Another day of fun

Q is having a great week hanging with his Grandma MJ. They have been going to the park daily, and today they made an outing to the store, which Q always loves.

Grandma has obviously encourage the little bugger to ride his giraffe; he is really getting the hang of it and balancing better now.

Grandma MJ cleaned blinds today, something that Mom and Dad never do. Q got to help by playing with the rod that turns to open and close them.

Quin really got a kick out of bouncing the rod up and down. It was that fun state of matter: a non-rigid solid structure. It swung all over before it got rehung with the blinds.

Today, Jared finished up his last week with students during his first year as an AP. It was a great first year, filled with many interesting moments. For this final week, Mr. Stevenson paid up to the fifth graders for performing well on their state assessment tests. The incentive was for 80% to pass, and our fifth graders had a 90% passing rate, which is a phenomenal. When I came home after "paying up", it was funny to see Q. He stopped during his normal "open the door reaction" to Daddy to then process that it was me, even though I looked a little different. He was all smiles after the initial pause, when the moment of recognition occurred.

Jared in the process of getting trimmed.

The follow-up was colored hair spray.
A small price to pay to get over 150 students very excited and happy.
Plus, it will grow back. :)

More Fun at Q's House

Katharine and I entertained a couple of friends Sunday evening. While we prepared for dinner, we let Q be the director of operations from the kitchen island. He loves trying to help us, especially while cooking. At least it feels that way, though I spend more than normal amounts of time playing with food in the kitchen, so it could be a disproportionate.

Here you can see him giving directions to Katharine as she preps some guacamole. I got the camera out right after he grabbed the salt shaker and decided to salt the chopped up avocados. They clearly needed some salt.
Q learns a valuable kitchen lesson. While cooking, prepping food for cooking, helping with the food, or really just hanging out and watching it get made, you get to sample things. I always said the reason I like to cook is because I like to eat. I'm sure Q will agree.

Q read his new favorite book to Katharine. Notice the elements of food left the kitchen and entered the living room. Quinlan loves going through all the things The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats and sticking his little finger into the hole the caterpillar made. Hmmm......one slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami . . . sounds good to me.

Monday brought a special visitor: Grandma MJ arrived for a visit with Q. She came with a box of little books just for Q to read. Here he is, sharing one with whomever will grab it.
Grandma MJ also brought Q a Frisco Rough Riders hat. I guess the Phillies are his pro team and the Rough Riders can be his minor league team. Here he is, sorting the mini-books back into their box, an activity he seems to enjoy. Quin is very excited about his coming week and all the fun he will have with his Grandma MJ.

Just hanging out

It's so easy to find joy in all of the little moments we experience with Quinlan. We wanted to share some random photos from the last week or so in the life of Q.

Here he is, starting the morning with some Cheerios.

Sometimes he likes them with a spoon, and other times he likes to put them on the tines of a fork. It is a little like crafting: he threads individual Cheerios onto each separate tine.




We love that Q loves his books.

We don't love putting all of the books back on the shelf every day, but if that is the price we have to pay, I guess we can handle it.

Q sits and reads each page individually.

Katharine took this photo one day before they left in the morning. He was getting in his morning reading time. No one told him the words make more sense right-side up, but he especially likes the books that give him something to touch.
He has a few favorites, and they tend to change from day to day. Several of his books have specific pages that he likes the best - ones with pictures of dogs or ducks or our favorite, the tiger (that he roars with).

I tried a new recipe last week. Katharine wasn't feeling great that afternoon, so it was Daddy and Q time. Q ate enthusiastically with me and seemed to really enjoy the wraps.
He got leftovers in his lunch the next day, just like Daddy.

Smiling behind the wrap

He is a veggie lover. The wrap was grilled asparagus, zucchini, and onion with roasted red peppers, arugula, spinach and basil, with a homemade spicy bean paste on a tortilla. Scrumptious!

I am all for encouraging Q to start cleaning.

I left the Swiffer out, with the hope that I would do some more, and he decided to try it out.
I was a little slow getting a new cloth on it before he lost interest, but he seemed to think it was pretty cool. It won't be too long before he can take on bigger tasks, like mopping.

15 months and still going strong

Q's 15 month birthday was on Thursday, but since it was a school night, towards the end of the year no less, it was easier to do pictures and the measurements a few days late. Veteran parents are all nodding in agreement, but it is true: even though I love my son more every day, that greater love does not produce more photos. Katharine posted on facebook recently about how much she loves Q; the actual quote was, "Katharine Riedlinger loves her kid more than she ever believed was possible. I'm totally a cliche!" It's funny, but true. We go in to check on him before going to bed each night, and the little feeling I get in the pit of my stomach always surprises me: there truly is no greater love than that of a parent's to their children. (I love you Mom and Dad - thanks.)

