the evolution of walking

Aaron is officially walking!

So here is The Evolution of Walking:

Aaron started pulling himself up onto objects around June, just before he was 10 months.



Doesn't he look like a really chubby oversized infant here? This video is from the end of June. Nowadays, he looks like a little boy. I can't believe how much he's changed!

Anyway, he started creeping along furniture not too long after that. Everyone kept saying, oh boy, he's going to walk soon!

Not so much.

Aaron was (is) an extremely proficient crawler, so although he LOVED walking along furniture, he preferred racing across a room on all fours to stepping out on his own.

Since his first birthday, we've been pretty convinced that he was fully capable of walking, he just lacked the confidence.

This video is him walking about a week before we moved. (Hi old house!) He liked using his walker, but man, that thing would FLY over the hardwood floors. He still just kind of gets drug along behind it. Entertaining, but not so helpful with the walking.



I am so thankful that screeching phase only lasted a few days. Good gracious.

For the past two months, he will walk with our hands and even would take a tentative step or two on his own, before crumpling down and crawling across the room. He can make some serious tracks on all fours.

On Saturday, he started taking a few steps at a time. Here's some videos from Saturday morning.



Escape! He LOVES to be chased.



And he loves playing the piano. With his Daddy. He's basically a musical prodigy.




That startled look on his face is THE new face of the week. Our little hambone realized it's funny and so he makes it all.the.time. When he's genuinely startled, when something falls (or is thrown) to the floor, when he does something he thinks deserve praise, basically whenever. And he's right. It IS funny.

Here's the progress on Saturday night.



Do you like our state-of-the-art fireplace hearth cushion featured behind Isaac? It makes quite a statement, no? Yeah, we've got a lot of babyproofing in our very near future.

And, finally, here is this very morning.



This isn't really his BEST walking. He busts out his long distance, steady walking for the moments when he thinks no one is looking or when I don't have the camera. You'll have to trust me.

Or wait for another video post in a week.
Of course, that title will probably be "Running". Sigh.




PS - For those of you who are trying to get glimpses of the new house in these pictures and videos, have no fear! I am working on a "Moving" post, complete with pictures of the new place. Including a new living room paint color since that video taken on Saturday. Ha.

pumpkin pickin

Brace yourselves.

There's gonna be a lot of pictures in this post. But that's the way the grandmothers like it, so that's the way it's gonna be. (Hi DeeDee!)

The day that we all moved out of my mom's house was a beautiful (windy) day. The moving guys came early in the morning and the house was empty by lunchtime. Poor Aaron had been confined to my lap for most of the morning to keep him out of the way, so we decided to head over to Linvilla Orchards to visit Pumpkinland and let him roam free.

It ended up being a great decision because he LOVED it. He loves pumpkins, he loves climbing, he loves animals, he loves to eat... basically it's his idea of the best.day.ever.

Without further ado, Aaron's Pumpkin Pickin.

At first he wasn't entirely sure about it.

Then, Isaac gave him an Aaron sized pumpkin and that seemed to cheer him right up.

Is this for me??

He is such a hambone. He really started to get into it. The kid can't resist striking a few poses when the camera is around.
Have you ever seen anyone so happy to be surrounded by a bunch of pumpkins?

Of course, it wasn't all smiles and giggles.
Of course, we had to take a few bites.
Okay, more than a few bites.

Like most things, I let Aaron taste it in the hopes that it will be gross enough that he'll stop gnawing on it. And, like most things, I grossly underestimate his taste for nastiness.
His poor pumpkin had actual chunks missing by the end of the day. Aaron apparently enjoys the taste of raw pumpkin. Ew.

We also spent a good bit of time pointing. Because that's what we do these days. We point. At everything.
It was very exhausting work.

Oh Mama, I'm so weary of being adorable.

So we headed to the petting zoo.
Aaron really loves animals, so he was having a blast.
Got in a little more pointing.

Then we visited the Farm Market (yum) and were ready to leave.

But not without our pumpkin!
That poor pumpkin didn't stand a chance, so we tried switching it out for an apple.
He agreed the apple was tastier but still has a special spot in his heart for the pumpkin. He still carries it around our family room like it's a toy. You know, a toy with a few chunks missing.

If you remember, we made this same journey around the same time last year.
Aaron was 26 days old. Good grief.

I just can't quite wrap my mind around how much he has changed.

We are so blessed.

Happy Fall!

happy halloween!

I was pretty excited about Aaron's second Halloween.

Clearly, last year he had ZERO clue about what was going on. I think we all remember the disgruntled turkey.

Although, if you remember, he did show signs of being a quick study when it comes to collecting candy.

So I had high hopes that he was really going to be in the spirit this year.

And he WAS.

We picked out a lion costume several weeks ago because Aaron has always been really good at making the lion ROAR sound. It's one of the only consistent animal sounds he will make when prompted. You should know he is growling as I type this. Why? Because he growls a lot. So you see, a lion is very fitting for him.

Isn't he the cutest lion you ever did see?

We invited Josh, Trice and Phoebe over to have dinner and help pass out candy. I was misinformed by the previous owners of our new house and was expecting 60+ trick or treaters. Let's just say I'll probably be eating Halloween candy until Easter.

It's too bad we didn't have more trick or treaters because this was Aaron's face everytime the doorbell rang.
Every.single.time. Seriously. Come over. Ring the doorbell. It's good times.
Not that we do it on purpose. (Of course we do.)

Phoebe came dressed as a turtle.

According to Aaron, this is what a turtle says:

Apparently, he's right.

Do lions eat turtles?

No, Aaron, they don't. They eat CANDY.

Phoebe was not about to miss out on the action.
Then someone flipped her over.
It didn't end well.

Meanwhile, this guy realized that he was going to get to EAT the candy this year. SCORE!

Tutu tried to corral the wild animals.

Phoebe the Turtle, Mommy the Angel & Daddy the...grump?
Aaron, Mommy & Daddy

And then we tried to take a few pictures of the cousins together. The following is a true account of what usually happens when we pose these kids together.

Phoebe is fascinated by Aaron and tries to touch him.

Aaron does not like it when she touches him.

So he pushes her away. Ah, family love.

The he just starts ignoring her and gets back to being his weird self.
And we all spend a ridiculous amount of time making goofy noises and jumping around to get them to happily look in the same direction at the same time. Aaron usually escapes before we are successful. You will all be the first to know when it finally happens. I won't hold my breath.

The aftermath.

All in all, it was a very fun Halloween. I can't wait until next year when Aaron can trick or treat from house to house. I am thinking I will make his costume. I should probably start now. Any suggestions?

But let's be serious, nothing will ever top this.

These photos are priceless.