Busy week!

It's been a busy week and a half since our last post. We've been looking at new apartments, having fun at baby story time, decluttering stuff, getting new teeth and walking. Baby story time takes place at the library in town and is quite interesting for anyone who likes to watch babies. JJ is the biggest little boy there. There is one little girl who is a bit older than JJ who is bigger than him. He loves hugging the other kids and even tackled one or two (all out of love). He's working on walking and has taken about 6 or 7 steps all on his own without holding on to anything! Once he realizes he's not holding on to something, he reaches out and grabs for whatever he can find which causes him to lose balance. Not quite confident enough, I guess. He has a new top tooth (finally!) but I don't think he's through with this round of teething yet.

And of course, he's always getting into things! We have the pack n' play set up in front of the tv stand so that he doesn't mess with the dvd player, etc. He found a way to squeeze in! I guess I didn't have it as close to the tv as I thought!

Out of and into the mouths of babes!

Toddlers are wonderful! And my baby is turning into a toddler! He has joined the age group of kids that are discovering independence and assigning the meaning to the things they observe around them. The other day, a friend heard her daughter commenting on the sounds things make. "What does a cow say? A cow says 'moooo'. What does ice cream say? 'Mmmmm, yummy." Yep, I think that's about right! Toddler logic at it's finest. Now, my son's communication is limited to baby signs, but they are growing by the day. Today, I asked him about the bird we were looking at, doing the sign for bird at the same time. I asked, "Is that a birdie?" and he responded by doing the sign. Yea! Another word to the repetoire.

He's also working on the independence and lately has been quite stubborn and willful. After a particularly difficult diaper change (he was NOT interested in getting his diaper changed AT ALL though it needed to happen because he was beginning to leak), he was trying to eat/chew on a clean diaper (I had pulled a bunch out of a new pack and had yet to put them away). Now, the fact that it was a diaper was enought for me to say, "Ewww, don't eat that!" and take it away. Thinking it was over, I turned to finish putting away the diapers. My son, however, not to be outdone decided this was the perfect opportunity to try again. I turned back around to find him with a mouthful of dirty, wet diaper! It was no longer in the neat little rolled up package I made in effort to have it ready for the diaper pail. It was unrolled and hanging from my stubborn little boy's drooly little mouth! Talk about 'ewwww, gross'! I guess next time I may let him have a little chew on the clean diaper, lest he find a less suitable substitute!

Baby Signing Time!

Before I became pregnant, I was clued in to the fact that sign language can be very helpful in allowing babies to communicate their needs. After becoming pregnant, I checked out a couple of books about it and determined that this would be a great thing for our baby. They say it cuts down on temper tantrums, etc because a baby can communicate without verbal words (and it actually helps them develop their vocabulary). We started with the sign for milk. What a great sign! We could really tell when JJ started connecting the sign with getting milk (at about 4 or 5 months). He'd start making noises like he was hungry and we would sign milk. Instead of continuing to escalate to crying as he would before, he started to calm down. Don't get me wrong, he still wanted his need met IMMEDIATELY but at least he knew it was coming. Now, if he wants milk, he tells us by signing it. The tittle of this post is the same name as a video that has been wonderful. JJ may like to sit and watch Curious George, but nothing has held his attention like Baby Signing Time! He loves watching the video with the babies and the songs! He even signs along with the other babies! He got mad a tme the other day when he realized the movie I had put in for his dad and I to watch was not Baby Signing Time! Anyway, he has learned "milk", "more" (very helpful!), "eat", and he does a personalized version of "water"/"drink" (they are different, but his version looks exactly the same) and of "cereal". He also does the sign for "baby" when he watches the video. He understands signs for "cat", "dog" (and does it with a little bit of a reminder on how to do it) and "fish". I was inspired to write this because yesterday was the first day that he did the sign for "cereal". He watched me wiggle my finger across my chin and held out his hand in front of him, pointed sideways and wiggled his finger. That'll work! I'm sure more will come as his motor skills improve. A friend told me it seems that babies are either movers or talkers. JJ is definately a mover! So, this has worked out quite well for us!

Still teething!

JJ still has not gotten his fourth tooth, but we know it's coming. There's one on the left side of his bottom teeth, and two on the top that you can feel inside his gums! So, we've been having restless sleep and all the normal things that go along with teething. Typically, this is normal, but this is a bit new to us. The last three teeth he got just sort of appeared out of nowhere! I think we still are having an easier time of it than some, though.

In the meantime, JJ still loves getting into things. He particularly has begun to enjoy the computer and playing with the mouse. I keep waiting for him to make random posts to the blog, send email, or some such thing while I'm in the middle of writing it. I think he's updated our Adobe stuff already. Gotta love the button pushing!

