still here

it's been awhile since our last photo update! life is just flying by up/over here. helio will be 21 months in just about a week. he's been growing up fast and right now talking seems to be his big thing. that and getting into trouble.

he's got enough words now that it's hard to keep track of them all. for a long time we could run through them on one hand, but now all i can track are the favorites. some of those would be: backhoe, strawberry, cheese, "abacoe" (avocado), truck, tractor, cat, up, all done, juice, poo poo, and the list goes on. he's been getting good a repeating words back to you.

other new tasks include knowing and announcing when his diaper is dirty, trying to take off and put on his own shoes, helping in the garden by pulling dandelions (he says they're "ebol") and collecting mulch, and giving people a huggy.

here's a random collection of photos:

here's helio enjoying a sunny spring day at the University of Washington under the cherry blossom trees.


here he is getting to know a dog statue at the park.


another new favorite activity is playing with chalk on the driveway.


here's helio on easter morning. the biggest hit was the ginger cat cookies hidden inside the eggs.


and check out all the morels we had growing in the garden!


here's helio doing his best outdoor wear model pose on vashon island.


I always wonder what helio's doing at school. this is what he does a lot of. he plays with the trucks.


one of our favorite places to eat out are the auto-sushi places. helio knows what he wants.


and, here's helio just a couple days ago playing with a visor he got as a birthday party favor.

bonus movie:

couple pics

here's a couple photos:




we watched two other kids just about the same age as helio this saturday. and, all i can say is, 30 inch chaos grows exponentially when adding other 18 month olds. but, we all had fun.

sunny in seattle

it was warm and sunny today! so, we headed out to gasworks park and watched the boats, sea planes, dogs, and other kids.





then it was off for a quick visit at the fremont troll. helio was wondering why a bunch of people were taking pictures of him. maybe because he's standing in front of everyone and blocking their view?



or maybe because they were waiting to dance?



afterwards we scarfed some IPAs, cajun tater tots, fries, and grilled cheese. Then it was nap time, and then we played in the backyard with a squirt bottle and the chickens, and then it was homemade pizza time, and then bath time, and now bed time....

bonus pictures:

zoo trip

we're lucky enough to have a zoo membership from christmas and now that the weather's drying out and warming up we're starting to take advantage of it. it's a nice thing to have because we can go for just a short time and not have to worry about getting our money's worth. also a good free excuse to get outside.










helio enjoyed the birds until one bit his finger and then he refused to look at them anymore. but with a little coaxing and a nice bird we got him to resume the feeding.

the following aren't zoo picks, but they're cute.




this is the first time with homemade playdough.


one day after a nap, helio refused to get out of his crib. he'd cry and fuss and run back into his room if you took him out. he just wanted to sit there and play with his tractor, which he just slept with in his arms, and his cat. we may have convinced him to get out of bed with a cookie.

a new post? Whaaaa?

here's some select photos:

where does the time go

so, it's been awhile since the last post. a lot and not much has happened in the last couple months. we are all doing well. helio is growing up very quickly. we visited grandma and grandpa in michigan for christmas and he seemed to learn new things every day! more on that later.


this picture is helio waiting patiently for everyone to come have thanksgiving dinner. we were lucky to have gerry and corey over for the weekend, and mei and kevin were in town too. it was the first immediate fong family thanksgiving in seattle and it was a lot of fun.

the days quickly flew by until christmas. we were in michigan for about a week. up until then helio had flown twice but the flights were only 2 hours. this was going to be our first 4.5 - 5 hour flights. the trip back was much better. going there we had a meltdown during the last hour. lack of sleep, food and space does not make a happy baby.

these are from Christmas morning. by the end of the day helio understood that if you unwrap the present there is something more fun to play with inside.












there wasn't a lot of snow this year, but helio had fun playing in what there was. he's sporting new snow boots that are now being used as rain boots.








these are from the hands on museum in Ann Arbor. we visited the water area twice since it was just so much fun! the slide might have been a close second though.










these are just random photos of helio being helio. he picked up a couple new words in michigan. i think his vocabulary now, that we know of, consists of cat, vacuum, cracker, tractor, truck, up, mama, and papa. he's also been eating with a fork and spoon almost exclusively the last week or so, can navigate stairs (up and down) pretty well, and learned to fist bump (kurts goal for the few days we saw him). helio also is a little too good at shaking his head "no".