Quick adaptations

This is how the outing began, with lP forcing L to feed hay to Penny the cow.

Within a very short amount of time he was happy to go and feed Penny the cow.

together time

Last night L brought me 2 library books I'd been reading.  I picked him up and took him to my room to snuggle and read.  After a while he got out of bed and went to get the other book and set himself up to read the novel.  I just enjoyed that time with him thumbing through the book.  Then I went and got him a book with pictures.  He laid down and read and occasionally talked about what was in the pictures or leaned over to give me a kiss.  When I rolled over to read on my stomach, he rolled over too and that's where he fell asleep.

little bird

L is becoming quite a parrot.  He answers the questions in Dora and copies a lot of words the children use.  He's so adorable and fun.  Today he came in and cuddled with me for a few minutes before asking for a bottle of milk.  I'm glad he has times when he can be cuddly and sweet.  Today he fell asleep on the way home from the park and P unbuckled him when they got home.  He woke up enough to get out of his chair but then fell asleep on the bench seat and later was sleeping on the floor of the car for hours.  He's so fun.

new adventures

Last week we went to Swing Park for the first time in a long time.  L has grown up so much so now he's able to have such a fun time.

 This park has so many cute little nooks and this little guy is in his element.

He was looking super cute today with this magnifying glass. 

disapointments

L loves the horses.  I never remember to bring the ticket.  He stands by the gate and signs "Horse".   We're planing to go to this park again on Tuesday so I'm going to put it in my wallet for next time.  Really I should put it in the car next to the frosty coupons.  But I'd be really sad if it blew away, so I won't do that. 

Funny boy

 L enjoyed this water pumping activity so much.  The supervisor did bring him to me when he started to drink the water... I'm glad she was kind about that.

 He just loved to sit and watch the kids milk this fake cow.

I have a picture of him on this little structure last year.  He had just started to walk so it was so exciting to see him standing up.  Wow!

While we were in Gtown I got footage of L retrieving a ball at Lois' house with his mouth.  His new trick is to ask for ice.  He carefully places the ice cube on the floor and then chases it around with his mouth giggling until he catches it.  He's so funny.

everything I need

We had a great activity last week with the Primary.  One of the young women planned the activity all by herself.  L had a great time joining in with the big kids making boats, dropping plastic animals in a jar and even doing a balloon race.  He had his big brother there to help.  Lucky kid.

Yay!

When L was little he could say "yes" very clearly.  He doesn't do that anymore.  Instead he asks for things, milk, ball, out, candy... and at the slightest sign of acquiescence he raises his arms and says "Yay!"  and walk away like a grand champion that just defeated a worthy foe.  Yep, that's about right.

dreamy

I wonder if our lifetime of dreams is founded upon the strange situations we napped in as small children.  I hope L doesn't have a lot of bowling dreams.  He slept through the initial process of getting shoes, and 8 frames.  It was an epic nap.  I can't remember a child sleeping through such a long period of loud things.

And he's so cute.

We went to the park twice on Thursday for a total of 3.5 hours!  He is the king of the playground and takes on all sorts of ladders and slides.  It's great.

beautiful pictures

L loves water fountains,

so much.

little brother

G is so good to L. He dressed him up in this suit.

 They've been wearing these matching shirts often.

so brave

 L is a child full of personality and fearless.  I love his sense of self preservation.  He goes up to the waters edge and throws rocks, not himself, in.  He is so excited to do everything his siblings do.  He is so adorable and busy.  Tonight he got to roam around this beautiful area by the intercoastal and pet Buddy the dog.  Also, L kissed me for the first time since I got back.  It's important for them to wrap my heart with their love. 

When it was time to go I said it was time to go and then started to leave.  lP was worried that I was leaving the baby behind.  "I'm not leaving him behind, I'm going.  He'll follow."  And he did. 

splash park

The pool isn't free this summer.  Bummer.  But the beach is still free and the splash park is still free.  We had a great time Monday.  L is so cute standing at the edge of the water throwing fist fulls of sand into the water.  He gets brave and lets go of my leg, then the water comes and he's right back to my leg.  At the splash park he was just so delighted.   I'm looking forward to going every week.  Last year we were so busy going to the free pool every day, that we hardly went to the beach and didn't go tot he splash park at all.  They were all free but I was valuing the pool as something I was getting for free...   Sometimes a door closes and a window with a splash park opens!

Sweet

L is growing and has such a cute way of being demanding.  His sign language is so strong and he is so certain of himself.  I'm so glad he can tell us just what he wants so sweetly.  Milk and fish?  OK sweet one.

50/50

L goes through these rough cycles.  He's teething or he has allergies, or both.  Right now he's a mess with snot coming out his nose and drool coming out his mouth.  Poor boy.  We're keeping him home from church today because he might have 1% of a cold mixed in with his very wet faced self. 

His sign language is going great.  It's so sweet to see how he can mimic most signs and use about 25 appropriately.  He's got: Milk, more, please, thank you, Mom, Dad, Ball, Balloon, fish, dog, cat, bird, carrot, candy, food, water, book, outside, bike, hat, coat, donkey, gator, go, uh-oh and yes.  It's so fun.

Mr. Milk!

