This morning, Rachel used the couch to stand up for the first time! This is her last week, using the rocking chair (also the true first):

She’s still growing, but not quite as fast as she used to be. She was almost average sized at 4 months (a first for one of my children!), but at 6 (really 7) months, she was closer to the 35th percentile in weight. (Height was at the 98th percentile, but since she’s not abnormally long/tall, the doctor and I think that was probably a mis-measure.)

Rebecca is growing, too! She’s officially two and a half today. Lately she seems to be speaking much more clearly. For example, she doesn’t say “pea’ bu’ saas” but “peadut butter sammatch.” She still doesn’t say her r’s, favoring y’s and w’s instead. (“Diapehy” is a favorite of mine.)

She started having serious problems with bedhead, so I tried to get her to use scrunchies. If I did her hair “wike Tinkie Behww!” or to match mine (“We matsh?”), she was excited to let me touch her hair (a first!). I got her a few scrunchies at the dollar store last week, and she lets me do her hair almost every day now.

Hayden is learning new words. He likes to sound out words often these days (Last night: “G-g-g-gum. G! Gummmmm. M!”). He loves preschool, especially when it’s our turn to teach/host. He’s also experimenting with more photography (revolving around his latest favorite toy) and self-portraiture.

Warning: extreme closeup!

I fear I’ve created a monster, though: last week, I showed him the folder of Internet bookmarks I had just for him. I showed him how to open the browser. I showed him which link (of the 2-3) led to PBS Kids games. And now all he wants to do is play on the computer! (We have a few rules, of course: he has to ask first and get off whenever we tell him to.) It’s a little annoying during a lot of the day, but makes for a quieter quiet time. (And Rebecca happily taking naps again is helping with that, too!)

I love that they’re growing and discovering new things ad getting more independent, but I’m always sad to feel their early childhood slipping away.

What milestones have your kids hit recently?

Although he wasn’t interested in eating marshmallows that were all “mewty,” and, thus, s’mores, though he whined about coming home pretty much all night, and despite one smashed finger, Hayden pretty much loved it.

He’s asked to go camping almost every weekend since then.

Any fun firsts for you lately?

Here are some of her first assisted steps, from about a month ago:

Hayden, not to be outdone, is working on some of his own firsts. Can you tell what this one is?

That’s right—it’s his first commercial jingle! He composed this all on his own (after hearing his parents quoting the Psych episode for about a week). Guess what he got for lunch that day?

What big accomplishments/career moves have your kids made lately?

Hayden was at the table getting ready to eat, I was getting ready to leave to visit someone from church and Ryan was getting his dinner. We reminded Hayden that we needed to say a prayer, and he dutifully folded his arms.

And then we heard what he was saying. “Hebely fader. Hebely fader. Hebely fader.”

Ryan and I quickly folded our arms and walked into the dining room. “Thank you for this day,” I prompted him.

“Dates day.”

“Thank you for this food.”

“Dates fud.”

“Please bless it.”

“P’ease b’ess.”

“In the name of Jesus Christ.”

Blank look.

“In the name of Jesus Christ,” I tried again.

Blank look.

This could be simpler for a two-year-old, I guess. “Jesus,” I tried.

He knew that one. “Dee sa.”

“Amen.”

“Amin.”

Not bad!

We spent over two weeks visiting my family—and Hayden was really good on the plane both ways! On the very last leg of our trip, he fell asleep on the plane. They’d arranged for him to have his own seat (not a very full flight), and by the time we reached cruising altitude, he was out. A few minutes later, he slumped over. I caught him in time to make Marty his pillow—and he slept for virtually all of the flight.

He’s also getting to be quite the talker. He repeats lots of words (my sisters started teaching him colors), but he’s also started repeating lots of words. However, most of his speech is still gibberish (emphatic, emotive gibberish, though).

What’s going on in your children’s lives right now? What accomplishments are you proud of?

He’s also getting better with his motor skills. He’s fitting shaped blocks into the right holes, helping put on his clothes (or even putting them on himself) and all kinds of fun things. Here he is wearing my hat. My shoes are another favorite of his.

