All In a Weekend's Work

When I last left you, Jamey was working on mastering his army crawl. I am happy to say, he has it down. He can creep and crawl with the best of them, as Christopher can attest while he attempts to keep his truck away from him. Now if he would just manage to lift his body off the floor as he crawls.

However, in the same hour that he mastered his crawl, he was on to another skill-- pulling himself up. Just after he crawled across the living room to get his drum, he took notice of this big wooden object in the middle of the room, which we refer to as the "coffee table." Our coffee table has a shelf about halfway down. Jamey crept over to the table, lifted himself onto his feet at the first shelf and then reached up to stand all the way up next to the table. My jaw stayed permanently dropped.

Lucky for us, we were able to get this skill on camera today, as he now plays the role of daredevil... attempting to pull up on everything possible, including Mommy and Daddy.

(Since I originally wrote this post, Jamey has also learned to "speak" through a megaphone made of his stacking cups and has also finally figured out how to crawl on all fours, but still prefers army crawl.)

This week, Jamey had a few special visitors from out of town. His cousins Jack and Ben, along with Aunt Lindsay, made the trip up from Raleigh to spend a few days with us.

It is an understatement to say that Jamey loved playing with his cousins and equally an understatement to say they loved hanging out with him. They even took the chance to take care of Jamey for a day, providing Monica with two days off. Taking him on a field trip to the mall, they fought over who would get to push him in the stroller. Seven-year-old Ben even scolded his brother for saying the word "poop" around Jamey's delicate ears, and learned how to use Jamey's diaper pail properly.

But really, it was very cool to see the three of them play together. Jamey wanted nothing more than to sit in the same room with them, and watch them. I can't wait until he can follow them around like a little puppy.

Wednesday, Glenn and I took a day off and we all headed into DC to check out the National Building Museum. It wasn't actually as cool as we had hoped it would be, but we made the best of it. While Glenn took the boys on a scavenger hunt of sorts, Jamey, Lindsay, and I hung out on the steps. After having fun banging a mini can of hair gel on the tiled ground, Jamey then figured out that crawling stairs wasn't all that hard when you have a little help. Wouldn't it be funny if he started to crawl up stairs before he could crawl in general?

-----------------------------

As I finish my blog, I realize that I never relayed the events of Jamey's 9 month appointment. On the 11th of the month, he turned 9 months, and I am happy to say he is finally measuring in at a relatively average weight: 20 lb. 9 oz, which is the 55%. His height is 29 inches, still in the 75%. In true "van Welzen" fashion, his head is still in the 96%. Guess that means he has a big brain.

He is also getting four teeth in and has become quite active with his toys. To demonstrate, I will share a video of him going crazy playing in his Exersaucer.

Easter Weekend

After an eventful Spring Break, Jamey also had a busy Easter weekend. Saturday, we headed up to Hard Bargain farm for the Dance Group's Pasta Party, which was fun as always. Jamey fell asleep on the hay ride, but ate a nice meal complete with spaghetti and apples. He also held onto the trophies that Mommy and Daddy won for their archery skills. He likes to think he had something to do with them both winning prizes.

On Sunday, although Jamey can't eat any candy yet, the Easter Bunny still dropped off a special toy and littered the living room with plastic eggs. Jamey had fun rolling around the room finding them.

And as an Easter treat for all, I just had to share a video of Jamey laughing. Monica always says that Christopher makes him crack up and now, Glenn and I have made a habit of finding things that make him laugh too.

Jamey's Crazy "Beach week"

For the first time in three years, Glenn and I were able to actually both enjoy a Spring Break without accompanying students to a foreign country or hosting students from Europe. And not only was it relaxing for us; it was Jamey's first Spring Break. It had been a while since he had had beach time with Grandma V and Granddad, so we headed down to Emerald Isle for a few days.

Spring Break Adventure, Part 1: A six hour car ride with a baby who doesn't just fall asleep the car is in motion. It used to be so easy. The car moves, the baby sleeps. Now, he looks around, he wants to move around. Luckily, though, he is also great at playing on his own and loves just kicking his musical farm. Getting on the road at 6 AM, the trip actually went faster than I had expected. By around noon, we were there and the weather was beautiful.

And then it wasn't. The second, third, and fourth day we were at the beach, we weren't actually ON the beach. It rained, it was overcast, it was cold and my mom was compelled to continually apologize for Mother Nature. But Glenn, Jamey, and I didn't mind. Being away from home is being away from home. We found other ways to entertain ourselves. Whether it was just rolling around with Granddad or going for a walk with an extra sweater on, we enjoyed the compulsion to not do anything too responsible.

