Busy Doing Nothing

It's amazing how easily days and weeks can just go by rather uneventfully and contentedly.  Let's see, it's been HOT...so Keller has been just hanging out in his diaper all day which actually has lead to two diaper companies getting emails from me (see what happens when I have time on my hands).  But really, I tried those Huggies Pure and Naturals because I had a good coupon and not only did the tabs tear off easily, but Keller tore a piece of the diaper off and put it into his mouth!  Huggies was good and sent me several coupons for free diapers and an envelope to send them a couple of my diapers for them to further research-yadda yadda!  And now 7th Generation is going to get an email from me because the diaper ends up getting all pilled with pretty big fuzz balls that Keller had in his hand upon waking up from a nap and peels off when just cruising around...Ugh!  These are Keller's first time in the sprinkler pictures:)  He liked the idea of being able to get wet to his little heart's content and kept trying to grab the water sprays...Very cute.  And of course Bo like the sprinkler too as he checked in every so often and lapped up some water for himself.  That's the best we can do around here since this mama never bought her poor little boy a pool!  We manage just fine...I just want one of those plastic ones, not the blow-up kind mostly because I don't want to have to fill it with air and take the air out, etc...not to mention the big dog that will probably end up in it at some point and his clawed paws...

What else, so on Tuesday, Jill, Cali, and Chase came down and we went to the zoo.  Jill had a pass from her library for free admission...that's the way to do it!!  It's a sad little ghetto zoo with what seemed to be a lot of empty pens/cages/spaces, but nonetheless, something to do.  The tiger and bears were the biggest excitement.  In the above picture you can see Keller waving to the turkeys/chickens/hens.  He's getting more proficient at his waving!

After the zoo, we played at the house for a little bit.  Cali's officially crawling now too so she and Keller made for good little playmates:)  Check out those big blue Sperrazza eyes!!  

Me and Keller have our first "job" walking "Grandma D's" Llahsa Apsa (sp)...She is a high school friend's grandma who lives in my neighborhood and her pup needs exercise so we walk "Becky" three days a week (although we weren't allowed to walk her yesterday because it was too hot--as Gramma said, "No no, honey, even my rug is wet and sweaty today!")  It's good for us to have a little sense of responsibility to carry out!

This weekend we have lots to do, or rather I have lots to do!  It's one of those "3 Shower Weekends" of which I can only attend two!  Two babies and a wedding...My cousin's wife is expecting in September, my friend "Kayaking Jenn" is expecting a phone call from South Korea any day now to FINALLY get to bring her little boy home...he was born in December, and Travis' cousin is getting married in Nantucket in October.  We're looking forward to that wedding as a nice little weekend away.  I haven't been to Nantucket since I was 5 or so.  I remember getting splashed while on the ferry going over....hmmm...are you supposed to get splashed when on a ferry???  I also remember that I got to sit in the kiddie seat on the back of my dad's bike while Jill and Jeff pushed their bikes up a hill.  And the Andes Candies left on our pillows...Yup, I'm known in the family as the rememberer or random bits of information that others think I made up...

Tea Time before the boy wakes up!

9 Months (and a week)!

So I guess I'm just not quick enough to sit him down with his teddy bears AND take a picture before he's up and moving, in this case crawling towards me with the "don't leave me in here" look on his face (see below:)

Keller's first words are officially "Da" and "Bo"...and by officially I mean that he uses them at the appropriate times, when he sees his daddy or BoBo.  As for "Ma" it's not very directed at me...I'm more the "mmmmm  mmmmm  mmmmm mmmmm" one that means I'm hungry or tired.  Soon enough though!  He also has become quite the copy cat which is cute.  He will say words (sort of) that we say so things like "book" and "ball" he'll sort of repeat back more like "buh", but he's making the effort and putting two and two together.  He also copies what we do...like this morning I coughed and he looked at me and coughed, so I coughed again, then he did...cute.  That back and forth thing is fun.  We do my turn, your turn with things too...like you eat Carrot Friend, I eat Carrot Friend and he actually gives us Carrot Friend to eat and then takes it back to eat himself.  This game cost Travis his cell phone as apparently a little too much baby slime can destroy a phone.  Oops!