But my favorite milestone of Hayden’s this month came when we were looking at an alphabet book. On the endpapers, they have the full alphabet printed. I was pointing to the ‘H,’ telling Hayden that “H is for Hayden.”

He looked at me and said, “Hay-dee.”

But now I’m wondering—is he trying to tell me that he prefers his nickname?

Hayden has had some fun firsts lately, so let’s share!

First “catch”
No idea how this one happened, but the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Hayden caught a ball that was thrown to him! Don’t worry; he’s not an athletic prodigy. He just got lucky. I don’t think, however, that he was nearly as impressed with himself as I was.

First trampoline ride
Every once in a while, Hayden got up the courage to attempt to jump while holding my hands (or Daddy’s). But mostly he was content to sit on the trampoline at my sister-in-law’s house and be bounced, giggling all the while.

First “jump”
A few days after we arrived home from our trip, Hayden was ready to attempt to jump on his own. Now, it’s notoriously difficult to learn to coordinate your feet to leave the ground simultaneously. Again, Hayden’s not an athletic prodigy (yet, I guess I should say), but he did get both feet off the ground, if just barely. Even better was his landing. Almost-two-year-old + first jump + footie jammies + tile kitchen floor < happy ending (but he was fine!).

First canines
Hayden has gotten his first (and second, third and fourth) canines in the last month or so. As always, we’re hoping that this means an end of grumpiness.

First day without naps
Hayden went an entire day without a nap at my sister-in-law’s house. Too much excitement with all of my husband’s family there, I guess. As long as we kept him eating, he was pretty happy. Though his stomach was tight as a drum when we finally put him to bed (at about eight, which is later than his usual bedtime. He cried a high-pitch cry for about 90 seconds). This has not set a precedent, however.

First time blowing bubbles in the tub
But he seemed to enjoy watching me lean into the tub and blow bubbles just as much.

First time opening a doorknob
This one I didn’t discover at first. Hayden had been out of the room for an awfully long time, so I went looking for him. I got about ten feet and I could hear running water. (You can bet the water wasn’t the only thing running at that point!) Hayden had opened the door to my bedroom—and turned on my bath. The tub was half full of water! We were just happy he didn’t try to climb in (although we weren’t very happy that he apparently stuck Ryan’s phone under the faucet).

That’s my boy!

Before

 

 
During

 
After

Don’t worry, I saw that one long piece of bangs on his right and went back and got it—all too well, I’m afraid!

(Just to be perfectly clear: in July, I trimmed the hair above his ears and his bangs. I call this his first “trim,” and Saturday his first “haircut.” I saved some hair from both. I’m crazy like that.)

Yes, he said “Daddy” in July (though he refuses to now), and “Mommy” and “Nana” (which quickly became “Nanny”) in August, but aside from “Mommy,” this is really the first word that he’s said that he repeats consistently.

And, within a week, he had a new reason for repeating it: his first television show.

It was an accident, really. I figured I’d switch on a kids’ show. Blue’s Clues was on, according to the television schedule, followed by a show I’d only heard about. Everyone I knew who’d seen this show complained and whined about it being bizarre and scary and annoying.

And when I turned on the TV, it was on. Hayden sat down on the floor and couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.

And then we were hooked.

So in the last week, Hayden has added two new words to his vocabulary: “ha da” or “da da” (hot dog) and “Bah” or “Bah Bah” for our new favorite past time,

Yo Gabba Gabba!

I’ve even gotten Ryan in on the act. He says that the fact that one of the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba is an Aquabat has no bearing on his liking of the show (he’s a fan) (of both, I think). I’ve also been corrupting my currently-childless sister Jaime and sister-in-law Jess.

Possibly the worst part? The other day after Hayden had been in bed for a while, and I realized I hadn’t heard any Yo Gabba Gabba for several hours.

And I missed it.

Thank heavens for YouTube! Of course, that does mean that the computer is now Hayden’s personal Yo Gabba Gabba viewer. He walks up to whoever is on the computer and begins signing and begging, “Moooore!”

Oop, and here he comes now…