Cruisin' and Bruisin'

Determined. Stubborn even. William is bound and determined to figure out this whole cruising thing. At any moment you can find him pulling himself upright upon any object in our house, regardless of its stability. The door to the laundry room, from inside his crib, from outside his crib, from inside baby jail, on the coffee table, on the dishwasher, on the computer chair (yes, the one with wheels), the oscillating fan, a tall bookshelf, etc are all places he has (attempted) to pull himself up in the last few days. Once upright, the feet and hands start to go and he cruises along hanging on to the furniture. They aren't very coordinated yet, but he did manage to do 4-5 laps around his baby jail over the course of today. Moving only towards his left. Haven't quite worked out the right direction yet. That would lead to the second part of the title: bruises. This poor little baby is covered in bruises. Arms, legs, back and even one on his sweet little head. Makes me sad - but as I said before he is bound and determined to be in motion all the time.

Peeking over the top of the baby jail

Napping is quite difficult because of this. I'm not really sure what to do with him. He is sleeping less at night and less during the day. He is absolutely exhausted and crabby as can be. Yet, the moment I put him in his crib, he is already moving to pull himself up. According to my books, he should be sleeping more now, not less. Before, the moment I published about our sleep struggles, they disappeared (something is grammatically incorrect here, but I'm too tired to sort it out now). Hoping the same will happen now....please!

He is also doing this funny little yoga move that reminds me of the downward dog position. While sitting on the floor, he leans over so he is in a position to crawl. Then, he pushes his behind up in the air and looks up at me. I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is that he would like to push himself up into standing. Hopefully that won't happen until next week at least. I can't believe how fast it is happening. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this time next month he is learning to drive or leaving for college. Although, potty training would be nice....

Yesterday, we introduced applesauce into the circulation of fruits. William enjoyed it very much, despite our concern that it would be to tart for his bland loving taste buds. No problems at all! All we have left are the prunes from the first step foods! (Yummy!)

Applesauce

Not sure about the first bite...

Quit taking my picture!

We are so happy to hear that William's new cousins are finally home with their mom and dad as of Saturday. I decided it wasn't a good idea to publish more pictures of the twins without permission from their parents. But! I got these this last weekend and how can I not share them? Are they not the most precious pictures ever? Ever?

Alexander & Elena at the hospital

Elena & Alexander at home!

Grandpa Heidt left yesterday morning to drive back to Rochester. We are so thankful for his help with the drywall. John and Grandpa worked very hard and completed most of our drywall (3 little spots left to take care of)! Wow! It is looking great down there!

The family room

The office

The bathroom/family room

Pictures, As Promised

I finally have a moment to post pictures and tell you about the Vacation Bible School Finale (see separate post). Today, I was making dinner while William chewed on a wooden spoon and played with Tupperware lids. He has been babbling a lot the last few days and tonight he pulled out the...."dadadada!" I got a little video of it - I'll work on getting that posted soon. He would chew on his spoon and then say "daddadada..." into the spoon like it was a microphone. Very, very cute. I thought it would be awhile longer before we started hearing those kinds of things from him! What a surprise!

Pears!

Yummy pears!

Messy face!

Grandpa Heidt arrived on Friday afternoon to help us with more drywall. Between playdates, basement projects and Vacation Bible School we have been running like crazy this week! It also seems like William is just pushing and pushing himself this week to try and do things for himself. I am exhuasted just thinking about all the things he is learning this week. The little boy is in bed and the bigger boys are downstairs still working, so I have time to post some of those pictures.

I was getting ready for the day while William played on the bathroom floor. Then I turned around and he was...in the shower!

Mmmmm....shampoo!

