Are we having fun yet?: E walks

E started really walking well July 6. Then he started running the next week

Summer has made me think pics are worth a thousand words and I'm not writing much but I wanted to put some stuff in about E. He really figured out the joy of walking today and I can tell it has fully registered why everyone walks around on two feet. And he is pretty excited to practice, laughs and is immensely pleased with himself. He should be picking up speed this week. Perfect. Grandma is coming into town.

He also is very patient with T. T pushed him hard to get him to move out of an area he considered his space but E laughed. Can't believe it. W starts whining right away.

E is definitely verbal and throws fits when he doesn't get what he wants. We went to his check up and he is 24 pounds. His MD commented that he babbles and talks like the 15-18 month check up. It was reassuring because J asked me this week if T and W did this. I told him I don't remember them doing it so young and by the time they talked that often, they were using words, not babbling so much. But E likes to talk and use voice fluctuation in positive and negative ways.

We camped on the side of a mountain in a turn off on a dirt road two weekends ago and this past weekend J chickened out on camping. We went and just enjoyed the real beach. No exploring road trip. T and W found big puddles to wade in, sometimes up to their shoulders. E laughed and loved crawling in the sand. Fast. Then smashing sand castles. T did instant replays of getting the car stuck in the sand. W decorated the sand castle Papa made with shells and found all sorts of color ones.

The next day they had a blast helping papa build a shelf in the garage for the bins. T had the most fun with that. He talked and talked and talked to Papa about all of it. Loved writing on the wood to practice measuring with his new measuring tape Papa got at the store.

Then they used the hose and squirted everything in the yard as well as the neighbor kids. But that squirting game stopped when T decided he didn't want to get wet and play that game in the slightest. The neighbor kids were confused. Didn't T start it?

W and T went shopping with Papa and came back laughing hysterically because they "saw a sign chasing a plane, Mom!" Yeah, I guess if I looked at it that way, it is very funny.

In june we went camping every weekend. It was our family vacation. A good thing that I might make a wall hanging of is when we got to a dead end on a dirt road that really looked more like an unused hiking trail. We were driving the truck. I got out to help direct Jim's 20 point turn while we were on the side of a mountain. A steep mountain. I got back in and said we had worked as a team. The other day T said "when we get to dead ends, we work together as a team to turn around" Might be a good family motto.

While we were driving on this "road", W was on the cliff side. She was a little nervous. She was leaning toward the uphill side of the mountain, telling T to "lean that way!!" and got seriously upset when he wasn't leaning that way. Once we had gotten turned around, T told W to lean toward the mountain. W understood and obliged. It was a pretty good drop off.

Here are the pics!

The boys sitting on the "summer bench"

blowing bubbles together

Everyone in the "tree"

forlone E. He wasn't allowed to touch the tools

T and W kyphying the smallest "miniature" wrenches while Papa is ignorning them while looking up how to fix the truck

This is a picture of a miracle. I woke up and found this in our kitchen on our 10th anniversary. I have not known him to ever remember a date on his own, but he figured it out this time