The Talens' Tales

That's right! Joash is testing out his feet and getting more confident each day. Here is a little video we took of him showing off his new skills.

Joash had a bit of fun with a box yesterday. I put him in the box to start off and then he crawled in and out of the box several times throughout the day. He thought it was a lot of fun.  What a silly boy! "And this is how I get out of the box."

Today at Coffee Break, I took part in a Christmas Sweet Swap with several other in the group. I now have a /2 dozen of 12 different yummy goodies. How fun is that? I made Cake Balls for the swap and I hope that people enjoy them. We also got the recipes for all of the sweets, so now I have even more ideas for great things to make. During our social time at coffee break we were talking about different sweet recipes, and I mentioned the Cookie Bar recipe that I make. I got this recipe from my mom. She made it one time when we were in Michigan and Wilbert just loves these bars. He could eat the whole pan in one sitting, I think. So, my friends at coffee break wanted me to share the recipe, so here it is. Cookie Bars 1 box yellow cake mix 2 eggs 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup margarine - melted 1/4 cup water 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips Combine first 5 ingredients - mix at medium speed for two minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 375 for 20-25 minutes or...

Joash got a this little pair of wooden shoes when he was a baby and I noticed the other day that they sort of fit him now.   He is starting to get that certain things go on his feet. Yesterday he was struggling with a sock trying over and over again to open it up and put it on his foot. The same thing happened with his wooden shoes.  "They go on my feet?"  "I can do this!" "I am still trying, Mom. This is harder then it looks." Someday he will figure out how to dress himself. But it is pretty cute to see him try.

Since we are going to be in the States for Christmas, Opa and Oma thought Joash should get to celebrate Sinterklaas. So they came last night with a new outfit for Joash and this cool dump truck. It was so cute to see Joash's face just light up when he pulled the truck out. He made his great engine noise and pushed it all over the house before bed and then again this morning. Thanks Opa and Oma!

Our house has really low counters . So low that Joash can reach stuff that is on top of the counter. Every day is seems like he can reach further, so things like knives have to go way to the back of the counter or in the sink. The other day I made some bars (or squares for you Canadians. I had scooped them out of the pan and put them in another container for storage. I had set the pan and the spatula I had used to scoop the bars out on the counter. I turned around to do something and when I looked back, this is what I saw: Joash had located the spatula I had used and was licking off the crumbs. What a sneaky little guy.

You remember Pavlov's dog? Mr. Pavlov did some experiments with his dog where he would bring the dog food and ring a bell. Eventually, he would just ring the bell and the dog would start to salivate, thinking food was coming. This concept is known as conditioning. Well, apparently it works with humans, too. Joash and I were out and about yesterday morning and we were on our way home again right around nap time. I had taken a snack for Joash with me in hopes that I could keep him awake on the way home and then he would take a nice morning nap like usual. (This plan failed miserably. He stayed awake on the way home, and the rest of the morning, but he had a good afternoon nap, so that was nice). I gave him a few crackers when I put him in his car seat. Then, as we were driving home, I handed him a cracker every now and then. When I would reach in the bag to grab a cracker, it made a nice crinkling sound. One time, I glanced in the rear view mirror...