Stings, Swimming, Stretches and Soap Boxes

My goodness, June has been good to us! 

Sure, Atticus got three more molars.  (Yep, you heard me right!  Three...)  But really, only the first one gave us grief.  The other two just came.  We had an extra early morning here or there but they weren't nearlyl as dramatic as the first two molars.  Thank goodness!  And oh, what an adorable smile this boy has got.  

Speaking of his smile, he's been experimenting lately with laughs.  He has one that is especially funny- it reminds us of Nelson's laugh in the Simpsons.  But they're all pretty darn cute.  

Other developments include the following:

Swim Lessons

He took survival swim lessons!  The great news is he can now float on his back for 30 seconds!  The bad news?  He doesn't like water anymore.  :(  Hopefully this'll pass as he gets more competence.  In the meantime, it's no easy task to watch him as he tearfully floats.  In fact, there have been a couple heart wrenching times when he has actually blown me kisses while floating and crying.  I'm not sure how I resisted the urge to jump in and "save" him!  What a little lamb!

Stings

He also got his first bee sting!  Pretty sure a wasp got him at the playground.  But after a minute or two of crying the tough little guy wanted to keep on playing and tried to resist going home!  Crazy kiddo.  He's doing just fine.

Helper

He still loves to help!  I actually caught him "cleaning" our window a week ago!  He went missing for a minute or two and then he poked his head out from behind the curtain with a rag in his hand and a smile on his face.

Words

He is talking and imitating SO many words and sounds!  I love all of his animal sounds (he's now imitating elephants and even was saying, "Ouch!" to a picture of a porcupine).

The newest ones that he says all the time include "Down" (often said as the garage door goes down with his hand out, as though he's using the force to push it down...)

Here he is the very first time he was working out "Up" and "Down."

He also says "Wow!", "No" (often comes out as "Nah!" or "Neh!" and he often will try to say "Jesus" when he sees pictures of the Savior.  It's amazing.

One of the most frequent (along with "Up" and "Out," of course) is "All done!"  The hand shaking is pretty much over.   He just says it over and over, whenever he wants to stop something, (ie eating, baths, swimming, grocery trips, car rides, stroller rides, etc.)

It also feels like he understands so many more words every day!  Unfortunately, he's learned the word "scream" and if he hears anything similar he loves to give us a high pitched sampling...  Eek!

But it's so much fun to have him learning to do simple tasks and identify a few body parts.  He can point to his head, his ears, his tummy, his belly button and even his nose sometimes!  My favorite is that he knows "arms"- and he promptly folds his arms if he hears "fold your arms" or if he sees people doing it.  They don't stay folded for long, but it is just the sweetest thing to see him starting to learn how to pray.

We also love our little comedian's developing sense of humor.  Here he was entertaining us one night.

So, yes.  It's really been a great month.

Another reason we've loved June is that we got to celebrate all of the amazing men in our life.  Here are a few shots of Atticus with his Dadda.  

He's becoming Dane's little minion.  I absolutely love watching them together.  

We also got to spend some time with my dad and his sweet wife, Terree.  We even got out on the boat two days in a row!  Seriously, what person in their 70's can still get out and slalom like a champ?!  My dad!- That's who! 

 Atticus loved it, except when Momma got in the water!  Then he was NOT happy!!   I'm thinking he was worried about me?  

We've also seen more of Grandpa Ernie than usual, which has been terrific!  

There have been breakfast burritos, gardening on Saturday mornings, and birthday parties for both of Atticus's bisabuelos.

He's so lucky to have great-grandparents!

And, of course, we spent time with Atticus's special buddy, Bobba.

 There's been plenty of horn honking with both Bob and Marti...

  And on Father's Day he learned how to squirt a water gun!  The only thing that could convince him to stop and come back inside was Bobba's whipped cream.

The last great thing about June?  The Copa America Cup!  I'll be the first to admit that, as much as I love playing and coaching soccer, I'm a terrible fan.  But what little we did see must have inspired Atticus:

I've got my fingers crossed that these videos are just the beginning...

Of course, after all that kicking, somebody needed to stretch his hip flexors...?

Ah, this kid!   I seriously love, love, LOVE our little man and his crazy sense of humor!

Warning: Soap Box Ahead

I was asked recently by a close friend if I regretted settling down and having a family.  For some reason, I got a little tongue-tied in the moment.  I didn't want to sound ungrateful by listing all of the things that go wrong on a daily basis, but I also didn't want to just dismiss the question and defend my decision with a simple, "Well, of course not!"  

But I feel the need (yet again) to record straight, if only for myself.  In essence, my answer then and now is absolutely no!  I do not regret becoming a parent at all!  Am I more boring?  Yes.  Less spontaneous?  Yes.  Would I like to be doing some of the things and having the adventures I had before marriage and our little boy?  Yes!  But would I do it all over again?  YES!  Yes, yes, YES!! No question!  In fact, the only real regret I have is that we didn't/couldn't start a family sooner!  My childhood dreams of having a big family might not be possible at this point.  

