Kenton and me, one year ago. He wasn't even walking yet--now he's running, jumping and climbing! I can't even imagine what a year from now will bring, but I'm sure it will be lots of fun.

Isn't he a mess? He looks like this most of the time now. He's always scratched and bruised from some fall or bump. I don't think he's clumsy as much as he just doesn't pay attention to where he's going when he's running around. There are too many other interesting things to look at! We think the scratch on his cheek is actually something he did to himself. He went to bed Monday night looking fine and woke up Tuesday with that on his cheek. When Edward went to get him out of his crib that morning the first thing he said was, "Daddy, cheek hurt." We were going to take him to have his picture taken yesterday, but thanks to the big scratch had to reschedule that. His drooling has finally gotten better and he doesn't have to wear a bib constantly anymore, but he some days are worse than others. This was obviously a "more drooly" kinda day. Even all scratched, bruised, soggy, and splattered with food, he's still pretty cute. :~)

Kenton is starting to understand what tools can do. This picture was taken several weeks ago when Nana and Papaw were down visiting, and he was content to play with his toy tools while daddy and papaw used the real things. Today he saw his daddy use a screwdriver to change out the batteries in his toy train. He threw a fit until daddy let him hold the screwdriver, then tried to use it to "open the train", as he put it. We're going to have to make sure he can't reach the screwdriver because I have a feeling he'll be taking things apart before long!

Kenton is certainly developing an "I can do it by myself" attitude. Here he is trying to dry himself off after his bath tonight. No matter how much he protests, he still needs a little help, though!

Could he be any cooler? :-)

Over the Memorial Day weekend we drove down to Panama City Beach to visit with our friend David, who was vacationing there. Kenton didn't care much for the ocean this time, but he was a big fan of playing in the sand. He shoveled and poured sand in and out of the bucket happily for about an hour, and probably would have played longer if we'd let him. We enjoyed our time there, but the 3 1/2 hour car ridewas not too fun for this very pregnant woman. Kenton was a much better traveler than I was on this trip!

Kenton loves to brush his teeth...and wash his hands, or do anything else that involves running water in the bathroom. Here's a picture of him getting ready to brush this morning. You can't tell too much in the picture, but he has a big bump on his forehead where he took a tumble out of the shopping cart at Lowe's last night and hit the concrete floor. He cried for about ten minutes, but mom and dad were upset and worried for the rest of the night. We hadn't been making him stay strapped in the seat when he was in the cart, but looks like we're going to have to from now on. He's getting a little too good at climbing in and out of things.

Last week I had to go to Atlanta for a meeting, and Kenton and Edward came along to keep me company. We talked about taking Kenton to to the zoo while we were there, but he was so fascinated by the koi pond in our hotel lobby that we decided to save ourselves the $25 and just let him hang out in the lobby. He was equally fascinated with pushing buttons in the elevator, but we didn't let him do that quite as much!

On Sunday, which was Mother's Day, we went to Albany and visited the Riverquarium. We'd been a couple of times before with Kenton, but he really enjoyed it this time. Of course, being a toddler, he moved through the place pretty quickly. I had a hard time getting him to stand still to get pictures. He was too busy running from tank to tank yelling "I see fish!" I see water!" Here's a picture of him and daddy enjoying the view from the top level of the building. From the lower level you can actually see the fish, alligators, turtles, etc. who are living in the water behind them. We all really enjoyed the trip, and I think it was a great way to spend Mother's Day.

The Easter Bunny brought Kenton a couple of books, a coloring book, and a stuffed Elmo. The Easter Bunny could have saved a few bucks, because Kenton only had eyes for the Elmo and one of the books that had Elmo in it. He also really likes his Elmo pajamas. The pants are just a little loud!

Kenton went to his first Easter Egg hunt at the YMCA last Friday. He found about 10 eggs which he called rocks. He held this green egg up and said "Daddy....rock." I'm sure he wasn't telling me that I rock :-)

Last week Granny Cardin came down to visit for a few

days. Kenton enjoyed the perks of Granny being here, like being spoiled every moment he was awake. More than likely, the next time he sees Granny he will be a big brother.

Over the weekend our friend from college, Betsy, came to visit with her husband Dan. Betsy has lived in Savannah for a couple of years now and after swapping emails saying "We should really get together sometime soon," we finally did it! We had a great time showing them the sights of Thomasville and meeting Dan and catching up with Betsy. It didn't take long for Kenton to warm up to them. He's not very shy, and always loves an audience for his antics, so he enjoyed our visit too.

We took advantage of the lovely weather and the fact that it stays light until almost 8:00, and went out for a walk after supper tonight. We decided to take Kenton in the wagon instead of his stroller, which he enjoyed a great deal. Unfortunately he also enjoyed shaking the rails, so we had to stop and tighten them along the way. Kenton was really eager to help his daddy with this job, though.

My brother got married over the weekend, and we made the trip to Kentucky for the wedding. It was great to see everyone and we're glad we got to see Ken and Christy get married, but it was also good to get home and sleep in our beds on Monday night. 1,200 miles is a long way to travel in a car with a toddler! The picture is of Kenton and his cousin Conner during the reception. Conner is 5, and Kenton thought he was very cool. Aren't they a couple of cuties?

We learned today that I'm carrying a girl, so Kenton will have a baby sister come July! We're all very excited by the news, and I even had to rush out and buy a couple of little pink sleepers tonight. We've tried talking to Kenton a little about the baby, but he's just too young to understand. He did surprise us by patting my tummy and saying "baby" this morning. He's at the age now where he loves to help us do things like pick up dirty clothes or put things in the dishwasher, so I think he'll be a great big brother. If he loves the baby half as much as he loves Lucy-dog, she'll be one lucky little girl!

We took advantage of the absolutely gorgeous weather today and headed out to the dog park. Turns out parks with large fenced pens are great not only for dogs, but also for toddlers. Kenton and Lucy both ran and romped and had a great time. It really made us wish we had a fenced yard where they could get out and play. Unfortunately I couldn't get any good pictures of both Kenton and Lucy. By the time I got the camera ready to snap, one of them would run off. So here's a picture of the boy with a stick, which he thought was a really great toy.

Kenton has been taking Toddler Gymnastics at the Y and loves it. Here he's enjoying crawling through the tunnel. He also likes bouncing on the trampoline floor with his daddy, and crawling along the balance beam (walking is too challenging for now!). We'll probably sign him up to do it again after this month's session ends. He's had such a good time.

Kenton loves to help fold the laundry. His idea of helping is usually to grab thing from the dryer and throw them on the floor, but he decided to try a new approach today and climb into the dryer. Luckily, the camera was nearby and Edward grabbed it and got a few pictures.

Pudding for dessert? Oh goody!

Good to the last drop!