My little camera man

Micah is not really into having his picture taken. Never really has been.
But then there is Judah.
He finds the camera.

I try to take a picture of him doing something, but he almost always looks.
And smiles.

 A beautiful, full-face smile.

What a cutie!

2nd Birthday Celebration

Better late than never, I suppose!
Because Micah's birthday falls so close to Christmas, but even more so just because we want to, we have decided that we definitely want birthdays (and other holidays too) to be more about experience than about gifts. Gifts are not bad. But we hope the memories created in the experience will last longer than the gifts. Right now, the boys still have no idea what these holidays really mean, and they don't know yet that they are "missing out" on gifts.
So this year, for Micah's 2nd birthday, we had a day full of "experience."
We started out at Chick fil a for their "picture with a Santa Cow" and the boys (unwillingly) got their picture taken with the cows and then they got free breakfast.

Although this is not a good picture, I think it shows a lot. Micah (in all his true-personality-form) is running away from the cows. He likes to have a little more time to "warm up" to new people. Judah is just relaxed. Really, I think he is falling over and the cow is not really holding him, but either way, he was oddly comfortable with the cow.

Then we went to a nearby children's museum. Both boys were free (due to age), plus I had a buy-one-get-one-free ticket, so we paid very little for hours of fun. The museum far exceeded our expectations and I am so glad this is what we did. One set of grandparents got to join in the fun and it was a great time for all!

 Above pictures = happy times.

Below pictures = getting a little worn out.

The boys were tired, but they were troopers. We then went home and enjoyed tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and then carrot cake cookies for dessert. No candles. But there was singing.

And then there was some very gentle handling of the cookie in order to get the most benefit from the icing on top.

And then there was Judah, who could not indulge with us, but was clearly relaxed.

Judah was exhausted and quickly fell asleep, but Micah was all about opening presents, and enjoying the first "snow" of the winter.

 Flexing his muscles in his new apron.

 The first "snow."

A great day. A great celebration. Some not-so-good pictures and some good pictures. Overall, some great memories for all!

Favorite Things...

Some of Micah's favorite things to do:

Play hide and seek. It's cute when he covers his eyes because he is "hiding" or when he just goes somewhere and turns his head to "hide." "If I can't see you, then you can't see me, right?"

Playing Peek-a-boo. He loves playing this with us, but is also learning that Judah loves when Micah plays this with him too. So cute to watch them play together!

Playing with the random cats that live in the neighborhood.

Wearing our shoes around the house. He puts them on himself, and seems so proud as he walks in them. This picture also reveals one of his first times "posing" for the camera. He normally gets shy and turns away, or else immediately tries to look through the camera before the picture is taken. But he is learning to let his picture be taken and then he can immediately come and look at it.

Eating sweets. Just like his mom, he definitely has a sweet tooth... there's some stylish bed-head going on here as well.

Favorite color: orange. EVERYthing is orange right now.

Favorite way to do things: "do it self" (mr. independent)

Favorite thing to say/question to ask: "whatsat?" (as in, "What's that?" and it is always said in such a curious and cute way as he loves taking in everything there is to take in of the world around him)

There are more, but I'll save them for another day and another time...

All About Judah

Judah is crawling like crazy! He always crawls on his knees (Micah always crawled on his belly) and he is quite fast. He did get his first bloody mouth recently from crawling and his arms giving out, which made him hit his mouth on the floor.
It's not just about the crawling, though. It's more about where he is crawling to. It is usually because there is a destination that involves pulling himself up onto something. A coffee table, a wall, my leg...it often ends up being things that roll or that are too light to hold him, but he'll try to stand up on anything. After he started crawling, he was very quick to find the stairs and very quick to be brave and started crawling up the stairs! One day I found the boys sitting on the stairs playing together! Judah is definitely not as cautious as Micah, and when I say "No" in my stern voice so he knows I am serious about him not going upstairs, he just looks at me and laughs!!
And a new favorite is to stand by the window at the front door so he can look outside.

Just like Micah used to do...

From the looks of these pictures, it looks as though Judah may end up with a fuller head of hair than Micah. Too funny!
Judah still just has his too bottom teeth, but there is a good bit of swelling on the bottom gums and I keep waiting for more to pop through. Either way, he definitely puts things in his mouth a lot more than Micah ever did. Gotta watch him closer!

But I don't mind watching him, since he is so darn cute!

Testing the Limits

Micah has always been a "conservative" kid. A little more cautious. A little tentative. A little bit of "testing the waters" first. Always wanting to fully check out a situation or a new environment before he decides if he is comfortable. Checking people out before he runs right up to strangers. He listened to "no" very good as a baby, didn't require us to get a gate to block stairways, and usually asks for help before trying something that could be dangerous or even questionable.

But he has been starting to test the limits a good bit lately. Both on the things he is willing to do and on the things we are saying. When we tell him to stop doing something "or else" he is testing more to see if we really mean the "or else." When we tell him not to step on something that he shouldn't be walking on (like a DVD), he gets his foot as close as possible without stepping on it to see how we respond. Or sometimes I think he believes we are not looking (when we really can still see him) and then he steps on it just a little, just enough so he knows he is breaking the rule, but just enough to test and see if we stick to our word. And we do. That is one thing we know we have to do in our parenting: stick to our word, whether it's good or bad. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

 

Getting more brave as he stands on his bike (with wheels!).

Loving going down the big slides by himself.

 And wanting to go backwards up the slides too...