Birthdays and Biking

It's a little hard to believe but our littlest man is now a year old.  He brings so much joy to all three of us and we are loving his ever-developing personality.

 

We had a spaghetti dinner with him on his birthday and it was hilarious to watch him toss his cake on the floor (Atticus didn't eat his first birthday cake, either!)  For the record, he enjoyed the cake the next morning when he wasn't so tired and cranky.

October was a big month for our little man and not only because he turned a year old.  He started clapping, he waved for his first time (at Nana- still waiting for another performance) and he went down slides for the first time (on his tummy and his bottom!)  He's also gotten so much better at crawling.  He's waaay faster- it's so cute to watch him put his head down like he's sprinting, although he has run into walls and other objects a few times.  He'll crawl up on you from behind and surprise you, and he has the sweetest way of pausing while he crawls to hold a hand out to you, asking you to pick him up or play with him.  The little grin on his face makes it pretty irresistible.

There were many other big developments.  He crawled up the stairs for the first time this month.  Thank heaven, he is getting much more comfortable standing (he was getting stuck standing up in his crib and elsewhere a lot at the beginning of the month!).  He now coasts along furniture fairly quickly.  He loves walking behind our stool and our lion walker.  He transitions so well going up and down that we're thinking he'll be ready to try taking steps in the next month or two.

We also just love the personality that is becoming more and more evident.  He has started having little yell/scream-offs with Atticus and he'll even join Atticus when he sings in the car. The yelling isn't easy on the ears but I love watching them laugh with each other.  He is so content a lot of the time to just crawl around and explore, sweetly babbling, "Doo-doot" and other cute syllables.  It's obvious that most of the time, he's trying to find Atticus as he's crawling around.  And when Atticus will move to a different room, Hinckley will almost immediately head in that direction.

He LOVES balls or anything that rolls and will spend a surprising amount of time hitting balls with the back of his hand and chasing them around the room.  He picked up a light saber for his first time this month and we can already tell that he LOVES sword fighting (he is always trying to fight with me at dinner- he swings his spoon at me back and forth).
   
Speaking of dinnertime, he is getting to be pretty opinionated regarding food.  He does NOT like anything that is bland. For example, Atticus ate plain avocado for a long time but not Hinckley.  It has to be guacamole or nothing.  He also LOVES broccoli, tomatoes and meatballs.

We are a little worried about his biting.  As I mentioned last month, I don't dare nurse him during the day, so I've been pumping milk once a day and then nursing him at night.  I am happy to report, however, that this week he's had a couple long nights in a row, meaning he got a 12 hour stretch and two 9 hour stretches, so he's nursing less and less!  Hooray!

Atticus will be 4 years old in a month!  He is getting to be so responsible.  He can button buttons, zip zippers, put on socks, open and close doors, buckle seatbelts, the list goes on and on.  We bought him his first bottle of gel, just for him, and he loves to "do his hair" (which mostly goes straight up, ha ha- he hates getting help for the finishing touches but needs it for now).  He really doesn't nap unless he's had a late night, although he did nap once while sitting in our lazy boy and listening to music.  He has discovered a favorite salad dressing (calls it "Harmesan Cheese.") and he douses salad and other veggies with it.  And I discovered that both boys LOVE salmon, which makes me very happy.

He has had some really mean moments with Hinckley but he also has sweet ones, like when he caught Hinckley going down the slide for the first time.

It was October, so we got to go to the pumpkin patch with our Joy School group.  So fun!

And of course there was Halloween:

Atticus was a wolf, Hinckley was a little piggy, and I was Little Red Riding Hood.  

 

An unexpected twist in our month was our dogsitting experience.  Jill came for a week. It was tiring but she was a sweetie.  We all fell for her.  Even Dane was touched when he saw her keep baby Hinckley from falling off a tricycle.

The saddest part of this month was having our beloved friends the Whitakers sell their home.  They are still in the city but it's only a matter of time before they'll be moving away.  We are trying to enjoy every last minute we get to be with them.

