Too Big, Too Fast

I have so, so much blogging to catch up on, but I couldn't wait to post this until I actually find the time to "back blog." The babies had their 9 month doctors appointment yesterday. Apparently one of the things they look for at this age is the disappearance of the reflex to always stand on their toes. Our doctor said that once a baby starts to stand flat footed all the time, they are about ready to walk. When he stood Reid up to check the reflex, he looked at me with that I-hate-to-tell-you-this look on his face and said, "He could walk if he wanted to." Not that I am in any way ready for my sweet babies (who I can hardly believe are nearly 10 months old) to walk, but we were still excited at the news. Lucy's reflex is fading fast, but isn't completely gone yet. She is still typically a week or 2 behind in physical development, while Reid is a week or 2 behind Lucy's social development. Lucy is, however holding her own bottle while Reid is not interested in exerting any energy while drinking his bottle. Both of them are thoroughly enjoying finger foods, and often strongly resist being spoon fed. So far they are devouring Cheerios, peas, sweet potatoes, avocado, bananas and carrots...all by themselves :).
At dinner tonight, I told Ben that I thought Reid could walk behind the push toy and Lucy would love to play w/ the gadgets on the front. We pulled it out and this is what happened:

Way Behind!

Wow! I can't believe my last entry was from October 15th. So much has happened since then. I think I'll tell you through pictures.

Ben went on his annual golf trip with family and friends, so Hampton and I went to OKC and OSU homecoming again. From the second H got out of bed he was asking to go outside. He would make the sounds of every animal he could think of - cat, dog, cow, horse, elephant, gorilla, monkey, etc.- and ask to go see them. My mom was gracious to let me sleep while she played with Hampton. We had lots of really dirty PJ's when we got home, because he couldn't even wait to change before he started to play.

Here he is playing on the screened in porch watching the dogs.

Sweetie and Pops have lots of fun things to play with at their house...

horses...

Big play toys...

Slides...

Wagons...

Kitty Cats...

Airplane swings...

Little chairs...
Firetrucks...that sound like real ones...

Fun ride toys...

Puppy dogs...

A fancy bathtub...

that has a faucet that looks like a telephone...

push toys...

and fireplace ashes.
But best of all...UD and COUSINS.

We had so much fun! I am so thankful that Hampton has grandparents that love him so much and are able to spoil him just a little bit. We are looking forward to our next trip to Sweetie and Pop's house.

Boys and Their Toys

One evening last week, Ben mowed the yard. Of course, Hampton wanted to be outside too. He followed Ben all over the yard and really wanted to help push. I wouldn't let him get that close. He loves being outside and loves to imitate his Daddy. The next day Hampton and I went to a consignment sale. He was in the stroller and I was shopping around. All of a sudden he started pointing, signing please and grunting. I looked up and there it was...a completely faded and worn out plastic lawn mower (I think it used to blow bubbles). I let him down and he pushed that thing all over the place. When it was time to leave, I wanted to put him back in the stroller to make things easier on me. Hampton did not want to let go of his lawn mower. I finally convinced him to let go, but he was definitely not going to let it out of his sight. We bought the tired, worn out lawn mower for $2.50. It is his favorite thing in the world. The whole way home, he pointed at it and signed please. When we pulled into the garage, I unloaded him and his new toy. We have started a new routine where I unload him and he knocks on the back door for Ben to let him in. This time, he was especially excited to see Daddy and show him his lawn mower. He pushed it to the door, knocked and entered with his chest up and a huge smile on his face. He was so proud to have a lawnmower like Daddy's. He was so excited he couldn't even take his afternoon nap. Sweet boy!!! That was a week ago and he still doesn't want the thing out of his sight.

It's harder to push in the grass.

Parking beside Daddy