Scandinavian festival!

James and I made a trip with our friend Jenny and Henry to the Junction City Scandinavian Festival. It was a lot of fun! Today was Norwegian day, and we saw lot sof Norwegian dancers, singers, and musicians. We even saw a few vikings!

Here is our little viking enjoying the festival!

 

 

 

Steps and sleeping

James slept for 17 hours the night before last... he's NEVER done that before, and he was quite dehydrated and disoriented when he woke up. He was fine after some food and water, but then wanted to nap again 2hrs after he woke up! I think it was a growth spurt, he didn't have a temperature or anything.

The main reason I think it was a growth spurt was because he has taken so many more independent steps today without holding onto anything. Many times he's let go of a piece of furniture and walk four or five steps into the middle of the room, which he has rarely done before! So maybe all that sleep was preparing him to walk more!

I'm so proud of my little walker, but it's hard to face the fact that he's not a little baby anymore...

Walking!

James can walk! Well, a little. This morning he took three steps away from the fireplace, and this afternoon he took one step from furniture to furniture multiple times. I think it's only a matter of time before he takes off running!

Here's a short video of him taking a step!


And a few pics of him standing on his own. My little boy is growing up!



Also, today while James and I were listening to music, Brandon Vance came on (fiddle music) and James immediately looked around and said "Dada?" He associates fiddle music with Eliot, which I think is so cute!! :-)

Splash park!

This past weekend, we went up to visit James's aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was pretty hot out, so we took the kids to a locak splash park. All of the boys were scared of the water at first (James burst into tears when drops fell on him), but Asher and Levi started to like it after awhile. Here are a few shots of our adventure to the splash park!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby steps

James is cruising fast these days and uses his little push car to walk around the room. Yesterday, I was sitting on the floor with him and he let go of the coffee table, took TWO STEPS without holding onto anything, and the grabbed the ottoman!! He hasn't done it since, but I'd say he's well on his way to walking!! :-)

Words!

Well, not really. But sort of.

Not only does James say "Dada!" when he sees Eliot, tonight I realized that he had added another word to his repetoire. When he was finished eating his dinner, he started saying, "Ah-da, ah-da!" which, I now know, means ALL DONE! We've been saying it over and over again and signing it for months now (he has signed it up to this point by shaking his hands when he was finished), but now he SAYS something that MEANS something. Progress!

And, I should mention that when I said "woof woof" today while making a dog shadow puppet, he immediately patted his leg... the sign for DOG!

That's it, it's official. My kid is a genius. :-)

James's Favorite Toys

Just for fun, I thought I'd post some of James's favorite toys (or least favorite toys!) based on a survey done in my online mommy group. So here goes!

What toy has your little one played with the longest? How many months?

James has played with this thing since 6 months old and LOVES it!


What is your LO's favorite bedtime toy?

He just recently started having things in his crib, so I'll say his favorite bedtime toy is a book we read together.



What is your LO's favorite bathtime toy?

James LOVES these floaty things. The penguin is his favorite (probably because I make it sing the "Phenomena" song from the muppets... don't ask why!) And yeah, he likes to suck the water out of them. Ugh.



What is your LO's favorite NOISY toy?

A sesame street cube that he got from a friend of ours. It plays one of two songs continuously LOUDLY and does NOT shut off after any period of time unless I go turn it off. And James just figured out how to turn it on by himself. :-(

What is your LO's favorite quiet toy?

We LOVE this book we got at the aquarium. I pull it out wherever we are and James is entertained for a good 10 minutes.


What is your LO's favorite plush toy?

He likes a little penguin his aunt and uncle gave him. He's always holding onto it as he falls asleep.

What is your LO's favorite "classic" toy?

This horse that my mom saved from my childhood. He pushes it around the floor and sometimes walks with it.


What is your LO's favorite non-toy play item?

A crab child's seat cushion from Ikea. He likes the strings on it.



What is the most worthless toy LO owns?

This silly ring stacker. The most he's ever done with it is take all the rings off, then he's done and on to something else.