walking is the bizness, a rose by any other name sounds like a nag, spelling..

So today Henry is walking all over the place.  When he falls he stands himself back up and carries on walking.  I think we might be at the “preferring it” stage.  He also tried dancing and jumping while standing today.. the dancing looked a bit like fast tai chi and the jumping was pretty cute.  He was watching Grant hop around and he was doing some airless jumping and thinking he was following suit. 

Grant has take to calling us MOM and DAD.. not Mommy and Daddy.  I have no idea where he heard this but it’s a little disconcerting and sounds almost nagging.. “MOOOOOMMMMMMM I NEEEEEED you.. MOM?.. MOM!! MOOOOOOMMMMMMM! Can I have a cookie?”  I’m sure our reaction to it has just encouraged it even more… it doesn’t quite sound natural yet.  “What you doing DAD?” 

So tonight in order to document Henry walking all over we broke out the webcam.  Grant was upset because we didn’t video tape HIM walking.  So I explained to him that it was a new thing for Henry and when he did new things we would videotape him too.  As an example I said “When you learn to spell your name or do something new then we’ll be all excited and video you doing a new trick too!”  So Grant then steps back and says “G-R-A-N-T”.  Now.. last week I tried teaching him his name to the song BINGO because he loves that song.. all it did was end with him walking around singing “G-R-I-N-G-O is my name-o”.  Yes, Gringo… if he only knew.  So I kind of gave up on that effort, thinking I’d confused him.  Turns out knew how to spell his name all along - he just knew singing and spelling out GRINGO was funnier and more annoying.  He’s more like his dad than he knows.  So, as promised we broke out the video tape to document it.. and when asked he proudly spelled his name “G-R-I-N-G-O” and then tore off laughing and being a goof.  Once he realized we’d turned off the camera and put it away he then says he wants to spell his name G-R-A-N-T again.  I’m thinking we’re going to have a lot of “class clown” comments in his report cards. 

Christmas post.. finally.

We went back to Nebraska for Christmas and this time tried taking a direct flight into Denver and then renting a car in Denver and driving the rest of the distance to Cozad (which is around 4.5 hours).  The flights were probably the worst to date because Henry was over tired and had just HAD IT.  We had an upgrade to first class on the way back to NE and I really felt sorry for anyone near us who paid or wasted their upgrade that day. 

We got to meet up before Christmas with my dad’s side of the family, did Christmas eve/day with my brother’s family and celebrated with my mom’s side of the family a few days after Christmas.  The boys were very good despite having colds throughout most of our visit. 

Let it not be overlooked that their behavior could directly be linked to the endless amt of fun, cookies, and daily milk shakes provided by Gramma and Grampa.  About 10 minutes after we arrived mom and dad were forgotten and it was allll about the grandparents.  This my favorite pic of the entire vacation.

Peter and I got quite spoiled by my mom and dad as well and found ourselves being pushed out of the house most days to go out for dinner or a movie. 

Grant got his Batman set from Santa and Henry got a cell phone and a few other toys and all of us received really great gifts from my entire family.  We really are fortunate to have such a welcoming and generous family and to be able to come back for the holidays.  It’s hard living so far away from family but they all make it up the minute you drop your bags at the door. 

We had a pretty quiet New Years and all went to bed about 30 seconds after the stroke of midnight.  Grant somehow seemed to know something was up and snuck downstairs somewhere around 10 or 11pm. 

We all had a great time and much to Gramma and Grampa’s delight both boys were very excited about seeing them on the webcam as soon as we get back.

Peter and I are going on a cruise in May and my parents are going to come up and watch the boys for us.  I’m so excited for the cruise but it’s so much better knowing what a ball the boys will be having at home. 

gotta run.. it’s past my bedtime,

misty

And there are some firsts we’re not so proud of…

So I’m having a hard time coming to terms with this because up to this point Grant had never lied to us about anything.  “Grant! Did you hit Henry?” “Yes, I was hitting him on the head”.  “Grant! Did you take Henry’s toy?” “Yes, I wanted to play with it".”  So discipline in that area had been fairly easy.  But today, Grant told his first fib.

I was making split pea soup and Pete and I were tasting the broth to test it for seasoning and Grant was intrigued.  He asked what I’d made and I explained that it was Split Pea soup.  I asked him if he’d like to try some and he immediately said.  “No, I don’t like it.”  So (like I do at every other meal time) I recited the –you’ve never tried it before so how do you know you don’t like it – line.  And all while shifting and looking downwards he said “I DID try it before, you was not there, I was by myself and I didn’t like it”.  As if by chance he stumbled upon some split pea soup while out and about (without me) and tried it and decided it wasn’t for him.  The nerve!

As for his lying abilities.. he’s about as terrible as his mother is in that arena and I hope that continues to be the case until he’s 18.

-misty

post about Christmas coming tomorrow i promise!

walk like a mannn…

Just wanted to document quickly that I think Henry is REALLY close to walking all the time now.  He’s walking across the room now and taking a lot more steps around in general.  I felt like today at times he preferred it to crawling.  He still does it Frankenstein style though with both arms out in front of him for balance.  Hope to catch it on video soon and will post on flicker.

 

I have a very long winded Christmas post that should follow in a couple of days.. i just wanted to make sure we documented the doodle being bi-pedal.

-misty