Wheels, Water and Buttons

Whew. Behind yet again. With moving and getting settled in July, we were busy. And now the better part of August is gone. Mason has grown SO MUCH! 

Monday was Mason's first day where he walked more than he crawled. His coordination in the last few days has drastically improved. It is crazy to watch! Today marks almost a month since he took his first wobbly steps into space. Before that he would only move from furniture to furniture. Now he can push himself to standing and strut around. With his skinny little legs, it's adorable. 

Now onto the subject of this post, Mason's obsessions these days...

Wheels: Ok, the kid has been fascinated by wheels for some time now. It is just starting to get very troublesome. He will NOT sit in a shopping cart any more. He gets mad because he just wants to push the cart, not to mention every other cart that passes by. If he would stand and push the cart with me walking behind him it wouldn't be so bad. But, no. He wants to be on the floor, scooting along side the cart where he can push, pull, and manipulate it. So, we just end up with him on the floor, blocking most of the aisle, getting mad that if I try to direct the cart elsewhere. Snacks are the only thing that seem to keep him occupied and in the cart. Aside from just shopping, he gets pretty huffy whenever we get near anything with wheels that I try to keep him away from. He would rather push the stroller than ride. He wants to steal kids toys with wheels. Not rolling over him with the dolly while moving was tricky. He wants to touch car tires in parking lots. I even caught him pushing a man in his wheelchair at church a few weeks ago.  I bought him some toys with wheels, but they are not forbidden so they aren't as exciting.

Water: Once again, something he has been fascinated with for awhile. When Damen is gone and I have to shower, he is right there with his arm through the shower curtain trying to touch the water. He sticks his hands in cups. He was afraid of the swimming pool at our apartment the first few times, but once he got used to it he started pointing to it every time we walked past. He loves the bath...but more than that he loves splashing in the sink. I set him by the sink while I do dishes now and he lets the water run over his hands. He gets pretty mad when I move him. Putting him in the sink cheers him up when he is sad. He loves streams and points and grunts whenever he sees any type of running water. He doesn't like the sprinklers when the water falls on his head, but he'll sit next to the sprinkler and stick his hand in the water indefinitely. We usually change him once a day because he manages to get so wet. 

Buttons: The boy loves to push buttons. This also extends to switches. He knows which button opens the garage door. He pounds random numbers on the garage keypad and then hits the "Enter" button, because he knows that's what you do. He always wants to touch the keyboard while we are on the computer. He loves the iPhone. He will push the button at the bottom to turn the phone on and swipe to unlock it. He's pretty good at swiping to get between screens and loves to type on the keypad. He knows the light switch turns on and off the lights, and lately that has been his favorite. He can't reach most light switches, but he knows if he climbs up a few stairs in the stairway he can reach the switch on the wall there. Remote controls are awesome. Toys with buttons are awesome. 

In other Mason related news...he now has 16 teeth. He got four molars last month and his four canine teeth this month. He slept through the night for the last 3 weeks in a row! (Camping this weekend has set us back a few days.) I can't believe it is really happening, it has been such a relief. He is getting much more vocal, but still doesn't say a lot of intelligible words. He says "out" because he wants to go outside most of the time. If you don't listen to him, he will bring a shoe and drop it on your foot to make it clear that he wants to go outside. It's pretty funny. He got his first pair of walking shoes last week and he cried when we first put them on his feet. After he figured out they let him walk on hot pavement, he was happy to let us put on his shoes. He is getting so big so fast, and figuring out new things every day! 

June in Photos

It's been a busy month for us! Here is a quick photo re-cap of what's been going on.

First of all, we have been working with Mason to improve his sleep schedule. (aka...no sleep for the first week of June.) Things have been improving despite all the excitement this month. More on this subject later.

Here's our "Farewell to Katherine" camping trip. She headed off to Duke to become a nurse practitioner. I'm excited for her, and sad she's gone.