In fact, Jamey even went to the circus for the first time. I'm not talking Cirque de Sole acrobatics. I mean true circus, elephants, camels, and all. No flying trapeze, but I will let that go. Sure, Jamey probably wasn't totally sure exactly what was going on, but he LOVED it. When the acrobats spun from the ropes in the air, he stared with his mouth agape. When the elephants strutted around, he clapped his hands. At one point, there was an acrobat on a pedestal in the middle of the circle. Thinking the spotlight was in his eyes, I put my hand down over his face to shadow his eyes. Apparently, there was no light in his eyes becaused the only reaction I got from him was that he was pulling my hand away, as though to say, "Mom, you're blocking my view."

The highlight of the week was of course the last day. Bright sun, warm weather, and finally the chance to head down to the sand. So we suited Jamey up in his swimsuit and water shirt to see how he likes the feel of the sand in his hands, and not just under his feet. He liked it, for sure. Sure, the water was a little too cold to do much more than drop his feet into for just a second, but the sand was a hit.

Sitting on the edge of the blanket, he first moved his feet back and forth, digging in. Then he realized, I was going to let him put his hands in it. He began to move the piles back and forth. Soon, his wrists were going to work, moving all over the sand. And then it happened. Jamey remembered that he likes to chew on his hands. The rest of the afternoon was spent, attempting to keep handfuls of sand out of Jamey's mouth.

All in all it was a fantastic week. Always nice to show off Jamey to other people. On this beach adventures, a few more subtle firsts: first solid chunks of fruit, first spaghetti, first time seeing an elephant pee (and man, was that loud and violent), and first time playing by himself with books.

And Jamey even got an Easter outfit!

8 Month Update

Congratulations to Jamey! He is now 2/3 of a year old! How fast the time has gone. Just like with every month, so much changes. He is able to stand next to his Jungle Toy without help, he desperately wants to crawl, but for now is just "swimming" along the floor, he babbles all the time, and of course, he has developed his own dance moves.

Because we didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, we can only guesstimate that he is roughly 22 pounds. (Glenn steps on the scale alone and then with Jamey and we take the difference.) We will have to wait for official numbers until next month. Thinking about it now, I suppose we could just sit him on the scale now. He doesn't move that fast... yet.

Perhaps the coolest thing happening right now, is that Jamey has moved onto a "bigger pool". Literally. Yesterday, Jamey started his "Aquatots" class and really loved it. Lucky for us, our neighbors up the street had brought their daughter and are in the same class with us, although their daughter Jada is a year old already. As he always does, Jamey took it all in stride, looking around, floating on his belly and back. In the class, we mainly move around in the pool holding the babies, making motions to songs like "Hokey Pokey" and "The Wheels on the Bus." Plus, we pull them along on their bellies, encouraging them to kick. Although Jamey didn't do any "regulation" kicks, he did dance in the water, meaning his butt moved around. Someday it will turn into a fine

butterfly kick.

(For those of you who aren't aware, for the first time in my life, I am not a blonde. At the moment, I have my hair colored a light brown, so that I can let my hair grow out to its natural color-- a dark blond-- without looking strange.)

And now, a video of the "swimming". We didn't know that we could both get in the water with Jamey so Glenn didn't have his suit on. That just means we got photos to show and the next time, we can enjoy the class together.

Jamey's Moves

After all that Bavarian dancing, Jamey is practicing his dance moves. After countless attempts to capture it on camera, I have finally done it. Enjoy! (Please excuse the crazy chef you hear periodically in the background.)

Ready to Dance

When Jamey "took part" in our Oktoberfests show, he was still in what our doctor calls "the Blob Phase". He was held by whoever and passed around and fell asleep most of the time. He really wasn't that aware of what was happening.

So imagine our excitement when the Fasching (German Mardi Gras) show came along and gave us an opportunity to dress Jamey in his full Lederhosen outfit and take him out with the group. Nowadays, he is much more conscious of the sounds and motion around him. He looks for the sources of noise, and he loves to check out everything going on.

In our show, the first dance that is done is a plattl by just the men. The women stand in a line towards the back of the floor and wait to be picked up for the next dance. There I stood, with Jamey in my arms. His eyes were locked on the men of the group forming a circle. As the music started, their arms started flying and they starting moving around and dancing. Before I knew it, Jamey was hopping up and down in my arms, as if begging to run out and join the men. Throughout the night, as he was held by a number of people while Glenn and I danced, many of them reported the same thing happening while they were holding him. It seems that Jamey is ready to go out and join the group. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he gets to watch Christopher dancing every day. Give them a few years and it will be very fun to watch them plattl.

Jamey has actually been doing this dancing for a while, proving that he has a great rhythm.

On another note, we have been trying out some more foods with Jamey. Today we bought him some Puffs at the grocery store. In the past weeks, he has proven to us that he has veyr good fine motor skills-- holding things between his finger and thumb. He loves to rub the tags on his stuffed animals between his fingers. He proved very good at picking the Puffs up, but has a little trouble placing them in his mouth. But we keep working on it-- practice makes perfect.