Heeeey!

M's new favorite word is 'hey'.  I guess I say it way too much if he's already picking up on it!

He especially loves "talking" to the baby on the side of the Target diaper box.

(My apologies for the jerky parts in the middle)

The Blue Chair

I bought this little blue chair when I was pregnant with MKM.  My hope was to use it in the nursery to hold books or stuff animals, but with that full-sized bed in there the sapce is at a premium, so it has just been hanging out in random spots around the house ever since.  I figured we could use it as Mitchell's deck chair once he got a little bit bigger.  It's been in a corner near the front door lately, and he's gotten very curious about it.  Not long ago I pulled it out and sat him up in it; his little eyes just lit up and you could almost see his chest puff up with pride.  So cute.  Now he motions to me to get it out every so often and likes to play on and around it.  Here's the full set of shots I captured the other day:

And then he hopped off, grabbed my keys, told me he was going to the movies, and said not to wait up. 

But seriously, he looks so old.  Sob!  My little one is growing up so fast!

11 Months Old - July 2010

I am so swamped but I want to do an update on what Mitchell's into these days.  In one word: everything.  But I'll elaborate.  He had his tubes in about a month ago and so far, no more ear infections (yay) and he seems to be feeling better.  Of course, about 10 days after he'd gotten his tubes we got the dreaded call from daycare that he had a fever and we had to come and get him, but that turned out to just be a virus.  He's also on Singulair daily now, since he's still pretty congested and the pediatrician finally conceded that maybe he does have allergies (we've been pushing that possibility on her since about 6 months).  But anyway, ENT front, we seem to have made some progress.  Hooray for that!

He's been walking for about 6-8 weeks now but I can hardly remember what it was like before!  Sadly, a friend was visitng recently whose child is about 5 months and therefore not even sitting up by herself yet, but in my absent-minded mommy mode I nearly plopped her down on the floor like I do Mitchell when I was holding her.  Sheesh!  Mitchell is just really inquisitive and so loves exploring.  I think he has a real future in the service sector:

Maybe cleaning?

Or construction?

Or traffic control?  Who knows...

He still eats great.  He loves fruit (blueberries, blackberries, watermelon, grapes, canteloupe, nectarines, & apples are faves) and most vegetables.  Corn on the cob has been popular lately due to its equally effective use as a teether.  I cannot complain in this department, as he eats most anything, so I won't bore you with going on.  If you are a regular reader you know how much he loves to eat by how many pictures I have posted of him covered in food.  Enough already, right?  (Ok, here are a couple more!)

Outdoor post-pool picnic

Contemplating the harvest: we went to Crabtree and picked blackberries last weekend.  Mitchell did lots of quality control for me and I was kicking myself that I didn't have my camera.  He was covered in them and looked like the Joker with all the juice he had smeared on his face.  He loves 'em!

He's really starting to look and act so much more like a toddler, and more importantly, a BOY.  It's been a bit hard for Momma to acknowledge that, but there's really no denying it.  He is very curious about things and is constantly pointing to things and making a "hm?" or "eh?" noise that indicates he wants to know what it is.  He's not saying that many more words, but he babbles constantly and it's very apparent that he's just connecting a lot of dots these days.  He occasionally shakes his head no when he knows he is not supposed to do something (but sometimes does it anyway); he's not really doing it to say no yet, but I know that is coming very soon!  He is pretty content to play by himself but he does love other children and it is obvious that he's going to be a social butterfly.  He is also relatively fearless.  Case in point, daycare called today and he apparently "collided" with another child and busted open his lip.  By the time they called the bleeding had stopped and the teacher assured me he was OK.  I called back a couple of hours later to check on him and she laughed before telling me he hadn't missed a beat.  I think he's definitely going to be a bruiser, but really, he just doesn't let ANYTHING slow him down!