L really likes to drink milk.  I'm sure the others enjoyed it a fair amount.  I know they all went through a phase of drinking from a bottle.  L doesn't eat much and if he doesn't have his milk he's in despair.  He's perfectly contented while he has a bottle to suck down.  We made it through an entire baptism on Friday because L had a big 8oz bottle.  Yay!  But he doesn't know when to stop and his stomach gets distended.  Then he burps and it sounds like he's throwing up because he doesn't have the muscle control to modulate the outburst.  Fortunately we're all pretty used to this so it doesn't freak us out too often.

He wears these cute red suspenders.  I love this boy.  He's at an adorable stage of running around in a bow legged fashion.  He's into everything the big kids do.  It's wonderful and terrifying.

independant

L is wonderfully independent.  We were at the shore recently and he toddled down to the water and just stood throwing sand into the water.  This little place is perfect because there are no waves.  It's behind a barrier island but still ocean.  It's just an incredibly beautiful little shoreline to visit during the cool months when nobody is trying to go in the water much.  There are oysters in the water so I wouldn't like to have the kids walking or swimming in them.  In the summer the beach is better.

L cannot be contained anymore.  We went to the fountain of youth with our co-op recently.  He had to be taken out of the planetarium.  He can't sit through sacrament meeting anymore.  I rarely bring the sling anywhere now because he's too busy.  But he is also very sweet, and signing and talking all the time.  It's so fun to have such a little chatterbox boy.  He still doesn't sign any names, but he signs a lot of objects and animals.  He loves to watch signing time and will sign for it so sweetly.  His sadness at being told no is so piteous.  His happiness when we say yes, so beautiful. 

He currently signs:  Baby, cat, dog, fish, banana (which he signs apple, but says nana, and means banana), milk, please, thankyou, sorry, yes, ball, bubbles, balloon, and go.

All my needs are met

L needs milk.  We sometimes run out and that is so sad.  Today he was asleep when I bought more.  He had seen that there was none in the fridge and cried so piteously.  Then when he woke up he asked for some.  I said "yes" and took him to the fridge.  When he saw the 2 gallons in the fridge he cried out "Ahdoudga!" 

He asks to watch signing time at night. 

I'm so grateful that he's picking up the sign language to let us know what he needs.  He can now sign dog for dog, fish, for fish, and bird for all other animals, including birds.  He signs "Come" and I follow.  He signs "please" and "thank you".  He signs "ball" and "balloon" because he knows the difference.

L is always doing whatever the older kids do.  In the morning he grabs a book of Mormon and sits down with it open on his lap, just like everyone else.  He loves to play catch with a ball and has an ability similar to G's at this age, very accurate.

He's a sweet boy and I'm so glad he is part of our family.

early bird

L has been waking up earlier and earlier.  I took a walk every day last week and most days I needed to take him along.  Today he was up at 7 when 9 was the old usual as of a few months ago.  But I guess a bottle of milk isn't able to get him to go back to bed so well.  But he did fall asleep on the way to church and slept through half of sacrament meeting.

We figured out with B that small bottles save you a lot of mess.  There is only 4-5 ounces of milk in them and baby can chug that down.  Even if they throw a bottle on the floor, it's less likely to be full enough to come out and ruin the carpet. 

L loves balloons.  His "please" is getting very good because he really wants the things he wants; milk and balloons. 

He's rather territorial and will push the other children off my lap.  : (  But they all adore him.  I'm so grateful to have children that love one another most of the time and the baby all of the time.  They love to take him to nursery and pick him up.  I love to find him with them toddling down the hall.  It's always a sweet reunion.  And I'm beyond grateful that he goes to nursery with no fuss and stays the whole time.  I love my kids.  None of them have had a problem with that separation.  It probably helps that it is their first separation, rather than something they have dealt with since way too young.  But I know other stay at home moms whose children refused to go to nursery.  So I know it is just a mercy and I am grateful for it.

the one who sleeps

L is our youngest independent sleeper.  I am so grateful that he has been sleeping on his own and through the night.  He weaned at 17 months old and then started sleeping on his own pretty quickly.  It's so great.

that cute

He's so cute.  He's old enough to fall asleep watching Signing Time now.  He loves to sit down and read a story.  He loves to sign "bird" for all animals, and "ball" for everything else.  It's great.

Yeah!

L is weaned and now drinking about 16 oz of milk a day and lots of snacks.  He has the most emphatic way of saying "Yeah!" while he nods his head and his whole body affirms with excitement.  He signs please on my chest when he wants a bottle.  It's like he knows what please is, and when he really wants something, he signs it on me.  He's such a darling boy.

in love with books

Today L fell in love with books.  We sat on the couch for 30 minutes as he flipped through the same story collection over and over.  He got used to manipulating the pages, then he started pointing to elements and asking me to tell him about them.  "Da?"  he'd say and look at me.  I would say the word and sign it.  "Frog", "Bird", "Car" over and over.  It was awesome.  Then he tore a page.  But it was awesome.  Welcome to the world of books L.  I hope it is nice to you.  I hope you are nice to them.

need to sleep

My new years resolutions include keeping the counter clear and weaning the baby.  Poor L and I have not been sleeping.  L also has a cold.  So he's been on the nebulizer.  And we get no sleep.  I've tried weaning him at night several times but always go back to nursing him because of traveling or visitors and I have to keep him quiet.  Well, I need to sleep so I'm done.  Sorry baby.  I love you.