So, if anyone is struggling or is afraid of commitment (I have fallen into those categories in teh past and sometimes still do!), here's some food for thought:  

I miss waking up when I choose, going to the bathroom by myself, taking long, uninterrupted showers and all of the other things we parents lose out on.  Sure, I miss teaching, coaching, making money, feeling independent, smart, important, etc.  But it's all a price I am more than happy to pay for the blessing of being a mom.  I never, ever felt the joy, love, and deep content I have now as I look at this beautiful little boy.  Not even as a missionary!

The satisfaction we get from work and hobbies is all well and good, but jobs end.  Muscles and bodies deteriorate and weaken.  Minds and senses grow dull.  At some point we all get run down (unless you're my dad!)  Looks and beauty go.  Possessions break and go out of style.  In my case, students and athletes graduate.  But Atticus will always be our son.

Families really are forever, my friends.  And it is in this eternal investment I will put my time and talents into. 

Up, Up and Away! We're Past the Month of May!

Hooray!  Atticus is a year and a half old today!   

We'll get my least favorite part of the month out of the way- Atticus got his first molar toward the beginning of May.  It was basically like being sick for a good week.  After finally experiencing a couple weeks of great sleep, I felt like we were starting from scratch. It was definitely a downer.  

But, thank goodness, the tooth is through, so it's all over.  For now... ;)

Other than that ridiculousness, we've had a pretty darn good month.  

Here he is in Grandpa Bob's new tent.  

And we were able to celebrate Memorial Day with the Maes family just a few days ago.  Atticus made us proud with his patriotic fervor.

Holy cow, you'd never know it had taken him so long to start walking.  This little boy is all over the place!-  He's not running yet, but he can definitely speed walk.

Here are a few videos of him, early on...

This video was the first time I was able to catch him walking- it was a week after his first time.  We were at a music class they were offering at our church and I think he just saw the kids and wanted to participate more.

 

And here he is in those early walking days from the front.  Is there anything more adorable than the old man shuffle?
  
He'll still hold our hands on really unpredictable surfaces, but he already likes to let go as much as possible.  It makes me just a teensy bit sad.

We do have to watch him on the slides- he still likes to go head first and did a face plant a few weeks ago.  The brave little tike didn't even cry, but he did have a few cuts on his upper lip!

    

As much as I want him to stay a baby, this stage is SO MUCH FUN!


He can actually get up close and personal with the animals at Farm Country...

 We even got to work in his great-grandparents' garden without having to worry about him eating all the fertilizer in sight.  I know walking makes life a little more complicated and we've already had one skinned knee, but we are LOVING it!

The only thing that's possibly more exciting than all this walking is his increasing ability to communicate.  I can ask him to do simple tasks (throw this away, close/open that, etc.)  It is just mind-blowing for me.  And we love his growing vocabulary!  His two favorite words are "Up" and "Out":

He's also meowing for cats (this is new) and is learning how to blow kisses (we.still have to work on the blowing part.)

Ah, we seriously love this age!  He is always making us laugh.

He walks around in circles like a drunken sailor- he has all sorts of errands he has to run (putting a shoe on dad's pillow, putting pens in the dishwasher).  He'll chase after us with his dinosaur, roaring all the way.  He loves to attack us, especially if we're laying on the ground.  We just love this wrestle-snuggling, as we've come to call it.

Here he is, trying to blow bubbles (he can't ever just watch us blow them!- he has to try to blow them himself, which often involves chewing on the wand...)

 Here he is on a self-inflicted time out?  He seemed perfectly content to just be sitting there.

He loves the few family pictures we have in frames and brings them to me and sets them up with his toys.  Here we can see my sister Trace's kids.  Maybe they're his playmates?

Trying to figure out his Momma's hat. :)

 So this is one of the naughtiest things he does- he loves to pull out the oven drawer so that he can climb up and see what's cooking.  We're trying to break him of this, but it can be tough when I turn my back for a second and then catch him sneaking some onion.  All I could do was laugh and scramble to find my camera.

 Whenever he holds a phone, he puts it right up to his forehead.  He'll walk around with it, bringing it up and down to his forehead and chatting away.  I can't help wondering if this is how we look to our kids- totally oblivious to things around us with the phone up to our heads.  Makes me feel a little guilty for all the time I spend...

We also try to "play the piano" just about every day.  It's fun to see him going from just pounding and climbing the piano all the time to actually playing individual notes every so often.  I especially love his bouncing legs.  :)

We love that he'll still play peek-a-boo with us and walking makes it all the more interesting.  He runs into a closet and closes and opens the sliding doors, peeking his head out of each side.  So much fun! 

Oh, how we live for this laugh.  

