10 Months!

Here's the big guy! So, what has he been up to lately? So many fun things, including clapping, waving, pushing his toy train down our sidewalk (several houses at a time), and helping clean up! With Tytus and Witten both, from a pretty young age we have practiced cleaning up our toys after we play. My hope is that they'll see it as a normal part of our daily activities and continue it as they get bigger and bigger. For a while Witten was really good at taking things out of containers, but now we've hit a point in his development where he's able to place things in the containers! He stops after each toy and looks around to see if applause will follow his great work! I think he's practicing some fine motor skill in lots of areas because he has also loved stacking blocks. He's always enjoyed knocking over the tall towers of blocks, but now he can stack two or three and feels so accomplished when they stay up.

He's taken a step or two by himself but mostly loves pushing vehicles around or crawling. I really don't support him much when I hold his fingers to walk him around; he's got great balance. I think it's just a matter of feeling secure knowing you're standing all alone. Usually once he's aware that I let go he'll just slowly sit himself down. Needless to say that walking is probably in our near future. :) So fun!

We must have eaten something messy for dinner that night since both of the boys are shirtless. Sometimes its just easier to eat without a shirt instead of scrubbing stains out. You also get to witness Witten's ridiculous drama when he's unhappy. He'll launch himself forward and cry so you don't miss that he's upset his train is stuck. It was on to baths right after I'm sure.

God has given us two amazing little guys, and I would never trade the time I get to spend with them right now. It takes so much wisdom to know how to train them, talk with them, help their hurts, and lead them in how to love others. We've just started really talking about sharing (with brother) and how to play with someone. Sometimes a really simple explanation is necessary, but I'm finding more often we talk about the real heart behind what God asks of us. I'm searching, praying, and refining myself to be an example for them. Man, it's big stuff! I love that Ian and I get to be their example, and I know God's using them to teach the two of us.

Two Little Explorers......Watch Out!

As Witten develops new skills of his own, Tytus sees him more as an equal and loves playing with and around him. Now that he's 9 months old, Witten is often crawling quickly from place to place going into different rooms. He spends a lot of his time making sure he's right around the action, especially watching what mommy is up to. He still loves standing up using the wall, doors, couch, table, etc. and has been known to let go and stand a few seconds on his own. It's fun for us to see him figure out how to go up and down the steps at the playground and go down the slide like his brother.

The boys playing in the bathtub

Easily their favorite time of day! Witten loves waving "hi" and "bye-bye"

Witten loved driving and Tytus really enjoyed pushing all by himself!

I recently found blog of a mom that has was previously a teacher and is doing so many fun things with her kids. I loved teaching because I would get to see their wheels turning just by giving them something to work with or make. Great conversations or new ideas come from trying something new together....even if it's a little messy. We've tried a few out, and I'd say both boys had a blast!

baby-friendly sandbox (it's edible)

So enjoyable and can go in any room or outside. He learns so much exploring in there.

Tytus and I made pretzels one day during Witten's nap

As you can see, Mater and Lightening McQueen are helping roll the dough.

We've been loving the cooler weather recently and got to have boat races in the rain one day. That's one of my favorite memories with my siblings, so it was fun to find a bottle cap and show Tytus how to race it along side the curb. Ian and Tytus also got to run a 5k together without it being scorching hot outside. I think the highlight was feeding the ducks! 

We've talked about rainbows several times since and
what God's telling us when He puts them there.

beautiful day!!

 Last, but not least, our 9 month old!

He's so active that he could hardly stay in one place to snap this shot. I literally just got one picture this month, but it captured him perfectly. He is saying "dada" and "mama" almost everyday now, and I'm pretty sure he associates us with them when they're said. There are several other words that he recognizes and responds to every time: Mia, Tytus, no, bath, book, "let's go!", "I'll be right back", eat, drink, and "night night" are a few of them. He's a fun guy and is learning so much!

1st Day of School!

Tytus has been pretty excited to start school....and today was his first day! We have talked quite a bit about what he'll do there, new friends he'll get to make, eating lunch and playing, and getting to tell us all about it once he gets home. He picked out his clothes the night before and set out his backpack and lunch box so everything was ready to go in the morning. He was excited about his big day, and I can't wait to hear about it once he gets home. 

