Austen Drinks out of a Cup

Okay, so it's not a big cup like an adult would use, it's like a mini shot glass but for the most part Austen has been drinking out of a cup - at least at daycare - the past few months. Once he was off the bottle at one-year of age, daycare started working with him to try to get him to drink from a cup. (I guess this is what they have to do since they don't allow sippy cups in the classroom!)

At first, I thought, how in the world are they going to teach a one-year-old how to drink out of a small cup and do they know how many outfits he's going to go through?!! But, it wasn't that many. And, now our son, proudly drinks from his small cup while his mother can't wait to write about it. Next up...potty training! (Just kidding!)

I Just Caught Austen...

trying to climb out of his crib! Now, lately he's exhibited some signs of climbing and I'm not talking stairs because he's pretty proficient at those, but climbing up a short step stool or up on a railing. But the last few days I've seen him trying to kick up his leg high enough to get it over the crib bar. Today, was different though. Today, he actually stood on his fish tank music box that affixes to the inside of his crib and tried to hoist himself over. I'm only sorry I didn't get a picture of it but I was too surprised that I didn't have the forethought to grab the camera. All I could do was say, "Austen get down!" Where a 'shocked that he'd been caught' Austen turned and looked at me and fell to his mattress to pretend like he was sleeping (another one of his great acts).

Do they really try to crawl out of the crib at 16 months?! I thought I had at least a few months to go on this one! But I guess not if you have boys. More on what I suspect the differences are between boys and girls in a future post. But, above is a picture of Austen shortly after his 'climb.' I guess he must've tired himself out!

Adler Just Takes It

Lately, Austen has really been developing his own little personality and that includes playing independently with Adler. You can tell Austen loves Adler but now is the time when we have to teach him to be gentle with her.

The other morning he pulled her ear and she yelped - that's the first time he's made her yelp - but he's also pulled some fur out of her coat and tried to pull her tail. Usually Adler just takes it or she just gets up and moves. I feel bad for Adler so we've been giving her lots of extra attention and lots of praise when she doesn't react to Austen.

Austen's latest "I'm going to bother Adler" move is sitting down next to her with his back to her when she's laying down and then leaning back and falling on her. Good thing she's a big dog and can take it because a little dog wouldn't stand a chance with our little boy!

Watch them "play" below which includes Austen getting knocked down by Adler, Austen trying to grab Adler's fur and some good old fashioned dog and boy playing.

Happy Mother's Day! Love, Austen and Adler

Well, my second official Mother's Day arrived (official means not counting Adler although in my mind she's just another one of my kids although I can leave her home alone and no one will call the cops on me!). Anyway, this one was a lot like last year's Mother's Day, meaning that Austen is teething this year too. I woke up to him crying at 5:20am - I'm sure it was because he couldn't wait to wish me a happy Mother's Day.

I'm wondering how many mothers today also climbed out of bed early to be with their children when the dads were nestled all snug in bed? My gift was that by 6:15am he was back to sleep with the help of some Orajel and that he dozed til about 8:30am.

Then we were headed off to celebrate mother's day with our moms and unfortunately without Adler. The pouring rain kept Adler from suburban backyard bliss and a workout with the neices, but I know she enjoyed catching up on her beauty sleep. Actually, I'm wondering right now how much sleeping she actually did since she's passed out again now.

At any rate, I'm looking forward to Mother's Day number three and being done with teething!

Austen Knows He Can Dance

When Austen was about 8 months old, I wrote about how we thought he had some rythym. He loved to dance. Shortly thereafter, the novelty of dancing wore off for Austen and it was hard for us to get him to show us any of his moves.

Well, the dancing machine is back. Austen has been busting a move to "Earth, Wind and Fire." And, mommy is getting much more proficient at video editing so here is a little video of a few moments of Austen dancing all pieced together with a cool fade out at the end.

Austen is pretty proud of himself and so is his mom.