Here's a picture of Erik and his buddies building with Tinker Toys. I think that's what they're called.

Sorry about the extremely infrequent blogging. Our internet connection is quite tenuous and it's frustrating. I do have some fun new things to tell you about, though.

The last couple days, there have been times when I've said a word and Erik is definately trying to imitate it. For example, one of his word approximations that he's had for a month or so is to say "ish" for fish. Well, it turns out that "sh" is one of his very favorite sounds. He will say it if I say "wash", or "lunch" or any number of words from his daily routine.

Yesterday and today after dinner he & I spent some time in the back yard doing yard work. I brought out a blanket and toys in the hope that he would sit and entertain himself but he was way more interested in helping me pull dandilions and sweep the sidewalk. Which really slowed me down but it just was so fun to be outside that I didn't care. I got him his own little Erik sized broom to sweep with in yet another attempt to increase my productivity. We had to work a little on what is ok to sweep (sidewalk, steps) and what is not (plants, the neighbor's yard).

After a while he was no longer content to use the little broom and wanted mine again. So I tried to convince him that the big one was "mama's broom" and the little one was "Erik's broom". I'm pretty sure he tried to say "broom" and "Erik"! So fun.