Fun Fun Fun

Loop is now nearly ten months old. When people tell you "they grow up too fast," "time flies," and things like "it feels like just yesterday that you were just a baby," it is easy to brush off the comments as cliché nonsense, or old fart ramblings to be categorized with statements such as, "I walked ten miles to school uphill both ways." I get it now. Time somehow accelerates the moment this tiny person enters your life. Not only does his daily growth remind you of time's constant march forward, but the constant changes taking place in your home and life compared to what was happening even just weeks before can be shocking. To try to remember what it was like before Loop was this active, chatty, laughing person is almost impossible. The new memories quickly replace those before. I am making "monthly" albums to have some pictures printed and just looking at how different he looked at two and three months old compared to now is crazy.

Loop can do all kinds of fun things now. He is such a little boy! Being with older kids in his Montessori has caused him to want to keep up with everything. He is standing and nearly walking. The new terror for me is that he thinks he can stand without holding onto anything. He cannot. Despite reminding him of this important fact, he keeps forgetting and falls down often. I understand that falling is a part of the process. He is pretty good about going backwards onto his butt when is done with standing, but when he just decides to reach for things while standing, the falls can be fairly dramatic.  The fall involving a chin hit so that he bit his tongue or cheek was the worst. There was so much blood! This is the stuff that is hard about being a mom. You want your kid to be protected and not know pain. Thankfully, no injuries have been serious, he forgets pain quickly, and the purple cries are few and far between! I'm still considering a fully padded living room, however. I think that we will have a walker before I know it!

One of Loop's very favorite games at the moment is "feed the dog." His chair at the table allows his hand to reach Thomas' mouth at the perfect height. Thomas doesn’t even need to stand up to take food from Loop's hand. The game is not Thomas stealing food, but rather, Loop just handing it to his mouth. If it is bananas, loops will eat a piece, then hand a piece to Thomas, eat a piece, hand a piece to Thomas… until the banana is gone. This game works with all foods since Thomas is a garbage disposal. I think Thomas will need to be back on a strict diet… I am so glad we have the dogs, though. Loop loves them so much and all three are really starting to pay attention to him. Thomas has always been attached to him, but now Alki gives him big kisses when we get home, and even Morrison will allow him to pet him and climb on him occasionally. I also appreciate the latest research finding that kids around dogs who go outside have fewer allergies and better health. We totally planned then when getting three dogs and installing a dog door for constant outdoor fun!

This picture is old now, but one of my very favorites. It really shows everyone's personality.