And you thought you'd heard the last of us...

Here are a few more things we thought of.

Mindy told me a story about Cole jumping through the roof of a fort he had built. I don't know the story, so bug her to tell that one. She says it was pretty funny.

Parker's got soul. I guess a co-worker was onto something at the company Christmas party in 2007 when he patted Mindy's belly and said "now your baby's got soul". Whenever we turn on the music Parker will stop whatever he's doing and start dancing. I don't know if we have video of it yet, but we'll be sure to get some.

While Parker enjoys dancing, Cole loves to drum. A couple of my CDs came with DVDs. One has a star design on the front of it. Cole will grab us and point at the DVD player and say "star, star". He will then go looking for his drums. He has a small congo drum set and some other musical instruments, which have parts that he uses as drumsticks. He loves it. I think I've posted some video of him doing this...I have.

http://thebutlerzoo.blogspot.com/2009/01/two-videos-of-boys.html

I spent most of last week at home. It was really nice for many reasons. When I spend the day at work, I only get to see the boys when they are getting tired and grumpy, and when I'm headed down that same path. Anyway, one day I was working in our room and Mindy brought in the baby monitor. We've got one of those video monitors which is some of the best-spent money on these kids. We're able to see what they're doing without having to go into the room and really wake them up. It also gives a funny look into what they do when we're not around. Getting back to the story, she had put Parker down for his nap and started hearing sounds that come from his sound table. So she looked on the monitor and Parker was on his belly reaching through the slats of the crib playing with the sound table. He didn't take a nap, but we got a good laugh out of it.

Some of you may have noticed photos of Cole (linked from the previous post) with ink all over his arms. He really likes to draw, but after a while he gets a little bored with the paper and starts coloring on his arms and hands, and then complains about having it on his arms. At least we've been able to avoid having him draw on his face the day before his aunt's wedding - thanks for the memories Maryanne (mainly Laura).

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Cole was given a puppy by his aunt Kathryn for his first Christmas. He never paid it much attention until about a month ago. Now he drags it everywhere. It is an required item on his bed at night. Also posted previously are some pictures of him asleep with it.

There is one final item. Parker has started to follow us around. Not long ago, he didn't care if we wandered out of the room, or even if one of us left the apartment. Now he wails when one of us leaves. Not only does he follow us around, but he has learned, from watching Cole, that he can guide us to where he wants us by taking our hands and walking. It is so sweet, and not yet painful like it is when Cole grabs our skin and yanks, or grabs a finger and starts walking without waiting to see if we're ready to go with.

Why can't I remember all the funny things that happen?

It would seem logical that with some forced vacation and more time at home I would write more on this. The problem is that when I think of things to write, I don't feel like writing and vice-versa. It is slightly frustrating because there have been some hilarious happenings lately.

As for me and work...who knows? After two false restarts, the Owner of the property said on the 5th that the job was on hold until they stated otherwise. This tossed out any hope of the thing restarting in the near future. I was told to use some vacation time, which I am not happy about for a couple of reasons, and so I didn't go to work from the 9th until today, and even then I only went for a few hours today.

The change in routine has been nice, I've been eating breakfast, going to the gym every morning and then studying for the remainder of the day. If my alarm clock wasn't on top of the dresser to keep Cole from permanently hiding it, I would not know where it was.

Parker is walking faster than ever. He has a small tiger that roars if you squeeze it and he packs that thing around. Cole has taken to dragging his blanket and a stuffed dog that Kathryn gave him around the house. When it is time for him to go to bed he happily goes to his room, as long as he has his blanket (and sometimes another blanket just for good measure) and his puppy. He kneels down next to his bed and makes sure that his cars, milk, puppy, and blankets are safe next to him. After saying prayers, where he just says "amen" at the end, he gives me a big hug patting me on the back (and on Wednesday 3/18 a whack on the head) and then climbs into bed. It is really cute.