Wiped Out

William is learning new things so fast my brain hurts tonight. Sleep is something he simply doesn't have time for currently. He was up over an hour earlier than usual this morning and took 3 naps today totaling about 1.5 hours - and fought me on most of them. Typical total nap time is about 3.5 hours. On top of that it is 15687864656 degrees here right now which is enough to make anyone tired. Here is a list of what is new (I'm too tired to write it out...):

-6 Month pictures were taken yesterday at $ears. The pictures themselves we 100% better than his 3 month pictures. But, the prices were not. So, I do not think we will be back. I'm still working on how to share them online. Stay tuned for that one.

-pulled himself to standing this morning on the baby gate. Them pulled himself up to his tiptoes to reach for something he wasn't supposed to have on the other side of the gate (it isn't called "baby jail for nothing)

-Pulled himself to standing using the dishwasher rack. Managed to pull the dishwasher rack off of the dishwasher and almost onto himself before I caught him. I didn't think the bottom rack even CAME out of the dishwasher. Shows you what I know.

-At the grocery store this morning he was getting crabby and cried/yelled at me "Mamamamama!" I was so stunned, I stopped driving my cart and almost caused a 3 cart pile up. And then my heart and brain fell to pieces of mush right there in the chip aisle. It could have been a huge mess. After I recovered myself and apologized to the carts behind me, I said "mamamamama" back to him. He giggled and replied "Mamamammama" like he knew it was something special. Then, he had a tantrum resulting in us exiting the grocery store with great speed (and high volume as well). I haven't been able to convince him to do it again (the mama thing, not the high volume thing). Apparently, he is saving it for another time when he is in hot water with me. Smart boy.

-We are working on clapping hands skill. William thinks it is quite funny (most of the time, unless he cries. Then he doesn't like it) most of the time when other people clap their hands. He is not interested in learning it himself. We have progressed from the hitting the table with one hand to banging two plastic blocks together with about 67 percent accuracy. The rest of the time he drops one of the blocks or misses when he brings his hands together.

-Several times in the last few days he has been experimenting with some "cruising" (hanging on to furniture and moving hands/feet to get somewhere else). He is really good at the moving hands part and reaching. He does NOT understand the whole moving the feet thing though. His upper body moves along and he picks up his feet and puts them down in the same place or on top of each other. Then, he is off balance as his body is now a diagonal line with his arms very far away from his head. This makes him very frustrated and a little scared (I think) as he doesn't know how to go back the other direction or move his feet towards his arms. But, it doesn't stop him from trying it again and again and again....

-Oatmeal is being tolerated very well and so today we added : Pears! He ate them all up along with his favorite sweet potatoes. Pictures will come at a later time (Read the last sentence in the first paragraph).

-Sat down on purpose by himself 3-4 times tonight to a cheering crowd. I am not confident he will retain this skill for our nap sessions tomorrow.

Quick Story

Today I was putting on William's shirt for the day. He has the biggest noggin around, so it takes some work to get it over his head. I got his head into the hole for the shirt and down around his ears when he reached up with both hands and pushed the shirt off of his head. Then looked at me and grinned like he is the smartest kid ever. Which he is. Of course. Except for that thing where he can't figure out how to sit down. Maybe not the smartest kid...

Pull up Oatmeal Boy

William has mastered the pull up skill with speed and not so many bumps on his head as you would imagine (although, we are due for a big one...we have 6 month pictures scheduled for Wednesday). The last few days, nap time has become a yell-a-thon struggle. William lays down and fusses for a short period of time. It gets quiet and I lay back and think "...ahhh, now I am going to [insert selfish activity here]."

I am not getting my pedicure, eating my bon bons OR even taking a nap because no less than thirty seconds after I decide on my particular choice of self indulgence, the screaming commences. Prior to this week, I have been timing the crying/yelling and trying to get William to sooth himself back to sleep. It had been working pretty well up until Sunday with minimal fussing. However, now the fussing indicates that he is UP!!! and cannot (or will not) figure out how to get back down again. I swear we have done hundreds of repetitions the past few days and knowing how to sit down apparently is not a transferable skill to different environments. Hopefully in the next few days, he'll pick it up and we'll be good.

