Just try and put my pants on

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.

A walk in the forest

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!

Boy does he like pizza!

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!

Theo has been demonstrating this new intelligence of late- he recognizes a relationship between objects. He knows a pizza box means pizza and he points to the toaster when he wants toast.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Gene!

Your favorite Grandson says "Happy Birthday Pop!" (Accentuated by multiple finger-pops)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to all you Grandmas and Great Grandmas out there from Theo and his mom and dad!

Feed me

Theo has hit a bit of a feeding frenzy. He must be growing, because he is eating like a million calories a day right now. Here is a video of him showing off his spoon skills, simultaneously making some of his favorite sounds. This is why we mostly just feed him food that sticks to his spoon!

Playing it cool: an awareness of others' perspectives?

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.

Putting stuff in stuff

Theo continues his fascination with putting things inside containers, in more and more "advanced" ways. A favorite activity of late is finding objects that will fit through the handle-holes of the diaper wipes box. He enjoys figuring out where the object goes after he drops it into the hole. Recently, he enjoyed dropping his water bottle into a Pabst box that "uncle" Alex brought over.

Latest developments

Theo's latest motor skills include walking backwards and using pull-toys in their intended manner, by dragging them behind you. He has also learned a very cute word, he says grandpa now, "pa-pa".

Books and music

Books and music are now firmly established as two of Theo's favorite things. Now that he can climb into chairs by himself, we'll find him sitting quietly in a chair reading. Very cute. I've even discovered that when he gets into his twisty, kicky, you just try to change my diaper mood, that if you give him a book to read while you do the deed, he actually will hold still.

Any time one of us sings or music comes on, Theo starts dancing and/or clapping. And to help further his love of music, we finally gave in and bought Theo a real drum. We found a kids set complete with drumsticks, a tambourine, maracas, and a harmonica. He still pounds out a beat on anything resembling a drum, but we thought it would be nice if he had a real drum, too. He loves it of course, and totally gets the drumstick thing. The funniest part with the new set is his fascination with the harmonica. I'll show him how to play, then he puts it in his mouth and starts singing "aaaaaah".

Theo and mama

My boy is so sweet. And fun. He has become quite the snugglebear and loves to laugh and play with his mama. The very next day after writing that he says baby whenever we try to get him to say mama, he started saying mama to get my attention. Yay! I know I'll grow tired of it one day after hearing it for the hundredth time in an hour, but for now, its the greatest.

15 months and counting

Theo is still long and lean at 15 months: 32 1/4 inches tall and a scant 22.5 lbs. Some of his favorite activities include running, laughing, climbing into chairs, and pointing at body parts and other objects, requesting we name them. A typical conversation with Theo right now goes something like this (you'll have to visualize the pointing): "Thats" "That's my nose" "Thats" "Thats my eye" "Thats" "Thats my ear" "Thats" "That's your ear" "Thats" "Thats your belly button" "Thats" "Thats my belly button" "Thats" "Thats your belly button" "Thats" "Thats my nose" and so on. His vocabulary has grown to include "socks" and "baby", but amazingly, no actual body parts yet. He says dada pretty regularly now, but inexplicably, he's taken to saying "baby", kind of like a frenchman, with the accent on the second syllable, instead of "mama". Go figure.

Like a new yard

Matt and I are almost finished making-over our new back yard. We expanded into the driveway and built a new gate across, nearly doubling our space. The result is a patio area perfect for Theo to run around and someday soon ride a trike! We are enjoying it tremendously as the spring gets warmer and brighter.

Visit with Grammy Betsy

Grammy Betsy came to visit last weekend and we had so much fun! We enjoyed beautiful spring weather out in the yard and walking to the park. Theo and Grammy laughed and laughed as they played together, and mommy and daddy got to go out to dinner all by ourselves!

More than just toast

We have finally gotten Theo to regularly feed himself more than just toast, cheese and crackers. Horrah! It just took a little effort on our part. His self-feeding repertoire now includes beans, tofu, apples, pears, raisins, quesadillas, pizza, and all sorts of good things. He even helps feed himself with a spoon, but mostly we still are only willing to let him help with the spoon. If we let him have it, he throws it after almost every bite! That gets messy.