Beach Fun

This is a tiny preview of our adventure last week.  More to come later, but for now I'm posting this to enter in my first photography challenge.  I heart faces is a great site and they host weekly themed photo challenges.  This week's theme was beach fun.  How perfect that I just got back from the beach.  This is my favorite shot from the week.  I love that it's hazy and golden, and I lovelovelove Griffin's expression.

You should go over there and check out the other entries.  It's a great way to spend a few minutes.

Oh, and thanks Lindsey for the nudge.

Breakfast

I've been realizing that breakfast has become my favorite meal of the day.  Since Griffin has been eating I try to make sure that we all sit at the table to eat together.  During the week it's just the two of us in the morning.  We sit together, still in our PJs, and enjoy the most important meal of the day together.  Usually we eat the same thing; this morning we both had oatmeal, yesterday was eggs and toast.  Whatever it is, it's always pretty simple.  I try my best to keep it pretty quiet; making sure the TV is turned off and maybe have music playing if I happen to think about it.  Our best conversations happen over breakfast; we talk about our plans for the day or the week, discuss what projects need to be done, complain about how hot it is, brainstorm dinner ideas...He's really good at listening.  

There's something about starting the day off slowly and peacefully that I can't get enough of.  It's one of many things that I count as a blessing of staying at home with Griffin.  It doesn't hurt that nap time is usually right after breakfast either.  

Jump!

Quite possibly the best $8 I've spent.  Griffin agrees.

9 months

-Now he's crawling on his hands and knees, and his speed increases on a daily basis.
-He's able to sit from crawling.  This has been happening for a little while, but it's much more frequent now.
-He's very steady standing up next to things and he's doing a little couch surfing (walking against the couch) too.
-He loves to talk, saying mama, dada, baba, and you're beautiful.  (Okay, maybe not the last...but I'm pretty sure he wants to.
-The majority of the time he feeds himself and still shows signs of an open minded eater.  (Side note: this feeding himself is very handy, literally...I have my hands back during his meals.)
-His favorite meal time game is to smack his tray of cheerios and watch them fly.  He also holds food down beside his chair to beckon the dogs over to him.
-He goes CRAZY over animals.  He enjoys our dogs, but really gets excited about new dogs (and the couple of cats he's seen).  It's clear that his day is made if a dog will play with him.  And by play, I mean allow him to smack and pull their hair.
-He's doing a lot of mimicking and he's got his methods of getting your attention.  Fake coughing is his favorite.
-He smacks his lips and clicks his tongue.
-He loves to hang upside down.

His stats:
-29 3/4" tall putting him in the 90th percentile....this is still shocking me.  He's been continuing up the height/weight curve, so I'm thinking at the next doctor's visit he may be off the charts.
-22.5 lbs in the 80th percentile.
-His big ol' noggin ranks in the 90th too.  It may be close to time to buy him adult hats.

* Conclusion:  He's a really really big baby.

Super Duper

What do you do when you're really hot from crawling around the house nonstop?

Strip your clothes off and have your dad put a leaf of cabbage (aka: super duper cabbage hat) on your head, of course! 

In case you're wondering, Griffin loves hats.  Ones made from vegetables or fabric, he just leaves them on his head just like they belong there.  

Just another reason to love him :)

yummm

Griffin really loves watermelon.  And by really, I mean REALLYREALLYREALLY loves it.  He is his mother's son.  I am addicted.  I know no limits when it comes to the fruit, and I'm fine eating till I'm in shear pain.  We're pretty sure we've watched him to the same thing.  I didn't think that he had any favorites before this, thinking that he just loved eating.  However, it's very clear that this is his favorite.  

I was about to tell him the catch about watermelon, you know, that it's only available and good for just a short amount of time.  But Dave stopped me, telling me not to ruin his fun.  Good thinking, Dave, good thinking.

More proof:

How do you put your baby to sleep?

A bit of rocking out before bedtime.

I'm a lucky lady.

A New Trick and a Good Laugh

Just last week I caught Griffin clapping his hands, instead of his usual slapping them by his side.  It's so funny to watch.  The clap is usually accompanied by a big ol' proud smile.  He claps at the table, when listening to his dad play music, during someone's conversation.  He claps because he wants to and rarely will mimic us doing it.


**He clapped as I was playing this before posting.  I guess he's glad I'm sharing it.

The other part of this post was inspired by another mom's blog that I was reading during nap time.  She stuck torn tissue to her nose and slowly said, "my mommy sells pigeons" then blew the tissue.  Griffin's reaction to this was priceless.  I even thought to set the camera up, so I was able to catch his first reaction.  The first video I had just thrown the camera on his changing pad so you see half of that in the entire video--sorry.  My cheeks are starting to hurt from all the smiling that this caused.

From the Yard to the Table

We love our garden.  Having it is absolutely awesome.  But do you know what would make it even more awesome?  If we could have it year round (and if it could grow grilled cheese sandwiches).  My favorite part of the garden:  having food in the backyard.  I also have a deep love for simplicity, and having food just appear out of the ground is about as simple as you can get.  

The point of this post is not to bore you with my love affair with my silly little garden, it's to tell you about Griffin loving it too.  I have mentioned before that he and Dave go out every single day to hunt for the day's harvest.  Usually G sits in his little chair and supervises.  It may or may not be his most favorite part of the day, but I think it's Dave's.  Sometimes, G even does a little quality control for us.  The other day he bit a chunk of zucchini and determined that it was too delicious not to have for dinner.  

Griffin is much closer to mastering eating "big people" food. (I didn't know if saying "table food" would make it sound like we've been feeding him dog food.)  He's not overfilling his mouth and gagging up most of his bites anymore, as he's figured out that a slow and steady pace makes dinner far less traumatic.  He sure seemed to enjoy the chicken, zucchini, tomato pasta that I whipped up for dinner last night.  Even being happy to have some for lunch the next day.  (First alert: leftovers for lunch!)

On a somewhat unrelated note, I wanted to share this video that we took of Griffin at dinner last night.  I should first remind you that Griffin only sleeps in his crib, in his carseat, and sometimes while being held and , but NEVER has he fallen asleep anywhere else.

Taking a Stand

Isn't standing in chairs for toddlers and not for itty bitty squishy babies?  What?  Don't try to tell me he's not still itty bitty, even if he's the height and weight of some one year olds.  This still isn't baby behavior.

We were out for our daily trip to the garden and I was turned around taking this picture of Jack: 

and I turn around to see Griffin standing in his chair.  Whaaaattt?!  I figured Dave, who was supervising our baby's actions, had stood him up in it.  He had assured me that he had not, and that Griffin went from sitting in his chair to turning himself around and standing up.  

As you can see, he's rather proud of his accomplishment.  He even goes on to say, "Look ma, one hand!"  

Since he has started pulling up, he hasn't lost any interest.  He's keeping me on my toes as I rushing to his side to catch him if he falls, yet he continues to surprise me as he more and more stable on his feet.  I suppose this is just another step closer to walking and independence.

Oh Griffin, please slow down.