Today Helen pulled herself to a standing position (repeatedly). She just turned 9 months old on the 3rd.
Helen still hasn't put together your standard issue hands-and-knees crawl, but she is doing an adaptive army crawl which consists of her pudgy arms hauling her legs n' belly forward by sheer might. I'm sure the hardwood floor assists her. (And if we had wall-to-wall carpeting, could we say "carpet burn"?) She nearly went down the stairs the other day, because I didn't realize how fast she was getting at her army wriggle.
Helen reaches for people and squirms to get down.
Helen is giving kisses. Sloppy, open-mouthed, a little toothy, right on the kisser.
Owen and Helen can make each other laugh like nobody's business. They are quite the tag-team with their belly laughs. Owen splits a gut like nothing I have ever heard before. That boy can hardly maintain a standing position when he gets into it. It's like he loses all muscle tone and just melts into a puddle of funny. I'm sure he's wet his pants multiple times while laughing, because he sure has lost his manners (i.e. shot a bunny, stepped on an African barking spider) a few times during an especially great laugh. If I could find a way to bottle that laughter and market it, I'd be turning my thermostat down to 72! (see following)
Owen and Helen had their first swim of the summer at Ms. Kaiser's pool on Saturday. They used swim rings and LOVED it. We were able to let go of Owen, and he could handle the water by himself. Helen was irritated when we took her out of her floatie, and squirmed to get back into it. She loved Blueberry the dog until his overly aggressive doggy kisses knocked her over backward and her head met the cement--just after I grabbed that picture.
Owen loves music and request-demands it most of the time. He listens to his VeggieTales Christmas CD 3 or 4 times a day. He loves all musical instruments. He loves when Grandpa W. plays his violin, and makes pleading requests for encores. He loves to be in the worship service at church, and thinks it is his right to go up on stage afterward, because after all, his daddy plays bass. He loves our old piano and can pick out all the C's. His keyboard, a lovely handmedown from Aunt Les, finally ran out of battery juice--YES, thank you LORD!!
Owen likes to help me empty the dishwasher. However, for various reasons, I've only run it once since we took our Indiana trip. (One reason was an unmentionably high electric bill, which is also why our thermostat is set on 80.)
Owen loves thunder and roosters, both of which get a hand clap to imitate. Didn't you know a rooster clapped? Paw Paw's battery-operated, noise-activated rooster needs a nice, loud clap to make him crow.
Owen also has a fascination with all things mounted on the ceiling and walls. Lights, fans, doorbells, air fresheners, thermostats. Clocks and smoke alarms are his specialty. I'm seriously considering making his next birthday cake in the shape of a smoke alarm. He would love it. Tonight before bed, he gave Helen and me kisses and then trod right past us to stare fixedly at the smoke alarm. His dream came true when I set it off baking cookies today. (No comments from the peanut gallery.)
Owen got tucked into bed tonight with Elmo and a Little Tikes pipe wrench.
5 comments:
Oh, Joyce, bring them back! It seems that they grew up way too much in jus a month! They look absolutely healthily wonderful! Mom told me that Helen was crawling now. She looks like Owen in one of the pictures and what I would give to hear them laugh at each other. Thanks for the tidbits into your kids' lives and the joys that make all the burned cookies worth it!
Sweet pictures Joyce. Isn't it so neat to see that sister/brother relationship develop??
And I love your new blog heading with the awsome picture. Great job!
That was such a great post, Joyce. It paints such bright, vivid pictures of your children. You know, I was eyeing that picture of Helen in her little ring with the dog and thinking "Wow, she must really be sitting well, because I'm pretty sure that Israel would have ended up with his head meeting the concrete there at some point." :) I LOVED the "melting into a puddle of funny" and the staring fixedly at the smoke alarm. That is too adorable.
speaking of kids. .this morning Blake brought me one of his trucks (minus the back wheels) and a pile of blocks. I thought he wanted the wheels back on but he says,"no momma, I'm want it on the blocks". Yeeeeehaaawww. .my 2 yr old is putting his trucks on blocks. Are you sure you still want Owen to come and play? Blake might have a few more redneck tricks up his sleeve :). Jan
Hooooo boy, JAN!!! You tell Blake tha's right, there ain't no NEED for wheels when you got you some blocks!! And don't you mind about cuttin' the grass around them blocks either, ya hear?
Thanks for the all the nice comments about the kids, yall. And Heather, thanks for liking my new heading. That graphic took entirely too long.
Ahem. Being an AWESOME BAKER, I feel the NEED to clear some unwarranted tarnish off my reputation. **I did not burn those cookies.** There was some residual flour that fell off the bottom of my most recent pie--blueberry--into the oven. I failed to clean it off the oven floor. It burned and set the smoke alarm off. The cookies were wonderful and perfect. Thank you.
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