Greased Lightning...Go, Greased Lightning!

It's birth-week, so we decided to go ahead and start breaking out some presents. Grandma Jones got Shepard a little car for his birthday a few months ago. Daddy put it together today so it would be ready for the party this weekend. I had no idea that Shepard would like it so much. It's the first time I've really seen him attach to a toy that way. He will usually play with something for a few minutes then move on. We were considering having to feed him in it, and I was thinking he might curl up with his blankie and go night night in it too.

(disclaimer: I had just gotten home from work and threw on a t-shirt with my dress pants and fancy earrings. Don't judge. We only had about 45 minutes to play, so I changed and ran outside before I missed any of the fun. I didn't know I'd be on camera.)



Vroom! Vroom!

(post #100!) Beach Vacation

We just returned from a week at Hilton Head, SC. It was great! Hot. But, there was lots of napping, reading, hanging out, and eating really good food. It was a challenge to work around our little napper...as his naps are still unpredictable. Some days one long one and other days two shorter ones. I wish we could have gotten down the actual beach another time or two...but it was also pretty hot. Lathering up a little wiggle worm with sunscreen is also a 20-minute job. He was not a fan of the sunscreen. He is, however, the only one of us who got zero sunburn. Yay! He also went in the swimming pool for the first time and seemed to really enjoy that. We have no pictures to show for it...but hopefully we'll get back out to a pool before too long. As for the beach...well, he probably would have gone out into the surf alone. Every time we let him loose in the water, he would crawl straight for the waves and occasionally sit and clap for them as they came in.
This week, he also really got into walking as his go-to mode of transportation, resorting to crawling when the balance gave out. He's been waving hello, bye-bye (and saying that sometimes), making the bzzzz sound when you ask him what sound a bee makes and mimicking lots of word sounds. He's also still rockin' his maniacal giggle. Grandma came along and was the source of many silly laughs and good times too.

Without further ado...our week in a few minutes:


Somebody turns ONE THIS WEEK!!!!!!

Family Pictures!

We just returned from vacation. I need a vacation to recover. We had a blast, but I won't lie...it's more work with a toddler! Especially one who doesn't sit still and is really into practicing his walking. In any case, more about that will be up by the end of the weekend. For now, I will link you to our recent one-year-old family pictures taken by the lovely Pranee Loffer. We're thrilled! She really captured our little guy, and we have some great memories to cherish.

Here's the link to her site.

Still pinching myself that he's turning ONE.

Super-Shepard!

I got the walking on video today along with some other fun. FINALLY!

DADDY!!!! -- by Shepard

I heard that tomorrow is Father's Day. So I am writing an extra-special post for my daddy. He is the best daddy. He loves me a lot I just know it. He can never resist picking me up when I shoot him my cute face and stretch my arms up and say "Dada." He gets up with me early in the morning and makes my bottle and then snuzzles me on the couch and we look at Sesame Street and sometimes I fall back asleep and he lays me back down. He's a good snuzzler. He is always ready to help Mommy with a bottle or diapers or anything, except a bath, 'cause he has to lean over the tub and his back is cracked and it hurts. But Mommy gives good baths, so it's ok. I like to sit on his shoulders and see everything in the whole world. It makes me taller than every kid I know. I also like to watch my daddy's fish in the tank and he takes good care of them too so we can all watch them swim. They are pretty. I love my daddy and so I made a video for him for Father's Day. Well, my Mommy mostly did it, but I am in it and I tried to help her by pressing buttons on the keyboard and pulling on the mouse. I'm pretty sure that was what made it really extra good. Mommy said it's kinda long, but if you're here, then you like us and won't mind watching it. I hope my daddy has a really good day tomorrow and we are going to go to the beach and have some fun. There will be pictures of that when we get back but not before because we are going to be unplugged whatever that is.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. We put some special stuff about Papa Jones in there too because it's our first Father's Day without him. So we will be happy and sad at the same time and that's ok.

Shoot! I mean, I didn't.

I promised a video of walking. You are tuning in saying, "Where's the walking? She promised walking." Folks. I tried. Jerod tried. Shepard walks on his own terms, namely, when the camera is NOT rolling. It's hit or miss now. I think I got him standing up on his own but don't have time to check the footage. Because I have about 15 short clips of him taking three steps and deciding to crawl toward the red thing that mommy holds up and has pictures on it.
Now I'm a little obsessed with getting it. But I'll have to wait until he's ready I guess. I'm really looking forward to his grasping a little of the sign language we're working on. It has been a weekend full of short shrieks to let us know what he does or does not want. Usually at mealtime. Unfortunately, I lost my secret decoder ring to shrieking. I can't differentiate between "MILK!!!!!" and "MORE CHEERIOS!!!!"
One more week 'til vacation. Hallelujah. Surely I can get him walking with a whole week's worth of trying!?
Looking forward to hanging out with Grandma and Great-Uncle Jim and Great-Aunt Linda tomorrow. I mean, I'll be mostly at work, but Daddy and baby get to hang out.  :)

Curiosity

I may as well make "curiosity" its own category. I have a feeling that we'll have more than a few posts about it in the years to come. On his third day in his new class, Shepard tried to make a break for it. I think they're very nice to him in there, but his room opens up into the gym. And there were lots of cute older kids in that gym playing with balls and cars and wagons...so the little yellow wall that they put up as a barricade was more of a dare for him. He made it over. I guess they caught him before he got too far. But now the problem is he knows he can make it over. The center had to make several modifications to his last classroom because he got into things that other kids had not been interested in before (he stayed in there longer than average, so they weren't used to curious 10-month-olds). I'm guessing there might have to be a new, taller yellow wall soon. Have I mentioned that he can already reach the doorknobs? I'm pretty sure I saw him with his hand ON the doorknob yesterday. After hearing a story about a new friend's 2.5 year old getting out of the house with truck keys, starting the truck and driving it into a tree, I'm a little nervous. In his defense, he told her he was going to "go drive" and proceeded to the garage...but he has his own toy car in there. Why would she think he meant the TRUCK!? I see chain locks in our near future.

On baby tricks news, Shepard started standing on his own this morning. Just right in the middle of the floor, then standing right up without pulling up on anything. He's still just taking a few steps at a time, and I will document that on video this weekend. Lord willin' and the creek don't rise...

Here's some cutie pics from last week.