happy father's day!

happy second father's day to the best dad around. finley is so lucky to have such a good daddy. from the minute we found out we were having a baby, to the day we found out it was a boy, to the seconds after his birth - mr. h3b has been amazing.

he is hands on. every.day. he doesn't seem to need breaks or time to himself. and finley loves his daddy time like nothing else. trips to the park, the beach, wrestling and chasing, and nightly baths. those are cherished moments for all of us.

i am so thankful that finn has a loving father. a good role model, companion, and teacher. i, of course, knew this would be true well before any baby came along, but to watch it play out in real life? that's something special.

so finley decided to don his very best summer clothes and his daddy's bowtie (i learned to tie one!) and we snapped these shots just for dad.

 

(this one's clicky! don't you just love that vintage bw?)

nice doggy

in an effort to post more frequently, here are some pictures of finn and miles, our younger dachshund.

we have been lucky that finn loves dogs and that, for the most part, the dogs love finn. he's learning to be gentle and we're just trying to instill some bit of understanding that they are living things and deserve to be treated nicely. some days they play together (chasing balls) a bit and share food (finn throwing scraps from his highchair), but they generally keep their distance.

he's recently taken to petting them. it starts out nice and he softly pats their backs. but then he gets curious. he'll pull their fur a little. poke their toenails. and for poor miles (who tolerates this more than our other dog), finn will inspect his nose and try to grab his eyes. i'm doing my best to keep both parties protected and i just hope finley can continue his love for animals in a kind way. and we'll keep the eyeball poking to his baby dolls.

playing in pjs

finn and i played outside in our pjs this morning. he's obsessed with keys (only real ones) and just learned how to push the car alarm button to cause the car horn to honk. our poor neighbors...

he spent a good 15 minutes running around and honking the horn. and then he found our front door, spent some time stretching, and tried to figure out how to use the keys to open it.

such a funny boy. i'm thankful for summer because he's generally happy if he's outside. i imagine we'll spend mornings, afternoons, and evenings out there.

toddlers are hard

blogging was so much easier when finn was a baby. there were more nap times and less running around. and now that summer's around the corner, we've been taking advatage of good weather by spending it without a care in the world - beach time, park time, friends, picnics, nightly concerts.

i'm not complaining. real life has been fun. crazy and wild and a learning experience for all. i just find it hard to collect and edit pictures, post thoughtful, or even any, entries, and keep up with other blogs. but this blog isn't my job ;)

and so i have this day at the park to share. a rare occasion where i brought my camera to capture an afternoon playing. i do bring my camera to lots of places, but if we're just headed out to play, i usually leave it behind so i can focus on playing face-to-face rather than lens-to-face.

finley is full on walking. he pretty much walks everywhere and i rarely see him crawl anymore. i'm so glad i caught some of his last days crawling on video. i knew they were coming to a close and here he is, proving me right. he can climb onto the couch. he can see out the windows standing on the floor. he loves to crawl up the slide and go down on his belly. he's a bundle of energy and needs almost constant stimulation.

he's still mr. serious. he does laugh and play and have fun, but he is often pensive and stares at everyone and everything. he throws tantrums often and fights to get his way. he can be found doing something naughty 9 times out of 10. he knows "no" and disregards it with twinkle in his eye. he's trouble, but still sweet and loving. open mouth kisses, soft hugs, and hair petting...he does know how to be nice.

he's a little boy now. searching the world, finding his place. testing the waters and the boundaries. i'm just trying to keep up.