One dirty happy boy

Since the weather has finally warmed up a little bit and the snow finally melted off my north facing back porch (why does anything have to face north?)  I have a nearly 2 year old that spends every moment I'll let him "ouw-sie" (that would be outside).  He comes in absolutely filthy, tired and happy every day.  I think he might be driving his brothers a little crazy though.

Here's what we did today.....

We threw rocks:

He jumped on the trampoline:

He did a little swinging:

He did a lot of sliding....which he used to not be afraid of but after falling the top he won't go down without me...but he still loves it.

This I totally don't get.  He steals our shoes and wears them outside.  He has some kind of a shoe fettish.  I think he knows he can't get his on by himself so he steals ours.  Today mine...first my chacos, which he left out the dog pen and I made him go get them:

Then my tennis shoes and Josh's hat from Chile.  Josh got it out today because he went and talked to Ty's class about Chile.  Tracen's been wearing it ever since:

He wanted to follow the boys around after school.  He rode his little fourwheeler down the hill over and over.  Followed the boys to Ethan and Addi's. Jesse took Tracen out on the trampoline while I was mopping the floor and I could hear him yelling at me.  I went to the door and Tracen pointed at Jesse and yelled "Trouble!"  Josh brought us home ice cream and didn't bring Tracen his own.  Josh got an ear full from him.  I put some of mine in a bowl for him to have his own but he wanted the styrofoam cup from Maverick so I ended up with the bowl :)  It was quite the eventful day.  He's now a dirty dust covered tired little boy.

Other stuff about Tracen lately.....

If you say anything to Tracen his response is "huh?" if you repeat yourself the answer is "huh?"  It gets frustrating.  I usually just answer "yep" back.

He LOVES cows.  He will point out every cow between Parowan and Cedar City.  He can do this whether we take the freeway or go down the highway.  Unfortunately Grandma's calf died today of some weird illness we're all hoping we don't get now, especially Tracen since he goes with them to feed it any chance he gets.

He's the boy's (Josh included) monkey.  They teach him to do all the things they think would be hilarious for him to be doing.  If they tell him something is poison he sticks his tongue out turns his head sideways, makes a gagging sound and falls over.  They've also taught him to scream, throw his arms in the air and yell "Ah it's going to get me!" while running away.  He also runs up to you with his arms out wide and yells "catch me!"

This is a little bit what poison looks like...but he does it better.

We're a little worried about having the baby now because he doesn't like to share my lap with any other babies.  He also won't go to nursery anymore and I have to sit by him...no standing allowed.  And I sit on one of those little nursery chairs and try not to die.  I attempted to stand during snacks and he would have none of that!

He's quite the character!  Here's a pretty smile for you in parting...