He's a healthy happy guys still and still no teeth!  (see below:)  He is definitely on the go, crawling around, pulling up and a little cruising here and there.  His weight is down to the 65% and his height has become more aligned with his parents at 10% (although the nurse who measured him said that everyone does the measuring a little differently and if it's off by as little as an eighth of an inch that can change the percentage dramatically...she mentioned that after commenting about how according to the chart he looks like he's shrinking!)  Whatever...so much for keeping good reliable records, eh?

Keller's current favorite toys are the broom, the Swiffers, and the dust buster.  Hey, whatever makes you happy!  He goes right for them, pulls them down/out and just sort of plays with them.  Perhaps he'll turn out to be a neat freak!  Doubt it!  He also just figured out how to open the cabinets so that's become a fun game...open close open close open...yell!  oops, that was his arm he was trying to close it on!  And doors, open, close, open, close...he's learning that when a body part like a leg or something is in front of the door it doesn't close so good!  
So, needless to say, he's a busy guy and it's so nice to see and watch all of his curiosities and how he figures new things out all the time:)  The busy-ness has definitely improved his napping skills and he officially takes three naps a day!  They can range anywhere from 1/2 hour to an hour and a half...so nice:)  And his general wake up time is now about 6:45, so he sleeps about 11 hours a night.  He's a good little boy and I love him so much!

Like Bo AND Splishy Splashy

How cute is this picture:)  Trav gets the photo credit here and ironically, I tried taking the same picture the day before and it didn't come out but this is where the "brothers" like to hang out as of late!

And on the topic of brothers, as you can see in this picture above, Bo has taught Keller the art of sock stealing...what a goof!  Come to think of it, I live in a house full of them!!

Now for Splishy Splashy...
Tonight as Keller was in the tub doing his usual "Splishy Splashy" in the tub, I was thinking how he's going to love ploppin' down in one of the warm little tide pools on the bay and gettin' his splash on, that is until he tastes the salt!  I can't wait to see his little expression when that happens!  I'm so very much looking forward to getting away and sharing my vacation with my family.  We're staying at a different cottage this year since we (I) really wanted a second bedroom, so while we're giving up the beautiful pondfront (and cheap) location we had, we're going to have a "marshview" from our deck and a 7 minute stroll to the bay.  It should be nice:)  I can't wait to go for jogs!  And to go to Duck Pond!  And PJs! And all of our other little traditions that we've been developing or that Travis has passed along to me, and now Keller, too!  We're leaving early early early on Saturday morning to see if we can dodge some of the crazy traffic.  We would have left Friday and stayed with a friend up in the area, but unfortunately I flaked and was sending emails to her old email address, which is actually good that I finally figured that out because for a few days I was thinking she didn't really like me anymore;)  Phew!  Stupid me...

This morning, Keller was able to get in on a little splishy splashy in the form of playing in Bo's water bowl (gross!)  He had been dappling in the past but we always redirected his crawl or moved the bowl.  Today I left him be (as per behavior analyst's recommendation and my own desire to just let him have some fun) and did he have a blast splashing away!...Bo just watched and looked at me like "you would NEVER let ME get away with that" but then went along with it and drank from the puddle on the kitchen floor and carefully from the side of the bowl that Keller's hand(s) were not splashing in.  By the time three-fourths of the water was on the floor and soaking Keller's pajama top and bottom, Keller was brought out onto the deck, disrobed and left to dry in the Exersaucer while I simply added some PineSol to the dog water and mopped the kitchen floor.  (Thanks Keller for motivating me to do so a day early!)   

                                                                So much fun!!!