The biggest milestone for Atticus this month is riding a real bicycle!  The day after General Conference (on Oct. 8th) our wonderful friend, Hillary Bellus (who also happens to be his swim teacher) took Atticus outside with a small bicycle and he just took off!

Bob and Marti had planned to give him a bike for his birthday but with the weather being so beautiful they decided to give it to him early when they came to visit.  The boy is in LOVE with his bike!  He's out riding every day.  During their visit, he was riding 3+ miles a day!

  

Our visit with Bob and Marti was so wonderful.  I love having visitors but it can be hard on Atticus and me to have them go.  We can't wait to see them again.

I can't end this post without sharing a special experience we had with Atticus.  We were writing a talk together for him to give in primary and, at the end of the talk, I was hoping he could bear his testimony.  He's been reading The Book of Mormon with us for over a year, so I asked him if he felt it was true.  We decided he could pray right then and there about it.  After his prayer, I asked how he felt and he said, "Be quiet!  I'm listening..."  (poor Hinckley was shushed more than once, ha ha) Then after a minute or so he told me, "I feel it Mommy!"  He ended his talk by saying that the Spirit had told him yes.

In our most recent General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson asked the sisters of our church to read The Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  I have loved delving in and feasting on the word at a faster pace.  I want to echo my son's words.  The Book of Mormon is true!  It is the word of God and it testifies of Jesus Christ.  It works hand in hand with the Bible and is helping me to become a better mom and person.  If you want more information please feel free to ask me or you can follow this link to get a free copy.  

Atticusisms:

• "I snuck inside and gobbled them up" (raisins in between riding his bike outside)
• "I just LOVE these so, so much!" (fish sticks, raisins- he's had a bigger appetite now that he's riding outside more and more)
• "I'm not the big bad wolf.  I'm a regular forest wolf."
• ("Come here, I want to give you a hug and a kiss") "Not yet.  I need to study my scriptures."
• "Is anyone sick?" (while praying)
• "Please bless Collin on his mission that he won't get bited by animals."
• "You're the best cooker, Mommy."
• "Let's pray for Mommy's elbow." (when I dislocated my shoulder.)
• "Aaah!  Scary doggy, scary doggy!!!" (while running around)
• "I love the doggy, even though she scratched my back."
• "Will you wrestle with me, Bobba?... Are you able to wrestle?"  (there was plenty of wrestling- poor Bob's lip got busted during one bout of wrestling).
• "Doggy, SIT!" (said with the most adorable, authoritative voice.)
• "Oh well, I guess nothing for me today/nothing for me this year." (while walking around the store looking for Hinckley's birthday present)

Big gulps, huh?

Overall, September was a wonderful month.  Dane has been pretty sick here at the end of the month, but the majority of the month went really well.

For one thing, we've been more adventurous as a family.  At the beginning of the month we went boating with the Pattersons and had a BLAST.  Atticus was so brave and went on a tube for his first time. Dane and I both got to try wake surfing.  It had been too long!

Later in the month we finally made it up to Mt. Charleston with another family.  It was a beautiful escape from the heat.

Atticus has found some pretty creative ways to play with his baby brother.  He still has a LOT of angry, selfish moments (and Hinckley really seems to enjoy getting a rise out of him- yikes!) but it's so fun to see how much they love each other.    

Oh how I love these boys!

Hinckley got three teeth (#5, 6 and 7) between September 1st and 6th.  At the beginning of the month we noticed that he holds his mouth with an underbite the majority of the time.  It makes for some pretty adorable smiles and a cute, intense face when he holds objects as tight as he can and starts shaking.  He has such a strong grip!

Our title ("Big gulps") comes from his cute, very audible gulps.  The kid drinks with a whole lot of gusto.

On Sept. 18th he (finally!) learned to crawl forward.  It's a whole new world for this little guy.  We love the way he crawls- it's still slow and jerky so he looks like he's strutting.  He also still backs up to sit on his bum all the time, as though to stop and assess the situation before continuing forward.

