Videos on Banana Eating, Chatting It Up, and Playing with Peter Dink

Eating a banana.

Sharing his views of the world over dinner.

Trying unsuccessfully to grab Peter's tags.

Smiling and Reading and Smiling Some More

Over the past week, Lewis has really started showing interest in books. He will go over to his bookshelves to pull off a few (or many) books. He tries to thumb through them himself or sometimes he'll bring a book (usually Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) for us to read to him or a picture book for us to flip through with him. He seems to like to look at pictures of other kids or animals, and he's also really into the Touch and Feel books that we have. 

It's really fun to see him interested in something AND to be able to ask us to do something with him/for him. The other day he brought in Brown Bear while I was working in the kitchen, so I took it from him and said thanks (thinking he was just giving it to me). He grunted in dissatisfaction until I read it to him (2-3 times).

I'm thinking that we might rearrange his room to create more of a reading nook in that corner of his room, under the shade of his 'fake' tree.


These next pictures were a series I took the other day at a mealtime. He has definitely figured out what to do when the camera comes around. In these, he started scrunching up his nose and smiling.

And then these were some that Kevin took last night. Major cheeseball.

Cheese!

Oh, stop!

I crack myself up!

Another Day at the Playground

Today was another unseasonably warm day--they said on the news this morning that it was supposed to be 65 and partly cloudy. I heard the 65 (Wow!) and partly cloudy (Yay!) parts and must have missed the part about it being windy/breezy and there being a chance of rain. We still went and were fine in our light jackets, but we did get sprinkled on a few times (which I'm not complaining about--it was fun playing in the rain!). Lewis didn't seem to mind one bit.

 Roar!!!

1) These are awesomely cute dinosaur pajamas Aunt Adie and Uncle Ben got for him that I haven't taken a picture of yet, and 2) they remind me of naps which reminds me that we are finally back on schedule with sleeping. He had some earlier-than-normal-morning-awakenings (5am), later-than-normal-naps, and not-as-long-as-normal-naps at the end of last week and into the weekend, and by yesterday he, Kevin, and I were all struggling after he awoke at 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Every other morning he's gone back down after I nursed him, but yesterday he was mad so we all got up. Luckily today he slept until almost 7am and took two of his best naps ever. Hopefully we're back on track.

And now, to the park!

 Having so much fun...

 Until I realized that the tube ends/drops off! Kerplunk.

Luckily he was unaffected by the faceplant.

 Such a big boy. :)

Seriously big boy. And so brave! He climbed the steps/platforms to the top of the main structure again, and I usually pick him up at the top and put his butt on the slide and let him go down. Welllll, instead, when he got to the top platform, he just kept going towards the slides. He crawled right on, face first, and down he went! It all happened so quickly!

 Wild Man!

Hmmm, that was fun. I think I'll do it again!

We went back around so that I could try to video him climbing to the top, but halfway up is when it started to rain. And then he seemed like he was going to charge me (via a step down that he isn't at all skilled at), so the video got cut short. 

Starting Him Early, Silly Dogs, and First Playdate

These are just a few pictures from over the weekend. We stayed around the house mostly but Kevin's parents did come over to babysit on Saturday for a few hours (thanks, J&S) so that we could go out to lunch and to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. 

First, Kevin was sweeping dog hair, and Lewis tried to 'help' by snatching the dustpan when Kevin put it down. One day, we'll have to use this interest in the dustpan to our advantage and put him to work on the ongoing and neverending Dog Hair Eradication Project.

  So helpful. :)

And here, Kevin captured Lewis' new CHEESE face and motion. He puts his whole body into it, while walking, eating, bathing, getting his diaper changed, etc. He just stops mid-action and throws his head back and grins and chuckles to himself. He's a nut.

And a few pictures of the dogs, being their weird selves. We have rearranged the furniture so that the front windows are semi-barricaded in order to keep the dogs away from the front windows some. Reason #2 is to provide a little buffered area out of Lewis' reach to keep the laptop, a bowl of cereal, cups of coffee, etc. 

The dogs, of course, have found ways to still look out to see/bark at the mailman, other dogs walking by, etc. Here are just a few of their latest smooth moves.

 The Half On/Half Off

Hattie usually sneaks down into that little piece of floor space, but Peter is apparently too big to go all the way. :)

This is Peter's 'usual' spot, atop the chair cushions. He'll pull the blinds back with his snout and then Hattie fills in below in that spot I mentioned above (as noted by the obscene amount of black dog hair on the side of the chair--oops, we live in filth). :)

Speaking of Queen Hattie...

Atop her throne (on top of the back of the couch)

She posed/looked straight on at the camera! She's never done that before, my sweet girl. Usually she turns to the side when I try to take a picture of her. Emily, you'll appreciate this: She had a gnarly, thick whisker that was sticking off her muzzle (literally) 6 inches the other day, so I had to attend to that. I thought about plucking it, but I decided to just trim it in half so that it was the same length as the rest of her beard (in case it served a purpose i.e. a navigational tool...don't cat whiskers do that? Or am I thinking of a rabbit?).

