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...)