He broke his first dish this month- he has this talent for whipping his head forward and backward while he's in his high chair (which has wheels) and one night he did it so he could get closer to the counter and grab some dishes.  He is a smart little guy- he'll use just about any nearby object as a tool so he can move another object closer to him or around.  He loves rolling balls (and foam rollers) around and chasing after them.

He has started coasting verrrry slowly along furniture.  He's wanting to pull up to stand, but hasn't yet done so- he's just teasing us so far.

He had a really great night toward the end of the month (sleeping for 10 straight hours!) so we are hopeful that he'll start to get those kinds of stretches regularly in the near future.

Atticus did get a (very!) quick stomach bug, but rallied quickly.  Other than that, he had a fantastic month.  We started our second round of Joy School (he is LOVING it!) and now that it's cooling off we can play outside in the morning and early evening.
 
It's amazing.  He's growing up so fast.  He learned to button and unbutton his clothes (he completely dressed himself this morning!)  I'd say he completely stopped taking naps halfway through August, so we are spending more time than ever together.  Some days it drives me crazy, but others we have a lot of fun.  Sometimes he'll "work out" with me in the garage and he has been helping me cook and bake a lot.  In fact, this month he learned how to crack, mix, and start cooking eggs.  He also has learned to fold laundry.  When we had guests coming over a couple days ago, he kept asking how to help and he set the table, cleaned the counter, and started sweeping the floor.  He's still only 3, but I love how incredibly willing he is to help.

A real benefit of his consistent, no-napping schedule is that (now that he goes to bed at the same time every night) he really hasn't been struggling with night terrors.  He'll still have nightmares and will cry out here and there but I don't think he's had a genuine night terror in a couple months.  Hallelujah!

He has days where he acts so responsibly that Dane and I even feel comfortable letting him play out front by himself (for a few minutes at a time).  He's so cute, going outside with his backpack full of tools, a light saber, and a magnifying glass so he can go on "nature walks" to look for bugs.  He has started taking all of his sidewalk chalk in his tricycle and leaves smiley faces on our neighbors' sidewalks (our driveway is full of these little beauties).
 
Don't get me wrong.  We still have more tantrums than I would like (and they're probably louder and more intense than his peers), but he seems to be getting past them faster and having them less often.

There was one such occasion a week ago.  I had been heading over to put a bib on Hinckley when Atticus started yelling about something that he was upset about.  Without even thinking, I headed straight to him and started putting the bib on him (Atticus).  He was already upset at the moment but became nearly apoplectic at the thought of wearing a bib!  Dane was quick on his feet and told him he was acting like a baby so I was treating him like one.  It was unintentional on my part (and absolutely hilarious) but probably a good lesson for him.

Atticus participated in his very first primary program.  He and the other two sunbeams were so well-behaved!  He didn't sing with all his heart (like he had in the practices), but we'll take it as a win.

At the end of the month Atticus went to a "Mad Hatter" birthday party for his cute little friend Islay.  I just love how willing our wild little man is to play the dapper part (when the occasion calls for it).  

Oh, and here's a (hilarious) letter he wrote to his friend Collin who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Africa:

Our boys are crazy but pretty darn lovable.

Atticusisms:
"I'm going out to investigate."
"Can you imagine driving a garbage truck?"
"Mommy, what are they drinking?"  "It's none of our business."  "Is it soda business?"
"My knees hurt!" (from pretending to be a wolf)
"This road is so dirty!" (he's been sweeping the road every few days)
"I got hit by science." (trying to explain how he got a bonk on the head at the science museum)
"Daddy, you're so selfish!"
"If your ears are popping, burp!"
"I'm sorry Ellie." ("Now give her a hug.") "But she's NAKED!" (with friends after swimming)
"Yesternight"
"Can I help you?"  "How can I help?"
"I love you because you make me raisin bread."  "I love you because you let me rake."
"You're handsome, Daddy."  "You're pretty, Mommy."
"Please, please, PLEEEEEASE.... Pretty please with a cherry on top?1!!"  (Said in a very high, screeching voice ALL the time)