Miss Determined

The baby was not about to let a little thing like her daddy keep her away from her brother's magnadoodle:

When she got over to it, all she really wanted to do was eat the magnet. At least she left the little guy alone, right?

Go Speed Racer!

The baby took off today-- so fast that she was able to knock over Beau's water bowl and then fall and hit her head in the resulting puddle. I guess she figured it out last night.

Going, going, gone!

The little guy got a gash in his head at school yesterday, so we spent the evening at an urgent care center getting him cleaned and stapled back together. Good times!

The Baby

The baby isn't great at crawling yet, but she's getting around.

She's also really enjoying her daddy:

Yesterday, the boys went to a local brewery to watch the State game with Eric's softball team. We called ahead of time to see if it was ok for Eric to bring the little guy, and they said it was fine as long as he behaves himself. (Ha! Great answer!) When we asked the stinkpot if he'd like to go, he said of course because he's a member of the softball team, too. The little dude slept in the car on the way, but had a great time at the party.

And She's Off!

This TOTALLY counts as crawling, right?

Sitting and Sock Updates

First, the sock update. The little dude took off his socks at school, his teacher found them, and she gave them to him. The socks are now gone, but his teacher didn't throw them away.

The baby is working on crawling. Apparently she was pushing with her toes some this evening, but her technique is all wrong. Here's what she does:
1. She pushes up on her arms and looks around.
2. She lays down on her belly and kicks her legs in the air while holding her arms up.
3. She pushes up on her arms and looks around, disappointed.
4. She starts fussing because she hasn't moved.
Rinse and repeat.

Sitting, though, that she can do. Hooray!

Scootching

The baby can turn herself around and she's trying to crawl. She kicks her legs in the air and looks at stuff intently... it's kind of hilarious. Anyway, here's a video of her trying to get somewhere until the little guy and the dog decided to join her.

Skating lessons!

Hockey Player Baseball Player Football Player Silly Goose (which seems to be what he wants us to call him these days) had his first of four skating lessons today.  It was a sweet little class and all the instructors have the patience of saints.  There were two other boys Goose's age in the class and all the other kids were older.  Sadly, he was the worst.  He survived without any aches or pains though, but that's mostly because he was doing this the whole time.

However, because of his reluctance to stand, he monopolized the time of the college girl who was helping teach the class.  Here she is (lower right) trying to get him to stand up the way they taught them.  (Like a puppy, one foot here, now stand!)  Maybe I should add "Sly Devil" to his ever growing monicker.

He did get standing a few times (albeit with someone's help) so not all was lost.

Three more lessons to go so we'll keep you updated.

Baby Girl just slept the whole time bundled up in a fluffy blanket.  She was probably the warmest of anybody there.

Variety!

He can almost stand up without holding on to anything. He's also started crawling like a spider-monkey. (I'm not sure why we call it that, but it's when he crawls with his legs straight. It's wildly amusing.) Anyway, in this video he says "I did," bonks his head, crawls like a spider-monkey, and finally stands up and cruises away. He's amazingly ridiculous.

For the record, he escaped while I was changing his clothes at bedtime. I'm starting to feel a bit trashy, what with the laundry perpetually drying in the background, the cluttered dining room table, raised toilet seats, and a diaper-clad, snot-covered, barefoot baby. *sigh*

Where's the baby? No, seriously, where is he?

He just crawls quietly out of whatever room we're all in.  We're having to make an concerted effort to watch him closely-- otherwise he'll disappear. He still can't really go up the stairs, so he can only disappear in a limited area, but still... stressful.  This weekend he wandered off while I was folding laundry and watching football.  I found him two rooms and around a corner from where I was.

Anyway, tonight he played with the cardboard recycling instead of the plastic and aluminum recycling. 

It's a real walk on the wild side at our house. 

Food!

He eats SO MUCH FOOD!! Today, while at daycare, he ate a container of yogurt, half a banana, two ice-cubes of peas, two servings of cereal (about 6 Tbsp. total) and FIVE bottles. His teachers said he just ate all day.

He's not nearly as chubby as that diet would suggest, though. I think it's because he's moving all the time... he even looks like he's crawling in his sleep.

He's figured it out.

It's time to install the baby gates.
He's been crawling for a while, but he's just starting to realize that he can really go places.

He's all "Out of my way, people!"

Too early for a career move?

The little guy is definitely moving now. You put him down in one place and he is off to the nearest wire, shoe, dog leg, and occasionally one of his toys. He is so strong too, which gives his semi-athletic father hope that his son will grow up and be good at the sport of his choosing (not soccer), but with a 5'1" mother and a 5'10" (well, 9.5"...stupid doctor's office) father, things aren't in his favor for a Big League career.

So I often wonder what his life will be like when he grows up. Here might be a clue to the booger's future career path.

Our coffee table has a sort of prison bar shelf underneath it with some atlases and various magazines stored there. One thing he's been doing lately is crawling under the coffee table. Once there he'll flip on his back and reach up for whatever he can find.

Looks to me like a miniature version of me working on my Jeep. Maybe we have a little mechanic on our hands. Or maybe a mechanical engineer.

The reason why we're (finally) baby-proofing this weekend:

We've known for a while that our low, open shelving would have to go...

On top of this insanity, the little guy is getting fast!

Places to go...

He's really trying to get places. He can travel short distances by a combination of spinning and rolling, and he kicks like a pro!