Toddler Endorses Barack Obama

My family is in town right now and tonight we celebrated my Dad's birthday with kabobs and ice cream. It was a wonderful evening of good food, conversation and laughter. The laughs hit their height, though when Isaiah, innocently playing with toys gave his endorsement for our next president. As he sat enjoying his toys he held up one of them and said, "Barack Obama!" It was as clear as day and none of us have any idea how he picked it up. Ramin and I have had conversations about the presidential race, but never so vivaciously that he would have picked up who the candidates are. Toddlers are amazing!

Coffeecovers!

I have two dear friends in Boulder (Mandy on the far left and Shauna next to her) who have come up with a brilliant new idea; reusable coffee covers. The statistics surrounding paper cup use and the paper covers that go with them are staggering. There is more information on the website, but it's something like 4 million paper cups used every year, and thus, around that many paper covers.

Our country seems to be in a really positive swing towards stewarding the environment more faithfully and with that has come a desire to do whatever we can to make a difference, big or small. The reusable coffee covers are a beautiful way to not only protect your hands from a burning hot beverage, but to do your part to eliminate unnecessary waste. If you're a regular patron of your local coffee shop, please take a look at their website and help support two women who are all about making a difference, and not just for your coffee cup.

The website is www.coffeecover.net

So Fast...

Isaiah at 4 months old riding his new bike that Daddy got him for Christmas. I thought Ramin was crazy for getting him a bike so early, but it turns out that the early exposure created an early love.

Isaiah at 21 months, cruising on his bike like a true professional. He's in serious training for the Toddler World Cup Championships. Look at that amazing form!! He rides with sheer determination and focus. He gets his little legs going so fast that Ramin and I can hardly keep up with him. To add to the pure beauty of it he randomly will shout "So Fast", "Too Fast" as he scoots along. This is by far his favorite activity. The other day we let him ride as long as he wanted and he kept the wheels turning for 1 hour and 27 minutes straight!! We finally had to go home and had to wrestle him off the machine. The daily routine has become that as soon as the last bite of breakfast is in the mouth he begins to demand the bike ride. this usually consists of a a couple of blocks around the house. In the evening the true rides come. We are talking 4 blocks to the North Boulder park and then multiple laps around the park trying to keep up with the 5 year old guys on 2 wheelers and back home up hill. They love him and he thinks he is the coolest dude in town. I really think he would ride all day long if we let him. He is a man for the bike.

Blueberries

Isaiah turned 21 months at the end of May and is in full toddler form. My good friend Meggan took this picture while she was watching him one day and I feel like it perfectly captures what our little guy is like these days; so sweet you want to kiss his cheeks off, but full of mischief.

He's talking a lot and saying some of the funniest things. Yesterday, for instance, we were coming home from Target and he got really sleepy (we were still about an hour away from his normal nap time). When we came inside the house he said, "Mama, I go nigh night," so I took him back and put him in his bed thinking that maybe he was ready early. As I started out the door he said, "Mama, I change mind!" How he put that one together, I'm not sure, but it provided a good laugh.

Here are a few other classic Isaiah phrases:

"I wan two!" (he has to be double fisted at all times)
"I go bi-ride." ("bike ride" a.k.a. his favorite activity on the planet)
"I wan pay dollars!" (he's recently grasped that you can pay money at a store and get what you want, so almost every day he talks about at least one thing that he wants to pay dollars for)
"I go ba-yard." (we recently moved and the new place has a great back yard...he wants to be in it all day long)
"Mama, I wan yunch" (when he's hungry he always asks for lunch)
"Baa Baa back sheep have you wool...yes sir, yes sir...bags full" (he loves to sing this song, but hurries so quickly through it that he misses lots of words)
"I wan seep mommy daddy's" (translation: I want to come sleep with you guys)
"Time share!" (he says this to kids whenever he wants to play with the toy they have)
"Tackle Daddy!" (or anyone else who is in the general vicinity)

Oh, there are so many more! He cracks us up constantly with his new found verbal skills :) Ramin and I both are finding so much joy in parenting right now. We are amazed that God would give us such a gift.