April Thus Far

Another picture story of some stuff Stef's been up to. We have no shots of the past absolutely amazing days because I never remember to have a camera handy, and it's more fun to actually play then it is to recreate photos that look like play. Anyway, these are some inside shots. Like how he's fallen in love with the piano.

Luckily we have more than one, he loves both. If I leave my office door open, he's guaranteed to be at one, usually playing along with the demonstration music. He's great about pushing one note at a time, though he has some nice cluster chords as well.

"Dickory, dickory, dare,

the pig flew up in the air.

The man in brown soon pulled him down,

Dickory, dickory, dare!"

This Kindermusik favorite has Stefan-created hand movements, which is throwing his hands up in the air. Then moving them to his sides, way down low. If he's really excited (or rather, not lazy), he'll do two hands in the air.

Some new changing table art he's really diggin'.

"One humming bird hummmmmmmmmmmms...

one, two pa-ra-keets....

3 penguins, 1-2-3, Daddy, Mommy, and Ba-by!"

I thought it was time. He rakes die well. The Roulette wheel takes didn't come out very clear. He was more interested in disassembling it and finding the uber-pointy screw thing under the wheel. That's when I lost interest in teaching him the dealings of the gaming underworld.

 "Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone."~Verbals

Peek a boo, I love you!

So, I'm killing time before I absolutely don't want to sit in front of a computer any more. Camp started today, and Stefan was amazing! I still can't get over it. If you're in my family, you wouldn't think it was the same baby. We arrived in the class room, I set up everything, and plopped him down in a super mini pack and play (it is only 1 foot tall and 2 feet long), and he played through the first couple of hours. He only became a little crabby because he was hungry. We sang him some songs (thank you Summer Song children for helping entertain the baby!) and he was fine until I was done teaching. Then he sat with me at home through lesson planning and practicing flute. Are there misaligned planets? Hopefully they don't move!

We've been attending Kindermusik Summer Camps. One for his age with singing (Peek-a-boo, I love you), and another, for a larger age span for signing...that being more for me, since I'll be teaching it in the fall. Plus it jump started me signing with him. SO, it is so cool, every time I sing the Hello song from the baby "Peek a boo" class, his whole face lights up in a smile. Hurray for the emotional connection music offers! We also sing a fish song every night while feeding the fish...same face-lighting smile!

He'd knock someone down just to see the cats so he can laugh and squeal at them. He thought Kelder hanging out with us by the pool was THEE most hilarious thing ever. I'm really getting a kick out of all "thee most hilarious things" ever too. There are new funny things every day. Sometimes two:) Sneezing always cracks him up and his farts- so he's about as mature as any male I know. Then there are other random unexplainable funny things. We're having a ton of fun.

One of the best accomplishments is how well sleeping has been going. Now we're down to a few minutes of fussing, if that, after I read a story and rock him for a bit. It has gotten to the point that I want to sit and just watch him sleep well after he's drifted off because it's finally so much better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it continues.

He's started communicating vocally, which is interesting. I'm learning what his various grunts and screams mean. Like, "don't shove any more food in my mouth, Mom" and "I really really want to get up, but I can't do anything but sit, Mom." He has started liking tummy time a little more. He wines about it instead of full out wailing. He's started trying to move forward by digging his big toes into the rug and pushing. So he's mobile, a centimeter at a time. He likes to clap toys together and slap things. He's very good about taking everything out and not putting it away, I'm sure my mom would love to hear about that retribution she's getting through him;)

That is it for now...time to get some relaxation in before bed and camp tomorrow.