keeping up is hard to do

For any of you who have been worried, I am not dead. Just busy. I usually update on the weekends, which works... most of the time. But when we have a string of FIVE WEEKENDS where we are out of town or visiting friends who came from out of town... well, blogs take a backseat. So to all of you in the backseat, hang on a few more weeks. We'll be home soon.

a tutorial

A Step-by-Step Guide to Crawling

by: Noah Hewitt

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1. Decide what it is you're going for. No need putting forth the effort unless it's worth it. Example: a doggie is not worth it--they keep walking away. Food is ALWAYS worth it.
2. Cry a little (or a lot) to build up your courage.
3. If you are sitting, you need to lie down. To do this, do a face-plant into the floor. Use the friction between your face and the carpet to hold you steady while you straighten your legs out behind you.
4. Take another look at your goal.
5. Cry a little more.
6. Re-plant your face into the carpet. Agan utilizing the face-carpet friction factor, walk forward with your toes (keeping your face steady) until your bottom is way up in the air.
7. Push harder with your toes, until your face breaks loose and skids across the floor.
8. Reassess your goal, and cry if you haven't reached it yet.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 as needed.

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A Glossary of Terms

by: Lillian Hewitt

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• clap (v.) - the act of putting one's hands together repeatedly. Adults get really excited when I do this. Sometimes Mommy even feeds me when I clap. This is weird, but pleasant nonetheless.
• dance (v.) - the act of simultaneously shaking one's head and wiggling one's shoulders and torso while sitting. It is very difficult not to fall over when dancing vigorously. Adults seem to think I should clap while dancing, which would certainly make me fall over. Many times when I dance, adults will turn on music, which is confusing.
• hug (v.) - to grab handfuls of skin on each side of someone's neck while pulling your body close to theirs. You have to grab on tight (use fingernails!) or else they will get away before you're completed the hug. Hugs are best combined with kisses (see below).
• kiss (v.) - to suck on or bite a portion of another person's face or shoulder. It is best if you get as large a mouthful as possible. It is also best if you say "awwww!" while you do it, and combine it with hugging (see above).

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We got the babies some foam letters for bathtime. They are supposed to stick to the walls of the bathtub, but they have the added bonus of sticking to babies as well:

Noah wants to pull up on EVERYTHING these days. He almost drowned twice (okay, not really, but HE thought so) a couple days ago, trying to do all his new activities in the tub. Even with that trauma, I'm not sure if he's convinced he should reserve crawling and pulling up for doing on dry land only.

the red balloon

It feels like every time the babies learn something new, it's my favorite thing in the world. It seems so trite and cliche to say it, but it's unbelievably amazing how quickly they learn. (Note: There are times when it does NOT feel like a baby is learning quickly. Every single day, in fact. Like when they need attention and entertainment every stinking second for HOURS. But I digress...)

Lately, the kiddos have become ...what should I call it? Detail-oriented? I don't think they're seeing anything new, necessarily, but lately they can't see the forest for the trees. You sit Noah in his high chair and he immediately grabs for the little strap to chew. I pick Lily up and she wastes no time before grabbing for the zipper on my sweatshirt. Scott came home unexpectedly this evening after going to work, so he bent over the babies as they played on the floor. Their reaction? Not smiles or squeals. Just grabbing for his badge!

My latest favorite thing involves this detail stuff, combined with the fact that Lily has learned to make a pointer finger. I thought I had heard that pointing was more of a toddler skill, so I've been pleasantly surprised to see her teensy little finger poking out at lots of things. She tries to use her little pointer finger to turn off light switches, push buttons, and touch the kitty. Today she tried to stick it up my nose. (Hasn't discovered hers yet.)

She's also been using it to point at stuff in books--mostly kind of randomly, not at the same stuff, and not consistently. But tonight while reading Goodnight Moon, I noticed a pattern. She apparently is very conscious of the red balloon that appears on most of the pictures. For those of you who can't quote the book and/or reproduce every drawing from memory, here's what I'm talking about:

As soon as the page turns, she IMMEDIATELY points to the balloon. Nothing else. On the pages without a balloon, she doesn't point to anything. She doesn't seem to be anticipating it--doesn't get excited, and sometimes looks away while I'm reading. Oh--and then there's the fact that both babies LOVE to turn the pages, so they get pretty distracted while they wrestle each other to grab for the next page. But never fear--Lily never misses a balloon. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Until the next discovery trumps it, of course...