Monday Minute: Making Steps with Mater

I think with the first child it's pretty natural to be super-excited about your baby crawling and then taking his or her first steps- it's so amazing to see the progress they make in such short time. By the time the second comes around, however, I think most people realize that life changes drastically once you have a mobile baby. With Drew I was so excited when he started crawling. With James I was like, "oh no!".

Now that James is crawling, though, I think I'm actually ready for him to start walking. Why? First of all, he can pretty much already get everywhere he wants to go (including up the stairs!). And second, I'm hoping if he's up off the floor, he won't pick up every little thing ON the floor and put it in his mouth. And maybe, just maybe, he'll forget about the pets' water dish? I know I'm forgetting something in terms of what life is like with a walking baby as opposed to a crawling baby, but right now, all I can hope for is those first few steps.

James is getting closer, too! We were surprised to watch him cruise around a bit yesterday with the help of our bubble-blowing Mater.



Yes, he was fine. Not a single tear. And this is why we don't watch TV very often in our house (Monday Night Football apparently wins, though).

Less words Wednesday: First Bite

James is starting solid foods! First stop: avocado!

"I'm ready mom!"

"What is this gunk?"

"Hey big bro, you got your own food! Leave mine alone!"

"Nobody better touch it!"

"Seriously."

"I said no one better touch it!"

"Oh wait, I finally put it in my mouth... maybe you can have it..."

Yay it's gone or yay it was yummy? Hard to tell...

Drew was so excited about James trying solids. He was playing outside and of course didn't want to come in for dinner. I can't remember what I offered, but it wasn't enticing enough. So then I said, "do you want to see James eat his first food?" and Drew said, "yeah!" and ran inside asking, "is James a big boy now??"

Monday Minute: Skillz

My boyz have skillz!

I never did post videos of James rolling. (Excuse Drew's noisy toys in the background- that would be thanks to the B.A.s, aka Bad Awnt Laura and Great Bad Awnt Sue!)





And now Drew's learning to ride a tricycle! Yes, it's pink and purple... our friends let us borrow it for a while because Drew really seemed to enjoy it and their daughter isn't quite big enough to use it yet. I think we may just have to get him one of his own!




(Notice that he knows it's not his bike- at the end he says he has to put Avery's bicycle away :)

Monthiversary Photos

Oh no! We're doing this again??

James is two months old today and I realized I never ended up posting James' first monthiversary photos! He turned one month old right in the midst of the Thanksgiving holidays, when family was in town, and when I came down with mastitis. All that meant a) the photos got taken a few days late and b) they never got viewed and edited! So here are one AND two monthiversary photos!

I wanted something a little different than Drew's photos for James, so instead of the blocks I found these cute monthly stickers. I really don't like the way his first month photos turned out... by the time I finally got everyone settled enough to do photos, it was getting dark so the lighting wasn't good. I was also fighting fussiness so these are the few that turned out decently, and you can't even see the sticker on his onesie very well. You'll also notice the rash. Can you believe that was a good day? Cameras never do good things for facial redness, I must admit, but still.... while he still gets red spots occasionally, it's nothing like it was before I went dairy-free.

I actually couldn't decide what I wanted to do for monthly photos, so I ended up with 2 sets. One set similar to Drew's with a solid colored onesie, a blanket, the boppy, and a "backdrop", another set in a onesie that my sister Laura bought for him. It's a 12 month size onesie; I thought it would be fun to watch him grow into (and probably out of) it over the course of the year.

I'm going to slay some dragons!

Second month photos were fun, but still a challenge. Somehow my own babies are a lot more difficult to photograph than other babies...

And...

Eventually I'll get around to creating James' own monthiversary page here on the blog, and I'll probably focus on one close-up in the blue, and one full body in the dragon onesie each month. But it's always fun to share some of the others along the way! :)

Monday Minute: Bye bye diapers?

