One last post and I think I'm caught up!

Soren is working on learning to feed himself with utensils. It's a messy endeavor! Here he is diving into some prunes.

Going for the dunk....
whoops! wrong end...
Wondering what he's clutching? It's a balloon from Trader Joe's, he spots them from the parking lot now and starts screeching!Screw the spoon, this is much easier!
Ahhhh, tasty!!

For about four days I decided that maybe Isaac's job isn't so bad after all. That's because I got to tag along with him to a work retreat at a resort in Scottsdale, AZ. Soren stayed home with a rotation of aunts and uncles. It was nice to relax sans kiddo, but I also missed Soren terribly!! Here's a random smattering of pics, a lot of our pics were on our smaller camera, which encountered an unfortunate incident while we were kayaking. We got to go on a "city slickers cattle drive" where I discovered I was not cut out for life as a cowgirl. It was 105 and we were riding horses through the desert in the middle of the afternoon. People got heatstroke. But an experience never to be forgotten!

Thanks a million to Beth, Mary, Eli and Vanessa who watched our little man, we're so lucky to have such great help! Special shout out to Mary who put up with an ungodly early morning and no nap on Saturday!

An Update on What Soren's Doing!
Soren has had a little burst of language development recently! Now some may argue (ahem, gramps) that this is just a bunch of jibber jabber and can't be counted as actual words, but I say if I can tell what he's trying to communicate and he's making the same sound consistently, it's a word! Here's what we've got, first the actual word, then Sorenese....

cat -"at"
dog -"dah"
meow -"maw"
woof -either "woo" or "oof"
tweet -"cawww"
that -"dat"
hi -"haaa"
bye -"haaa"
airplane -"dat"
milk -"maw"
dada -"dada"
mama -"mama"
balloon -"bah"
num-num -"num-num"
done -"dah"

Some of Soren's current favorite things include...

-talking on the phone (both real and pretend)
-pointing and saying "dat" (works for both "what's that?" and "gimme that!")
-balloons
-brushing his teeth (seriously, he would walk around with a toothbrush in his mouth all day if I let him!)
-water
-balls
-dancing
-givings hugs/kisses/head butts (the latter being the highest compliment)

A sure sign that your child isn't getting enough sleep.... Lately between teething, tummy issues, and the transition to one nap Soren hasn't been getting nearly enough sleep. Neither has mommy!

Every year as hawks migrate south for the winter from northern MN and Canada they avoid flying over the Great Lakes, so they fly down and around the tip of Lake Superior, and right over Duluth. On a good day in late September you can see thousands of birds migrating from Hawks Ridge overlooking Duluth. Being the geeks that we are, the entire Albright clan, plus better halves, gathered for a weekend of bird watching. Here's Scott, Beth, Neal, and Mary looking very serious about the whole thing... Soren did not give one hoot about the birds. He would much rather spend his time relaxing with grams and gramps. Here he's driving his car and dancing...
Contemplating whether he can get up this really big slide...
Using a cake container to pretend he's an astronaut...
Trying to climb up the ladder to the slide...
And helping "fetch" the ladder golf balls.My sisters, Soren's aunts Mary and Beth, aren't they purty???

My sister Beth recently started a new nannying job, caring for a 10 month old girl named Sofia. One day we were both bored so we met up at a playground near their house.
Soren really liked Sofia and kept hugging her!
He also liked playing in the sand, picking it up and running it through his fingers. And wouldn't you know, quick as can be, one of those handfuls of sand went right in his mouth. Not so fun.

Soren was fascinated with Sofia's hair. He did a good job of being gentle with her!
The infamous Soren head-butt. He does this to kids and small animals.
One more squeeze? No?

"Hello? What's that? A sale at BabyGap? I'll be right there!"

Fifteen Months!! (note: I'm aware that this is two weeks overdue, but I'm playing catch-up here)

Last weekend we headed up to the cabin at Fox Lake for one last time for the year. It was cold up there! But that didn't stop us from getting out in the boat and going for a few walks!Soren is really a man on the move these days, crawling at the speed of light and scooting along everything. We visited a nearby historical marker, and Soren scooted in circles around the monument. Exploring an old logging floating cabin with dad.
One of the reasons the long drive to Fox Lake is totally worth it is that the cabin is so secluded. We rarely see another human when we're up there. To get to the cabin you have to drive down a mile and a half long driveway. It's not even a dirt road, just a cleared path through the forest. A while ago the property next to us was put up for sale. Currently there's nothing but wilderness there. So imagine our disappointment at finding this branching off of the drive.... Our biggest hope is that they aren't planning any sort of rental property, and it doesn't appear from the way the road is cut down to the lake that they are.

Sunday was a hot humid day, so what better way to cool off than a romp with the hose?Soren is getting to that stage where he wants to do everything himself. He wanted to hold the hose himself, but somehow kept pointing it at his crotch and then freaking out because it was so darn cold!
Eventually he got it figured out, and the rest was all smiles!

Minnesota State Fair- The Sequel

We headed back for a hot crowded day at the fair, this time with heaps of friends, and again had a total blast!

"Holy crap, do you guys see those tiny baby pigs?" At the Little Farm Hands getting his apron and bucket in preperation for farming tasks.
Soren was happy to drive the mini-John Deere tractor.....
....but not so happy about the ridiculous John Deere hat.Planting seeds, hoping it's corn! Yum!

We've had a busy weekend! Saturday we walked up to the rose garden with grandfather Townsend. It was beautiful, but hot! Soren loves to wave to people and say "haaaaa!!"(that's "hi" in Soren-speak)
More to come tomorrow!

Soren has discovered the napkin cupboard, and I can't tell you how many times I've shoved all these napkins back in there, only to have him decide five minutes later that they look much better strewn about the floor. Oh well, it's cheap entertainment.