Recently, during a visit from our friend Alex, we witnessed what just may be evidence Theo's ability to understand, and try to manipulate, what others believe about him. Theo had climbed into one of the black chairs in the living room, and his "uncle" Alex, who Theo greatly admires, was sitting in the chair next to him. Theo was enjoying Alex's attention and was standing up in the chair, looking rather pleased with himself, when he suddenly started tipping sideways. Matt and I were sitting across the room, and I started lunging towards Theo, expecting him to crash awkwardly in between the chair and a small round table, when Theo's giant head hits the table, and the force is just enough to right him so that that he lands on his bottom in the chair. We all looked at Theo, shocked he was not crying. I sat tentatively back down. Theo sat calmly in the chair, looking a little shocked and a little dazed, and then turns to Alex, and starts finger popping in greeting. It looked to us for all the world, like Theo was trying to "play it cool" in front of Alex and Matt and I, like he was OK, hadn't really fallen and bumped his head. He sat calmly for a few moments, but once we realized that he was barely keeping the tears inside, Matt went over to pick him up, whereupon he began crying hard, needing lots of comfort from Mommy and Daddy. Was Theo really aware of what others thought of him, and was he trying to give the impression that he was OK, even though he was not? Could be. Here's a shot of the lump on his head. He comforted himself later by playing water bottle in the beer box.
We went to Byron, Elke, Skyeler & Teagan's house for a BBQ yesterday. Theo enjoyed hanging out with his pals, the play equipment, and his first juice box. I was so proud when he managed to get his straw back in the box all by himself - such dexterity! 
Just moments before there were mini-tantrums and squirmy refusals to put on socks. But then there were these moments and it all melts away. And he learned to give zerberts (aka raspberries) to my belly tonight! Awesome!
Theo REALLY does not like having his diaper changed any more. He kicks, he screams, he cries, he rolls over, he stands up on the diaper changing table. Sometimes, once you get that diaper on, that's all you can do.
We went to Tryon Creek State Park yesterday morning for a nice walk in the woods. We went just to let Theo walk on the trails - no stroller or carrier. We thought we'd maybe just walk a very short distance and mostly wander around and look at dirt and ferns and things. To our amazement, once he got over the fact he was suddenly in the woods, Theo took off down the trail and just kept going. He walked for over a quarter mile! Of course we had to carry him back, because once he got all of that walking out of his system, all he wanted to do was wander around and pick up sticks and things, which we also enjoyed for a while! 
Friday evening I arrived home with a box of pizza slices for dinner. We enjoyed them with a huge salad of greens from Matt's fantastic vegetable garden. Theo loves pizza - he ate over a half of slice, a big pizzeria slice, too. He was so excited when I came home with the box of pizza, he followed Matt into the kitchen with it instead of welcoming me home! 
Happy Mother's day to all you Grandmas and Great Grandmas out there from Theo and his mom and dad!
