Sweet Handprints

A dear friend of mine (you know who you are, my friend!) has made a tradition of sending handprint kits to my kids on their first birthdays. The first two things I love about this are 1) we have been friends long enough to have traditions, and 2) I have enough kids that this gift has become a tradition.

The handprint kit has a tin for each of the kiddo's first five years. I generally don't get the handprint done on the birthday, but I figure a month late is OK...right? :) Here are the one-year-old handprints for the kids: Jonathan, Grace, and Benjamin.

It's hard to take a picture of something white, so I hope you can see it. The main difference I see between the three is that Jonathan's hand was so slim, and that Benjamin tried to grab the plaster. He was really mad that I took it away from him. (See the how the index finger dug in?) If I remember correctly, Jonathan and Grace were pretty mad to touch it in the first place, but not Benjamin. He is all about texture and feeling things.

I'm thankful to be able to enjoy each of my kids and soak in their milestones as they come.

Use Your Imagination...

It's a goldfish!

Up to No Good

Goodbye, Exersaucer! Off to the Attic...

Playing the Piano

And...A Gracie Story

If you've ever had a kid in elementary school, or if you have ever been a kid in elementary school, you've probably heard the song "Jingle Bells" sung with these lyrics:

Jingle bells, Batman smells,

Robin laid an egg...

If you've heard it, I know I don't need to type the rest. Jonathan learned these lyrics from a little girl in his class in December and we've heard them daily ever since.

So, yesterday, Grace spontaneously broke into song:

Jingle bells, that man smells,

Robin laid an egg!

Batmobile lost its wheel

And Joker ran to the bathroom!

We cracked up! And she really did not appreciate us laughing at her. But it was really funny.

From One Lefty To Another

These are from January 15. We thought it was a good time to introduce Grace to tee ball, and who better to teach her the finer points of left-handed hitting than her left-handed brother?

Yes, that's a flying ball in the foreground...she hit one!

And here's a yet-unconfirmed lefty. He has been displaying some left-handed tendencies, though...we'll see what happens!

I'm using 62% of this blog's capacity, so at some point I'll need to start a new one. Perhaps I should go reserve three lefties.blogspot.com, just in case? Oops, it's not available.

Anyway, if you'd like a little Benjamin news, he recently cut tooth #5 and #6, which were both molars. Yep, he just has those four front teeth and decided molars needed to be next. Perhaps that's why he's been so cranky. He is continuing to go the nontraditional route with his order of teeth...

Crawling Pictures

I think he's pretty adorable up on his hands and knees.

A Little Milestone

Benjamin started crawling with his tummy off of the floor today! I know that may not be a lot for other families to cheer about, but for us it is! My kids have all dragged themselves on their tummies for months. Benjamin does a funny swimming motion: he pulls with one hand and the other forearm, and he pushes with one leg. It's very effective.

When Jonathan was little, he started crawling the traditional hands-and-knees way just before he walked at 14 mos., and I'm hoping the same will be true for Benjamin. I'm not wishing away his babyhood, but I'm excited for him to walk. I think he's going to love it. His physical development has been similar to Jonathan's, who pulled up at 11 mos. and walked at 14 mos. (Grace's was pretty unique - not like either brother.) Since Benjamin pulled up at 10 mos., I hope that he'll walk pretty soon. Of course I'll keep everyone posted!

In the Playroom

They are starting to be able to play with each other a little bit. I love it! That means that Benjamin is starting to drive Grace a little bit crazy, too, but it's all part of the game, and part of my job to show them how to treat each other. He wants to do everything that his older siblings can do!