Here are some of the Gunn highlight pics of the past few weeks:
We call this series, 'El Poco Loco'.
This one is titled, 'Somber Mardi Gra Pirate on Drums'
And this one, 'The Reverent Lazy Susan Rider'. 
As soon as I caught him taking a spin on the dining room table, he immediately started saying a prayer.
So, instead of punishing, I took pictures.
Today was Gunnar's very first swimming class.
I'd been really looking forward to it up until about 2 weeks ago when Gunn decided that he no longer liked baths.
In fact it's not that he doesn't like baths, he HATES them and screams and holds onto your shirt like a clawless cat with his hands and his toes trying to wriggle his way out of getting in the tub whenever the word 'bath' is mentioned. I'm not quite sure how this phobia developed. We totally stopped water boarding him at 6 months so, who knows, right?
Showers, on the other hand, he loves. Almost every morning either Chris or I will be washing our face in the shower only to feel a small hand on the back of our leg while a little voice says, "hi!" The first couple times it happened I almost slipped and fell on top of him (just imagine the 911 call for that). Now it's just a struggle trying to keep him out of it whenever one of us is in it. Home Depot doesn't sell locks for shower doors. Also, Gunnar prefers to shower fully clothed.
Anyway, I was afraid swimming lessons would be at best a total screaming fest and at worst a complete waste of money. Chris came along with us as our FHE activity for the week and to document the event.
Things started off a little rocky...
The pool, which was supposed to be 85 degrees was somewhere around 75 degrees and no toy could make that one better.
But after a few minutes, things got better...
Arnold, the swimming instructor, was very impressed with Gunnar's kicking and splashing abilities.
Blowing bubbles proved to be a little more confusing though. He sucked in a face full the first time he tried it. But after that he picked it up pretty quickly.
Which is good because we've already signed him up for a toddler water polo team in the spring.
And of course, by the time class was over, Gunnar did not want to leave. Mostly because he was totally freezing and it happened to be slightly warmer inside the pool instead of out of it. The poor kid was totally shivering!
I think the blue in his lips and finger tips really brought out his eyes though...
Anyway, until next Monday. So far so good!
I guess this would be the virtual equivalent of not taking down my Christmas tree til February. For that I apologize.
Our holidays were pretty great though. My entire family (sans Elder Jordan) were all together over Christmas.
It snowed about 4 feet while we were there so we spent A LOT of time together. We all ended up getting the flu so it felt a little like an old fashioned quarantine - but in a good way.
Gunnar was more nice than naughty this year and got a lot of presents, the majority of which make loud, repetitive noises. Those ones are unfortunately his favorite.
Gunnar also got a lot of sugar or as my sister Rhonda calls it, "white death," over the Christmas Holiday. He exercised a lot of self restraint though. See?
Rhon and her fiance, Eitan (or as the tarheels of Darrington call him, "Acorn") came down from Hawaii and were cold the entire time. But they hung loose. Eitan even let my brother Aaron pull him behind the truck on a snowboard...yikes.
Gunnar immediately took a major liking to his beautiful, intelligent cousin Josephine and followed her every move. He also learned the word "mine" that week.
He stole more than a few of cousin Ashlyn and cousin Max's (not pictured) toys. I have a feeling sharing and putting down the bottle are going to be Gunn's big New Year's Resolutions for '09.
He's growing up so fast.
After spending a week in the arctic tundra, we flew down to tropical LA for a visit with Chris' family.
Our Peruvian sister-in-law, Zuly, made us a delicious dinner and in return, Gunnar destroyed some of her property. When he does things like this, we call him 'Aiden'. Not to offend anyone with that name. It just kind of suits him when he "toddlers-out" on us.
He's usually pretty good though.
One of the highlights of the trip was a trip to the park. That and eating In-N-Out twice. The lighting was great and Chris got some amazing pictures.
So, I think we're going to just skip the whole $15,000 NYC preschool thing and just put Gunnar in the Big Apple Circus.
We had a great time visiting family but when it was time to go we were all pretty ready to go home.
Anyway, Happy Belated Holidays/Goodbye 2008.
Love your pals,
Los Peterson
Here are the only noteworthy things that happened to us during my most recent blogging hiatus. There are only seven:
7.) We went to SLC for a week on business. Sorry family and friends who live there for not visiting. It's not because we don't like you. It's because we didn't rent a car and we barely had time to sleep let alone venture outside of the hotel/convention center/RiteAid 5 block radius. Here we are the the hotel playground and/or stairs.
6.) Gunnar, who was sent to the earth to destroy it (starting first with our apartment) erased hundreds and hundreds of our geneaology photos from our computer's hard drive. AHHHH!!! Both Chris and I were pretty devastated. It's hard when babies ruin things because it's really your fault not theirs. So when you get mad, you're really getting mad at yourself. Fortunately, through the power of Apple's Time Machine, Chris was able to recover all of them.
5.) I lost my wallet waaaaaaaaay uptown near the Bronx last week and didn't realize it until the next morning. So, I canceled all my credit cards and felt grateful at the fact that I had been too lazy to put my drivers license back after showing it to security at the airport. Still, it's an icky feeling to loose ones wallet and in certain parts of this city it's easy to think that maybe instead of being lost, it was stolen. And if that's the case, then it's easy to want to loose a little faith in the goodness of people. But before I could do that a nice young man called us to return it. Wow. All that was missing was the cash. Hey, it is New York.