Family Time

This weekend was full of time with family! On Saturday, we went to Duluth for my brother and sister-in-law's 25th Anniversary. On Sunday, we went to Red Wing for the Golden Family Reunion. There aren't really any Golden's left, but it's nice to get together with that extension of the family from time to time. The weather was beautiful both days. On Saturday, we not only got to visit with family, but Jim got his first ride in my brother's 6-wheeler. This is an all terrain vehicle that Perry has designed himself. I'll post a video that Jim took after his ride later (it wouldn't post this time around). It shows the vehicle going up hill, then the video ends. The cool thing about this vehicle is the ground it can cover while staying balanced-it may look like it gets stuck on the hill, but it doesn't. Perry takes it up and down that hill 3 or 4 times without any problems. I will post a picture of it, though.

Of course, everyone was quite taken with JJ. He was definately a charmer with lots of smiles for everyone. So, of course he had a blast. I'm posting a few pics from the weekend. Some of them are of my great-aunt's cottage in Red Wing. It's located on a channel of the Mississippi River. At one point, an eagle had soared down and dived into the water to get a fish-I'm sorry I missed it because that would have been an awesome picture!

Pickles w/Auntie Colleen and Bernie- Future mechanic?

With Daddy in Red Wing Weeeee!

Unconventional

I always thought Jameson was a little unconventional when it came to his developmental progress. He tends meet some milestones later, while meeting others long before he should. He's not really doing anything out of the ordinary, just not quite when I would expect. Go figure. But he did it again yesterday. He's been relatively normal in temperament and is sleeping fine overall though a little restless the night before last. His restlessness did not seem so abnormal that I would take notice initially. He was a bit fussy at meals, but this also did not seem to be so abnormal for me to take notice. He bit down on his sippy and started crying, but I thought he just bit too hard. Now, I'm sure if you've had a teething child you are no doubt saying, "duh, Ang. He's teething." I did think of that and checked his top gums -that's where they're supposed to come in next- and there was nothing there! So, we went on about our evening. He was playing peek-a-boo with Daddy using my hand to hide behind (quite entertaining) when he decided it would also be fun to chew on my thumb. And that's when I found it. His third tooth broke through right next to his first tooth on the bottom! So, the restlessness and fussiness is certainly explained and I count my lucky stars that he is such a mild tempered boy. So, we continue on with him doing things his own way...

New hobby

JJ has developed a new hobby...he likes to push the soap bottles into the tub. He could do it over and over for hours! He's managed a couple of times to crawl/"fall" into the tub so he can continue playing once he's pushed them all in. He just leans over, teetering on the edge with mommy holding her breath and the back of his shirt or pants as he lifts up on his tippy toes. He might be scared of loud noises and cautious with strangers, but he has no fear of falling! Ahh, my little daredevil! I walked into the bathroom the other day to find him playing with my hairbrush. You know how it is when they are just a little quicker than you are. I was quite surprised to see him inside the tub, playing as if nothing was out of the ordinary!

Taste of Minnesota

Today we braved the heat and went to the Taste of Minnesota. We didn't taste much because, apparently, Minnesota is expensive. But Ally and I tried frog legs for the first time! It was worth it to go just because Ally actually tried something new! I couldn't believe it! And she liked it! She enjoyed a couple of trips down the Titanic slide and JJ always enjoys riding in his stroller and watching things and people as he goes. With water and sunscreen, we survived!

Fireworks

JJ enjoyed his first fireworks last night! We thought he might be a little scared since he is in the phase of being scared of loud noises. The other night we went to the drive-in (Hancock, Hulk, and Get Smart) and JJ was playing with the radio before the movie started and he turned it up really loud on accident. He scared the heck out of himself, crying and clinging to me for dear life. This didn't bode well for fireworks. We arranged ourselves so we could make a quick exit and watch from the car if necessary. Turns out we actually were far enough away that the big boomers weren't too bad for him. Even the people who were setting off firecrackers relatively close by didn't scare him. He and Ally both grew bored (and admittedly tired). Still, it was a fun evening with good weather, few bugs and some pretty fireworks (though the show at Sand Creek Park in Coon Rapids is still my favorite).

Star Encounters

I just have to say, I am jealous! My sister-in-law, Monica, and her husband, Jason, won a trip to California for a movie premier. She has the best luck with all those sweepstakes out there. I think this was the best prize that she's won (at least that I know of). She got to meet and get pics with a few people...

JJ is practicing walking

JJ took one tenative step on Saturday all by himself. He took two for me on Tuesday. He's getting ready to run! For never really liking to have his hands held, he has done pretty well with walking while holding hands. He goes quite quickly! We decided to get him a push along toy to help him practice. I was able to find one for cheap at Once Upon a Child. It's not terribly sturdy, but that forces him to keep from depending on it instead of walking for himself. We had to put it in the other room and close the door so that he would stop playing with it in order to go to sleep! He's just growing so fast! It seems like just yesterday that he was learning the new skill of eating with a spoon- oh, yeah...it was!!!

eating with a spoon!

This morning JJ insisted on eating with his own spoon. I got ready for a messy experience, but he actually did pretty well. He did get it all over himself, go figure. But, he did manage to feed himself! I'm pretty impressed with this being basically his first time feeding himself.