H's first sentences

H's first sentences that we could understand happened this week. One, a command, and the other, a recognition of greatness:
'Make a ball!'
'Ivy plays trumpet.'

Your first hiccups

You had your first hiccups last night! Sweet little pulses!
And... Here's a picture of your brother in the bath. Thanks to Tom and Beth for the cute light up ducks.


Sorry the photo is a bit blurry. You're brother moves fast and I move fast to get out of the way of his splashes.

So glad you're here

We are so glad Brister's presence is being made known at our house! Big wake you up in the middle of the night kicks, and an excited brother. What more could a fetus and excited/expectant family want!?

We have liftoff

That foot got off the floor without H holding anything. Just one step, but Arne and I both saw it. The item of impetus: yummy puffy Os (cereal). Like any good Johnson, H will do quite a lot for a bit of sweet tasty goodness. I'm guessing he's taking after his cookie-obsessed uncles.

And in other exciting news... we're pregnant! Due in mid-December, H will have a little Brister. He doesn't know it yet, but he's thrilled. And so are we.

And here's the little man and his Da having a moment with a book. H is a huge fan of books, and reads his favorites (Pete the Cat, Knuffle Bunny) over and over.

So sweet

We have a sweet dumpling on our hands, ladies and gentlemen. Every day it's something new. Recently, he's been very snuggly in the mornings after his post-breakfast nursing, and it's sooooo sweet. Cynically, I wonder if it's because we started sleep coaching (letting the poor little man cry a bit, and sometimes quite a bit more than a bit, before going to bed). I know what a good out-of-control cry gets you first hand, and it's exhaustion, and a shellshocked need for snuggles.

We're headed to the beach this weekend. To family camp at the beach, actually. There are five families with babies littler than H up through a five-year-old, and my fantastic cousins Don and Carla all going down to Santa Cruz. Right now, with the wind whipped way up, and a cold bite in the air this doesn't seem like the best idea, but I have faith in the weather never staying the same for very long, so we should be in the clear this weekend.

We got a new turtle potty seat for H yesterday. He really likes it, but not so much to sit on it. I've been working to keep his diaper off (keeps diaper rash down), and I'm pretty good (better than batting average) at taking a hint and getting him to his cooshi changer (thanks again for this multi-use gift, Micah) prior to P-time. In fact, I chose the bright green turtle potty seat because it's the same color as the cooshi changer, and I'm pretty darn sure H has positive pee associations with that thing. Arne, on the other hand, is not so good at getting the hints. In fact, I don't think he ever has. What he gets is: a wet shirt (change clothes), wet pants (change clothes), a wet hoodie (change clothes). This makes me laugh... a lot. I think we're seeing early evidence of H showing Arne who is boss.

Another sweet thing is that he has friends. He and Lux are getting pretty sweet on each other. Well, at least compared to when they would smack each other by accident and cry, or when H stole each and every toy that Lux would pick up (that's how you know which toys are really cool!)... I came home for lunch today and they were playing in the same vicinity (not exactly together, but close) and having a lovely time. And then Lux was jumping very joyfully in the bouncy chair, and H just could not get enough of watching her, and walking over to hold her hand (or anything else he could manage to get ahold of). Very sweet.

Bigger and Better

He's bigger. Much bigger. Almost 20 pounds. And he's crawling. He actually mostly does a funny shuffle, crawling with two hands and one foot, and more or less dragging the other knee around. I've seen him drag four blocks and his red nose ball halfway across the room unintentionally with that knee. Without pants, he likes to "crawl" by using his hands and his feet (not his knees), but I think with a diaper it's harder to maneuver that way.

He knows what "light" and "kitty cat" mean. I've seen him search for the kitty when I asked him where she was, and he has looked up at the light when I was talking about it. He *loves* our overhead light. He's liked it since he was little, and his obsession with the light has inspired a few songs at our house, most notably, "The booby in the sky."
Take me up to the booby in the sky/
That's where I'm gonna go when I cry/
When I cry and I lay me to rest/
I'm gonna go to my place on the breast

Arne and I are so thankful to share a bit of space with our little good-spirited beast. Here are more stats about the effervescent munchkin:
Fears: vacuum cleaner, coil heater (thank heavens!)
Likes: red, standing, pulling books off shelves, trees
Loves: turning book pages (board books), tearing book pages (paper), avacado
Dislikes: sweet potato (there's no comprehending that one!), mommy or daddy leaving

Bed movement diagram (beware!!!)