Now on to the still-growing monster.
Q weighed about 25 pounds today - the Wii scale is more approximate than the doctor.
He was about 31 inches tall. I say about because we are trying to measure him standing up now, which is quite a trick.

The monkey photos -

Q is very excited to see his monkeys.

Hugs for EVERYONE!!!!!

I'm gonna get you!

Pinned down, but no longer small enough to fit on the monkey rug.

Laughing with Mom

After the photos, we used Q's awesome monkey swim wear to actually swim in the pool. He has already experienced the water once this year, sans swim gear, but with the weather we've been having, we wanted to actually get in.

Standing on the second step, all by himself.

Q trying to jump in, away from his Mom, who has quick hands.

The winter did not affect Q's love of the pool. He was ready to kick his feet, lay on his back and stick his face in.

The after swim cuddle. Q sat up on his own in the chair and dried off before heading back inside.

Birthday Party

Q attended a party for Leah today, celebrating her 2nd birthday. Leah's Mom works with Katharine and was kind enough to invite Q to her party, held at the Little Gym. Q loved everything about it and was smiling and giggling the entire time, except when he was eating, even though he skipped the morning nap to attend.

Q wanted to check out everything in the gym. Here was a squishy mat that the larger kids could bounce on. Sitting worked for Q--for about 2 seconds.

Another spot that worked better for the bigger kids, a spring board.
Q couldn't make it move at all.

Q chasing bubbles with the birthday girl.

On the inflatable tumbling pad with Dad; still can't figure out this whole jumping thing.

Very proud to be hanging around.
He kept wanting to go back, but got tired enough that he couldn't hold on. Maybe he has a future on the monkey bars.

Walking the balance beam with Mom.

We had great fun with the parachute, even if holding onto the strap was not in Q's plan. We walked "round and round" while we sang The Wheels on the Bus.

Giant squishy bouncy balls were fun to play with and share.

Here Q makes a slight adjustment to the equipment before going back on the uneven bars. He hasn't found a knob yet that doesn't need to be turned.



Moving all the spots around, these giant circles are great fun.

After playing for an hour, there was singing, cake and snacks.

Q sitting at the table like the big kids, waiting patiently for any food that would come his way.

The pink icing was awesome. His fingers were dyed a great shade until I was able to get them under some water in the sink. He loved the cupcake, especially because it came before his sandwich and veggies, which he still ate.

As a bonus treat, Katharine shot this short video of Q Friday night, while I worked late. As you can tell from the cupcake shots, Q loves eating, but he is expanding his etiquette tricks to include utensils now too. Katharine shot this at dinner, with the sun shining in behind him. It gives a very angelic feeling to the video. She is thinking about enrolling in film school to expand the use of special effects.

Racing through spring

It has been a pretty busy spring here in Austin. Q loves being able to spend more time outside and practice his walking all over the place. We have obviously not been keeping things up to date here on the blog - here is a little catch-up.

With all the fun that we have been having, there is, of course, Q's experimental cranky side.


That little personality comes out when he wants something we won't let him have. He is usually easily distracted; if we show him something else he wants, we get his sweet smiling face again.

The pool was opened for the summer: Q took the first dip, even though it was a little chilly. He loved it!


Now, it is part of his evening ritual with Katharine: water the plants and kick his feet in the pool.

He also loves to play in the yard. He pulls out the grass and waves leaves around like they are better than the most expensive toys.


In the house, there is nothing Q likes better than reading his books. He even started taking over shelves that we use. Quin will grab a book and bring it over to you and want you to read it to him. He also sits and pages through them on his own, both in the house and while he rides in the car. It is very endearing to watch him "reading".



Q has enjoyed playing on the computer ever since we started putting him in front of it and letting him talk to people on skype. He is now trying to get a reaction out of the iMac. He doesn't seem to understand that no one is talking to him on it yet, but he is still typing away.




Over the Mother's Day weekend, Q got to celebrate with his Mom and his Mossil, who came down to spend a few days with him. She spoiled him by letting him stay outside all the time.



Last Saturday, we drove down to Dripping Springs and had a picnic at the vineyard to which Katharine and I belong. Q had a great time playing outside and meeting new people, as well as a few dogs.






This was a great shot of him coming at me with the camera. Check out his awesome Olympic sweatshirt that Pops and Nona Stina bought for him in Vancouver. Yay, Q!