4.) Chris, Gunnar and I all went to the Children's Museum for a 'family date' followed by a yummy and caloric trip to the Shake Shack.
Mmmm. Ketchup covered Cheerios.
3.) Jeffery R. Holland came to NYC and held a special conference just for our stake today.
2.) Gunnar has a favorite new hiding place. The first time he hid here I had no idea where he was. I ran up and down are apartment 3 times screaming his name and was about 2 minutes shy of escalating into total hysteria and/or calling 911 when he popped open the cupboard door and said, "Hi."
1.) We've decided to stay here in NYC for Thanksgiving and go to WA and CA for Christmas and New Years. That means I'm cooking this week . . . oh boy.
I only mix politics with religion, work, friendships AND marriage with extreme discretion. I mean, who wants to get into an argument about tax cuts on your way to Sunday school? Things can get a little hairy sometimes. People are passionate about politics these days and dare I say, more educated on the issues than in elections past. Plus we have record voter registration all over the country! About time!!! Honestly, I don't care who you vote for today - I'm just glad you voted. (You did vote right?!! RIGHT?!!!)
Okay. Permit me a moment on the soap box . . .
It frustrates me when people don't vote. I'm not trying to attack you if you didn't or don't plan to. Well, okay - maybe I am. It's just that we are so incredibly fortunate to live in a democracy where EVERYONE is allowed the opportunity to voice their opinion and cast their own ballot without fear of persecution - or worse. When we don't take advantage of our freedoms, rights and priviledges, we belittle the sacrifices and injustices of others and are poor stewards of the gifts and responsibilities we've been given. The whole world is looking at us today. We each really need to do our part. VOTE.
Stepping down now . . .
Chris and Gunn and I are leaving town today so we 'absenteed' our ballots this time. I decided who I was going to vote for a few months ago but Chris didn't know up until yesterday. For awhile I thought we might end up canceling each others' votes out (ha ha) but surprisingly - and after much discussion, deliberation and even argument on occassion, we ended up casting our ballots for the same ticket.
Who, you might be asking, did we vote for?
Well, in an attempt to preserve the peace and harmony in our friendships with YOU, we will not be disclosing who our votes were for. Feel free to guess. If you're right we might tell you. One hint though: we are both registered as Independent.
Good luck and happy voting today!
There are certain psychologists who believe that the costumes we choose for festive occasions like, oh, I don't know - Halloween, can indicate subconscious beliefs about our views of the world around us and ourselves.
That said, please don't read too much into the fact that I dressed Gunnar up like a wild gorilla...
...and put myself into a giant banana suit...
...or that Chris went in his usual get-up of a frightening 8 foot tall witch/dude with long scraggly hair...and a giant axe.
First we went to the American Museum of Natural History for their annual Halloween party. It was pretty packed though and since Chris had to work, Gunn and I braved the throngs of strollers and mini dinosaurs and cinderellas on our own.
He was extremely confused at first. I didn't mind so much because this feeling generally renders him paralyzed and silent until things are deamed 'cool' again. The confusion was shortlived though and after about 10 minutes he wanted out of the stroller to dance and exlpore.
Which reminds me, I am totally buying a leash for that kid. Don't judge. You try pushing a stroller while holding the back of a running toddler by his gorilla suit. I should have dressed him like a monkey. Then at least I would have had a tail to hold onto. It was rough. Gunnar, however, thought the whole thing was hilarious and was laughing up a storm as I awkwardly struggled along behind him. Fortunately, I ran into one of my friends who helped me get our stroller parked so I could chase after my endangered species without pulling a hamstring.
We spent a little over an hour at the museum. Gunnar paid no mind to the Halloween goings ons but loved the North American animals exhibit. We saw wolves, beavers, bears, dear, rabbits, porcupines etc. To Gunnar they were all, "ooh, dog!"
Here he is crawling under the bar to get a closer look at an antelope
After that we met up with Chris and ventured down to 69th street trick-or-treating hotspot to see the 3 avenue long row of haunted houses and guy dressed as Batman repelling himself down the side of a brownstone (sorry no pics, our camera was having issues).
By 7:30 pm, Gunnar began his meltdown. So we took him home and put him in his cage (i.e. crib) to sleep.
Then Chris made his annual transformation (check out his freaky feet and fingers - those are new to this year's outfit). I dropped the monitor off with the neighbor and (still in my banana costume) walked with him through Harlem up to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
While walking in his stilts, Chris started getting some major leg cramps. They were hurting pretty badly so he asked me if I would go to the store and buy him a banana.
For real. It was pretty embarrassing. Ten people laughed at me. One guy called me a cannibal.
Anyway, Chris and some friends ended up going down to Times Square and scared the crap out of everyone. He'll probably write more on this and maybe add some video. He didn't get home til 4:00 am. Halloween's his favorite time of year.
And why not? He gets to be taller for one day, I get to be every 6 year old's favorite fruit and Gunnar gets to be a wild animal...just like every day!