So big and serious. I was holding his hand as we walked to his classroom and then he looked at me and said "No, like this" and let go of my hand to put it down by his side. Of course, he's so big and doesn't need to hold my hand. :)

Off we go!

8 Months

You can kind of see his blue/green eyes in this one

Not feeling the greatest, but snuggles makes everything better!

Wow! Eight months! I can't believe how time is flying by with this sweet guy! The night that he turned 8 months I was reminded of how far we've come. He woke up around 11:00 really unhappy, and it took me a while to get him back to sleep. I'm so thankful that we've had consistent naps during the day and 12 hours of sleep at night since he was four months old. At first I was thinking "Man, why are you up at this time?", and then it turned into "I've tried everything, but it's not working...". He'd just gotten some pretty bad congestion that day and couldn't manage sucking his thumb and breathing at the same time, which is super frustrating for a little guy. I realized it was going to take some extra snuggling (in an upright position to help the drainage) that night, and I enjoyed every moment of it since it won't be long before these little baby moments are gone. :)

Last week I had started to get the feeling that we should lower his crib because he's mastered pulling up on pretty much anything in record time. Well, that day I walked in to get him from his nap and found him proudly standing up, facing the door, and bouncing in excitement. He started squealing right when the door opened! As we got out the tools to lower the crib, Tytus got to "help" make repairs as my side-kick handyman. They both got to crawl on the mattress while it was waiting on the floor. They are so much fun!

His brother is teaching him many things that will be repeated soon, I'm sure. Tytus loves pretending he's any kind of car/truck and racing around the house to help others in need. We are borrowing a friends' little red scooter aka the Fire Truck and both boys have taken turns riding it around the house. Tytus goes a little faster on it and has even been known to race down our hallway and turn it quickly to fling himself off of it and go sliding on the floor. Witten thought it was great to sit on it and could even touch his toes to push himself along.

*yawn* "Oh, come on, this is no big deal."

Here are some other fun things we enjoyed doing over the past month:

Watching it rain in our rocking chairs

Playing with high school friends and their babies.....my how things have changed!

Eating dinner and playing while daddy practice with his work softball team

Shopping with mommy at Target

Being a monkey at the playground

Watching his brother play and crawling around

7 Months: Crawling, Teething, and Babbling

Such a jolly little guy

Looks you right in the eye when he's "talking" to you

Sooner or later we'll have some teeth coming through

Witten has been scooting some (mainly practicing in his crib) and sitting himself up from a laying position every now and then, but I would say he mainly just wants to stand ALL the time. He will use anything to help him stand up, even if it's just the floor. And he will cruise around an object or reach to a new object in his reach. It reminds me so much of Tytus. He's not been a fan of tummy time from the start, so I wasn't too sure about this whole crawling thing happening any time soon. Well, within the last week he's started to realize that it might be worth the effort. He bounces on his bottom while he's sitting, which is hilarious, but then he'll reach forward and stand up on his feet. He also loves rocking back and forth on all four. Up until yesterday, that was pretty much the extent of his mobility. Yesterday we were playing in Tytus' room and Witten was rocking on all four until he reached out with one hand and fell flat on his tummy. That's usually when he gets frustrated and starts crying, but yesterday he just got back up on all four again and kept reaching....a little at a time. I'd have to say it surprised me, but it was definitely a crawl. Way to go Witten! I was just saying that I'd give him 2 weeks until he's mobile. Little did I know that it would come a little sooner.

Other than his mobility increasing, I'd have to say that babbling is the other biggest change this month. He's been pretty understated and quiet from the beginning so I didn't expect him to be SO talkative so soon.  He's said "dada" several times (but I don't think it's associated with daddy yet) and he'll also say "yea" and "hey". I love it when he talks! He looks you right in the eye and says either one syllable or he'll go on and on. Usually if you respond he'll smile, look away, and then look back at you to continue the conversation. I think his favorite talking buddy is Tytus, hands down. :)

Anything that he can do to be big like his brother gives him such satisfaction. And at this point Tytus thinks it's pretty fun to be like Witten as well. They're so great together! It's fun to catch them in moments when they're both enjoying each other. They'll have conversations at the table while we're eating, giggle at each other, trade toys, "wrestle" together, and on and on. It's fun having a brother.

