Who does Noah resemble more?

I found this link on another blog, and of course, had to try it...Of course, I'd like to do it with our baby pictures, and with Noah at various ages. I just picked the most recent picture of our little guy, and here's what it came up with:

It walks, it talks, it crawls on its belly like a reptile...

"It" of course referring to Noah. Yes, he's taking his first steps. REAL steps, not just one little step between the ottoman and the couch, but actually walking. There's a part of me that wonders why I'm so excited, because once he realizes how fast he can go walking, there's going to be no keeping up with him. But I AM excited--in fact, last night he toddled down the hall a fair ways and it brought tears to my eyes. We did catch his first steps on video, and Patrick was nice enough to load those to YouTube; you can see them by clicking here:



We also have him on tape saying "Flowers"--something that Mom & Dad taught him, and it sounds like "slauers" but he'll rip the head off of the unsuspecting flower, hold it to his nose and breathe in deeply. So, we're pretty sure he's saying "flowers." You can see that here:



He's really smart; I know that all parents say that, but we really think he's something else. His comprehension is really taking off--I'll ask him to do silly things like put 1/2 of the plastic egg he's playing with on his toes, and he does it. I got a placemat for him that has pictures of animals on it, and one of the animals is a pig. I point to the pig, ask Noah, "Where is the pig?" and he grabs his toe and makes his "Wee wee wee" sound (the one that you make doing the "And THIS little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home). So, yes, we don't want him growing up to think that bacon comes from his feet, but I did think it was something that he got "pig"--not "piggie" which is what we say when we're playing "This little piggie" but PIG. He's also got a pretty funny sense of humor, too, which is something that I didn't expect a baby to have--but he'll do things like grab a non-phone toy, hold it up to his ear and then laugh, as if so say, "It's so funny that I'm pretending this shoe is a phone!"

He's getting more teeth, too. His upper central teeth are starting to come in; and his whole bottom gum is just opaque white, so I know that he's going to wake up one morning and have 12 teeth. I'm a little sad to see the teeth coming in, to be honest, because that's going to change how he looks in such a dramatic way...but I'm also really enjoying the little boy that's emerging, and can't wait to get started on all the new adventures!

He's just so amazing; I keep kicking myself for not filling out his baby book every day, because, seriously, new things happen EVERY DAY. I'm afraid I'll forget them if I don't write them down! He's such a mimic, too, so we're going to have to really watch ourselves. I find that if I sing, he'll sing, too. He likes to dance, and if we're laughing, he'll join in, too. Oh, he's also a little bit of a smartypants--if we're playing a game, and we're laughing, but he's done playing the game, he'll give a laugh that is so incredibly fake, like he's saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah; I'm just laughing to humor you. Are we done yet?"

He also threw his rubber ducky at me the other night--I asked him to sit down in the tub (which is a common refrain at bathtime), and he got irritated, and chucked it at me. He had pretty good aim, too. It was so freakin' funny, but I knew that I COULD NOT LAUGH. It was all I could do to keep Noah from seeing my face and trying not to pee my pants. Patrick was good, too, and managed to keep a straight face as I picked Noah up out of the tub & handed him to Patrick to get dried off. We've not had another bath since then, so not sure if he'll try to bean me with the duck again or not.

We go to the ophthalmologist on Wed. to check out his tear duct; we know that he'll have to have the cyst above his left eye removed (it's not malignant, they're just afraid that if it is hit and ruptures, it'll spread infection under the skin, which apparently is not a pretty thing), so if he's got to have his tear duct probed, they'll do it all at once. We'll keep you all posted, and in the meantime, feel free to watch the videos as much as possible. (Oh, and keep your eye out how we torture our son by not letting him have our REAL cell phone!)

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

Just wanted to take a moment to wish my Mom & Dad a Happy Anniversary. I am very, very lucky to have such wonderful examples, not just of how to have a good marriage, but how to be a good person.

I know it wasn't always easy for them--they struggled, worked whatever jobs they had to, and just found a way to do it somehow. But here's the thing--they made it look easy. Or, well, maybe not easy, but certainly manageable, and they did it together. Always, they were in it together.

Thank you, Mom & Dad, for everything that I am, you are a big part in that.

Happy Anniversary!

(By the way, Noah picked out his own card for them, and spent a lot of time thinking about what he wanted to write in it. You can really see the concentration, the amount of effort that went into picking each color. I looked over it when he was done, and think he did a really great job of putting his feelings into words.)

I love you,
Chaun

Happy Grandparents Day!!!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Labor Day Pictures!

We had everyone over to celebrate Labor Day--Dan, Janet & Rachel came down, and Mom & Dad came over and we grilled hamburgers (I say "we" but it was Patrick who was the Grill Master), had lots of desserts (of which we have some chocolate pie, and most of a chocolate bundt cake and a chocolate truffle cake left--yes, it was heavy on the chocolate. And what's wrong with that??) and just generally enjoyed everyone's company and watched Noah doing all of his Noah antics.

He's still not walking...but I wouldn't be surprised if he walks in the next couple of days. He's already taking one step unassisted as he goes from one piece of furniture to another, and will go from a squatting position to standing up without any help...so it's not too far away.

He is talking--but not really anything that we can understand, for the most part. We think he says "cat" and will make "meow," "wuff" and "moo" sounds. The understanding of what we say is there--for instance, he understands that he's not supposed to throw his sippy cup over his shoulder when he's done with it, and he knows that we prefer that he not pelt Mouse with any unwanted food (unwanted for him, but wanted for her--she hates her current cat food, but it's a big bag, so she's going to learn to like it). But he still does it. As he's looking at you with that glint in his eye, he will defiantly throw whatever he's got in his hands on the floor. It is so hard not to laugh when he does it, not because we think it's funny that we're forever picking up smashed green beans, or pulling carrots out of Mouse's tail fur (better that than other things, though, really). It's that he knows exactly what he's doing, that he's smirking while he's doing it. And he's not even to his "terrible twos!" Lord help us!

He really is too funny for words; and the fact that he's making his own jokes now just amazes me. He'll hold a phone up to his ear, and "talk" on it, then he'll put it down, pick up another object that's not a phone, talk on it--then laugh, as if to say, "I know this isn't a phone, aren't I funny that I was pretending that it was?" When Patrick & I laugh, he'll laugh too--I know that he doesn't understand everything that we're saying, but he wants us to know that he's laughing, too, just like we are. I guess that's the most amazing thing--that he's soaking up everything like a sponge, that he remembers so much more.

Rachel was doing this little game where she was walking her fingers across the table, and finally tickling Noah, and as her fingers are "walking" she was sing-songing "Do Do Do" type sounds. The next day, Noah puts his fingers on the table, makes a sing-songing "Do Do Do" type sound, and looks at Rachel. He was so excited when she started doing the game again. AND, we figured out that when he claps his hands and says "ba ba ba," he wants us to play Patty Cake with him. When he realized that he'd communicated to us what he wanted, and we responded with the correct action, he was beyond ecstatic. It was pretty great, too, to realize that he's really communicating with us.

He also likes to take my finger, and go across the words in the book, much like I will when I read to him, my finger follows the words.

He's so great. I'm just amazed by him every day.

Enjoy the pictures!


(If you look very carefully, you can see a bit of his tooth--it's right at the 11 o'clock position.)


(He really likes to feed himself. He does a pretty good job, but we still need to help a little bit.)


(Here he is, defiantly sticking BOTH feet on the table, when he knows that we want stinky feet OFF the table.)

(My two boys...)