Monster Feet

Our pea has some big feet and they keep growing!! I did a similar post last year after he went from a size 4 to a size 6 within a few short months. Well, this summer he managed to go from a size 7 to a size 9 in less than one month. No joke!!! About 3 weeks ago, he started wearing size 8 and now he is in size 9. Sheez! He is growing way to fast and I don't like it! He is up to 37" tall (as of 3 weeks ago) and weighs 33lbs (he actually lost a couple pounds in the last month or so!). For the first 5 or 6 months of his life he hovered in the 5-10th percentile and is now consistently in the 90-95th percentile. He is a big boy!

He received these size 7 firetruck shoes for his birthday in April. I LOVE these shoes and I am so sad they are now too small!
His size 8 shoes that he not only outgrew in 3 weeks, but he also destroyed by dragging his feet down the sidewalk when riding his ride-on horse.

His newest pair of sandals...size 9. It doesn't look like these are going to fit for very long, does it? At least they only cost $3.00!! Gotta love Once Upon A Child (they were brand new Children's Place shoes with the tags still on!).
Aside from growing like a weed, here are a few other tidbits about pea:

• He has entered a whole new level of energy lately. He. Never. Stops. It's tiring just trying to keep up with him! He is definitely a rough and tumble little boy. To pea, everything is a ladder so he naturally climbs on everything. He is very resourceful in finding a way to reach something. For example, he uses the drawer pulls on the bathroom cabinet like ladder rungs in order to climb up to the counter. He also climbed the side of a shopping cart the other day while I was paying and managed to pull the cart over on top of him. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt, but I could not get out of that store fast enough!
  
• He has recently started using a lot of Spanish vocabulary without any prompting. The other day he was counting in Spanish, yelling "Buenos Dias" and "vamanos" at the grocery store, and saying "cuidado" as he tried to avoid "tar puddles" in the house. (For all you Backyardigans fans, tar puddles are in the Caveman's Best Friend episode.) We go through spurts using Spanish vocabulary so I was surprised when he started using some of these words routinely and appropriately! It just proves that he is always listening. (I won't mention what he repeated in the car the other day.)
  
• Pea not only listens intently, but he is also a very observant child. For example, he is our little GPS in the car. He is always telling us which direction to go while driving and he usually has a specific reason. He knows where all the fire stations are in town and which direction we need to turn in order to drive by any given station. (He has actually been doing this for months). He also knows which way we need to turn to get to various train tracks, grandma & grandpa's house, either of my sibling's houses, grandma's work, the ice cream store, etc. Another example...When we were in Indy a couple weeks ago, we ate breakfast at Einstein Bagels one morning and took a back way from our hotel to get there. The next day, we were approaching Einsteins (it was not in view, yet), but from a completely different direction and he started saying "Eat breakfast!" Initially, I had no idea what he was talking about until we passed Einsteins and he was pointing in that direction.
• He has been using the potty off and on for several months, but we have not done any "formal" training until today. Well, that is subjective because nothing is really formal in our house! But, he has been doing great! He willingly sits on the potty and goes almost everytime. Granted, he has had some accidents, but that is okay. He'll get there when he's ready.
• Pea is a great eater and is generally willing to eat most anything! He loves dipping red pepper strips in hummus, loves brown rice, beans, couscous, guacamole, edemame, sweet potatoes, squash, mangoes, berries, etc. I hope he continues to eat like this!
• He is definitely a cuddlebug, though a cuddle bug that is constantly moving! He loves to snuggle under blankets on the couch, even if it is hot out.
• And, he is definitely Mr. Independent. Everything is "I try" or "I do it."

I finally took our underwater cameras to be developed so I hope to be posting some more Mexico pictures soon!