Next came Mason's birthday. He turned 1 year old!!! Hallelujah! It's been a rough, WONDERFUL year. I'm kinda glad it's behind us. He is getting so much more personality at this age. I love it all, even the stubborn streaks.

Mason's birthday was also Father's Day. It has been so fun to watch Damen as a father. I love these boys.

We spent the afternoon with my dad. Here's a stalker photo of Mason watching chickens on the back porch with Grandpa. So cute.

Then it was off to California to visit with Damen's parents. We spent their 31st wedding anniversary with them. I'm so happy to be a part of their family!

We also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary while in California. We were able to go out that evening while Grandma and Grandpa watched the boy. Dinner without protecting my plate from tiny hands + a movie without interrupting screams on the baby monitor = bliss.

Here are some photos from our visit to the Santa Barbara zoo.

Mason LOVED the ocean. He never cracked a smile, but he threw a fit whenever we tried to take him away from the water.

Mason's first word (besides mamama and dadada) came in California. Dog. He loved chasing the dog. Although Joe was probably happy to see us go, we are always sad to leave.


And now we are home again. We made it back just in time to celebrate my dad's birthday. Here we are on his birthday hike, coming down Broad's Fork. We were both exhausted.

It's been a whirlwind of a month. Oh and did I mention Mason's been teething almost all month long with molars during all this ? It's been a good month though, with a lot to celebrate!

Ridiculously Hungry

Mason has been an extremely eager eater these days, and makes this face all the time. He pulls it when he is eating, or to communicate that he wants to eat. It cracks me up!

Outside

Here are a few photos of the boy outside. He makes a break for the door every time it opens these days. He loves to be outside.

First Camping Trip

We decided to make our first camping trip close and relatively simple to see how Mason did. We went to the campground at Willard Bay. It was a chilly weekend, but we had a great time and Mason LOVED it.

Here he is splashing in the water, getting all wet and cold. He was mad when we took him away. He kept pointing at the lake from our tent and grunting to remind me that he wanted to visit again.

Scooting through the grass...

And a short video of him scooting around the picnic table. I was amazed at how long he kept going around and around. He must have been at it for a half hour. He made sure to stick to the dirt and concrete, he still gets off the grass as fast as he can.

I neglected to get a photo of our entire party. Kade and Minda came, and so did Sue, Matt and his kids. It was fun to get out with some of our favorite people. My dad and Susan even joined us just for dinner.

 Here are Damen and Mason sitting around the campfire after dinner.  Mason was so tired from all his playing. He fell asleep in the tent shortly after this, and slept great...until midnight.

Good morning! I was surprised to look over and see that Mason had found my toothbrush. We tried to keep him in the tent for awhile, but he was pretty excited to be up and going.

In the tent...all bundled up and ready to face the freezing cold morning!

A few photos looking over Willard Bay.

Damen packing up the car while Luke entertains Mason.

It was a good time, and a successful first camping excursion with the boy. We are hoping to get out again soon!

Standing Tall

A couple weeks ago, Mason couldn't pull himself to stand. I tried holding his hands to let him walk around, and he would get so excited after one step that he would pick up his legs and start kicking.


And then one day about two weeks ago that all changed. Literally it was an overnight change, like when he finally decided to crawl (or scoot rather). He started pulling himself up to stand whenever he could, and he LOVES walking around holding our hands. Sometimes when I'm sitting next to him on the couch he even stands so he can get right in my face, or in the middle of whatever I'm doing.


Sometimes he can sit himself back down, but most of the time he yells at me when he needs help getting down. Sometimes he falls straight down, and sometimes he ends up falling to the side and rolling. If he's tired he crys, and if he isn't tired he usually just rolls with it.


At first he was unsteady on his feet, but in just a few short weeks his balance has improved significantly. How fast he grows!


Here are a few photos of him on the porch, shouting at the occasional passer-by.

Easter 2012

As usual, a little late...easter 2012! We had a great day with family and friends.