We just love our precious boy and cannot believe he's almost a year old.  We are so thankful for...

 for his laughs...

 and his cries; 

his giggles,

 

his snuggles,

 

his wiggles,

his smiles,

and last but not least,

HIS THIGHS! :) 

Just kidding, but they are still huge and I still love 'em.  I hope he doesn't walk off too much of that baby fat right away!

One more for the road...

Cousin Fun

Mitchell hadn't gotten to see much of his cousins lately, so I took him down for a quick visit last weekend.  I also wanted to visit my grandfather, who was in the hospital.  The kids had lots of fun playing together.  We kicked off the day with a hectic visit to the Homewood Farmer's Market to buy some produce for our dinner that evening and we all indulged in the yummy lemonade being peddled by Urban Cookhouse.  And I do mean all of us.  Mitchell attacked mine, and by the time we left he had it all down the front of his onesie.

The boys played together a little bit before lunch/naptime:

Reid kept asking to see the ones I was taking.  After I showed him this one he asked me "Who's that?"  Stinker!

I know I have already posted another angle of this one, but it just cracks me up.  They played with these plastic guards and beat them on the window for a good 10 minutes. 

Then Reid decided to use one of them to play a little guitar.  I love this picture for the on-the-go feel it has.  I also love how it illustrates kids' creativity.  The budding musician in our family, I think!

That evening, we gathered at the Kendrick's new house, which was lovely.  Thanks for hosting, guys!

Big kids do a lap in the wagon.

Wearing another precious hand-me-down of Reid's.  Here is a picture of him wearing it almost exactly 2 years ago:

Now, y'all please just act like I am not in these next pictures.  I had not done a thing to myself all day long, except shower.  You just don't get the same effect when you don't see his arm propped up on my chest, so I didn't totally crop myself out of the pictures.  This was AFTER I'd taken Mitchell out of his high chair.  He'd already eaten half a hamburger patty, blueberries, grilled zuchini and creamed corn.  However, I guess he was just really hungry, because I had him on my lap and he absolutely reached over and grabbed the other half of the patty and just went to town on it.  It was hilarious.

I gave him a taste of Cool Whip from the top of the 'nana pudding, but he didn't seem to keen on it.  Maybe he'll take after his Uncle Scooter, who doesn't eat the stuff.

Post dinner, we tried for a photo shoot of the kiddies.  There were lots of attempts. 

Some of the outtakes:

In the end, I think this one may be the winner.  Everyone is looking at the camera, and the two that you can reasonably expect to be smiling are (despite WRS's mouth being covered up by his high kick).  Clearly getting a good pitcure of all three of these monkeys continues to be a work in progress!

Hurricane Mitchell

Lately, we have been sick (again), out of town and just plain busy.  My child is so active, and my house is usually so messy as a result of all his detrius strewn about, that it's hard not to get discouraged about all that I don't have time to accomplish.  We are working on balance in the midst of all this craziness, but we're also trying to just enjoy life and not let the little things distract us from what's really important.  In the spirit of that attitude, here's a few pics of our life lately.  I promise another post or two is in the works, including an edition of the long lost My Favorite Things.

Kitchen utensils are the current favorite toy.

Tormenting the dogs, as per usual

See also: the things the boys have in their hands are the plastic guards to some of Spot's knives.  Again with the kitchen utensils.

Playing with the dog's ball chukker.  Of course, the dogs think this means he might be about to play with them.  They would be wrong.  Just more torment for them.

Don't you love the big orange earplugs?  BTW, since I never posted, aside from an unrelated viral infection recently, the boy seems to be doing well post tubes/adenoid surgery. 

And of course, no post about Mitchell would be complete without the requisite food shot.  He thoroughly enjoyed his meal at AE's house recently.  Ginger, the trusty clean up dog, was ever present, as you can see, and he "left" her lots of treats to dispose of.  We now know meal time is officially over for him when he pivots to the right or left and throws that foot up on the chair our counter, depending on where he is eating.  Nothing like contorting your body at an odd angle and hunching over at the waist when you have a full belly, right?