You may have noticed in one of the last Monday Minute videos that Drew points out the "potty" while walking down the hallway. I've noticed a lot of interest in the potty lately. I'm fairly open so I have no problem letting Drew sit in the bathroom with me when I go. I mean, when he was a baby there wasn't another option. Now it's easiest to either bring him in or leave the door open so I can keep an eye on him. I also believe children need an example of how to "go potty" so I don't have a problem letting him observe the process (it's not like he sees anything). I guess it's paying off because lately he has become very interested in the whole thing.

I don't think he's quite ready for full on potty training, but I did figure that with all his interest it might be a good idea to go ahead and pick up his very own potty. So last night my mom and I  (my parents were in town for about 2 minutes this weekend :P) went to Target to pick one out, and boy was Drew excited! I set it up in our bathroom and brought him in when I went to use the big toilet and pointed out his potty. I helped him sit on it, then I could not get him off!! He kept sitting on it and saying "potty!" After trying unsuccessfully to drag him away I finally left him in there while I went to cook dinner. This video was taken a few minutes after leaving him alone (he moved his potty himself)...

So, speaking of potty training, anyone have any good tips for boys? I know they generally take longer to train and it's not uncommon for boys to be almost 3 before they're fully potty-trained, but it can't hurt to have some good tips under my belt!

Drew Dictionary

I'm having fun watching Drew pick up new words every day. He's like a little parrot who repeats almost everything we say (time for someone.... [cough cough] Jason [cough cough] to start doing a little Spring cleaning in the vocabulary department).

He also loves to act like he's having full blown conversations. He'll look at you very seriously, and say, "abba chee wa wa bubabuba", then he pauses and waits for a response. Each day the language seems to change. One day it sounds like Chinese. Another like Spanish.

Drew having a "conversation" with Grandma on the phone

Do Jason and I do this when we talk on the phone?

I've been told that at school, during nap time, he'll lay down for a minute, then pop up and start babbling. The teacher will say "shhhh.... lie down" and he'll do that for a minute, then pop back up again to continue telling whatever story he imagines he's telling. Gee.... nonstop talking, I wonder who he gets THAT from? 0:-)

His most understandable words are Mommy (not just Mama!), Daddy, and hi, but if you listen carefully, you might also hear...

Afaf= dog
Apuh (more of just "ap" with an airy sound at the end)= apple (or any round food? He used it to refer to his peas the other night)
Awa= water (you'd think I had taught him the Spanish word "agua"!)
Deedee= blankie?
Ditty= kitty
Nanana= banana
Nye nye= night night
Ooee= Lucy
Teef= teeth
Uh oh= "I'm about to throw something on the floor"

Drew is reading!

Well, obviously he's not really reading. 

He is really starting to enjoy books, though! He will actually drag a book to me then whine until I put him in my lap and read it to him. That, of course, only lasts for a few pages before he's trying to pry the book out of my hands and turn and tap the pages himself. But the fact that he enjoys being read to, even for a few short minutes, is a good step. (And even the fact that he wants to turn the pages and imitate how I try to point out things in the book is great, too!)

He even loves quality content...

But not only does he enjoy being read to, and imitate the way I read the books, he's actually already memorizing the "words" that go with pictures. One of the books we read is called "Baby Faces". It's pretty much just that- pictures of babies' faces with a single word or phrase describing it: yippee, boo hoo, stinky, etc.. Me being me (and have a trace of "drama queen" in me) I read and act out the pages. Boo hoo involves lots of eye rubbing, sobs, and "tears" while stinky finds me plugging my nose and waving away awful aromas. Drew loves this and laughs and laughs. The other day he pulled the book out himself and turned to the page that said "yum-yum" and he started to make the lip smacking sound I make.

Maybe he is reading!

A day of firsts

Take a look at this hair...

It's even bothering him!

Though I wasn't sure a cut would do much to tame it, we decided it was about time to at least tackle the hair in Drew's eyes.

He was so good! So what does every good baby deserve?

Ice cream! He loved it. Unlike cake, which I thought he would love, but didn't. And Bruster's was so awesome they gave him his own little cone for free!! Thank you Bruster's!

P.S. The hair is NOT any tamer. But at least it's not in his eyes anymore!

We were finger painting again today

Wordless Wednesday: My ONEderful boy!

Happy Birthday, Drew!!!!

(Click photo to enlarge)