Catching up

How has it been over a month with no new blog posts? There have been so many things going on with these two boys - every day brings new things to learn and do.

Isaac is highly mobile now - not only crawling and pulling up on anything, but also climbing whenever possible. He has no problems getting himself up onto Caedmon's bed now and has a terrific time crawling all over it, and then off the other side. He has learned, thankfully, how to put his hands down first when coming off the bed, rather than just falling straight on his face on those occasions that I'm not there to catch him. Either way, he barely slows down, but laughs and just keeps going.

He's so close to walking! We follow him with our hands lightly supporting his belly and back, and he just loves to practice walking as much as possible. He's going to have to learn to contain his excitement and refrain from just diving when he gets close to his destination - but we fully expect him to take his first solo steps soon.

We are so amazed by what a big little boy Caedmon has grown into, seeming to lose a lot of his baby-ness in a hurry. His vocabulary continues to explode (he recently identified "dandy-lions" and daffodils in the yard!) and he's definitely become very vocal about what he does or does not want to do. Doug is learning a lot of new things, too, as he experiences just about everything Caedmon does - even helping push Caedmon's little mower a while back!

I was trying to get the boys ready for the day last week and had gotten the comb out of the bathroom. Caedmon saw this, and quickly jumped on the opportunity to help comb Isaac's hair. He did really well - even going to the bathroom to wet the comb - and was very gentle. Although Isaac's hair wasn't styled exactly like usual, it was so cute that I went ahead and left it that way.

My boys, apparently, are going to be very conscientious about their hygiene and appearance, as Isaac also started taking the comb out of my hands last week and would hold it up to the side of his head, as if ready to brush it all by himself. Then he would look at me with wide eyes that said, "Am I doing it right, Mama?"

We've been planning another trip to Hamilton for a while and were finally able to go two weekends ago. Caedmon has been honing his fishing skills for a while (Papa fixed up a rod and reel and we've been practicing in the backyard) and whenever we talk about visiting Grammy and Papa, he says "Want to go fishing with the wod and weel?" We did do some fishing, and Caedmon was able, finally, to reel in his first fish. Isaac even got in on the action and was in Grammy's arms while she brought in a big catfish. We also went along to feed the cows and check for new calves, and got to see a baby calf that was only a few hours old. Caedmon was excited to get to be a part of everything, and especially excited that he got to stay and play with Grammy and Papa while the rest of us went home!