I guess we had our first official playdate last week! My friend Rachel came over with her son Abram, and I forgot to take any pictures until the very end and didn't get any of them together. However, here is Abram relaxing on his mom at the end of a fun couple of hours:

Being a kid is exhausting. :)

They played very well together (and it was great catching up with Rachel), and we look forward to the next time!

Oops, and here is a video from the playground early last week of Lewis' much-improved walking skills. He'll be driving before we know it. :)

Toy Storage, the Park with Papa, and a Bit of Trickery

In scouring Pinterest and other blogs for good age-appropriate activity ideas, a friend recommended How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way (Seldin), so I ordered a copy for Lew as one of his birthday presents and have started flipping through it. One of the things it touched on was providing child-level open storage for toys so that things have a place to be picked from and put away. 


It dawned on me that we just happen to have two bookshelves with the bottom two levels of cubes empty (to keep Lewis away from our books), so this was an easy, duh-that's-much-better-than-throwing-all-the-toys-into-a-cluttered-bin, task. It makes it easier for me, too, to tidy up after he plays because it feels like things have a 'place' to belong (and eventually Lewis will be able to do the tidying up himself). And anyone who knows me knows that I appreciate when things have places. :)


So here is our first attempt at incorporating some Montessori into our lives. I tried to keep the heavier items on the bottom level and lighter stuff up top:

 The dogs seem to like the openness of it, too. It allows for better sniffage. 

 I caught Hattie (twice) cruising along the shelves and trying to snatch this orangutan from Uncle Dave and Cookie Monster from Kevin, so I've since slid them back to the back of the cube. While I do let Lewis play with some of the dogs' forgotten toys, I don't want Hattie to rip apart Lewis' stuffed animals.

Lewis and Kevin went to the park the other day (must have been Sunday?), and here are a few pictures. We probably have 10+ pictures of Lew swinging on these same swings, but he loves it! So here's another. :)

  "Now you listen here...this is the situation."

I included this one because I think it reminded me that he's started talking with his hands (gesticulating, not to be confused with genuflecting [which I kept saying incorrectly] which is the deep knee bend you're supposed to do at the altar at church) the past few days. Not 'talking' I guess, but expressing himself. One hand will get going like a little old Italian grandmother or something. It's pretty cute.

And, lastly, I found this remote control for him at Goodwill the other day. He is constantly grabbing our real remote and putting it in his mouth (and almost breaking it as Kate and I discovered last week). A friend of mine had mentioned getting one for her son around this age, so I've been on the lookout. 

Pretty similar! Good job, Sesame Street design team!

Hopefully he likes his remote as well as he likes the real one.

Just a Catch-Up

This is just a catch-up post with pictures from the past week.

Here is Kevin Lewis (I thought it looks like such a Kevin expression) the other day. The drum set and dog bed are there to keep him from getting to the cables (the ones he is holding in his left hand). Our cable runs from the cable box (in the upper left corner) through that little closet along the right side. He crawls under the drums and (obviously) can stand up behind them now. I guess we'll need to find a way to rearrange things so the cables are less of an issue. Somehow, I think he'll still find a way to get to them.

Oh, and I found his BabyLegs the other day! I'd bought a few pairs on clearance last year, Emily had bought him a pair, and I'd made 4-5 pairs, and they'd kind of been forgotten in his bottom drawer until now (I thought of them early on but they were too big then). Our basement is (as anyone who has ever slept down there knows) a bit colder than the rest of our house, so I'm thinking these will be great for when we're playing down there pants-less (as he is most of the time) and for naptime (so he doesn't have to sleep in bulky jeans or khakis).


While trying to get him ready to go out the other day, I couldn't find one of his shoes. I'd let him down to play in his room while I was putting laundry away, so I figured he must have moved it. After a few minutes of searching the likely places, I looked in the diaper pail, and bingo.

He's been doing this--putting things into things--lately. Like he'll put a small toy (like a Mega Block) into a plastic cup and carry it around, eventually dumping it out. Then repeating. I should have known to check the diaper pail first because his favorite thing to do is close and open the lid (it's similar to one of his toys).


These next few pictures we took for Auntie Em of him wearing his vest for the first time! It's very warm and very cute. And apparently turns him into an ornery-faced monster.

Stinker Face

Yesterday afternoon, Kevin, Lewis and I went back out to the petting zoo. It was supposed to be in the low 40s, but when we got out of the car, there were ever-the-slightest bits of snow falling and it was cold! So we saw the animals, handed out a bag of carrots, and headed back home. I'm glad Kevin got to see the animals, though--there were a few new ones who I didn't see last time. Two donkeys, an additional zebra (so two total), another cow/bull type, and we were able to see one of the camels a little bit more up close then last time. He/she was still behind a few gates, but it was still pretty neat.  

Hello.

Zebras and Goats

 This cow/bull/whatever-it-is was in with the Scottish Highland Bull.

So that's what we've been up to this past week or so. I'm starting to work out the details of his first birthday party now (just a small family gathering), which is just a few weeks away! We're working on the menu, and I have a few decorations and a gift to make, so I should be staying busy during naptimes between now and the big day!

A Quote

I came across this a few weeks ago and just wanted to post:

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.

I would do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

- Diane Looman


I, of course, like the part about running through more fields and gazing at more stars. And just taking a step back, in general.