Love, Erika

Parker is TEN months old today!

This past month has been exhausting since Parker is now EVERYWHERE. He's all crawling (on hands and knees now), standing, pulling up, cruising, and of course going up and down the low stairs into the family room. Most of the time that trick goes uneventfully but sometimes it can get nasty. In short, he never stops for anything. And is most attracted to those things that can kill or hurt him.

This month I was less of a caregiver and more of a lifeguard and referee. I'm constantly saving him from killing himself and can't let him out of my sight for any length of time.  Also I have to watch him around Drew because he always wants whatever Drew is playing with, and Drew isn't a big fan of that. So I have to make sure they play nice together. Normally Drew is pretty good about it, he'll just walk away. But sometimes he just wants to be left alone.

His sleeping really took a downhill turn this month, as he was developing his mobility. I think he was just so excited and anxious to work on his new skills that he couldn't sleep. It was aggravating. And then also he got this horrible cold that left him miserable for a long time.

I think he's really bored and tired of baby food. He wants to eat REAL food. He's eating bananas now, and toast, and anything else that we're having that he can eat.  He likes the biter biscuits but they're hard to find now for some reason, and since the zwieback toast has been discontinued, it's kind of a bummer.

Last month I reported that he had 3 teeth. We were totally clueless because immediately after that 4th bottom tooth came in, we looked at the top of his mouth and there were 4 whole teeth up there. So right now he's got 8 teeth and another one poking up on the bottom. It's quite a mouthful of teeth!  He loves to yell and babble and all his squealing is so cute.

This month I hope to get him into his convertible car seat. We've been such slackers about it. We're still using the infant carrier because it just seems easier while the weather is cold. He's too big for it and I think he would definitely enjoy riding around in the shopping cart, but I'm lazy and don't want to mess with it just yet. LOL. As the weather gets better I'm sure I'll be more inspired to make the switch.

I found this cute alphabet print for his room from Etsy several weeks ago.

Parker is NINE months old today!

The nine month age is soooo cute. All baby months have their own special things to them, but for me after 8 or 9 months it all just goes uphill from there. That's when they start getting fun. And Parker has had tons of fun this past month. I think this is exactly what he's been waiting for: mobility. He loves being part of the action and loves being able to get himself there. No more waiting around for somebody to come get him! He gets around by doing the army crawl but he's been working hard on getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He even got a bit of a forward motion going. And has even started pulling himself up a little bit onto a low step! He can hang onto the side of the couch (with close supervision) and slowly wobble his way along the couch a little bit.

Baby Fitness:

He got a third tooth this month. More on the way.

His little head has rounded out nicely in the 3 months since he started sleeping on his stomach. It's not perfect yet, but what the doctor once deemed "wicked flat" is now very close to normal looking.

He loves to be part of the action:

He has a bit of the separation anxiety when I leave his sight, but it's not bad at all compared to how Drew was. He mostly gets upset when I leave if he's already tired or hungry. But if he's fine and playing happily then he doesn't care much if I'm not there. He's obsessed with the remote control. He pants and shakes when he's got it and just gets this crazy-focused look on his face. If you try to take it away from him you incur the most pissed off baby in the history of the world. Sometimes we try to give him a decoy remote to the stereo or something, but he is soooooo not fooled. He knows the one he wants.

Discovering books:

His nap schedule is wonderful right now. He's old enough that he's more flexible about the awake times between naps, so his nap schedule is pretty much regular at 9am and 1pm which means his 2nd nap is also at the same time as Drew's nap!  I love this age, now that he's old enough so that we can do naps on MY schedule rather than his. He's a good sleeper and I'm so happy for that.

He's eating some different things now. Still on 3 meals (sometimes enormous meals) of baby food, but also drinking a sippy cup of diluted orange juice, and whatever other soft foods we can give to him to sample. He loves everything. He's eaten an entire banana muffin, lots of salsa, Swedish meatballs and egg noodles, cheeseburgers, and anything else he can mash up.

The pincer grasp is pretty much in place and he's totally self-feeding now. He loves me to pour a pile of puffies on his tray and then he gobbles it all up. I think he enjoys being able to do it himself.

Also finally, GOOD FOR MAMA, I dropped one of his nighttime feedings so I only have to get up to feed him  once per night. And I'm pretty sure I won't be doing that one for much longer either. There's no particular reason he needs to eat during the night, I think he just likes to have a visit.

Overall he's become lighter-maintenance which I LOVE. I can see an end in sight to the difficult baby days and I'm so happy about that.

 

Nine month checkup stats:

Length:  29.25" (85%ile)
Weight:  19 lbs, 1 oz  (30%tile)
Head:  46.5cm (80%ile)

Parker is EIGHT months old today!

The little man is army-crawling now! Big changes have arrived in the past month. What first started as rolling, turned into big exaggerated swimming motions, then finally into army crawling by dragging himself along on his elbows.

He's drinking from a sippy cup now. We've been letting him practice on a cup filled with water and he really works at it. But his absolute favorite thing is to sneak up on a sippy cup of orange juice that Drew leaves laying around and just go to town on it. He goes nuts. He'll roll, lunge, and fling himself towards the cup, and then lay there and devour whatever is left.

We started the banana puffies this month also. He loves them. He'll start panting and flapping his arms when he sees that yellow can come out. He does really great with them. He can pick them up off the floor into his fist, but can't put it in his mouth by himself. However if he gets one stuck on his lip, he can push it back in.

He's been so awfully whiney this month also. He's had a cold for a couple of weeks now so we're not sure if he's just sick of being sick, or if he's teething, or a growth spurt, or what the heck. He doesn't want to be alone, won't play alone, needs to be entertained and held all the time. I hope it's just a phase.  Dave had a theory that he's just cold. I scoffed at that one, but tonight we made a fire and for the first time in weeks Parker played happily in the living room (even by himself!), so maybe there was some truth to that. We had our happy baby back for the evening, we almost didn't recognize him.

He's a full card-carrying member of the baby food club now. He gets a jar for breakfast, 2 containers for lunch, and two containers for supper, with nursing in between meals. And now, puffies when needed also. It can only go up from here! We'll continue to add in whatever he can chew in the meantime.

My hair that all fell out is growing back, it's all about 1.5 inches long all around my hairline. It's pretty funny.

Drew is 2 ½ years old today!

I'm so proud of my baby and can't believe he's only 2 ½ years old. Seems like he should be around 4, especially since he's about the size of a 4 year old (well, maybe). It definitely seems like he's been around that long. Here are some of his latest developments:

• His speech development is going really well. His sign vocabulary topped out at 90 signs, and after that he started using real words, and that vocabulary just took off by leaps and bounds. It was like suddenly the signs got phased out and replaced by attempts at words. Within a few weeks he had an expressive verbal vocabulary of 70 words (or word approximations, as they call it) and he kept adding and adding (now it's over 135). (to put it in perspective, a child his age is supposed to have a vocabulary of 250 words)  Most of them are totally unintelligible to people other and me and Dave, but there are a few that sound pretty accurate.  His speech therapist is thrilled and says it's a great sign that he's coming up with so many words because it shows that the brain and the mouth are all working together to learn how to form those sounds. There's definitely no sentences yet, and no multiple-word combinations either. But just to be able to say single words is so exciting for us! He's getting clearer and clearer all the time, and right now his communication is a combination of signs and unintelligible words (except to those of us that know him).  Most notably he learned how to say "no." Sheesh.
• He's doing so much better with his classes at the YMCA. It was like all of a sudden he became cooperative, unafraid, and having fun with it. Sometimes. At the time of writing this he did great at swimming this week but was pretty bad at gym class.
• He is soooooo two and a half. When he's good he's fantastic but when he's bad it's holy hell.  He throws those fits with flinging himself on the floor, and yelling "no!" A lot of times he refuses to walk, often times in a parking lot. And he's getting waaaaaay too heavy to carry much, but I just have to. I'm pretty strong, but if I wasn't I'd be in big trouble. Usually I'd be more than happy to just walk away and ignore him, but obviously I can't leave him in a parking lot.
• I've actually witnessed him practicing his tantrums. Sometimes when he's in a great mood, I'll see him just drop to the ground (with nobody around) and yell "no!" and practice his upset face. Then he'll get up, reposition himself and do it again. Practice makes perfect, I guess.
• He's learning his colors and knows purple, orange, blue, yellow, and sometimes red and black. He can also point to green and pink when asked, but can't say it yet. Annie says this is very good for his age because they aren't expected to know specific colors yet at this age.  He also knows lots of his body parts (at least 10) either by the actual word that he can say, or by pointing to it when asked. I asked him where his tail was, and he turned around and tried to look at his back, then looked real hard at his belly and patted it. I don't think he ever figured it out.
• He's still really sweet with Parker and is always bringing him toys and will even spontaneously kiss his head with a big "muah!" He can sort of say the word Parker, it sounds like "pa-ho" but is usually accompanied by the sign for "baby."
• His computer skills are amazing. He has a little netbook that Dave lets him use. He can turn it on, wait for his game Peggle to start, then use the mouse touchpad to maneuver the cursor into all the bubbles and click "ok", and choose his game, his player mode, start the game, PLAY the game (and sometimes finish a whole board!) . He used to get stuck anytime a box would pop up but he's figured out how to move the mouse into a button and click "ok" or whatever it says and he keeps going. Wow.
• His favorite toy is the iPhone. Dave has downloaded lots of preschool apps for him, and has them all on one page for him. Drew can press the button, slide the bar to unlock it, and whip over to "his" little page and start any of the apps that he wants. Then he can press the button to go back out of it and choose something else. His favorites are probably Peekaboo Barn and Adam's Game.  He also loves to flip through the camera roll and play the videos. He found the camera and laughs raucously at the sound of the shutter, so Dave pretty much has to delete about a hundred pictures of the couch.  
• Finally in the past couple of months he has learned how to wave hi and bye!!  Sheesh. I think he's about a year behind with that one. But suddenly a lightbulb has come on and he's all happy to furiously wave "HI!!!!" as hard as he can when he sees one of us. He can even say Hi and bye-bye. When we leave his room at night he says "bye bye" and something about "love."
• He's finally getting the hang of a blanket and pillow. We got him a little bean-filled travel pillow for his crib and he took to that immediately. I also got him a really soft fleece blanket and he's started warming up to that too. He has always been freaky about being covered up, so it's a wonder that he's accepting the blanket. He pretty much sleeps on top of it, or cuddles next to it. I don't know how he stays warm at night.
• He's still in his crib with all the rails. He's never tried to get out yet, so we'll keep him caged up for as long as we can. I dread putting the toddler rail on, I have no idea how to get that kid to stay in his bed. I'm already up several times a night with Parker, so I don't need additional interruptions from Drew.
• So his favorite things to do right now are: Super Why, iPhone, matchbox cars, legos, and looking at books.

Parker is SEVEN months old!

I admit I'm pretty baffled as to how he got to be 7 months old. It seems pretty messed up, but the calendar doesn't lie!

He can sit up now for a few seconds before he falls over (which is just a little bit of an improvement over what he could do at the beginning of 6 months, now that I think about it). I'm surprised he's not sitting up for longer periods by now, but I guess every kid develops differently. As far as mobility, he gets around by log-rolling and scooching and shimmying. He can go across a room in this way, and is very motivated when there's a toy he wants to get to. He's also very attracted to electric cords so he will bust a gut to get to one. He's starting to be able to get his knees up underneath him, and then lunge forward in one big motion.

We have established the 2 meals of baby food per day, and now I'm thinking it's time to add in the breakfast also. I swear I totally keep forgetting how old he is. He seems to get excited now when I put him in his chair and start getting his food ready. In fact, today he grabbed my hand with the spoon and jammed it into his mouth. He still likes the veggies best, and seems to like the fruits a little more than before. But the one thing that has never changed is he can't eat cereal without gagging. I even got some oatmeal (instead of rice cereal) and mixed it heavily with fruit and he still gagged. I dunno.(I can't blame him, it's heinous)

 

He's great at chewing on his toes and can put all of them in his mouth. He's also not much interested in "baby" toys like the teething rings and animals with all the crinkly parts, and rings and colorful patterns. He wants the big boy toys. He dives head-first into the play farms, and the matchbox cars and dump trucks.  So much for being age appropriate!  And he's always going after the cats, except they move way too fast for him. They are really freaked out by him, so it's a dangerous thing for him to do. But he YELLS and squeals in the funniest way when he's going after the cats.

He got two teeth this past month and I think there's more waiting to come too. It's becoming dangerous when he "attacks" me, with open mouth and nails flying trying to gouge whatever he can get to. Sheesh. Those big open-mouth baby kisses are more like trying to be devoured.

His sleeping situation is still not where I'd like it to be, as the mom who gets up at various times of the night to tend to him. He will consistently go 5 hours for the first part of the night, but I would like to see him only get me up once per night instead of two times. He seems to be a very emotional kid, and he'll SCREAM bloody murder for what seems like ages if I don't go in there and it depends on how long I care to listen to that mess, whether I go in there or not if it's only been a couple of hours since the last time. Sheesh. But still, no matter what he does, he's a way better sleeper than Drew ever was. I keep telling myself that.

Here he is throwing up his first gang sign. He's in the Cribs.

Parker is SIX months old today!

It's true what the say with kids, how just when one thing is resolved you're on to the next issue.....   Parker has become a MUCH better napper since last month, and 1.5 hour naps (or very often, longer!) are not an unusual thing at all. So that has been a big relief for me.

So our new issue in the fifth month was the ROLLING. Seemingly overnight he started rolling over during his playtime on the floor, and then a short time later started rolling in his bed at night. Oh the drama. So for about a week there it was a mixed bag of him actually being more comfortable because he could lay on his side or belly if he wanted to, but also waking up every 2-3 hours because he couldn't get positioned like he wanted to, or my theory is that he doesn't actually know WHAT he wants at all.  It seemed to last forever at the time, but looking back on it, it was just a quick phase and now he's sleeping pretty good. We had to take the bumpers out of his bed when he started rolling, and it seems so cold and un-cozy now. :(

He's starting to get possessive..... he gets upset if he drops a toy he was playing with chewing on, or if someone takes it away.

The time change was a big ordeal, UGH!!!  I forgot how much it stinks. We couldn't even enjoy the extra hour of sleep, because Parker was up at 5:30 that morning..... and then it got SO much worse when we realized that it was actually 4:30 that day. It was a looooong day, let me tell you. It took him 2-3 days but he's just about worked it out, thank goodness.

TRIPOD!!!  I had no idea he could sit up on his own. At his 6 month checkup visit, the doctor sat him up to see how he could sit without support. I expected him to topple, but he stuck that little hand down for a tripod! It was very exciting to see. I was a bit embarrassed also that I hadn't tried that with him before then. Hmmmm.  Mom is apparently not paying attention to what milestones baby is supposed to be hitting. So of course we've been having him work on it at home since then, and look at the little man GO!!!  He stayed up long enough for a nice series of pictures. He also loves to "stand" with all his weight on his legs and somebody holding him up. He could do that all day, just loves it.

His hair is gradually starting to get thicker and longer now!  He's so dang cute. He's got the exact same hair, exact same cradle cap as Drew had. Except I think Drew had more hair at this age.

He's 90th percentile for height, 50th %tile for weight, and 50th %tile for head circumference.  

He's really into blowing raspberries right now. He worked on it for about a week until finally he could get it. Now he's so happy to just lay there and go pppttttthhhhhbbbbbbb.  It's so entertaining, and new to me because Drew never did that.

He's still doing great with his baby food. Still loves his veggies more than anything else, and I give him a full container of veggies and a full container of fruit for supper. He's usually starving by then. i'm also going to start adding in a lunch for him as well.  The poor kid has a growing appetite.

Drew's latest update

Since I stopped doing Drew's monthly updates after he turned 2, I thought I would just do them intermittantly as needed, so here is one since I haven't done one lately.

• His speech therapy is still going strong and he's up to 84 signs at last count. Since we ruled out hearing loss, we're still not sure what's going on as to why he's not talking but Annie is very pleased with his progress and keeps saying how remarkable it is how fast he's learning things.
• Also he's got a few words he can say now!  Pretty much the only things he can say that sound accurate are Mama, Purple, and Bubble. He also said "Paul" today pretty clearly (who is our neighbor across the street).  Some other words that he tries to say that sort of sound right (with using your imagination) are: truck, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, jack-o-lantern, muffin, waffle, juice, sock, shirt.
• We saw the passing of summer, and now that fall is here Drew has to wear jackets when he goes outside and he doesn't mind that at all. He's been so great with his hoodies and will even wear his hood up on his head. We expected great resistance to that, but he was actually fine with it.
• He's definitely a two-year old and with that comes all the challenges and also the fun that it entails. Sometimes he knows exactly what he wants and can be very opinionated, and other times he says he wants one thing, and totally did not mean it, and throws a fit because he wanted something  completely different. So it's a little like living with an insane person and we just have to remember to not go down his twisted path with him. LOL.
• Right now he's into Thomas the Train and Super Why! (in the reverse order). Those are his favorite tv shows and he has a couple of little Thomas toys that he plays with. He also loves the moon & stars, raking leaves, reading books, and finding letters on everything around him.
• We got this for him for his room a while back and it's been a big hit:
  
