Leaps & Bounds

The boy is growing. There's no stopping him.

Here are some milestones recently reached...

While at the beach, Flint decided to start taking some serious steps. Prior to our trip, he could manage two or three steps before collapsing, and at just 8 months! He hit the 9-month mark on July 20th, and decided to take off!

Here's a clip from the beach, just a couple of weeks ago:

Here's a clip from last week:

Since then, he's pretty much got it down, with just a few falls here and there!

He also cut his top two teeth, followed by a third soon after. We've yet to see the fourth up top, so for now, he is contentedly asymmetrical, and totalling 5 teeth in all. I can't remember Lyla's top teeth when she was tiny, but Flint's definitely seem kind of... far apart. I'm thinking either they will scoot together as they grow out some more, or we'll just insert another tooth in the middle and no one will notice.

The boy is also mimicking much more. He can spout out "ma-ma-ma's" and "da-da-da's" on command and has called out for Lyla a few times with something that sounds kind of like a very breathy "high-la." He raises his hands for "How big are you?" to show he is "so big," waves hi and bye like a pro, signs "all done" and recently started to shake his head "no." This one is particularly amusing, as he doesn't quite understand the meaning of "no-no" just yet, but he is certain that shaking his head must precede specific activities, such as splashing in the dog's water bowl, grabbing Mommy's cup, or using the fake Ficus to pull up on prior to distributing peat moss all over the carpet. So, occasionally, before partaking in such activities, Flint will first engage our attention and then shake his head. He hasn't quite figured out how to shake his head from side to side, either, so mostly he just shimmies his entire body until his head shakes like a bobble-head. It's very cute. He will also shake his head on demand, like here:

As seen in the video, Flint also recently started giving kisses. They look more like my childhood impression of movie stars making out (wide-mouthed and slobbery), but he leans in intentionally and sort of mouths, well, our mouths. It's kind of amazing to see the different levels of awareness light up his face as he learns more and more. It's like a little person is awakening inside his small baby self. The other day I asked him to give me a toy he was holding, and was very much surprised by the fact that he actually seemed to understand. He placed the toy in my hand, and while he was reluctant to actually release it, I was still very impressed. Another "first." Luke has (sorta) taught Flint how to "give five." I mean he does "give it," -- it's just in a very polite, gentle manner. And the most recent "first" development is clapping. I think Flint was as proud of himself as I was. Adorable.

While we're on the subject of "firsts," (it seems to be a common trend in all these baby updates), Flint got his first official haircut a few weeks ago, before leaving for the beach. He was unfazed by the process, and mostly amused himself with trying to find his hands beneath the giant pool of black draped over his little self. When we got home, Mama got to work on some stylin'. I hadn't been able to play with his hair in a while because the top was so long.
At his 9-month well check-up with Dr. Dickey, Flint weighed in at 22.4lbs (91st percentile) and measured 28 3/4 inches (dropping from 91st to 59th percentile). He has slowed down quite a bit, and slimmed down, as well. He does still have some baby chub, but he looks more and more like a little toddler boy every day! The doc said she couldn't give any predictions as to his eventual height since he's been on a few different growth curves.

Summary: Our walking bobble-head boy is defiant, indecisive, hilarious and amazing.

Will keep you posted as he continues to grow and impress us!

Watch Flint Grow!

Padre!

Our Padre adventure was a lengthy one. We got some much needed time away from home, away from work and away from the ol' rut that our daily routine can sometimes bore us into. Luke had off a full week of work, plus a day for travel. We (I) spent several days preparing, and an entire day packing up the car to get ready for the trek south. We were super worried about keeping the kids occupied and happy in the car, so we made plans to leave in the middle of the night in order to maximize time spent sleeping during the drive. So... at 3:00am Friday morning, we loaded up and headed out. Luke did the bulk of the drive with the assistance of some trusty Redbulls while I slept (read: closed my eyes and watched streetlights on the back of my eyelids and listened to the blinker click-click-click) and kept kids comfortable. Lyla and Flint both woke up during the transfer to the car at 3, Lyla with a huge, sleepy grin on her face, knowing she was on her way to sandy toes and buckets of saltwater. They both drifted off again soon afterward and it was smooth sailin' til breakfast. We had one quick stop at McGarbage, the only available food, then with only an hour left for me to man the wheel (smacking myself in the face to stay awake), arrived at the condo in Padre before 11:00am!

