Speedy, speedy!

As promised, here are the 10 sequential pictures of Sean sitting contently on the grass, then spying the flowers, and speedily (Army) crawling over there. Interestingly, he didn't go for the bright red tulips or the bright yellow daffodils, but went straight for the little johnny jump-ups (pansies). I let him go ahead, since these aren't poisonous... the flowers are even edible. Enough said, hope you enjoy the pics!

...playing outside, signed up for school...

We have enjoyed some beautiful sunny Spring days lately!

Sean got to play on the grass for the first time. This went well until he spied the bright flowers. I captured his speed-crawl to the flower bed and subsequent mouthful of pansies on camera... to be posted soon.

Sean thought the grass felt and tasted REALLY COOL. He kept grabbing handfuls of it to investigate. Hooray for tactile experiences...

...then Lincoln barked at us, which surprised Sean.

When Lincoln made some howly whiny sounds, Seam thought it was hilarious!

Here Mark and Sean are playing together. The way this game works: Sean tries to get to a toy (or in this case, to baby Katie), and Mark catches him and pulls him back. Mark is good at being gentle, and Sean thinks it is great fun.

Mark, Sean and baby Katie having a pow wow.

Sean and Katie playing. It was hard to get a good picture because Sean kept climbing onto Katie.

Our big news this week: We signed Mark up for Kindergarten! (For my German friends: this is the US equivalent of Vorschule). He starts this Fall, and is pretty darn excited. While I was filling out the paperwork Mark said "Hi!" to every child great or small that walked past us. Most of them just gave him the 'whatever'-look, but that didn't phase him in the least.

Oh yes. Exhibit A, why there aren't more pictures of Mark these days! I love this boy!

Storm Troopers, Hail storms, Sitting up...

We thought you might like to see a few pictures from our week. The title pretty much sums it all up.

Baby Mark and Baby Sean at 7 months

I love my two boys, and it is so fun to watch them grow, learn, and thrive.

Mark at 7 months.

Sean at 7 months. He has darker eyes and lighter hair, but still looks a whole lot like his brother!

Cheerios, NOT baby food, climbing a step

We have had a bit of a weird weekend. I (Momma/Katie) was sick as a dog for a few days, and Ben stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday in order to help care for the boys (and for me). I have the most wonderful, most caring, sweetest Sweetie in the world! Mark was also such a wonderful, tender little guy. He really did not like seeing me sick, but he was happy to come visit me, bring me things, or encourage me throughout. Sean was mostly just confused why he was only brought to me when it was nursing time. There were lots of times where all he wanted was Momma, but I was just plain too sick and miserable. Thankfully, I am feeling better - still stuffy and with a cough, but no more nausea, vertigo or dizziness, thank goodness.

While I was sick, Sean enjoyed crawling around in the living room until he got fussy... then Ben put him in his bouncer. One time, he bounced and bounced and bounced until he was so exhausted, he fell right asleep: ...completely conked out!

While I was sick, Sean also learned to climb the step out of our living room. I'll try to post a video of him pulling up on that step later. We didn't even know he could climb out, until yesterday, suddenly, there was a baby out in the entryway where there previously had been none.

Mark and Sean are such great little buddies. I love that they get along so well. I remember how annoyed/jealous I always was at my younger siblings, and Mark really doesn't seem to harbor any such sentiments.
I feel bad that I haven't posted more pictures of Mark, or written about him. He is turning into such a big boy, can do so many things. He is such a joy to be around. Boy do I love that kiddo. The reason there are more pics and posts about Sean is that Sean is learning so many things so quickly - and I remind myself that Mark got 4 years of exclusive blogging. :o)

Alright, here is a video of Sean pulling up. Right after taking this video I turned around and went into the kitchen to attend to a boiling over pot of water. When I came out of the kitchen, there was Sean in the entryway. :o)

Sean is such a funny little guy. He still does NOT like baby food (he pushes it out of his mouth with his tongue, then clenches those little jaws and lips as tightly as he can), but real, whole slices of apple are great fun to suck on, as are pizza crusts (preferably stale), frozen green beans, and whole fresh baby carrots. On Saturday he did enjoy eating a few spoonfulls of unsweetened (sour!) applesauce. He kept opening his mouth and slapping the tray of his high chair demanding more.
This little boy LOVES feeding himself unsweetened baby cheerios: You put them on the tray of his high chair one at a time. The loss rate is about 80% at this point. First he picks the cheerio up between his left thumb and pointer finger. Then he passes the cheerio over to his right hand, with which he puts the cheerio in his mouth. If the cheerio actually makes it all the way into his mouth, he gives a triumphant little chirp (that sometimes results in the loss of the cheerio). Sometimes the cheerio gets fished back out of the mouth to investigate it some more. Otherwise it gets squished to mush by little gums, and is then swallowed. Oh the joys of being 7 months old.

I have to say, when eating dirt, animal hair, pieces of tissue, pebbles, leaves, or anything else off of the floor, the loss rate is approximately 0.001%. Oh the things I have had to fish out of Sean's mouth...

Sean's tongue

Ben got to be home the last 2 days because I was too sick to care for the boys, or even to get out of bed (some weird flu bug that came with lots of vertigo). While playing with the boys, he made the following video.