Blanden Is on the Move!

Ed, Grammy (when she was here), and I have spent the past couple weeks chasing Blanden around the house, which, among other interesting things, involves pulling him out from beneath the dining-room table (where he likes to weave in and out and around all the chairs), leaping to stop him from getting too close to the TV/Blue Ray/entertainment center/speakers (the general "no-no" corner of our living room), redirecting him from going after Belle and Ella again (they are his favorite toys), and racing to stop him from putting Belle's toys in his mouth (or sometimes just washing them off and letting him have them while she looks on forlornly -- and then looks to see if there is anything interesting in his toy basket for her).

All of this fun has reduced my workdays to frazzled 20-minute intervals and later, busier nights for everyone.

So yesterday morning Ed and I took 10 minutes and temporarily transformed our foyer (the least-filled and most-easy-to-block-off room in the house) into Blanden's very own play space. We are now all breathing a collective sigh of relief -- he is free to roll, roam, and crawl as he pleases, the pups are free to sleep their entire afternoons away again, and I can get back to work.

A Few More Milestones

I can't believe I forgot to include a couple additional important milestones in my latest post.

1.) First word! For the past couple weeks, Blanden has been saying "Dad" and "Da-Da" regularly, both to Ed and to me when I ask him where Dad is. He has always carried on quite the extensive, humorous conversations with Ed, and I think "Dad/Da-Da" is officially his first word -- sometimes even what sounds like "Hi, Dad" ;) -- as well as an occasional "Dog," said looking directly at Belle or Ella.

2.) Learning to crawl! About a month ago, Blanden progressed from rolling to his destination to army crawling. Lately he is often getting up on his hands and knees, just about ready to take off. And this week he has learned how to reposition himself to going back to sitting from being on his tummy.

This afternoon I am taking a break from work and we are heading to Proto's (for gourmet pizza) for lunch and perhaps a little bit of shopping...

Showing off his new big boy car seat.