Catching up on what Patrick has been up to

Wow, how time flies! There is always so much to blog about, but I never seem to be able to get around to it.  I have to accept that I will never catch up and therefore will just have to offer some highlights from the last few months.  To top it off, I am sitting in the car with our laptop while the baby sleeps, so I don't currently have access to any of my pics to go along with this, so I will have to edit and upload pics at a later time,

When was the last time I really posted?  I can't remember.  So I will go back to October since I know that I haven't posted about Patrick's birthday.  So, Patrick turned 1 in October! That makes him 15 months old now!  Here's a little bit about Patrick and what he is doing.  He loves his mom and dad.  He is just beginning to grow out of needing mom at all times, and even allowed aunts, uncles, and grandparents to look at and interact with him over the past month.  He's still not one for letting someone else pick him up though.  He still doesn't sleep through the night, in spite of many attempts and prayers.  Maybe we need more people praying for that one!  He has amazing coordination.  He can go up and down our stairs, and just today he figured out the slide at the park all by himself.  It was a smaller slide and he figured out how to just turn around and go down on his tummy.  I didn't have to help him at all.  He is a finicky eater.  He might like something one day, and throw it in your face the next.  Patrick loves to dance.  He loves the band "Cake."  In fact, all the kids do and they will dance around while I play it on Pandora.

Patrick has a really amazing vocabulary.  He has so many words that I don't even bother counting them.  He seems to just mimic everything we say.  I love it when he chews out the dog.  When Marley does something naughty, he will go over to her and shake his finger at her and just start ranting in some language that makes sense to only him, and perhaps Marley.  He gets into everything.  I am constantly finding various things in various places.  For example, a tissue box in the washing machine, a sippy cup in the little potty, my keys in a kitchen cupboard, etc., etc., etc. He loves to clean up, or 'nup as he calls it.  Since Aaron and I are the nursery leaders Patrick has been attending nursery for a long time already.  He has learned how to drink from a little cup already and play pretty well with others.  He absolutely loves to play outside and would be quite content to spend his life outdoors. If he is ever fussy, all I have to do is go outside for a minute and he calms down and starts to play. 

We recently had our backyard landscaped and with that came tons of sand for under our swingset.  Patrick's favorite thing to do is to get shovels of sand, or buckets full and dump them right on the mat leading into the house.  If the door is open, he will bring it in and dump it on the carpet.  Yes folks, we live in a beach house. 

He also has no boundaries when it comes to yucky stuff.  I can't keep him away from the toilet brush, garbages, or toilets.  Just two days ago we were in the backyard playing and he had a little snack cup that he thought would be a good idea to fill with dog poop that he had picked up with his bare hands.  He eats dog food like it's candy and approaches Marley with his mouth wide open inviting a slobbery lick from Marley inside his mouth.  Thank heavens for all these germs that he is getting exposed to, he ought to have a very strong immune system!

It seems like this post has taken a turn of being all about Patrick, so I will just leave it at that and post about the other kids and events another time.  I will try to remember to add some pics to this when I have access and another free moment.  It seems that those two things don't happen together very often, so therefore I don't blog much anymore! :)