Sitting Pretty

This is what I've been waiting for!

At just slightly shy of 6 months, Grant is a full-fledged sitter!! Unassisted, unwobbly, happy-go-lucky sitter! I am so excited for him, and he is proud of himself. Now, he just loves to sit and play with toys around him, but mostly watch the action as his big brothers zoom past in a flurry of loud activity. I firmly believe babies reach a whole new level of contentment when they finally master the art of sitting up. What a wonderful new view of the world and what freedom to be able to reach for stuff and look around. This is my favorite milestone, and I intend for him to be an immobile sitter for a good long time, hopefully until summer is out. No tummy time for this little guy, now that he can sit up straight. We wouldn't want him to get the idea he could start crawling and chasing any of that big brother action! No sir-ee!

First Food

Since Grant showed great interest in food at only 3 months old--I mean straining to see our food, reaching to grab it, opening his mouth like a baby bird when taunted with it (by older brothers, not mom and dad) and just all around crazy curious about all that stuff on our plates and in our bowls--we went ahead and offered him baby oatmeal right after his 4 month check-up and the nod from our pediatrician. He loved it instantly. He was a natural at eating semi-solid food. No tongue thrust, no spitting, no closed lips to force the spoon through. By the end of the week he graduated from plain old baby oatmeal to fresh mashed bananas. Below you will see photos documenting the first meal.

Grant watches with rapt attention as mommy mixes the oatmeal with formula for a runny slurry of sorts.

Ahhh, that's the stuff. The first bite. Check out the hands clasped in delight.Yummy. He chows it down with ease.Now he insists on trying that spoon thing himself.A satisfied baby, and not too messy of a face!Nothing left. I think he would have licked it clean, given the opportunity.

He Speaks...

Just in the last two weeks, Isaac has become a bonified talker. Of course, he's had a few choice words here and there for many months--his favorites being mommy, daddy and car. But in the last two weeks he has added more than 150 words to his vocabulary. I tried to keep a list and start writing them down, but I lost track really quickly because the new ones were coming so fast! Calem loves that Isaac is now talking and pends much of the day telling him, "Isaac, say _______." And Calem is trying to converse with him all the time, just like he does with us. It's funny, because Calem seems to understand him better than we do sometimes, and say with excitement, "Isaac just said refrigerator!!" So, Calem is seeing Isaac as a much more viable option for a playmate these days now that he can sort of communicate. Calem loves to instruct Isaac on how to play, an often can be heard bossing Isaac around in the playroom. Isaac's usually okay with that for a little while, but then understandably grows annoyed and runs to me in protest.

Isaac is also stringing words together into sentences. Some make sense like, "Mommy, gimme cookie," and some don't like, "Hi Daddy car choo-choo!!!" All in all, we are happy to hear our youngest tot learning to communicate in this big world of people who like to hear themselves talk. Go, Isaac, go!! Let your voice be heard amongst the masses!

No More Babies...

It is done. My second born has left babyhood and is officially a bonified toddler. His lovely, unruly, most-of-the-time messy baby curls have vanished . Where I recently looked upon my sweet, cherub-faced baby, I now see a handsome clean-cut little boy.

I can't believe how much they change when that baby hair is snipped away. I wanted to cry as I watched the soft curls fall to the ground. I didn't feel at all sad when Calem got his first haircut, but then again, perhaps knowing I was soon to have a brand new head of baby hair to pet, snuggle and smell in a mere 2 months was enough to quell the emotion. But this time I don't yet have a replacement baby on deck, ready to fill the void. So, it's true--I have no more babies. Only little men.

First Day

After a nutritious breakfast of "cheesy eggs," cinnamon toast and milk, Calem was ready to make his debut onto the preschool scene. He was eager to go to school and packed his Thomas the Tank Engine backpack with the essentials:
1 red matchbox car, 1 old cell phone, 2 pieces of pretend money, 5 pieces of construction paper, and 1 ziploc bag containing emergency underwear and a change of clothes. I was afraid that the new school shoes might not go over well, as Calem has become very accustomed to his orange crocs and prefers them over any other footwear, but the new shoes proved a novelty, and he seemed quite proud to be wearing them. So, at 9:10 am he was all set and headed out to the car. I'm pretty sure he would have driven himself, given the opportunity.


He couldn't wait to enter the classroom when we got there. Unlike the little girl screaming and clutching the door frame as her mom was trying to settle her into the classroom, Calem didn't even look back or wave goodbye before he bounded into the classroom and began his first day of "school," ever. Part of me felt a little sad that he wouldn't miss me, didn't cling to me, didn't say, "Mommy, you stay." But the bigger part of me felt proud that my little man is happy and secure and flexible about changes in life. Yes, I'm happy that he is starting this new chapter with happy enthusiasm, and little fanfair. Upon returning to pick up Calem after class, he ran out the classroom door and shouted his familiar, "Mommy! I had FUN!" I've heard this many times, as this is his normal mantra every Sunday when I pick him up from Sunday School. It makes my heart glad to hear it. "Mommy! I had FUN!!" Afterall, isn't that what preschool is all about?