Walking -1-2-3-4- *splat*!

Well! This was quite the weekend! First, we went to see our friends Hanna and Jean-Michel and their son Joel in Frankfurt. We had breakfast together, and I got to play with Joel. He's so cool! He can walk all by himself! Then my Momma and Dad spent a very nice weekend with their friends Jasmin and Timon at Timon's parents' house in North Germany. I liked it there, I got to play with Timon's dog! That was one of many highlights... the highlight you will most be able to appreciate though:
I learned to walk! Hmmm. Well, sort of. I can walk 4 steps without holding onto anything. I can almost always manage 3 without falling over. I get so excited by step 4 that I launch myself forward, so I tip over. I'm working on that...

Here we were on a walk around the lake by Timon's house. I got to ride on my Dad's shoulders!

Hmmmm, I am not sure if this was what they meant when they said "fits conveniently into the overhead compart- ment" ...my Dad is such a goof ball! I'm done. Can I get out now, please?

But I love him very much, and want to be just like him! See? Oh wait. You can't see me, cuz I'm wearing camo.

Ooooooh! Look at me go! Man, Momma is SOOOO far away! Wahoo! This is fun!

Uh! Uh! Look! I'm walking! Running! 1-2-3 steps!
Catch me Dad! I'm gonna launch myself forward... oooh, this whole balance thing is HARD! How do big people make walking look so easy?

Ok! And now back to Momma! I've been doing this for about half an hour now... it is exhausting. But every time someone tries to do something else, I squawk and squirm and try to get back onto the ground and into a standing position. I am determined to conquer the vertical!

8 teeth already!

Hello everyone!
Sorry that it has been so long since my Momma wrote a blog post about me... she has been busy reading boring books about world poverty for her class. I have been busy, too, getting into mischief, learning how to climb onto the couch, and getting two more teeth (fangs). Number 8 just popped through last night. And just in case my Momma and Dad were getting too much sleep (yeah right), I've started waking up at 7am, cheerful and ready to play. My Dad's comment to my Momma: "Sweetie, how on earth did we have a morning child?"

I love climbing the two steps up to the safety gate. But I have fallen off a few times lately, because I have started letting go of the railing. Boy, I tell ya. It's much harder keeping balance when you are way up high on a step!

The gkeeh is sniffing me. That feels super weird. I like imitating his sounds. He says "meow", and I follow that immediately by a surprisingly real-sounding "mow!"
I love Mr. Guin, so I am giving him a kiss. Well, it looks like that, but actually I am using my fangs to gnaw on his beak. Since I got these teeth, my Momma and Dad don't let me chew on their toes, knees or fingers any more.
You want a kiss? Here, I'll even share some of my soggy bread with you!
Wadda ya mean, you don't want me to get food on you? That's just a little bit I am saving for later on my cheeks... it will stay there.

Well, that is all for now. I am balancing precariously on the step again while my Momma is writing, so she thinks she needs to stop and check on me. My Dad took some cool pictures of me getting into the cupboards in the kitchen. As soon as he downloads those onto my Momma's laptop, she'll post them.

Feeding myself Spaghetti!

So, as the title promised, my Momma and Dad let me feed myself my own spaghetti with my very own spoon! The day was warm, so they let me eat wearing nothing but my diaper. I am pretty sure they did that so that I can see my belly button whenever I want to. I like my belly button very much!
Hmmm. Let me see. What does the spaghetti look like from the bottom? I don't want to do anything wrong. Gotta scope out the situation. Yup, I can hit the bottom of the bowl with the spoon, just like I do when it is empty.

Hmm. This is harder than I thought. I've been practising with an empty spoon for months now. But this darn food just won't stay on the spoon! As soon as I turn it over, it falls right off! Grr!

Let me see. Maybe if I get my mouth closer to the food. Hey. Wait. This is smart. I can lick it right out of the bowl.

Uhuh. I am getting better at this. The spoon still goes in upside down, but if the food falls off, I just grab it with my other hand and push it into my mouth.

Naaaawwww, I'm not a messy eater. I'm just saving some of this for later. In my eye-brows, on my shoulder, and oh yeah. In my belly button and in my ear. But hey. Look. The bowl is almost empty.
Why is my Momma watching me so closely while I am eating? Sheesh. I'll just pretend I don't see her. Concentrate. Do-not-look-at-her! Do-not!
Uh oh. I looked. And as always, she made me smile... now she is saying some kind of nonsense to my Dad about a bath? Huh. No idea what she means.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my Momma!

Last night we camped in our new tent... in the living room! That was my Dad's idea, since it was pretty windy and stormy... we even had wild animals sniffing around the tent (the kitty) and some ambient water noise (the aquarium).
This morning, my Dad and I cooked breakfast food for my Momma for mother's day. That was fun. I crawled around the kitchen and looked in all the cupboards, and yelled into the washing machine. After all that hard work, I didn't get to try any of the breakfast foods... no fair! But I did get to eat cereal with fruit in it. That was pretty good, too.


Aaaahhhwoooo! Aaaahwoooo! Bwabwabwaaaaah!
Man, this is great! I stick my head in there, and see this other baby! And then when I yell, it echoes!
Hahaaaaaah! Aaaawooooooh!

