On October 23, Kieron had his first taste of food. We fed him rice cereal, and it went pretty well. In fact, it really didn’t seem to take much getting used to at all. Since then he’s had bananas and apple sauce, which appear to be a little sweet for his taste right now. He also tried carrots, which got a so-so response, and sweet potatoes, which he loved!
Hanging out with Grammy, visiting from Texas
In early October, Issaquah holds it’s annual Salmon Days Festival. The last time I went, I was marching in a parade back in high school. Every year we say we should go, but for one reason or another, we just don’t seem to make it. We finally made it this year, and had a great time. The weather cooperated, and Jonathan’s family was in town for the weekend. Avery loved watching the salmon in the stream. He also enjoyed the firetruck parked nearby.
The boys are growing up fast. Kieron officially rolled over a few weeks ago, but he doesn’t feel compelled to do it very often. He is still not a fan of tummy time unless one of us is on our tummy in front of him. After a few minutes he’ll start to fuss, but only occasionally will he do something about it and roll onto his back. He loves to stand and jump. If I stand him up on my knees and hold his hands, he’ll jump up and down until my arms wear out. Yesterday he held onto the edge of Avery’s train table by himself for a couple of minutes (I was close by spotting him).
Meanwhile Avery’s vocabulary and personality are growing exponentially. I understand why Bill Cosby’s Kids Say the Darndest Things was popular. I often find that after a conversation with Avery, my cheeks hurt from laughing. He’s a sweetheart too, and is quick to say “I love you” or to tell Kieron “you’re so cute!” or “you’re the best little brother I ever had!”
Here’s a random collection of our favorite photos from around the house over the past month or so:
Kieron loves his jumparoo!
We took down a box in the garage full of my old Barbie things
Avery especially loved playing with the camper van and the elevator
Kieron in the tub
Love his chubby little thighs!
We took some family photos on a crisp fall day
Kieron got crabby pretty quickly, so we got some shots with just Avery
Avery had his final soccer game of the season today. We’ve had a lot of fun the past couple of months attending his practices and games, and watching him develop his skills and confidence on the field. The season started off rough. Practices were fine, but the first two or three games were a challenge just to keep him on the field and get him to go after the ball. He’s got a gentle nature, and isn’t that competitive. With a bunch of other kids chasing after the ball along with him, he preferred to just stay out of it. We started to consider whether he should even finish out the season. Maybe he should only attend practices this year – he really seemed to dread the games. There were a lot of tears. How much encouragement was too much?
But then one day halfway through a game, something clicked in him, and the next thing we knew, he was playing along with the other kids, going after the ball, and he looked like he was having fun doing it! This was a big lesson for us as parents to give our son time and trust that he will come around at his own pace. Avery has always been an observer. It’s not his style to jump into something before he knows exactly what he’s doing. Understanding this about him and watching his transformation throughout the season helped us learn a lot about our son.
Here are some pictures from throughout the season:
Practicing before a game
Not sure he wants to play
The snacks afterward are good though
And he’s off!
Little bro Kieron cheers him on with Mommy
Home Depot buckets repurposed
Team photo
Avery covers his year when the team yells “Go Orange Crush!”
Playing in the leaves after a game
With Grammy
At the park
Grammy & Mommy
Forgive us Lord, for it has been almost two months since our last blog post. Did you miss us? We’ll be retro-blogging a few entries to get caught up.
Auntie Ashleigh came out for a visit with her boyfriend, Mark, in early September. We had breakfast with them in the U District. The next day we photographed a wedding they attended as guests. Here are a few pics from breakfast:
