Standing On His Own

We took so many good pictures that it's tough to pick ones to post!

Monday was fun. We went to the park and played under the trees. Daddy held LR's hands while he walked around and kicked a ball. I took a turn walking him and then let go of his hands so that he could practice standing on his own. He stood for a second before realizing I had let go. Then he started to sink down. When I brought my hands close to his, he stood up again. I moved my hands away and down he went. We tried it a few more times with similar results. He's my yo-yo with an invisible string. After exhausting his parents, LR decided to push the stroller around some. It was a little tough to move it in the grass, so he really had to put his back into it. No problem for our Little Rugger though. Grrrrrr...

There were so many kids playing in the park that LR felt we needed to go explore. We went over and spent some quality time on the swings and then moved onto the tunnel and the slides. He's really starting to get the hang of the slides and I don't have to hold his hands the whole way down anymore. I'm looking forward to when he can climb the stairs back up to the slide on his own. He could probably crawl over to the steps at the base of the slide, but he'd want to eat all the wood chips on the way there. Seriously, who thinks wood chips are going to cushion a child's fall. As Daddy pointed out while we were there, it's just a lot of splinters waiting to happen. Guess we're still used to having LR barefoot. Actually, we put him in shoes over the weekend for the first time. Went a bought a pair of size 5s at the nearest StrideRite. He's stylin' now! Not sure that he loves them, but he really hasn't put up much of a fight either. As soon as he's outside, he really doesn't care about anything else.

After the park LR helped me with the laundry, which means he pulled all the clothes out of the basket while I was trying to fold them. When he pulls out what looks like a particularly fun(ny) piece of clothing, he whirls it around as fast as he can. After helping me with that he hit a cranky spell. If we don't take him over the gate to go downstairs he'll cry and throw a baby tantrum. I say "baby" because I assume they'll get worse as he gets older. Often we give in and walk him down the stairs or take him to go see Gigi's dog Maggie. We keep him from grabbing her face hair and he giggles when she nuzzles into his stomach while she's looking to be pet.

His appetite has decreased the last two days. He was ravenous for about a week, but he seems to be slowing down. Dinner tonight was just tofu and sweet potatoes. He wasn't really that interested in anything else we put in front of him. His lunches yesterday and today were small, but he's drinking all 8 oz of the bottles we've been giving him before naps. His naps also haven't been quite as long and he woke up this morning at 6:15 instead of 7.

Last pic is for my mom. Love those OshKosh!