Magic Moments
Magic Moment #1
I’ve been thinking for days about writing a post about some of the magic moments we’ve been having recently with the boys. But then today, Dan created the biggest magic moment of them all. He started walking completely independently. Previously, he’s been walking unaided for very short distances after he’s lined up a target and summoned the courage. Today, he decided that he could walk anywhere, anytime. So he’s been walking up and down the corridor of our house and doing laps of the couch. It’s such a big step (pardon the pun) and he’s doing it easily. There have been a few shaky moments and a bit of whinging when he’s felt unsure, but mostly he’s been walking slowly and confidently with a grin from ear to ear. He even completed his first nudy run after the bath tonight.
Magic Moment #2.
Because the sun has been rising so early in the morning, the boys are hardly sleeping past 6:30. So on many occasions we’ve brought them into our bed for the last half hour before we get up at 7. The intention is usually to remove the noisy one to allow the other one to continue sleeping, but occasionally they’ve both been awake and the four of us have ended up in our bed. It’s really a lovely time, and the boys are so happy to be in our bed. They start off quiet and cuddly, but end up rowdy and mischievous. The other morning, Daniel had become bored and so we’d released him to crawl around the room and out the door. Lachlan was still rolling around on the bed. Richard and I were in the bed, and started playing “Where’s Daniel?” with said baby as he hid outside the door and reappeared when he felt like it. It was all good fun, but Lachlan really enjoyed it. He’d laugh loudly every time Daniel reappeared, and would run to the door to peek around to see if he could see him coming. When he could see that Daniel was coming back, he’d run back into the room excitedly in anticipation of Daniel’s reappearance. It’s the first time I’ve ever really seen them playing together like that.
Magic Moment #3
I’ve borrowed a couple of books from the local library that the boys have absolutely fallen in love with. One of them is a Thomas the Tank Engine book, so Richard has been reading it to them before bed, doing all the voices of the trains and the fat controller. The boys just love it. I’ve really enjoyed watching them climbing all over Richard as he struggles to read, hold the book and stop the boys from falling over. I got a video tonight though I think it’s with a different story.
Magic Moment #4
On a rare occasion the boys do sleep until 7:00 and when we go into get them up, they’re so happy and cheerful. Daniel stands in his cot looking to Lachlan’s bed to see what he’s doing. Sometimes, I put Daniel in Lachlan’s bed with him, and they both go mental. They bounce up and down and dance a little jig and look at each other with such rapture and excitement. It’s really very sweet.
Other…
Lachlan is now able to stack the stacking cups with only a little bit of help. We just have to give him the right cup and hold the tower steady while he puts the next one on. He’s really concentrating well, and tuning those fine motor skills. He’s also able to put some shapes into holes, but mostly you have to point him to the right hole. Daniel isn’t really interested in these activities yet, and has been enjoying his new-found mobility by pushing/throwing/dropping/spinning the stacking cups all over the tile floor and then crawling around to follow them. He’s often got one cup in hand, and likes the sound of it banging against the tiles as he crawls.
Neither boy is talking yet, though they’re both making sounds like they want to. Daniel will quite often make eye contact and make noises like he’s starting a conversation, which is very promising. He’s really interacting well and initiating and continuing all sorts of interactions. A few months ago it was nigh on impossible to get him to make eye contact or to get him to give you a cuddle. Now he’s often coming up for a cuddle or to just have a bit of face to face contact. Lachlan babbles away to himself mostly, but he’s still a very affectionate boy. He loves cuddles and will give kisses (sometimes) and he gets very jealous when Daniel gets too much attention. Thankfully, with Daniel becoming more independent it means we have more time for playing with Lachlan.
Speaking of Lachlan, he seems to have learnt the “No Standing on the Couch” rule which is a great relief. That’s not to say that he never stands on the couch, but more often than not he sits down. However, he’s reached a sort of compromise and decided that if he can’t stand on the couch, he’ll stand on his head. The pictures below show one of his current favourite ways to watch TV.
Lachlan Watching TV 1
Lachlan Watching TV 2
The next rule we’re trying to drill into him is the “Do Not Throw Your Toys On The Floor” rule and I wasn’t looking forward to this one. I thought it was going to take months to get him to learn, but he seems to have picked it up in days. He still throws toys sometimes, but when we warn him not to (when he looks like he’s going to), he mostly doesn’t do it. He really seems to be listening at lot more now. When we say no, or warn him against doing sometime (like standing on the table or couch) he’ll often stop himself and move onto something else. I’m very proud of him for that.
I’ve also uploaded some new photos of the boys onto the web album. The new pictures start here.