  
• He's wearing 3T clothing and size 6 diapers, and 7 1/2 wide shoes.
• We have not gotten any further with the potty training besides buying the potty for him. LOL. We are such slackers, but we really have no idea with where to even begin and thus have gotten nowhere. It's a little overwhelming right now with everything going on with Parker, to even think about adding this layer of complexity to our lives but I guess it needs to happen whether we like it or not. Too bad I missed the potty training lesson in the parenting class I took........ which is my sarcastic way of saying I have no idea how to do it!! They don't teach you these things. 
• Swimming lessons and gym class are pretty much a disaster for me and Dave right now. Drew just cries through the whole thing and we don't know what to do about it. I take him to swimming, and Dave takes him to gym...... we both dread it each week. He's so great about doing his own thing, and exploring and if he could just get in there and play independently he'd be happy as a clam. But as soon as it involves doing things as a group in the class, like singing songs in circle time, he freaks out and cries hysterically. In this way he seems exactly like a young version of his momma.... WOW do I remember hating doing anything in a class when I was a kid (and who are we kidding, I still hate team-oriented activities?). But we are determined that he needs to learn to be around other kids and function in a group setting.
• He has such a great need for physical activity and it's hard to get him enough exercise. About half the time lately he doesn't even take his nap because he didn't get enough activity in the morning to make him tired. For this reason I DREAD the winter coming, I don't know what I'm going to do with him if I can't get him outside. It's already bad because we can't go outside if Parker is awake, and I only foresee it getting worse when the weather is bad. Poor kid.
• He's a great helper. It's so cute the things he has learned to do just by observing me and Dave. Every night he helps me feed the cats and gathers up the bowls, scoops the food out, and then takes the food to each cat. And pretty much asks me all day long (with signing) if it's time to feed them yet.....   He also takes all kinds of things to the recycle bin for me, cleans up his toys, and puts dishes in the sink.

So things are good with him.....  we enjoy seeing him discover new things every day and have lots of fun watching him grow and explore. It's also challenging with a mixture of discipline, education, and moderation.  He's feeling out where the boundaries are and I don't know about Dave but I'm always trying to figure out where the boundaries should be. LOL. I guess I make it up as I go along, but always I try to be consistent once a decision is made. And I know Drew is not a dog, but I swear the motto of Cesar Milan goes through my head about 100 times a day.... "exercise, discipline, affection....." 

Parker is FIVE months old today!

His fourth month has been full of new experiences. There is never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.

I spoke too soon when I said he was satisfied with milk and didn't need anything else right then. Just to prove me wrong, within a couple of weeks he was acting insane with hunger. I started him on rice cereal, and he seemed to like it for the first couple of days, but then for a good week or two he realized it tasted like ass and wanted nothing to do with it.  He'd take one bite, gag with horror, and then clamp up his mouth and that was the end of that (not that I blame him). Not another bite would pass his lips. 

So then I tried some sweet potatoes, and at first he didn't like that either, but within a couple of days he was eating it faster than I could shovel it in. Since then he is DEVOURING all kinds of veggies like squash, peas, green beans and sweet potatoes. He eats ENTIRE jars and containers, and is still looking for more. Then I offer him some fruit afterwards and he really is not into fruits yet. He'll eat apples and pears but not with such great enthusiasm. I don't think he's my child! We do not eat vegetables around here, who is he kidding? LOL.

At the beginning of his fourth month I started him in the exersaucer and he surprised us by playing with all the toys and staying in it for increasing periods of time.  Now he can play in it for 30 minutes sometimes, and he tugs on the little guys that play music, and spins the little thing with beads in it, and turns the pages on the book. It's amazing how he just gets right in there and starts messing with all the toys.

He totally lost those marathon naps that he was doing, and spent much of his fourth month doing 3 VERY brief 30 minute naps per day. It's not good for him, and not good for mom, either!  I'm hoping this is just a phase like everything else is. But the good news is that he's sleeping 12 hours per night...... generally from 7pm-7am. The downside is that he usually wakes up 3 times a night to eat, so I'm still not getting a lot of sleep but I guess this is working for us right now. I don't rush right in there when he wakes up to see if he'll go back to sleep, but he never does and starts screaming, so I end up having to go in there no matter what.  Hoping to have some nap improvements to report next month....

As a 5 month gift we brought the Jumperoo up from the basement and put him in it, and he loves it! I started bouncing him up and down and he was giggling right away. Didn't take him but a couple of minutes and soon he was using his own legs to bounce.

