The "Official" first steps...

Julian took his official first steps on Sunday, September 8th. I stood on the floor in front of me on the ground after our church service, and he decided to show off to all our friends. He took about five small steps toward me. He hasn't ventured walking unless I set the senario up, but he does instigate pulling himself up and letting go. Sometimes he looks at a nearby piece of furniture, and, in his eyes, you can tell he's thinking, "Can I make it?" The answer thus far has been, "Let's not chance that. There's always crawling."
The bottom picture shows off his master ability to climb. He loves, loves, loves to climb on D'arcy's toddler bed, but we still need to teach him how to get down with grace.

Our little back seat driver....

We taught D'arcy what each color on the traffic light means. Although this is a good lesson in colors and general awareness, we have now created a back seat driver. She yells, "Go Daddy, it's green!" or "STOP! STOP! STOP!" Unfortunately, the "GO" comes many times when we are still waiting for the car in front of us to move, and the "STOP" comes way before we reach the light.

One night, D'Arcy and I saw the moon out the car window. When we came home, she told Daddy what we had seen. He asked if it was full, and she quickly replies, "The moon doesn't eat." Daddy explained that when the moon is full, you can see a man on it. So now she asks every evening if the man is there yet.

Stephen and I were having a heated discussion, and D'arcy turns to say, "Mommy, is Daddy fustrated at you." I reply, "Yes, yes, he probably is."

I was really proud of her this week because she put a 24 piece puzzle together all on her own. We've done this puzzle together on many occasions, and I always tell her to start with the lips of Cinderella. It was really cool to see how my simple instruction allowed her to complete it on her own. When she accomplishes something, she now has learned to ask, "Won't Daddy be so proud of me?"

On kind of a gross, silly note, she is obsessed with our little family unit. Every time she draws, she makes a Daddy, Mommy, a girl, and a baby. Julian hasn't reached boy status yet. She has even discovered the family unit when she uses the bathroom. "Look mom, it's a Daddy poop, a Mommy poop, and a baby poop."

Last but not least, I want to mention that she has now intentionally started to call me "mama" instead of mommy or mom. She will even correct herself if she uses another term. I think it was because we tell Julian to say "mama". It's pretty sweet.

Random Comments

Comments that make me smile...

"Mommy, thank you for making lunch."

"I love you mommy."

"Mommy, can we listen to Hey Jude don't make it bad?"

"Mommy, are you sad?"

"Mommy, I'm so glad to see you."

Comments I'm not so sure about...

"Mommy, I have a baby Jackson in my belly. He is growing big and big and then he will come out. OK?"

"My baby died. Yeah, I tried to help her for two hours. She was sick and died."

Birthday Girl

Little Colts Fans

Oxi Clean

A diaper blow up called for Daddy to take some drastic clean up measures.






















I'd like to mention that these cheeks are a mother's worst nightmare. I mean sure they are cute as can be, but they are deceptive. He always looks like he has something in his mouth. Several times a day, I have to stoop down and check. Usually, I find nothing, but occasionally, I will apprehend a piece of dog food.
This would be the appropriate time to document that his favorite passtime is playing in the dog's bowls. Inevitably, he will head that direction if left for too long to crawl around on the floor. I can hear the clink clink of the bowls moving on the floor. He is very angry when I pull him away and remove the dog food from his grip.
Another favorite passtime is skating. This is the Julian version. He places an item in each hand and slides on them. Why move your arms, when you can just crawl with your legs and skate around the house? Some of his favorite items to skate on are our remote controls. After those were taken away, he located D'Arcy's baby bottles. Sure, he first tried to drink the juice, but when that didn't work, he found out they were great skates.

A lesson in opposites.

I was really impressed with D'arcy the other day, and I thought I would share the following story with you.
D'Arcy received a princess place mat for her birthday from Grammy. Teasingly, we'll say, "D'arcy, is that Snow Fusia, Jumping Beauty, and Mindirella?"
Normally, she will quickly correct us, but the other day she started the game by saying, "Mommy, what's her called?" (Yes, the word "she" is seemingly not in her vocabulary, yet.)
I causally said, "Oh, that's sleeping beauty."
"No, Mommy! That's Awake Beauty."
We had never used Awake Beauty in our name game so I was really impressed that she hit the perfect opposite word so confidently.