Memorial Day, cont.

Warning: picture overload ahead...

Patrick grew up this weekend. I had no idea what a profound effect his relatives would have on him. Okay, I kind of suspected they would end up affecting him, but I figured it would be more on the crazy end of things. Instead, he matured to attempt to meet the level of the adults around him. It's a good thing he's going to have a younger brother and cousins to help him stay a kid around all the adults at family events soon.

He even looks more grown up, thanks to his first salon haircut. I won't go into the torture that is cutting a toddler's hair (thanks Mom for playing bad guy during that), but once he left the salon, he seemed to really love his new haircut. I have to agree. He grew from a young toddler to a miniature pre-schooler with just a few snips of the scissors.
His vocabulary grew immensely over the weekend, too. I can think of two new words he says now off the top of my head and one he learned to associate with much more.

Yesterday when we called Nana, Patrick started waving at the phone and saying, "Bye!" He hadn't gotten the two--waving and "bye"--in sync until this weekend when he went bye-bye several times every day. Now when he thinks of bye-bye, he thinks of going to Nana and Ba-pa's house. Speaking of that, he figured out what to call my dad (Grandpa). He calls him Ba-pa, because that's what he can pronounce that's close. How adorable is that? We're still working on the other grandparent names; even though he has proven to us that he can say Nana, Gigi, and Papa, he won't use them to identify his grandparents yet.

Sorry for all the Nana pictures this time around. He was acting really cute with her--while standing in one place! I took the opportunity to take lots of pictures, which turned out really well.

We got to see that goofy grin on his face nearly the whole weekend. Patrick loved having the task of entertaining the family with his antics and equally loved having each of them play with him as well. That squealy laugh rang through the house regularly any time he was awake. How come you guys can't hang out with him all day every day?

Uncle Nick is quite the accomplished pianist, and he was attempting to teach Patrick the trade. As much as Patrick loves music--and his Uncle Nick--he had fun "learning." Of course, moments before this picture, he displayed his comfort with his uncle by leaving him a smelly present in his diaper--hence the expression on Nick's face.

Patrick also had a lot of fun with his Aunt Jennifer (or Aunt Jill, or whatever nickname sticks for this aunt Jennifer). He wouldn't pose for the camera with her, though. Despite what it looks like here, he smiled a lot when Aunt Jennifer was playing with him.

Of course, his favorite part of the weekend had nothing to do with people. He remembered the cat immediately (kit-ty!), in the short time he saw her before she hid in "her" room from the mean old dog who showed up with Uncle Nick and Aunt Jennifer. That didn't bother Patrick any; the dog was just as amusing. He laughed at every doggy thing she did, like bark or scratch herself or run around the room. He also learned her name almost immediately. It doesn't hurt that it closely resembles "kitty"--Katie. He pronounced it very carefully: Kay-tee, emphasizing each syllable and that t. He has even asked for her since we got home. We may just have to try the dog thing again sometime after Nathan gets here.

We also went shopping over the weekend--naturally--and picked up a few new outfits for Patrick. I think this one wins as my favorite so far. It's a pair of mechanic's overalls (hard to see on the pocket, but that's what it says). They fit perfectly and look so cute on Patrick.

Not that it hurts that the first thing he did after getting them on was lean down next to his car like he's going to fix it. That's my boy!