Samuel Standing

Creeping on hands and knees develops the midbrain, helps hand-eye coordination, and increases respiration. The bad news, guys, is that I'm not so sure Samuel is going to be creeping too much longer.

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He is the most determined child I have ever met in my life!!

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He crawls up my mom's steps just for the sake of crawling up them. When he gets to the top, he just crawls back down. And, today, he pushed up on a toy and then stood up, balancing, for a few minutes before he fell down. And the child's not quite six months yet!!!!

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I really think he's going to be walking before too long...the child just has the drive to go and go. We're not encouraging it, but he's pushing up on everything he can get his hands on. He's just a mess!!

Happy Birthday Timothy

Dear Timothy,

You were due September 8th, but something told me I'd see you before then. When you were delivered on July 30th, I was scared but I also fell in love. The nurses called you our "wimpy white boy" because you were only 6 weeks premature yet kept forgetting to breathe...those 2 weeks in NICU were scary but weeks we will never ever forget!

Today, you're a very logical, funny, sweet, observant, demanding, dramatic little boy. When we're headed to the park or the library, you can't even make it a few steps to the car before you collapse on the ground insisting it's too hot to walk. You love rings and your favorite color is purple.

You have big ideas all the time. "I have an idea--why don't we make a tent!" or "I have an idea--we could do an art project. Wouldn't that be great, Mommy?" You wanted to make our own waterpark. For your birthday, you want to go on a "tour of playgrounds." I simply don't know where you come up with this stuff!!

You pick up on things that most three year olds don't pick up on. You overhear conversations and mention them days later, worried about something I said to your daddy in jest. You understand SO much more than you really should. Your daddy and I are completely amazed at you every single day.

You're so proud that you're turning four. You told me today that you won't be a little boy anymore--you're going to be a daddy!! Yesterday you told me that you were about to go be a real fireman since you were growing up. When we were walking to the swimming pool, a firetruck drove up and parked and I joked that they were there to pick you up. You decided you were a little too scared to be a fireman right now.

You can swim, Timothy. You hold your breath and swim underwater over and over again! You love lift-the-flap books especially. You love to watch the Star Wars movies and lately you've been on a Care Bear kick. You're a terrific big brother, but now that Samuel's really getting into your toys that bothers you a little bit. You like to eat corn and broccoli. You are very verbal about your dislike of potatoes.

I love you, Timothy. I can't wait to see what you think of next...what your next big idea will be...what crazy thing I'll find next time I walk into your room. You're so sensitive and so in tune with other people's feelings, just like your daddy. Whatever you do in life, I know you'll do it big. There is no halfway with you.

Happy Birthday, BooBah!!!!

Moving out of State

In our last post, I talked about our vacation to Arkansas. Now it's official: Arkansas is going to become our permanent home!! We're making some changes in our lives as we try to get closer to the life God wants for us, and that change involves David changing careers to spend more time with his family.

Our house is up for sale currently and that brings about an enormous amount of stress. We had to take down our infant crawling track and put our floor blocks in storage so that our house looks normal. We painted our yellow playroom a neutral color. We don't have all the wonderful resources to do a full Doman program currently, but the kids are still thriving!

Samuel is 5.5 months old now and he's pulling up to standing on his own! We've been trying to get out of the house a lot since these two boys can destroy a house in thirty seconds flat, so yesterday we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science. They have a toddler area for ages 0-2 and I actually put him down and let him crawl around all the ramps, grooved blocks, etc (I washed his hands after he was done, of course). He went to a block and pulled up to standing!! The other parents kept asking me "He looks so little--how old is he?" When I told them five months they just couldn't believe it!! Even with our crawling track put away, the kid is still a floor baby and he's still crawling to help organize his brain as much as possible.

We're looking at new homes in the mountains tomorrow. It looks like we might be able to get a home with a little bit of acerage...that would help our walking program with Timothy!! We're also looking to have a separate playroom (perhaps a bedroom) and a program room with our brachiation ladder, mats around the perimeter of the room, etc. We have a lot of choices...it's a buyer's market!

We're excited about these opportunities. They're making for a busy life for us currently but, in the end when all is said and done we'll be able to slow things down considerably. I can't wait until we have more time with Daddy!

Science Museum

We took the kids to the Mid-America Science Museum in Arkansas. We've been members here for two years now. For $65, we can get a year membership that also gets us in to 3 local science museums in Texas. It paid for itself about 3 times last year!!

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Timothy loved the Tesla Coil demonstration (it's the largest Tesla Coil in the world!!). He also got to volunteer for the demonstration of the Van de Graff generator. His long hair stood straight up! At first they thought he was too little, but he looked at the man and said "I won't take my hand off or it will shock me!" There were several times at the museum that he said something very smart.

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They also had a small exhibit of electronic dinosaurs. As we handed our tickets to the attendant, she bent down and asked Timothy if he knew the different between real and pretend. Timothy said "I know that pteradactyls aren't real anymore. All dinosaurs in the world are extinct. They're just fossils." She laughed so hard! Timothy can identify so many dinosaurs, and knows that some of them ate other dinosaurs and some ate plants. Timothy knows so much!

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They also had an exhibit we walked past about levers and pulleys. Timothy pointed and said "Look! A pulley!! Just like Sid the Science Kid!!!!" See? Kids can learn from television!

Arkansas

We're spending some time in the mountains of Arkansas!! Timothy's learned so much here. He went sleuth mining and found different types of gemstones, we went to the science museum, and we learned all about BEARS! Samuel's just along for the ride, enjoying all there is to see and do.

Fourth of July

We had an awesome Fourth of July here!
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Timothy understood this year that Fourth of July was all about America. He loved learning how fireworks work. Samuel, too, was looking at the brilliant sky watching the fireworks. He loved it (until he stopped loving it and was ready for bed).

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After the show, I asked Timothy what he thought. He said "It was a little bit exciting, but I was a little frightened, too." Yep--that's my boy!!

Going...Going...Bumping in to the Glass Door

Samuel turned 5 months yesterday and that child can move! He's creeping, but not quite cross pattern yet. He'll move his feet twice and forget to do his and fall flat on his face. He'll lunge forward with his hands. Regardless, he goes!

If we put a toy down on the floor, he locks his gaze on it and just takes off! It's actually so fun for us to watch.

We normally let him crawl on a big blanket near our sofa in the living room. EVERY single time, a few minutes later, he'll start crying. We'll go to check on him and he'll be desperately trying to crawl outside bumping his head on the glass doors over and over. We measured and it's 18 feet from the blanket to the glass door.

He's also really discovered his voice. He does less crying and more talking! He says mamama but I don't really think it means me. He also says aaaah and ooooh and blows raspberries quite a bit. Seeing how much Samuel babbles and talks reminds us how little Timothy babbled and made sounds.

Everything Samuel is doing is either age appropriate (like his sounds) or a few months ahead of schedule (like his crawling). It's good to know our kid is okay!