Hello everyone,

We are finally having summer weather here. It has been nice, but we actually have some heat and even a little bit of humidity. Too bad the ocean is still only 63 degrees – quite chilly at first!

This has been a whirlwind month – what month isn’t anymore. We managed to go to the Zoo in San Diego twice and have been to the Wild Animal Park once and are going again on Wednesday. Andy had the 3rd off so he went with us to the Wild Animal Park. That is where the picture of Jeremiah and the lion was taken. When we went to the zoo the last time the lions were walking around and both the male and the female walked right up to the glass in front of Jeremiah and looked right at him. They are HUGE animals.

We also got to go to the San Diego County Fair. It is HUGE! I chose a horrible day to go, because finding parking was awful. But once we got there we had a lot of fun. We went right to the “Kid’s Zone” so it wasn’t as crowded. Jeremiah rode a couple rides with Andy – the spinning pirate ship & the huge slide. But he also went on a few by himself. No fear there. Jeremiah loved the funnel cake. He did not like the cows and sheep, because they all started making noise at the same time. He practically ran out of the building, but he wanted to see the baby pig, so when I tried to lead him out a closer door he got very upset.

We have also been to the beach a few times too. Kyle and Sarah live a few blocks from the beach, so we are able to park at their place and walk down. We went on the 4th and this past weekend when Auntie Katie came down. (more about that later). Jeremiah loves playing in the waves, no matter how cold it is.

I helped with another wedding the end of June, so that kept me busy the week or so before. (I am thinking I need to figure out a price to start charging – our pastor says he will recommend me as a wedding co-ordinator, so that would be nice for some extra money. Any input on what any of you paid?) I am so glad Jeremiah is a go-with-the-flow kid. He just goes along with whatever we are doing, as long as we are leaving the house. This morning I had NO plans, it was wonderful and the first thing Jeremiah says is “Where are we going today, Mommy?” and was upset when I said we were staying home. So we ran a couple errands. At least he likes going and being busy, since we almost always are busy.

The day of the wedding Jeremiah got to go to the Carlsbad Airport with Andy. They were having their 50th anniversary, so they had had several planes and helicopters you could get it. I guess he had a blast sitting in them. He also got to sit in an old fire truck. It was a great day for a boy!

This past Saturday was very eventful for Jeremiah. Auntie Katie came down to swim and “see Jeremiah”. We went to the beach and Eddie came with us. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a and Jeremiah got to play in the play area. Then we got home and got the news Baby Joshua (Kyle & Sarah’s baby) was born! As we walked in the back door I got the text and told Jeremiah Baby Joshua was here. So Jeremiah looks at the front door and says “Come in”. Too funny! We did swim after a much needed nap and then got to go see Joshua after dinner. Jeremiah was not quite sure about the baby. He now tells people “he is little and has fingers”. One of Joshua’s hands was covered up and Jeremiah was very concerned where his other hand was. Sarah uncovered it and then Jeremiah was content and ready to go play with the curtain in the hospital room. At least he was content until HIS Auntie Katie held Joshua, then he had to watch carefully. The day before he told me Katie was coming to see him, not Baby Joshua. So possessive.

So developmentally: He is still a big goober boy. He is in the 99th percentile in weight and somewhere between 75-85 in height. But he is starting too loose a little bit of his tummy – just a little – actually I think I mean I can see some ribs now. You can see what I mean 🙂

The molars are finally in!!!! So that means he has all of his teeth. Hopefully it also means no more runny nose, cough or fishy breather, that seems to come at the same time as the molars.

The “Why’s” are still the number one question asked, and if he doesn’t like your answer he will ask you why again, hoping to get a new answer.

He absolutely loves to “read” and be read to! He has started memorizing books, quite quickly!!! We had a book a little over a week and he knew almost all of it. It was hilarious. There is a video on the website – www.andymerrill.com/babyblog It is in the June archive or under Our Videos. Unless you know the story you might not understand him, but you can tell he knows what he is talking about. We are doing the summer reading program at the library and he is quite excited about that.

The newest activity Jeremiah is indulging in is imagination play. He pretends he has a kitchen in his closet. He goes and “takes a nap on his bed” – the ottoman in his room. Then wakes us up and ask what we want to have for whatever meal it is. He also makes cookies and pie and cake quite often, but you have to be careful “it is hot and has to cool”. The other day at the park he drove the big ship playground to the fair. We “looked” at animals and petted the bunnies, then later Sarah and he fed different animals – giraffes, rhinos, and I can’t remember what all. So it is really neat to see him come up with his own games and not just mimic the games his
other friends play.

Then the big news…drum roll. He has been wearing big boy underwear out for the last week. We have only had 1 accident outside of the house! Very exciting. Inside the house is a different story, but not too bad) He still wears pull ups for nap and night, just can’t hold it that long.. So he thinks he is big stuff. I think since last Tuesday we have had 4 days of all dry days, so that is pretty good for our first week.

So there is our month in a nutshell. Can you imagine if I had written it all? It looks like this next month will be just as busy and full. Be sure to visit the blog, Andy is great about updating it. I am sure there are things on there I forgot.

Hope you are all having a great summer!

🙂
Nichole