Tiger Loves to Walk

Here is Tiger pulling himself up on things at 9 months old. He is quite the climber. We put the boxes at the top of the stairs to block him and keep him from falling down them.

Tiger has been walking assisted for a while, since he was about 10 months old. Tiger has reached that stage this last week or so where he prefers walking to crawling. He will use the wall to steady himself with one hand if there is no adult legs nearby to grab onto. He is standing more often and for longer periods - about 3-5 seconds. He should be walking independently soon. He also learned how to climb down stairs two weeks ago - big sigh of relief! He learned how to at church while Daddy was watching him because Mommy was teaching Relief Society - he was climbing up and down the stairs that lead to the stand in the chapel. His older brother learned how to climb up stairs at church - there are so many smaller sets of stairs at church to practice on.  

Here are pictures from April, starting with Easter:

Little Miss was so tired, she fell asleep on the stairs.

 Finally, some snow! The kids were excited to finally use their snow boots.

10 Months and climbing

Tiger figured out how to climb the first two steps a couple of weeks ago. Being the unfair and overprotective parents that we are, we didn't let him have a lot of practice. Well, this weekend, as I was assisting another child, who was using every stall tactic in his arsenal, I left Tiger downstairs too long. Anxiously, I went to check on him, and there he was at the top of the stairs, delighted at his accomplishment. We tried to put up the baby gate last night. Little Miss 2 wailed, sure she was being cut off from all civilization. Took the gate down. No, Little Miss did not want to go upstairs. She just wanted to know she could. Tiger can zip up the stairs pretty quickly, but was not happy with me when I tried to teach him how to climb down. Mom, you are taking me in the wrong direction! Meanwhile he is outgrowing His 12 month size clothes, and fits 18 months just fine. Today he had his first experience with eating cheese. He continues to pull himself up on everything and everyone. He walks along while holding on to things, like couches and tables. He can get into and sit down at the little tikes picnic table, but can't get up and out again. His siblings are still getting used to the fact that he can grab stuff, like their food or toys, from off the table. He is sick this week, had a fever on Thursday, but he is still my cheerful baby.

9 months and growing strong

Tiger is 9 months old, pulling himself up on things. He stood up yesterday and held it for a couple of seconds, looking at me to see my reaction. I clapped, and he grinned. I took him in for his check-up today. Here are his stats.

Weight: 23 lbs 7 oz  95%
Height: 30 inches  98%
Head: 18.5 inches  95%

My cheerful baby, who only likes to eat things he can pick up himself, seems to be growing strong. I do hope we will get past the return of eating every 2-3 hours at night stage, so I can get some sleep. He has shown a preference for blueberry flavored food. Blueberry yogurt was the first spoon fed food he willingly opened his mouth for. Blueberry puffs were also a big hit. I wonder if blueberry birthday cake would be possible? Hmmm, I will ponder that.

My two front teeth

Little Miss 2 had her surgery last Wednesday. The ENT said the adenoids looked worse than he had expected. This gave me comfort, that I had made the right choice to pursue and agree to her surgery. She has stopped the frustration tantrums that we felt were caused by her inability to hear and communicate. Now we are back to the normal, "I want candy, not my dinner" kind of tantrums.

Meanwhile, Bear lost his 2nd top tooth, his last front tooth, this morning over breakfast. He lost the other one during Primary last week. Now he has a big gap, and he is learning how to eat apples with the side of his mouth.

Officially a Crawler

This week Tiger has advanced beyond basic crawling, with coordinated movement, to really getting where he wants to go. He can follow me now when I leave the room. He is already trying to pull himself up on stuff. He is getting more lumps and bumps as he is more mobile, especially because he likes to crawl into tight spaces, such as the piano bench, and then he gets stuck on one of the legs and can't get back out. At 8 months old, he also had tooth #5 come in, with #6 breaking through right behind it. Poor boy is also sick. His fever broke today, but it has quickly moved into his chest. I will be watching him this weekend for any signs of wheezing.

Little Miss has also been sick, but she is 5 days ahead of Tiger.  She has her follow up appt with the ENT next week. She will either be better by then or have a secondary infection by then. So exciting!

Angels

Today I have been thinking about my friend and creativity mentor Denise Fehlberg, who passed away a few years ago. She was my teacher off and on at church since I was 7 years old. I was thinking this morning about my knowledge that angels are real, that they watch over us. And then at church, a lot of little things reminded me of Denise. I am grateful for the positive influence she was in my life. I was missing her today. Maybe she was looking in on me, and that's why.

Latest Sewing Projects

I was working on a few sewing projects during the holidays. I was silly and thought I could bind the quilt on Christmas, in between making pies and Christmas dinner. Yeah, I am not practiced enough in the binding skills to rush it. I had to pick it out the next day and start over again. But I am definitely getting better at it. I finally found a technique that I can do and that makes sense to me. Woohoo! Thank you pinterest tutorials. Got the quilt to my newborn nephew a week late, but I don't think he noticed. :P

 Then I got to work on this pink skirt for Little Miss 2. My mom gave her this shirt and some cute tights with a pink flower pattern on them (she took the tights off as soon as we were home from church, so they are not in the picture, sorry Mom.) and I wanted to turn it into an outfit for church. I think I did quite well, especially since I didn't use a pattern and she absolutely refused to let me try it on her for fit. A few people at church commented on her pretty outfit, including one of the young women, so I take that as a good sign. Now I am going to take a little break from sewing so that my kids don't think I love my sewing machine more than them.