Overall his social development is increasing a bit, and he always wants to be talked to and played with. He's really into being entertained. If he can't get a person to entertain him then he's really loving his mobile in his crib, or the tv, or toys dangling from his play gym.  Half the time he's too busy looking at everything around him to even eat so it's best to feed him in a really dark and boring room.

Parker is TWO months old!

• Little piggy is still growing like a weed and continues to outgrow clothes....he's sort of wearing 6 month outfits right now although they're baggy on him. The 3 months are too short in the legs. He's already too big to comfortably hold with one arm. I can't believe how fast it goes!
• The smiles are just incredible. He started smiling at 4 weeks and since then he has become such a gregarious little guy. He loves to be talked to and smiled at. His biggest smile is a full open mouth, scrunchy eyes and nose, and his tongue sticking out. And he waves his arms around and wiggles his body, it's like he's smiling with his whole body.

• I think it won't be long before he's laughing too. He'll get smiling real big and then start making a fast gasping sound.... I think it's a laugh coming!

• And what a talker!  He loves to "talk" to us and does all these coos, and gaa-gaa goo-goo stuff. It's just adorable.
• He found his fist at 5 weeks and likes to chew on it.

• He had 3 nights in a row where he slept 6-7 hours in a row but sadly it has not been repeated since. :) In general he does very well with his sleeping, and even nighttime is not bad at all....he usually does 4-5 hours at a time at night. He sleeps all night with only 1-2 feedings during the night.

• His evening fussiness/gassiness is getting better, gradually.  We still get him to sleep between 9-10 and he's not as often having those long crying jags (but they're not entirely gone).  I'm not sure when it happened, but I stopped dreading the evenings a couple of weeks ago.
• He's in size 2 diapers already.
• He's got these Michelin Man fat rolls that are soooo cute.
• Now when we put him under his toys, he's taking interest. He talked to the little racoon on his bouncy seat for about 15 minutes yesterday, just chatting up a storm. And lying under his play gym he loves to look at his reflection in the mirror (the front side of the sunshine is a mirror).
• From his 2 month checkup:
• 1. Length: 24.25 in (90th%)
  2. Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz (75th%)
  3. Head: 40.5 cm (70th%)

 

Happy Birthday: Drew is TWO years old today!

 

Drew has totally blossomed this past month! I can't believe all the big changes that have happened so suddenly. Where he used to be so shy and scared around new people, suddenly he's all Mr. Friendly and happy and goes right up to people he doesn't know and loves to be around all his grandparents (even gives hugs!!). He is so much more outgoing in his gym class and gives the teachers high-fives. Now he's trying to talk and has been practicing words. We've waited so long to hear him say anything!  He's really become such a fun little dude and we're really enjoying all the new stuff he's doing.

• Finally we have some words!!!  It has been impressive in the past month alone that suddenly he's making some effort at words. They are completely unintelligible for the most part, but I know what he's trying to say. Some of the words that he's trying to use are: cheese, muffin, juice, water (sounds like "wa-wa"), shoes, go, pasta, ow, uh-oh, shirt....... 
• He's finally become interested in watching TV. We don't have many kids' channels but he watches stuff on PBS like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George and Sid the Science Kid and Super Why.
  

  

  
  
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

• He is obsessed with his little netbook that Dave lets him play with, and he constantly wants to play Peggle. He has found the most bizarre ways to screw up the settings on any computer he touches, including my laptop. Sometimes it's really hard to figure out what he's done.
• He'll eat cheese now!!!  I'm so excited about this. I swear it took him forever to accept a piece of dang sliced cheese. In the past when I'd give him a piece all he would do with it is feed the cats. Now he likes it and always gets it out of the fridge so I will give him some.
• I can't get over how helpful he is, or that he tries to be anyway. He's always bringing me stuff for  Parker, he grabs bags of trash out of my hand and takes it out to the porch, and helps to pick up sticks and do various kinds of yard work. I have to be careful when I'm pulling weeds so that he doesn't see me, he thinks he can help by pulling up just any plant he sees. When I'm getting lunch ready and taking stuff out of the fridge he "helps" by pulling just about everything out of the fridge and loading it all up on the counter. I realize all this may not be so much an impulse to help but more of a desire to imitate everything we do.
• He's fascinated by the lawn mower but won't go near it when it's running. When it's safely parked in the shed, he will climb up on the deck and play with the steering wheel making "vrrrroooooomm" noises but when we roll it out and go to start it up he goes running in fear.
• His favorite game is "Where's Drew?" and he goes NUTS laughing when we pretend we can't find him and he goes to crouch beside a shrub and thinks he's invisible.