued by babies and other children crying. He also loves to ride and say carousel. Big rocks, broken trees, acorns, and small crevices are favorite things in nature. Boyd loves others and enjoys chasing older kids around, even if he wasn't invited in the game. He repeats most things now too. Boyd thinks everyone goes to Chicago when they leave. He loves his bubble baths and took one of the greatest bubble baths ever tonight (I was slightly jealous). He continues to be a terrible sleeper but I love him nonetheless.

Summertime

We've been having a blast with family and friends and fun as we've gotten more creative to beat the heat. Boyd is now 19 months old and gosh I just can't get enough of him. You just never know what he is going to say or do next. This week he's into letters, especially M for Mommy, B, O and T. He also loves his animals, riding toys old and new, and all his vehicles. Hide and seek, chase, and uh oh are favorite games too. Making up games and forts with blankets and pillows have also been of interest. Boyd still likes to play outside and enjoys the days that he can mow, water, and play in his sandbox. He is a pro with the hose now. He's a hoot at the pool and will go under a few times per visit. Jenny, Tony, Tyler and Andrew came for a visit at the end of July and Boyd enjoyed trying to keep up with his cousins. MiMi and Grandpa Ramsey came around that time too. It was nice to have a full house. Oh yeah, Tyler and Andrew want to listen to Wheels on the Bus? Round and round and round... haha. Boyd has to listen to this CD every time he gets in the car. He does the motions and really likes when the babies on the bus say wah wah wah.

Blankie Toga. Looks like a king.

Ramping It. What will slide down the ramp? Cars, tractors, cows, balls and even his own bodies. Boyd would call "Wee!" every time he let go.

Buggy. Boyd pushes Daddy's made from scratch buggy around the living room. Boyd's been saying "No" to everything but when asked, "Do you want to push the buggy?" he answered in a whisper (his new volume level he is exploring) Yeah.

Our sweet neighbors shared their fresh from the garden cucumber with us and Boyd ate it like corn on the cob.


Big kids now. Boyd and Samantha have always enjoyed each others company. Sam was feeding Boyd the berries and for once he ate the blueberries.

Along for the ride. Giddy up Tyler.







Relaxing at the end of the day with Grandpa and Ozzie.

Working around naps (or nap possibilities as Boyd skipped a nap or two) we visited the zoo in the evening. Here he is with Aunt Jenny or mommy as he liked to call her, and Uncle Tony.

The hippos were awesome swimming right by the crowds over and over again. Boyd kept calling out and signing "More." Andrew makes sure he sees the hippos.

I love this picture of the Bolz family plus Boyd.

Boyd was about to climb in with the zebras/ Marty from Madagascar (his favorite movie)

Who is actually in the zoo?

Jamberry Jamberry Truck berry and bunny ears.

Tyler and Andrew taught Boyd to wear his hat sideways and be a DJ. Now Boyd calls his hat DJ.

Playing with flour!

Music man. Thanks for all the new toys.

Get your ticket and get on board, I'm going to ride this rain choo choo.

Working on the trains with Andrew.

Boyd found a little cubby space on this train car.

Being dangerous (this is up and ladder and into an old seat space with the seat removed.

Controlling the lights on the track.

Driving.

Train ride at the Museum of Transportation.

Just a few pictures I need to post

Boyd took his finger painting to the next level. When I showed him this picture immediately after he exclaimed, "Green!" He loves Green, the number 2, and the letters I and Y this week.

This is the watch out crazy Boyd face.
Grandpa Burla caught a turtle at the farm and brought it home for Boyd. We let it go in Castlewood and on our drive out we found another one.

Boyd and Katie playing with Boyd's new chalk. I think this was right when Boyd discovered his boo boo on his knee and started telling us all about it for five minutes.



Boyd is obsessed with cereal and the boxes as well.

This picture got left off the last blog somehow. I'm not sure what kind of face Boyd is making- he keeps us on our toes.