(PS - sorry for the terrible ratio of words:photos in this post... I'll make a better effort to take more pictures!)
A few weeks ago James was Andrew's designated parent during Music Class... which was great for me since I could just focus on teaching instead of wrestling a baby at the same time :) After class, by special request, he got out his Millenium Falcon and showed the kids how it works. They were totally impressed!
In other news, Andrew hit several milestones all in one day about two and a half weeks ago. He started crawling (for real, on his hands and knees), pushing himself into a sitting position (previously once he started crawling he was stuck and needed help getting up to sit), and clapping (which has also been identified as signing "more" when in the context of meal-time, in the past 3 days!) all within about 2 hours. It was pretty exciting! Then the next day he started pulling himself up to standing on anything and everything he could reach (by crawling over to) AND walking along the furniture/toys/walls! Just about the same time he also figured out how to sit back down... we're SO thankful that this wasn't an ordeal for him to learn since we know several friends of his who have gotten "stuck" standing up (which is really only a big problem when they're supposed to be napping...).
ANYWAY, I have a feeling that starting tomorrow my life is really going to change. Since all of this mobility and independence has begun we've had at least 2 pairs of eyes in the house for the vast majority of the time. Starting tomorrow we won't. Oh boy!
But for all of the mischief he gets himself into, there's and equal (and usually larger) amount of cuteness to make up for it! (although I'm starting to think he's aware of this phenomenon, which is going to be dangerous for me!)
He loves crawling UNDER and OVER things right now! Under the kitchen table and chairs, over my legs and the bottom rungs of his high chair. CLIMBING is also a new fascination... which my mom says he gets from me! Good thing we bought new book cases for the living room - they're sturdier and are (will be this week) mounted to the wall - which is good since book cases were my favorite climbing endeavor when I was little, apparently!
He has a new toy table that I found at a consignment store. It has Duplo/lego parts on one side and a car track painted on the other, with two storage areas underneath, and it's the perfect height for Andrew to stand at and play. I'll take a picture the next time he's playing at it... he's learned how to play with his cars on it and actually drives them back and forth! It's so adorable!
He finds lots of amusement in his crib now, too... we've had to go in and lay him back down to go to sleep a few times since he gets distracted by the new fun games of walking the perimeter of the crib and standing holding the crib rungs while bouncing up and down to make the mattress squeak. Today he threw all of his toys overboard and was reaching as far as he could through the rungs in the crib, trying to reach the changing table. (I just realized that after an hour of him playing I went in and found a poopy diaper - dare I think he was trying to reach for a clean one?!?)
Here he is standing up in his crib after a nap... "Hi Momma! Thank you for coming to rescue me!"
He's making a lot of pre-language sounds now, too. "Buh" is definitely the FAVORITE and we get to hear it ALL DAY. Sometimes it is in reference to a book and sometimes a ball (which we remind him is a "bah" sound, which he repeats sometimes), occasionally a bath, but mostly it's just the go-to sound for him. Other frequently heard "words" include: bah, buh teh (probably the second most frequent), teh, tuh luh, guh luh, mah MAH mah mah mah, dah, nuh, and fffff. "Mee" and "dee" have also made appearances once or twice.
Sometimes he will look at me contemplatively after nursing, furrow his brow, look away, look back at me, and say "Buh. Buh teh." It's ADORABLE and he's quite serious in his impression that he has communicated something important.
Poppy visited last weekend! He and Andrew had a great time catching up and playing together!
As always, making towers is a favorite activity... for the adults in Andrew's life. Andrew is very pleased with his roll as demolition man! He and Poppy discovered the joys of picking off one cup at a time without knocking over the entire tower!
This is what my dad does with my son when I leave him for a half hour to go run to the store...
Early morning snuggles... Mom says I used to snuggle on Poppy's shoulder just like this when I was little :)
Poppy also discovered the immediate and seemingly eternal joys of the "down-up" game. His version came with better sound effects, though!
All in all we've had a great summer with James home, a couple of delightful visits from family and friends, and achieved about half of our "honey do" list (which is pretty much par for the course and I'm happy with the items we checked off). Oh yeah - I painted the master bathroom. It's still not completely redecorated, but the painting is done. Well, mostly. Hah!
Next up is waiting patiently for Andrew's friend Baby Reed to be born (we get to play with his big sister while his Mama is in labor!), which judging from how she was feeling today might be very soon! And then it's a visit from Cousin Titus for Andrew's first birthday in October! (and We can't wait!
