This past weekend was pretty uneventful but we did get out and enjoy the nice weather on Saturday morning. The Gophers had an open scrimmage at 'The Bank' so we thought we'd give Graeme his first official tour since his last two visits were spent either in utero or sleeping. If you couldn't tell from the above picture, he was pretty excited.
Graeme was more concerned with his snacks and the other kids around then the players, and rightly so, the team looked like they still need some practice. We're headed out to LA next week to watch them take in the Trojans at USC. we hope they show up...
It appears we have been a bit delinquent in some of these posts, so we will now attempt to cram a lot of updates into one - be sure to pay attention, there will be a test at the end.
Graeme recently turned 10 months old. Okay, that was over a month ago, but with all of our chasing this new creepy crawler all over the house, and making sure that he wasn't using Sims' chew toys as his own, we didn't get a good picture of him in his rocking chair. We were, however, able to get a picture of Mr. Busy Body while he was locked in place.
Graeme is working his way to becoming a walker. This has led to some house redecorating. Graeme has had some suggestions for a new seating arrangement in the kitchen. This is just one of many that he has tried. For now, we think we'll stay with a more traditional arrangement.
With Graeme now playing with friends in the big kid room at school, we are afraid that he is picking up some bad habits. He has started to give us the "brow furrow" when we tell him no, or he doesn't want to listen to us. It is hard to catch in a picture because it is usually followed quickly by him turning and crawling away.
Last night Graeme got a chance to cheer on the Packers with his new jersey for the first time. Graeme enjoyed his bottle during the game, perhaps that is a bad habit to teach???
Thanks to Paul for putting up with a couple of Packer fans and letting us watch the first quarter.
Mr. Sims isn't too sure what to think about his newly mobile little brother. Weeknights now often involve hanging out in different rooms around the house. This is one from an evening spent in our front hall. Sims found a good spot to hang out, out of the way.
We have also tried to make a point to do things with Sims on a one-on-one basis to make sure he still feels special. Sims in turn has decided that he will try to be more human. He is starting by trying to figure out how to drink from a straw so that he can have water in the car.
Oh yeah, Graeme also turned 11 months yesterday. This time, we did try to get pictures of him in his rocking chair. Here is proof that it is harder to get him to sit still for a picture these days.
Yes, he is a total book nerd. He "reads" books all the time these days.
Hopefully we will get some more posting in before his first birthday. Hard to believe that it will soon be upon us. Here is Graeme's one month picture in the same chair. He has truly changed from a little baby to a little boy, and continues to bring us more smiles and joy each and every day.
Today begins the first of two weeks of transition for Graeme at school. He will no longer be an infant. In two weeks he will be known as...an older infant. He will be spending parts of each day getting to know the people and the room and the routine. It's definitely harder on us than it is Graeme. We really can't believe that he is old enough to not be considered a little baby anymore! Today he spent the morning with his new teachers, friends and in his new room. His current teacher said he never even looked back when she dropped him off. He had a great time and they think he is going to do really well. There are more things to do and lots of mobile friends he can pal around with. The older infants have more of a set schedule and begin to participate in group time/naps/meals. Today Graeme also slept on a cot for the first time. No more crib in his new room! They said he did great and managed a 40 minute nap only to follow that up with 2 more hours in his crib when he got back to the infant room!
We've been really busy lately but have not documented any of it with words or photos. We finished up our softball season with a poor record. It's been determined that we are too old and out of shape to keep up with the young bucks anymore. As I type this, Matt has been eliminated in the second round of the singles lawn bowling tournament at Brit's Pub. His team overall did well this year, they have the team tournament yet to play.
This past weekend Graeme had a sleep over with Auntie Kendra and Uncle Paul. Matt and I celebrated the wedding of one of Matt's coworkers and decided to make a night of it as it was about an hour from our house. Many thanks to P + K for taking great care of Graeme and keeping him busy! We were able to get a great nights sleep and even snuck in a movie on Sunday morning. Who knew they did that? We saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II in 3D at 9:30 on a Sunday morning. Awesome. Graeme got to go to a birthday party and the St. Patrick church festival in New Prague where we picked him (and a couple of beers) up.
We're off to Madison this weekend for a baby shower and a birthday party. We'll make a point to take some photos this time!
It seems we don't post too often these days, but when we do we try to jam a lot of things into a single post.
This weekend we kept "busy" by doing nothing really. The weather in Minnesota was extremely hot so we spent a lot of time keeping cool in the air conditioning and watching the British Open.
Saturday afternoon we braved the heat to take a walk. We tried to get Graeme to wear his new hat to keep the sun out of his eyes and we were surprised to find that he actually didn't mind....for a while.
After the walk we did some snuggling on the couch.
On Sunday we had a visit from one of Amber's co-workers, Meghan, and her daughter, Jessa. Graeme had a bit of a rough time adjusting to not having the attention. He did manage to "read" her a book, but when he was told he had to share his toys, he pulled out one of his new tricks - pitching a fit.
I guess we need a little more work on the whole sharing thing.
Graeme spent a lot of the weekend chasing after one of his favorites - Sims. I know we posted previously that Grame loves his puppy, but here is some proof.
Graeme snuggling with Sims.
More snuggling.
Reading with Sims.
By Sunday afternoon we think Sims had had enough of the whole "big brother" routine. He tried to find any place he could to hide.
Behind the toys.
Behind the end table
Posing as a stuff animal.
We also learned this weekend exactly how your are supposed to play with a bubble sword...
And, we worked on learning to play catch...Graeme still has no idea what this is about...and we are not sure why we are using an Iowa football...
Graeme has been having all kinds of fun lately learning new words and new tricks, and playing with new toys. Here are some of the highlights....
Graeme giving out high fives...but only on his terms...
Graeme playing with his new walker. Though this is only the video of him "walking" (which is more exciting), he also really enjoys pushing this around while scooting on his knees...
Graeme now at least understands that, "no, no" results in shaking your head. Now if only we could get him to learn what "no, no" really means (usually he is in the back hall like in this video, trying to get into Mr. Sims room to play with his bowls)...
We may have posted this one before, and though not in context in the video, he has learned that when you drop something, you say, "uh oh"...
This last weekend, Graeme got a new toy during our trip to Target - a bubble sword. What a great purchase from the $1 section. Graeme enjoyed the bubbles, but also miraculously (insert sarcasm) this seems to be the one toy that he can actually hold on to while he crawls (usually to the kitchen to bang it on the hardwood floors)...
When we were cleaning the kitchen floor, Graeme also found some new places to pull himself up and practice standing...
Were not sure what he sees when he looks out the window, but he is always really excited, bangs on the glass, and gives whatever is out there a piece of his mind.
Hopefully we can catch some more of his new tricks on camera soon!
