A Birthday Wish for Katie Lamken

Tomorrow is a special day for Jamey and his "girlfriend" Katie Lamken. It is her second birthday, and she is far away from us. We miss her greatly and wish that we could be there to make some of the delicious Elmo cake that Katie's grandma made-- especially since she doesn't like icing. There is a mess that needs to be made of that icing, and Jamey would be perfect to do it. Ah well. Another time.

Because we can't be there in person, Jamey wanted to send a special birthday message to Katie, via my blog. Lately, he has been playing Mr. Cool and allowing us to put his sunglasses on him. Well, the way it works, is Glenn or I put the glasses on our head (quite a tight squeeze). Jamey then sees it, and thinks it is hilarious, and yet also totally cool. Then he grabs them off our face and hands them to us. Tilting his face up, he allows us to put the glasses on him, and then begins to bounce.

Katie loves watching Jamey's videos, we have heard, so we thought this would be a great thing for Katie to get to watch. It would have worked perfectly if Jamey weren't obsessed with anything electronic. He was in perfect dancing position until he saw the camera in my hand. He immediately ran over to me and well, you can see his reaction in the video. Either way, I think it is a totally cute video and I know Katie will enjoy it too!

Happy Birthday, Katie! We will see you soon. Be nice to your little sister when she is born on Friday!!!!

The Evolution of Dance

As many would have guessed, Jamey has inherited some of Glenn's and my dancing skills. Granted, at this point, his moves aren't quite as advanced as ours. He hears oompah music and flails his arms about, rocking his head around. However, we can already see how his dance style is evolving. He even has his own "personal jukebox."

For his first Christmas, Jamey's big gift was his jungle toy which you could learn to cruise and pull up on. There is a ball that plays music when you hit it, and the monkey also plays music when you pull the arm down. Well, Jamey has known about this for awhile, but only lately has he been showing preference in the "classics" played by his jungle. Often, after he hits the ball and the music starts, he will decide he doesn't like that song and will push on the monkey's arm so that the song changes. He will then try to change the song again, by hitting the monkey's arm once more.

Then begins the bounce butt-shake. I have posted a video of this before, but here is the dance in a longer format.

Now that he has learned to walk, though, his moves have changed a little. We still see some of the butt shake, but now, there is the stomping, as I like to think of it. I first saw this at Grammy and Hoopapa's house, while Jamey was playing with the Pooh tree. He pushes a button which ilicits music, and begins to shift his weight back and forth between his feet.

I have seen him pull this move to the tune of the Yo Gabba Gabba theme song, to the radio, and here, in a video, to Glenn's beatboxing. The video also gives you a look into just how well he is walking now.