My first Hair cut!

Man, my Gramma is going to be happy... TWO blog posts in one day! All those pictures to oogle five times a day! If anyone wants larger files of the pictures of me, just tell my Momma, and she will email them.

So, I guess my Momma and Dad decided that I was starting to get too shaggy around the ears... so my Momma cut my hair today! First she made a few attempts to cut my curls with scissors... she was just going to take a little off the top, and a little off the tufts above my ears, and leave the rest. But I would have nothing of it. Those scissors were sharp! Why would I let them anywhere near me? Vigorous shaking of my head, and squirming in all directions saved me from the terrible feat.
But ooooooh, no. My Momma didn't give up! She got out my Dad's electric hair trimmer, and gave me a buzzcut! Whoah! That was fun! I giggled! And let Momma give me a nice manly hair cut. She was sad to see all that cute curly fluff go... but maybe it will grow back? She did save four little curls, why I don't know.

BEFORE
AFTER

Check out these teeth!
Then I got to take a bath! I love my ducky. I splashed and splashed! (You can even see the water splashing on this picture! You can't see the water on the floor though... I am especially proud of the size of the puddle I made under my tub)
Here is another side view of my new hair cut. Now my bald spots on the side aren't as apparent.

I'm a tourist attraction!

Good morning everyone!
This weekend, I got to go to Holland with my Momma and Dad, and some of their friends! I thought it was pretty boring, cuz I didn't get to wiggle and play at all. But they liked it. We were in Amsterdam on Saturday, where we took a tour, and walked around. It was funny to see all those houses squished together by the canals! And as you will see below, I became a tourist attraction! About 20 Japanese tourists decided that I was more interesting than the buildings, and took lots and lots of pictures of me! I smiled and waved, just like any celebrity would. I didn't tell them that I am really not a Dutch baby, but an American one... didn't want to spoil their fun! On Sunday, we went to Keukenhof Gardens, which are famous for their tulips. After that, we went to Delft to get some tiles, and then we drove home.

Here we are in front of some of the typical Amsterdam houses. I was very tired...
During the boat-ride, I finally took a nap.
Here are some of the Japanese tourists taking pictures of me. There was a whole circle around me. The guy with the hat took about 50 pictures, from all angles!
This was in the Keukenhof gardens. All those delicious-looking flowers, and nobody let me eat them. Grrrr! and then they insisted on putting this goofy-looking hat on my head... I was not very happy.

As always, I was very happy to go home. There is nothing quite as nice as wiggling on my very own floor, playing with my very own toys, and sleeping in my very own bed!

I'm an Artist!

We get to go to Holland this weekend! Before we leave, I told my Momma to put up a few new pictures of me... after the last post only had some very boring ones.

I got to show off my cool standing skills at Bible study yesterday. Everyone was very impressed. I have also gained a whole bunch of weight this week, now that I am healthy again. I was sick about 2 weeks ago, and was teething, so eating wasn't as important to me... but now I am constantly hungry hungry hungry!

Look at this! This is my very own canvas. My Momma drew on it too, but I like my picture much better. We actually did this a few weeks ago, but my Momma forgot to take any pictures. This time she didn't give me a crayon, but just a spoon... so I am just pretending to scribble.
See? And I can learn my numbers and alphabet!
And here is the beautiful picture I drew all by myself. I would have continued drawing, but my Momma took the crayon away from me when I started to extend my artwork onto the wall next to the canvas, and tried to taste-test the crayons. This is officially my first piece of art!
Hehehehh! What do you mean, stay in front of my canvas a little longer? I can crawl faster than you can take pictures! Hmmm. And yes, that is a bruise on my cheek... I got a little too up-close and personal with a very aggressive corner of the wall...
Me? Being loud? But all I am doing is quietly clanking this metal cup against the marble stair with all my might!

Ok, now my Momma needs to cuddle with me. Bye!

...standing!....standing!....still standing....Uh! (splat)

Well hi there! No master photos of me this time... my Momma was really busy, and I was way too wiggly to get any good pictures these last few days.
BUT for those of you who check my blog several times per day... I did want to give you SOMETHING new to look at and read.

What is new? Today I began to explore the skill of free standing! I have been standing for 5 or so seconds by accident (when I was holding a toy in each hand) for a while, but today I stood and stood and stood for more than 30 seconds three times! The first time, my eyes got really big, and I honestly didn't know quite what to do with myself. The box that I had been holding onto had scooted away from me. And there I was, with nothing to hold onto. And I stood. And stood. And stood! And then of course, I plopped onto my bottom. I did the same thing twice in the living room, starting out standing with the couch as support, and then letting go. The third time it made me so excited that I began waiving my arms. Hmmm. That didn't help.

Well, here some somewhat mediocre pictures of me... I'll tell my Momma to try harder next time...

Here my Dad put his boots on me after he came home from work. I was a little unsure if I liked them...
...and then I was very sure that I didn't like them. So I stepped right out of them.
And here I am tormenting the kitty.

Ok, that's all for today.... Bye!