Uh-Oh

I knew it was only a matter of time before Micah became interested in TP! He'd gotten a hold of this roll and was having a grand old time ripping pieces off and stuffing them back in the hole while saying "Uh-oh" over and over again. I think it's his new favorite word!

Micah loves to play Peek-a-boo. Here is a video of us playing around the recliner. We do this just about every evening.

Hide and Seek

Micah has found a new hiding place--the bottom of the bookcase! Usually there are a bunch of fabric bins down there, but lately, he's been taking them all out to play with them and so he discovered this little spot all on his own and was pretty proud of himself.

Mom Brag

Micah had his 15-month checkup today. Doc says everything looks good! Micah's a little more than average for his height and weight and in good health. Now for the bragging--here's a list of words Micah can say now:
mama--daddy--kitty--turtle--duck--bye bye--juice--want more--get down--book--twinkle (for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)--circle--that--banana--yeah--no. He also makes sounds for sheep, cows and pigs, although he can't say the names of the animals yet. He has such a cute sense of humor too, laughing at things like when we put stuff on our head or playing peekaboo with teddy bear. He also thinks sneezing is hilarious. He likes to do the clapping and stomping (this is more like picking each foot off the ground carefully) motions to the "If You're Happy and You Know It" song. Ok. Done with the mom brag.

Valentine's Day weekend

Our Henderson "Reddie" in training

Happy Valentine's Day to me!

Micah learns to climb to new heights

It was an interesting weekend. Micah has learned to climb the chairs around the dining room table and of course, get on the tabletop this way. I guess from now on we will have to either push them all the way in or put them on top of the table. In this video, you can see how proud of himself he is that he can now perform this feat!

Accident Report

This is where the boo boo is, Mom!

No parent wants to see an Accident Report in their child's cubbyhole when they come to pick him/her up at the end of the day! But that's just what I saw a couple days ago. Micah had been climbing on toys not designed to be climbed on and fell and hit his lip. As closely as they watch him they can't possibly prevent every little bump and bruise. I know this because, hawk of a mother that I am, this has happened at our house several times. Luckily, Micah is a baby who doesn't dwell on boo boos for very long. In this video you can see his little red lip. As you can seem it hasn't affected his sunny disposition! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Paparazzi

Micah has learned that smiling in front of the camera is the thing to do, however, he can't yet negotiate the red-eye feature on ours as you can see! But this is a good view of his cute little gap-toothed grin :-) I took it this morning before I whisked him off to daycare.

And then I took this video.

"Arkansas, Arkansas, I just love 'ol Arkansas"

It's no secret that the state of Arkansas isn't necessarily our favorite place on earth, but I'm making a concerted effort to find a few things out about it (and taking it upon myself to educate the readers). For starters, here are a few interesting facts (thank you ezine.com, butlerwebs.com, history.com):

• It's the only state in North America where diamonds have been mined. You can still hunt for diamonds yourself at Crater of Diamonds State Park.
• AR has over 2 million acres of forests and 600,000 acres of lakes--a couple reasons what it's called "The Natural State"
• AR is the home state of my former boss in MS. Ironically, TX, where we used to live is the home state of my former boss in Illinois. As you can see, I'm starting a trend! My AR boss' home state is Iowa. How d'ya like them apples?
• Al Capone and his gang regularly visited Hot Springs.
• Johnny Cash was from AR.
• "Favorite" AR native slogan: "Thank God for Mississippi" (This references the fact tha MS is last in lots of national catagories like child wellness and income per capita, whereas AR is 49th)
• AR has a state insect--the honeybee.
• The World Championship Duck Calling Contest is held in AR.
• Wal-Mart was founded and has headquarters here.
• AR is also the home of a very cute baby named Micah :-)

As you can see, not all of these things are positive, but some of them are. I'm trying, people. Baby steps...baby steps...

Talking

Here's a video of Micah "fake" dropping things--a new favorite passtime--"dancing" and just generally being cute in the morning.

Bob the Builder

Is this how you did it, Dad?

With my blankey in one hand and my screwdriver in the other, I can do anything!

Aunt Helen got Micah a Bob the Builder talking toolbelt for Christmas this year. We were going to hold onto it until we needed the novelty of something new to distract him from a long car trip, etc., but he found it where we had stashed it behind the living room chair. So, in all fairness, we brought it out. He would not be parted from that thing all weekend! In the video, you can see him playing with the "talking" part of the belt, which says the popular Bob slogans like "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" and "Good job, everybody!" Although he can't undo the screws in the screw toy yet, you can see that he knows that's what the screwdriver is for. He thinks it's hilarious to put the yellow hardhat on Mommy.