We promptly unloaded, ate, visited with our condo-mates, then repacked to head to the National Seashore about 8 miles away, through Texas grasslands and endless sandy dunes. What a gorgeous, well-maintained beach! Lyla immediately ran to the water and played in the sand. Flint seemed pretty excited, too, and soon took to crawling straight through the wet sand and along the tapering breakers in just enough depth for his hands to splash a tiny, satisfying "smack, smack, smack..." He was particularly fond of the salty water and kept sucking on his fingers or our shoulders. It was kind of tricky trying to keep sand out of his mouth.

The following day, Nonna, Mia and her family arrived. We spent the rest of the week with them, Luke's childhood friend, Geoff, and his fiance, Ileah, making several trips to the seashore, visiting souvenir shops, going to their favorite seafood restaurant (Black-Beard's!), riding Les' boat around the canal, fishing (not me, but Luke went out one morning at 4am!), Rock Band at night, and having loads of fun together!

Lyla had a blast on the beach with her cousins. Each one was buried and made into a mermaid, they sifted through huge piles of tiny clams, let itty-bitty snails stick to their fingers, built sand castles and drip castles, hunted for sand crabs, searched for seashells, dug holes, buried feet, jumped over waves, floated on the "up-and-downs," had sludge fights and rolled around in the dunes. We saw a coyote creep along in broad daylight and one evening just at dusk watched several deer wandering at the crest of the dunes. And among our most treasured discoveries was, of course, a vinage television set! No one could be sure where it came from, exactly, but it was one of those things that was just perfectly out of place. Obviously, we made the most of it and pretended to watch it, change the channel, rearranged it, etc. Not to fret, though! After we moved it and took photos with it, we returned it to its natural habitat over in the vines by the dunes. We wouldn't want to harm the ecosystem!

Our favorite moments were those spent on the beach, of course, and one day in particular when Luke, the kids and I left first thing in the morning to have a day to ourselves. It was fraught with gnats and evil green-headed-bitey flies to begin with, making for a frustrating start (you may recall a certain bug-friendly 3-year-old who does NOT like flies thankyouverymuch), but as the sun lifted higher and the day grew hotter, the pests disappeared and we enjoyed our time there. There was a long tide pool perfect for little people to splash in, lots of interesting driftwood to explore, and soft sand for optimal toe-burying. We snacked from our cooler, played in the waves, built a sand castle complete with swimming pool, played in the waves some more, applied and reapplied and re-reapplied sunscreen, and Lyla was awarded a Wilderness Explorer Badge for her superb skills in Defecation Under Natural Conditions (someone pooped in a hole and buried it (proudly)). Unfortunately, we ran out of sunscreen midday and our literal day-in-the-sun had to come to an end. I have a very strict policy against pink children.

One night, we surprised Nonna with a mini birthday celebration on the beach, complete with windblown decorations and even a cake! Other trips to the beach were made, mostly later in the day, for shorter lengths of time. There were also adventures in the "party cove" along the canal behind the house, where the guys did some water-skiing, and we all explored the mud-flats. At one point, Flint sat directly on top of a crab. Fortunately the little guy didn't get him, but we found his attitude toward Flint to be most humorously crabby. Lyla and Flint both enjoyed the boat rides. In fact, I probably would have enjoyed them a little more if they enjoyed them a little less. I had to keep a pretty tight grip on that girl's life-jacket straps! And Captain Photo-lady snapped lots of 8-month pics of Mr. Flint just before he turned 9 months old.

And alas, Luke had to return to work, as did Les. And Geoff and Ileah had to venture back west. So Sunday morning, all departed and the kids and I had a day of "rest." There was much movie-watching, snacking, vegging, and quiet relaxing... but also much laundry-doing, general cleaning and bed-making, as my sister and her family were due to arrive that evening!

By this time, the drill was starting to wear on me. I was beginning to feel like I needed a vacation from my vacation! We had a few more trips out to the seashore and one photo adventure (part of Gia's Mother's Day gift) gone completely awry due to a few impossible youths and a very impatient photographer. We stopped in a gorgeous field of tall, colorful grass, wherein there was much complaining of heat and itching and a certain 9-month-old refused to part with his mother (also the camera-woman) and a certain 3-year-old who acted so completely like a 3-year-old, completely engrossed in her own little happy world.

There was also a stop at the beach, wherein Lyla promptly ran into the ocean and soaked her cute cotton dress, Faryn panicked everytime she had to look somewhere sunny (ha!), Flint desparately wanted to crawl around on his own or be held ONLY by Mama... and no one did anything they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it. Except Rain, of course, who could very easily make a living as a model. Thus, the best photo from that evening was one of everyone's backside.

Our last day at the beach we spent with Aunt Shannon and the kids. There was a very still, clear tide pool, where we were able to watch some fishies up close and even fed some (some complained about the lack of guacamole for their tortilla chips). There were also many, many seagulls hanging out nearby... waiting for something interesting to happen. So, I would occasionally walk by the girls in the tide-pool with their faces in the water and casually drop some crumbled up tortilla chips. They would only notice the birds when they were hovering at an uncomfortable distance, and in abundance. Faryn and I got a kick out of taking video of the older girls as they would panic and frantically scamper to try to shoo the gulls away. I'm still not sure whether they knew I was the culprit!
The original travel plans for the return trip involved the kids and I tagging along with my sister and her family to San Antonio for a visit to Sea World. However, I was both ready to be home and completely disagreeable to the idea of trudging through a theme park with an umbrella stroller (containing a baby) and a strong-willed 3-year-old in blazing 110-degree heat. So, I decided we would cut our trip a couple days short and head home Wednesday. I was pretty nervous about driving 7+ hours alone with the kids, but we actually managed pretty well. We left super early again, had to make lots of stops and get really creative about using disgusting gas station restrooms (umbrella stroller to the rescue!), but we did it! We left at 5am and arrived in sunny Colleyville at 2pm. That's right. We stopped to see Gia and Pap before even making it to our own home. That's how much we missed them!

All in all, it was a great trip! We are looking forward to seeing more beach next year!

Bye, Beach!

More Photos HERE!

Independence Day, 2011

We celebrated our country's birthday the usual way - at Aunt Shan and Uncle Booger's annual fireworks extravaganza (on the 3rd). After hosting a quick dinner with Gia, Pap and John, and with the entire family appropriately dressed like patriotic dorks, we towed our lawn chairs, blankets and coolers over to the massive Davidson backyard for the show.

Flint was super tired, having skipped his evening nap. With his bedtime getting pushed a few hours, we thought we would be in for a very grouchy evening or even worse, firework terror. However he did pretty well, albeit drowsy. He sat very happily through all the noise of the fireworks show and seemed to enjoy the display. He continues to impress all with his easy-going nature and happiness.

Lyla, as usual, loved it at first, then grew kind of bored and distracted until the finale. She jumped from lap to lap, pretended to catch the fireworks with her hand, held Daddy's ears for him, and played with a glow necklace or three in between ooohs and aaahs. Aunt Shannon had ordered a water slide bouncy apparatus thing that she was super excited about, but after a few ant bites, attempts to play among the older, rougher kids, and encounters with wet grass (oh no!) she gave up and put her dry dress back on. This night, snow cones and soda pop were more her style.

Needless to say, Flint crashed in the car before making it out of Roanoke. Little Miss wore her glow necklaces "like a robot." She wore them while showering. She wore them through story time. She wore them to sleep.

And when she woke up the next morning, she refused to take them off. She wore them all day long, even to the hospital to wait on our dear friends' new firecracker, Baby Violet. Since then, she has gone to bed with one around her waist like a belt at least a half-dozen times. If she can find one, she's got it on.

Happy Birthday, USA!
And Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Violet Sue! We already love you!