We were sure that our little guy would be an early walker- he wanted to do nothing but stand from age 8 months on. But we were wrong. Here we are, almost 15 months old, and he is just starting to take first steps. He'll push his truck around the house at a maniacal speed, hold onto one of our fingers and walk forever, but if we set him off on his own he plops down on his butt and crawls. As the title suggests, however, he has made a little progress: This week he took three steps on his own.... before plopping down onto his butt and crawling. His favorite thing to do these days is be up HIGH- on the couch, the chairs, the fireplace, the stool- and fearlessly dive off like a cliffdiver. This often, as you may guess, ends in tears. But the next minute he is up there again, raring to go. He still eats like an NFL linebacker- literally more than I eat at one sitting. Any time he sees food, even if he is currently stuffing pizza two fisted into his mouth, he needs to have what you are having, too. This makes dinner a bit of a trial. However, he does eat a good variety of food- shrimp and asparagus pasta, meatballs marinara, pork chops, steak... while his brother is currently surviving on salami and cheese crackers (he calls them "ShaggySandwiches"). Gooeys is talking more, loves the hot tub, sleeps well, knows two baby signs ("please/more" and "all done"), loves to blow on his hot food and tell you to "hush" with his finger aside his nose. He also loves to help his daddy with the laundry- he especially enjoys sorting all the socks. Gotta start 'em young, I say!
Jake took on two new winter sports this month. After seeing the hockey game he said he wanted to learn how to skate, so last Saturday we trekked out to Idaho Ice World and lit 13.00 on fire. No, it was not a successful venture. Jake was excited to try it until he actually got on the ice and realized how difficult it was to stand up, much less actually move anywhere. It was very crowded and the people whizzing by him accompanied by loud music didn't help the situation. Brian and Jake made it around the rink once- and that was only because once you start you can't go backwards to escape the rink! The afternoon was somewhat salvaged by the fact that there was a local hockey game going on in the next ice rink, so we watched that and Jake got a free puck out of the deal (well... I guess technically it was a 13.00 puck).This weekend's adventure was MUCH more fun! We went up to the local ski resort (Bogus Basin) and tried their tubing hill. It was a drop dead gorgeous day (in the high 40's) and both Jake and Gooeys were in the best of spirts. Jake and his daddy tubed together for an hour while Gooeys and I watched (being 8 months pregnant I am bummed to have to sit out all the fun stuff this year!), then we ate lunch at the lodge and watched the skiers. It is a great resort- very family friendly, inexpensive (especially when compared to Squaw Valley or the like), and close. It was only 3 Batman episodes roundtrip. We are looking forward to putting Jake in ski lessons next winter, Brian learning to snowboard, and me getting on skis again after a 10 year hiatus.We came home and watched the Super Bowl and played all afternoon. It was one of those days that you keep looking at your kids, husband, etc... and wonder how you got this lucky.
Brian and I finished Faith's room this weekend. Not that she'll be sleeping in it anytime soon, but the nesting instinct took over and I couldn't resist. I keep hearing stories of babies that showed up on ultrasound as girls turninig out to be boys... based on this room that will be one feminine boy! Let's hope the docs have been right.
