11 months.......and WALKING!

This is what we call the "Witten face" so sweet and innocent.....but
sometimes he can try to use it to get himself out of  a sticky situation

Our little bugga bug has been taking steps for a while now. Mostly it was one or two with a big leeeeean toward the person or thing he was trying to reach. He was definitely not interested in learning to balance and would only use walking if it was more convenient than getting down to crawl. So, I thought it'd be a week or two before we saw anything else. I really thought he'd probably still be crawling at his birthday party. But, of course, they always catch me off guard. Yesterday I saw him being a little more daring than usual. Taking some steps without being noticed (usually he waits for our applause) and letting go to walk into the middle of a room (that's brave!). Then around bedtime I saw him take 2 or 3 steps, pause to catch his balance, and then take a few more to reach where he was going. Yay! Daddy got home shortly after and we had a lot of fun letting him walk back and forth between us. Tytus also wanted to be apart of the celebration so we asked if he wanted Witten to walk to him. He gave a confident, "Yes!"and I think that was Witten's shining moment. He loves, loves, loves being more like his brother! You could tell he was so proud of himself.

He's also babbling a lot and having "conversations" using his expressions and pointing his finger. He's a silly guy, and I really think he has a sense of humor already. It's fun to ask him where something is and see if he either points to it or goes crawling to get it. Without fail, though, his face changes to the "Witten face" when you ask him where it is. He's still loving cleaning up and putting lids on any container he can find. One of his new favorite places at our house is in the sandbox. He'll crawl in himself and pick up a shovel to start "digging" or drive a few cars around like his brother. He feels pretty special to be outside with Tytus while I'm making dinner. I'll pull the screen on our door down so I can hear them, and they'll just play and talk while I have the kitchen to myself for a little bit. It's easily their favorite thing to do together.

God's Classroom

Sitting at the dinner table tonight:

Tytus: "Can I go there?"

Mommy: "Where?"

Tytus: "Can I go to God's classroom?"

Mommy: "Sure...What will you do there?"

Tytus: "Play! And Witten, and Daddy, and Mommy come to!"

Mommy: "Okay!"

Tytus: "And Brandi maybe be there?"

Mommy: "Uh-huh....."

Tytus: "And Matt?
             And Atticus' friends?
             That would be fun!"

Mommy: "That would be fun!"

A couple days ago he sat down with a book and was "reading" it to Witten. "God our Father, we thank you for your many gifts and things...." :) It's so fun hearing things he's thinking and learning at home, school, and around our friends. I'm praying there are things taking root in his heart already.

Happy Halloween!

Right after we came in from handing out candy

 This was the first year Tytus actually did some trick-or-treating, so now he knows the goodness of candy! We met up with our small group from church in our friends' neighborhood last weekend . The kids played on the playground, ate dinner, and then we had a parade down a few streets where people were sitting out with candy. It was still really light outside and there weren't people everywhere, so it was the perfect introduction to what it's like to go trick-or-treating. It was a lot of fun for Tytus to see his friends all dressed up and, of course, to get lots of candy in his red fire hat! Witten enjoyed the adventure, too, and looked so cute as our little duck.

Here are our two boys as ducks. Can you guess which is which?

On Tuesday I helped out with the carnival at Tytus' school and both boys spent the day in their own classes. This was the first time I've left Witten for that amount of time (8:45-2:00) in an unfamiliar place and he did awesome! Every time I saw him he was happy and just doing his thing. He's such a fun little guy! Tytus knew I'd be there and thought it was so much fun to have me around for a little while. I got to see some of his friends he's been telling me about. I can tell he's really enjoying being in school, and we're so thankful for his teachers and how the school loves all the kids so well.

Tytus playing basketball right next to the game I was helping with that morning.

So so happy to see mommy at his school!

Handing out candy in our neighborhood on Halloween is always fun. We've met new neighbors each year and usually have a few with young kids stop by to play for a minute with our boys.

Helping hand out candy this year!

Making friends with some new neighbors

And here's a peek into Halloween evening after we've handed out all the candy. Tytus is such the entertainer. I'm really thinking of making a flip book of all these pictures....he was cracking us (and himself) up. Witten's taking notes.