Jamisen and his Mini Warrior Cries

We snuck away to the coast for a few days and Jamisen has been having a lovely time.  

Jamisen found the biggest hole in the sand that he could, crawled in and then tried to bury himself.

  

 His Dad and I have been relishing all this time with Jamisen and also marveling at how much energy he has. Then again, if we took a 3 hour nap every day, we might also be fully spry and ready to attack the day. And mud puddles. Check out his first mud puddle experience in the video below. His waving at trucks happens with every truck he sees now. It's adorable. My heart absolutely melts when he waves at every passing truck. He is such a friendly little guy. 

Jamisen was fully on board with getting wet at the seashore. He waded into the (cold!) water with no fear. And, he didn't want to leave. We literally had to carry him, protesting in his gentle, mild way (ha!) from the water when it was time to go home. He was soaked when we left the beach today. Thank goodness for the outdoor shower at the house because he was a little sand monster. 

Chris has done 10 mile jogs on the beach for two days in a row and we're all impressed. While he runs, Jamisen naps and I read. I've finished two books thus far. I'm pretty sure that Chris is the better of the two of us with the extra points for working out on vacation. Score one for Chris. And score one for the family who has a Daddy who is taking care of his health!
 

Jamisen has fully found his voice and he yells these unintelligible warrior cries, at the top of his lungs. It usually is when he's really happy and he was exceedingly happy at the beach. Lots of warrior yells were goin' on - especially when he was running towards the birds on the beach. It was precious. The birds barely moved. They were not threatened at all by his little screeches or his pint-sized hurtling body moving towards them at baby breakneck speeds.  

Woo hoo! Charge! It's a party!

Jamisen's Big Adventure

Jamisen had quite the adventure this weekend. See below. No parents in sight. Our little guy did a lot - hike, go all hobo on the tracks, kayak, sweep a shop and drive a tractor. It's a lot to pack in for just two feet of lil' boy.

Fair Fun. Baby Fun.

It's been a busy few weeks in the Faiola-Renoud household. You can always tell when we don't post much that we are ankle deep in irresistible fun. Or work. But for purposes of this blog, we are living a 'Facebook Life' and therefore, it's all fun and never any work. One of the awesome "fun" things we did was hit the Fair.

Real, live American Eagle (so majestic)

It was the warmest day of the year (90 degrees when we got to the fair) so all the animals were a bit warm, tired and hot. Kind of like us! I only lasted 90 minutes before I was begging to go home.

Moo cow, moo!

Gentle touch, Jamisen, gentle.

Jamisen was mildly interested in the animals but since most of them were laying down and panting heavily, he wasn't as interested as we figured he would be. He did pet a happy rabbit, meet a guinea pig (I made sure to tell Jamisen all about Grandpa Faiola's pet guinea pig, 'Squeaky'. He seemed mildly impressed.) and get pecked at by wild turkeys (the kid's reflexes were not lightening fast).

Notice the turkey going straight for Jamisen's eye

  This is Jamisen spotting his true love - a broom. That's right, our little guy found every broom in the fair, spotted it and then ran for them at every occasion. He loves brooms and loves to sweep. It's endearing and adorable.

Brooooooooom! "Ba! Ba!"

This 30 second video below demonstrates every video that I took of the sweet Mr. Jamisen at the fair. "Animals?  Sure, make me play with them. Yeah, they're fine. But really? Boom! Back to the broom!"
Jamisen also met his first baby (baby Korin Valentine). He had a good reaction - mostly puzzled curiosity. It made me hopeful that he will welcome a new sibling (no, no announcements yet) with open arms.

Wha? What is this?! It's so tiny!

 He also played with an adorable dog and every single time the dog barked, he laughed hysterically. It was so cute!

Laughing hysterically at 'Blueberry'

  Jamisen did have a traumatizing eye appointment this last week. He's been covering his left eye a lot so after checking with his pediatrician, we took him into a pediatric optometrist (photo above taken before the multiple restraints for eye drops and eye exam). After a horrible 90 minutes (which included me calling Chris to get him there for emotional reinforcement), the Doctor proclaimed Jamisen's eyes fine and said he hoped he'd grow out of the 'abnormal behavior.' He also received his first wasp sting, right by his eye, this week. Many, many tears ensued and he has a slightly puffy eye now.

Rockin' the tie

Thankfully, Jamisen seems none the worse for wear after the Doctor's visit. Love that boy! He bounces back just like his Mama. =)

Teach

 

When you teach your son, you teach your son's son.

-- The Talmud

Baby Nikes, Beaches, Ice Cream and Joy

Thank you to Chris for hanging out with Mr. Jamisen for a full day on Saturday so I could go attend Mike Dooley's seminar with my awesome Mastermind Business group (Jody Bergsma pictured here with me and Mike Dooley).

 

 Jamisen got a new (hand me down) pair of Nikes from our friends The Hills, and it was SO funny watching him try to walk in them. He could not - and kept falling over.  

 I guess he is used to his Crocs.

  

We had such a great Random Act of Kindness the other day in Fairhaven. A grandfatherly man ran out, waving this adorable stuffed chipmunk. He said to Jamisen, "This chipmunk is running all around and won't let me work. Can you play with him so I can get some work done?" and gave Jamisen the stuffed animal. It turns out that this was Ken Imus, one of the larger developers (and very well respected) in town and he does this for other kids. How sweet is that? Jamisen was confused and tried to give him the chipmunk but I've printed out this photo to send along with the thank you note so Mr. Ken knows that Jamisen appreciates the stuffed animal.

 

Jamisen is getting more used to dogs and still loves to point at them from afar. When they get close, he's a wee bit shy. Grandma and Grandpa Faiola recently went to Seabrook, WA to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and this is my favorite photo from their weekend. Go Mom and Dad!  

 Jamisen recently took in his first baseball game and he was a fantastic pint size cheer machine. He made us laugh so much when he was first introduced to macaroni and cheese. It was like he had never tasted anything so good in his entire life (!!!). And realistically? He probably had not. Fat. Carbs. Salt. All rolled into one. Delish! Daddy also has taken him for ice cream twice in the last two weeks - basically, whenever he has Jamisen all to himself for the day. Hmmmm ....

  

Jamisen's latest obsession is straws (no idea why - possibly for teething all the way in the back of his mouth?)

  

 We went to Birch Bay this weekend and enjoyed the mud flats / slash / beach. Jamisen enjoyed himself and his Grandpa immensely.

  

 We were so thankful that Grandma and Grandpa drove up to spend Sunday with us. Jamisen covered Grandpa with many, many hugs.

  

Grandpa also got Jamisen a baby trampoline. Jamisen seems to be adapting to it wonderfully and even did some jumping this morning.