On Monday Mindy came home from running an errand and said that there was a fire truck, police car and ambulance in the complex. Cole and I went outside to see them. The fireman gave Cole a plastic fireman hat, a sticker badge and a little pin. That was at about 2pm. Cole wore the hat on our walk to the library and while eating dinner. The next morning when he came into our room he was wearing it. He wore it all morning, including on our trip to the park. The funniest part was when he was in the swing and the long part in the back kept catching the wind, pulling the hat in front of his face during the backswing, and then plastering the hat to his face on the frontswing. We finally got him to take it off when he came outside to help me wash the motorcycle...which is another story (and photos).

So Cole helps me wash the motorcycle every couple of weeks. I try to keep it covered, but sometimes I forget after letting it cool down and then I can't put the cover back on until after the dust has been washed off. On Wednesday afternoon we washed it and Cole was a bit more demanding than usual. He insists on holding the hose, and refused to share it at all. We've got a nozzle that has a whole range of spray types so I'm able to set it to soaker mode where it just pours out the end rather than in a stream, which is good because he thinks it is lots of fun to spray me. Toward the end, Cole just turned the hose on himself and was soaked all down the front. After I turned off the water he went up the stairs trying to get into the house. Mindy was off running errands with Parker so Cole couldn't get in. Instead he came back down the stairs and while wandering around on the rocky slope in front of the building, lost his footing and rolled down the hill. He was ok, but during his roll he discovered a pile of sandy dirt. He started playing in it, and after not too long, was picking up dirt and putting it on his clothes, apparently because the dirt sticking to his wet clothes was interesting. Mindy got home just about the time I was done. Pictures will be included.

For the past few weeks Mindy has been going to nursery with Cole on Sunday and I've been taking Parker to my 16/17 Sunday School class. That wasn't working out well so Mindy took Parker to nursery as well. Parker loved it and Cole was protective of Parker. Mindy will have to write more about that.


Some of you may not know that we have two cats. Well, we do, and most of the time they get along with eachother. On Sunday night they did not. Jack can be a bit of a bully and Maya will usually run away, but on Sunday Jack did something that really made her mad. The two of them were tumbling, staring each other down and lunging at each other. At one point Maya was sitting on her haunches, paw at the ready for slapping Jack, while watching Jack approach. Maya has a small head, huge belly and huge paws. Jack got slapped around a bit by Maya and she even had a clump of Jack's fur hanging from her chin. We ended up banishing Jack to the patio so he could calm down.

There will be more to follow. but this post is long enough.

Here is a link to the February album from Facebook. It is much easier to upload pictures there.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154337&id=1534962567&l=c0bf499fbb

Here is a link to the March 2009 album from Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158208&id=1534962567&l=dfa93937a8

Life since March 1st

I'm trying to remember what is new in the last 10 days. I guess there are a few things.

1. One day last week Mindy peeked into the room where Cole & Parker were playing just in time to see Cole take a toy from Parker. Neither of the boys saw her. Parker started screaming and Cole's response was to put his finger in front of his mouth and tell Parker "Shh shh" while frantically handing him toys in hopes of getting Parker to stop yelling before Mom walked in.
2. Later the same day Cole took another toy from Parker, and knowing that he needs to get a replacement toy for Parker, looked around and promptly handed Parker a pair of dirty socks.
3. Cole and I went to a Diamondbacks spring training baseball game on Monday afternoon. I don't think we'll be going to any more games this year - it costs a lot less to just go to the park since all he does is run around anyway.
4. Last Friday Parker turned 1. What a difference a year makes. On Sunday we had some friends over for a little party for Parker. Parker loved the cake and ice cream. Pictures to follow.
5. I spent Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas doing some things around the house. Cole was so excited to see me at the airport. Parker was asleep, but when he woke up about halfway home he made a grunting sound and had a huge smile and waved his arms. Mindy was also glad to see me.
6. Parker is getting a lot faster with his walking. It used to be that if you walked away from him in another room you had some time before he caught up. No more, he's on it.
7. Cole is making a lot of progress with his speech.
8. Parker had his one year checkup on Monday... 27 lbs and he's tall enough to be in the 90th percentile there as well.