Round 2

We had so much fun on our little photo shoot the day before that we went back out today to try again.
The truth is he only lasts about 15 maybe 20 minutes and then he quits cooperating.
We needed a few more pics in a different location, so we went out for round 2 and some of the pictures turned out super cute!

G.Q. Anyone???

We were bored yesterday evening, so I took Austen out to the lake for a little photo shoot.
I wasn't sure what the outcome would be because he doesn't hold still and there was no one with me to keep him out of the water, but we managed to get some cute pics.
I think we might head back out this evening and try again.

Really wish those stupid signs weren't there.....

Getting the sand off his toes

Fearless

I think it's funny that Austen has absolutely no fear when it comes to climbing, heights, animals, and pretty much everything else except thunder.
Yep, he's decided he's scared of thunder.
It's hilarious.....sometimes he comes running to me saying thunder even if it's not raining. It's usually just a loud car, but if he thinks it's thunder he's afraid!

Add It To The List

Austen is climbing on everything!!!
He finds things that can be used as a step stool and up he goes.
He unlocks the deadbolt on the front door, he climbs onto the kitchen counter, on the office desk, and up the wall to turn the lights on and off.
Just when I think my house is Austen-proof he goes and adds climbing to his repertoire.

Here he is climbing up on an office desk shelf.
He thought this was quite the feat and was very proud.

Do you think he's seen someone playing with this before???
Funny how he know exactly what to do with it....

Mr. Personality

Austen is VERY serious about his likes and dislikes. He can not be talked into trying something if he doesn't want to and he isn't a maybe kind of person. It's yes or no and that's final!
For example, he hates eggs, and anything with pasta noodles, but he hasn't ever actually TASTED either. He just decided he wasn't going to eat them and he hasn't backed down yet, despite my very best attempts to get him to think otherwise.
The same goes for long sleeves. They "bug" him and that's exactly what he says to me while he's pushing the sleeves up where he thinks they belong. I'm hopeful he'll get used to them or it's going to be a cold winter!
He is also very serious about the stuff he does like too.
Cleaning is one thing he loves!!! He obviously got this from his Dad....
He loves to help me do laundry and he thinks dusting is his job.
He gets excited to vacuum and will often tell me something is dirty just so he can go get a cloth and wipe it down. Lately he's been cleaning his toys with a cloth because he thinks they are "dirty".
Along with every toy being dirty, they are now also "hungry".
(I think he got this from feeding all the animals at Farm Country.)
He loves to get a bowl and a whisk and pretend to make dinner. Once he's mixed it all up he'll take it around to his stuffed animals and feed them. It's seriously cute!!!
Last night he was telling me his belly button was hungry so I told him to feed it. He stuffed a piece of cheese in there, but he wasn't really loving that. He immediately took it out and made a hilarious face of disgust!

Here he is in a basket of clothes that had just come out of the dryer. He hops in and says "warm" while he cuddles.

He seriously loves to do this.....I can barely get all the clothes in the basket before he jumps in.

Cleaning for fun. Give this kid a squirt bottle and a cloth and he entertains himself for hours!

The Proof Is On The Potty

Well technically it's in the potty, but I won't make you look at that!
How about the proof is in the picture???
I don't know.
Anyway, some of my loyal blog readers (again, I won't name names) are having a hard time believing that my child "goes" in the potty, so take the following picture as evidence.
If you need more, feel free to show up at my house around noonish and you can see it for yourself.
I think the thing that's been working in my favor with this is that Austen thinks he's an adult.
Adults go in the potty, then so will he!
...
He's been wanting to everything by himself lately and if I don't let him, he has a meltdown!
He wants to feed himself, dress himself, and even clean himself up after he eats.
I thought this independent stage didn't happen for another year or so, but apparently he's getting an early start. I'm going to try and think of it as a good thing and arm myself with some extra patience!


He's been really into eating peanut butter off a spoon, but the funny part is that he likes to do this while sitting in the cupboard.

Austen thinking he's one of the big boys.

See, he really has no idea he's not 30.

I took a little break from blogging again, so bear with me while I play catch up!

Last Saturday I ran and finished my first 10k!!!
It was perfect weather and a beautiful course. My time was 68 min and 13 sec. I had some anxiety issues through one leg of the course, so I didn't get as good of a time as I wanted, but I still finished with a respectable time.
I was out of energy by the time I got close to the end, but just as I was rounding the corner and heading for the finish I got the best surprise ever!!!
Brian was standing there with Austen cheering for me.
I was so shocked to see them there that it took a second for it to register, but it was just the boost I needed to sprint across the finish.
I don't think I'll ever forget that moment.

Austen has been doing a bunch of new stuff of course. I swear he changes daily.
First of all he is going through a hugging phase where he wants to hug everything!!! Literally!!
Yesterday on our family walk he hugged every light pole, sign post, and fire hydrant on the way home. If he sees a tractor, he wants to hug it, or a sign, or which ever is his favorite toy that day. You get the point.
It's very cute. He'll hold out his arms and say "hug".

While the hugging phase is cute, he is also going through some not so cute phases as well.
Like the getting into everything phase......not my favorite!!
I can not leave this guy alone for one sec and I'm not over exaggerating either.
The gate at the end of the hall is a savior in some ways, but he thinks that if I'm on the other side of the gate that he has license to get into whatever he wants on his side. Some days he tests my patience so much that we just have to leave!!
I love his curiosity, I just don't love it ALL the time.

In other Austen news, he "went" in the potty one day and he's done his business in the potty everyday since then with the exception of one day.
So that makes 6 less poopy diapers I've had to change!!!
I don't know if he'll keep this up or not, but so far it's been pretty easy.
(I'm sure we'll have a setback and one day in the future I'll read this post at laugh at my naivety.)

Some cute pics of the little man with his own ice cream cone.

Ice cream is currently his favorite thing.