We're visiting the trucks in our neighborhood. Witten mainly just watched, but he also had his favorite toy along for the ride. I guess a little truck is good enough if you can't get in the big ones like your brother. They both had a lot of fun!

Creative Juices Flowing

Lately, Tytus and I have been doing some fun things together in the mornings while Witten naps. Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood has become a favorite show (really the only show we watch with him so far). On several of the episodes they are playing with cars/trains/space helmets that are made out of cardboard boxes. So, one day we decided to make our own. We got out a box and some markers and went to town making the coolest police car. Then we put some cloth straps on it and were off to patrol the sidewalk outside. Good thing, too, because there were some toy cars in need of assistance that day.

Watching Daniel Tiger

Ready to go!

Trying to decide where we should patrol first.
Or really, what cars we should take with us outside.

We've also been making some letters using one of his alphabet books. First I'll let him choose a letter. Then we'll cut one out of cardboard and color it and cut another out of some foam squares we have. I think his favorite part is either matching them as we go through the book or drawing the letters in salt. I poured a small amount of salt in an empty wooden box and it acts as an etch-a-sketch. He can draw the letter in the salt and then shake the box to try it again.  He's also taken interest in those little fuzzy balls that usually come in craft kits with pipe cleaners. I had a whole bag of them from one of my education projects I did in college, so I put them into an empty container we had. I told him they would melt if we touched them with our hands and gave him a pair of long tweezers instead. We decided they were going to get on colored ships to go across the "water".

All the colored "ships" are ready to go!

The sparkly ones were going in the yellow dump truck. :)

Cow Appreciation Day!
I got creative and made some outfits so we could go grab some free dinner. I got the guys dressed and we headed to Chick-fil-a for an early dinner, and Tytus got to play in the play area for a while. It was a lot of fun! First time taking them out to eat with no other adult help, and it went great!

Cutest cows I've ever seen!

Tytus is eyeing the play area with all the crazy cows.

New Growth

So, today two things happened that I felt like I should write down. I was playing with Witten in his room. It was just the two of us, right before Tytus woke up from his nap. I feel like the times that it's just him and me, I actually get to talk to him, see what he's learning, and watch his little personality come out. Today I sat him on the edge of the playmat which had a mirror and a few other toys hanging on it. I was sitting kind of diagonal from him, and he would hold the mirror and slowly turn it until he could see me. Then he would let go and look straight at me and laugh. The first two times he was pretty surprised when he found me in the mirror, but then he would do it over and over finding it pretty entertaining. It surprised me that he was able to focus on turning it like that and that he connected that I was still sitting next to him each time. So fun to see him learn!

My sweet guy at the park.

The two buddies after playing, and ready for a
big drink of cold water. It's getting so hot outside!

Tytus also surprised me today by taking initiative in a way he hasn't yet. It was the afternoon and I was trying to get a load of their laundry in before dinner because it had Tytus' sheets in it. I rounded up all the clothes in one hamper, set it in the hallway, then got stuck doing something else. I was either changing Witten's diaper, picking up or putting away something. I don't remember. But by the time I got back to pick up the hamper.....it was gone. I could hear Tytus opening the door to the washer, putting the clothes in, and then stepping up on the handle so he could reach to turn it on. I went in there and he said "I'm washing the clothes, mommy!". Such a sweet sight. :)

This was another one of Tytus' projects. Ian and I were trying to load up the car toleave town, and I had set the bag of empty diapers on the floor to put away later.We noticed that Tytus chose to fill his time by "organizing" the diapers while he waited on us. 

 On another note, Tytus is fully potty trained. We took a break from it when we all got sick after Witten's birth. We had two rounds of viruses and it just wasn't worth the effort with a newborn. I figured I'd just wait until he was interested again seeing how having a stomach sickness can be somewhat traumatizing to a toddler trying to learn to use the potty. Well, sure enough he decided it was time to make the switch and we've been going potty ever since. At home, and places he's familiar with, he'll just go all by himself either on his little potty or the big one. Several times I've been putting Witten down for a nap and Tytus is waiting in the bathroom to say "Mommy, I went poo poo all by myself!" This was one of the first days that happened, so we celebrated with a popsicle on a hot day.