Kisses and Little Misses

Welcome May and all of its promised flowers!

There weren't as many "April showers" this month as in years previous, which made outings all the more doable (and enjoyable!)  Here we are at Wheeler Historic Farm:

 

Still, we did have a few showers, here and there.  Fortunately, we had plenty of fun indoors!  Here we are on a blustery, rainy afternoon (someone's legs are getting longer, which makes this airplane and other toys a whole lot much more fun!)

That doesn't mean we didn't have some less than perfect days.  At the very beginning of the month, we took Atticus to get his MMR and Varicella immunizations.  He developed a fever two days later, which lasted for about 20 hours.  I hadn't realized how very blessed we have been with his health until then.  Watching our limp, exhausted little boy was excruciating.  Yet even through the fever, his cute little personality shone through.  Here he is, trilling away with me on the couch:

Yeah, it was both scary and heartbreaking for us parenting greenhorns.  But the fever did pass and we've been enjoying good health in our home for a few weeks now.  Hooray!

Another thing to celebrate is how communicative Atticus has become  He tries new words all the time.  Here are some of the more consistent ones (the newest ones are in red)

• hi
• dadda
• tickle
• cheese
• "hoff hoff" (dog)
• monkey sounds
• car sounds
• chicken
• apple
• nanana (banana)
• baa (sheep)
• moo
• neigh
• oink
• lion sounds
• dinosaur sounds
• sh! when we're in Daddy's room while he sleeps (he even puts a finger to his lips)
• ooole done (all done)

Even more consistent, however, are some of the signs he has learned:

• eat (twists his hand in front of his mouth)
• more (he'll often skip this and just say "eat" again and again)
• all done (waves his hands like a crazy person)
• gimme gimme (this one is a constant.  Instead of pointing with his index finger lately, he's taken to pointing with all his fingers and fluttering his fingers at them)

He's still eating lots of good food (I feel like his appetite doubled ever since he got over being sick for so long!)  He absolutely adores apples but doesn't love the skins.  Solution?  He pulls out pieces and leaves a trail of apple skin behind him as he lugs his beloved apple around.  

A new food Grandma Zoe introduced him to is ice cream.  At first she needed to use the airplane technique to get him to try it, but after just a bite or two he was fully on board the ice cream train!

He's still making tortillas with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Marti (he even rolled a couple of them out a little with his rolling pin!)

 He's still stacking and pulling anything he can get his hands on so that he can climb.  Here is one instance when he dragged a chair to our room so he could try to see Dane while he was asleep.  After working with the door knob for a little while he got back down and started knocking.

One of my favorite developments this month was his kisses!  Now the title may have been a bit misleading.  Atticus has not, in point of fact, kissed any little misses.  But he gave me his first official kiss on April 14 and he's been melting our hearts ever since.

Please ignore the mamma in this one.  Shudder!  But this was one of his first times so I had to keep it!

Often his kisses lately are just leaning in with his cheek so he can be kissed, but we still get some very sweet open mouthed, fish kisses.

 Speaking of kisses, here the poor little fellow is during a Mother's Day photoshoot I forced him into.  He certainly is patient for one so young!

Another "kissable" attribute for this boy?  The fact that he is finally showing more affection- in his energetic, wiggly, wrestling way, of course.  Here was a sweet moment I caught a second too late.  He had his arm up on Dane's shoulder and looked perfectly content to sit on Daddy's lap:

Now that we have the "Kisses" part of the title out of the way, let's move on to the "Little Miss" part...

We have a next door neighbor who is positively adorable.  She is 2+ years older than Atticus, and dotes on him like you wouldn't believe.  Every time she sees "Baby Atticus" she runs out to say hi and talk to him.  We've spent multiple afternoons with him chasing after her on his walker or having her push him around on his little airplane.

Well, this month the Little Miss got an electric car and has started taking Atticus on "dates" around our houses.  I am pretty sure this is Atticus's absolute favorite thing to do in the whole, wide world.  If you saw the way he smiles when he sits next to her, you'd agree.

Here they are on their first "date."  When it was time to stop, Norah pulled up and told Atticus, "I'll be back tomorrow for another date!"  True to her word, the next couple of days she would come and knock on the door to see if "Baby Atticus could go on another date."  I can't help but laugh every time I think about these two.  You couldn't write it better!

And now for the elephant in the room...

No, our little guy is still not walking.  We are, however, feeling way more confident now that he is letting us hold his hands to walk.  We've only been at it for a week and he looks like he could just let go and walk any old time!  Whether or not he actually will is another story, of course!

But for now, we're just enjoying the fact that he actually wants to hold Mommy and Daddy's hand.  :)

P.S.  Sooooo...  I wrote all of this during Atticus's nap today.  I promise, at the time I wrote it, it was all true.  But when he woke up, the little man was determined to prove me wrong.  Long story short?  He walked--for real-- for the very first time!