Unhappy boy before a nap...yes I am a terrible parent. I took the pictures (or two) and then picked him up.

Happy standing up after a nap


More proof that naps are a good thing

Today we started William on oatmeal. I can't figure out this whole food thing. Everything I read is different so I give up. Some stuff says to do the different cereals first, some information says to wait until the first fruits and vegetables are done. Well, we are almost out of the rice cereal and happen to have a big box of the oatmeal cereal. So, today is the day! He had a little trouble keeping it in his mouth (too runny?), but enjoyed it very much otherwise. Tonight also started our church Vacation Bible School which I have volunteered to help with. I am teaching the 4-6 graders. They are a little young...but lots of fun. I am totally exhausted after running around after them for two hours this evening. When I signed up, the director thought we might have 6-10 kids in my group. No problem for someone used to the 25- 35 kid range. Turns out there were 16 tonight and only 3 of them are girls. And they are all friends....and their name tags all fell off after the first twenty minutes. Should be a fun week! I'm glad I'm able to help out.

The first bite...hmmm..


OOoooooo-atmeal!

New favorite trick? Using his top and bottom teeth to bite down on the spoon


2 kitties and the kid. Run while you can kitties!

PS So excited! Grandpa Heidt might be coming this weekend to help with the drywall! Weehee!

Peachy Cousin Christine

Its been awhile. I'm sore from hitting the running track at the Y for the first time in...well, a long time. My back up title for this post is "The Jiggler", which is the perfect word for how the excess on my body felt while I huffed and puffed around the track. No great records were broken for time or distance, but it feels good to be back at it (sort of good/mostly sore).

Meanwhile, we began peaches on Thursday with William. He made a little face at first, but then gobbled the rest of them up. William had sweet potatoes at the same time and I have to say it was hard keeping track of what was what in the bowl.

Thursday evening, my cousin Christine arrived on her way to Ohio from Colorado. I can't believe I haven't seen her since John and I got married more than five years ago! I wasn't expecting her to be able to see William as she and her boyfriend, Tom, arrived right at William's bedtime. Fifteen minutes before she pulled up, he was heading towards meltdown mode. Yet, as soon as she walked in the door, he was all smiles! He turned on the charm and convinced me it would be okay for him to stay up a little later than usual. I even hoped he would sleep in a little in the morning after being up so late (nope on the sleeping in). Here are the two of them (Tom is in the background) having a good time a good HOUR after William's bedtime.

Sadly, they left early this morning before the two of us were up. They were stopping by the arch before hitting the road back to Ohio. M@pquest claims it is only 6 hours between us. I'm not sure I believe that - Christine promises to verify this for us today as they drive (You hear that Chrissie? You owe me an e mail with the details). We look forward to spending a little more time with the two of them (Christine and Tom) at the upcoming wedding this fall for her sister, Beth.

The last picture is what William has been spending all his free time working on: pulling himself up. In his crib at bedtime, in baby jail, on the kitchen floor, on my lap, you name it and he is trying to pull himself upright. Here he is in baby jail, working on pulling himself upright.

Stand up and Say Goodbye!

This morning, we said good bye to the Grandparents McGarry as they went back to Rochester. Never fear, cousin Christine will arrive tomorrow for a short visit on her way back to Ohio. Yesterday we put in the longest day of drywall work ever and managed to get the family room, part of the play room and part of the bathroom drywalled. Wow! It went really well with the three/four of us working together. We didn't even get to the office or the sitting room. We anticipate a huge slow down in work progress now that our team has been reduced to two!

Family room


The partially done bathroom

John reports that tonight while I was out, William pulled himself from sitting to standing on his baby "jail". He was very proud of himself. I asked him to show me his new trick when I came home, but he wasn't feeling up to it I guess! Maybe I'll get to see it tomorrow.

Lastly, we have heard from all family members in the Minneapolis area after the bridge collapse this evening. We are thankful everyone is okay.