Playing Outside

Gabriel loves playing outside and I think Ephraim is finally old enough to make it less work--I can put him down and let him walk around. We went in the backyard and Ephraim loved exploring. He pulled grass, picked leaves off trees, and went down the slide. Gabriel likes his new sword-fighting partner (though I had to explain that he is still in training).

Big Enough to Chase

At last, Ephraim is old enough to chase his brother around (and vice versa). The boys spent 20 wonderful minutes chasing each other around the couch last night. We only stopped because it was time for bed. Both were laughing and having so much fun, such a joy to see!

Snuggles

Gabriel loves to snuggle. This is the first time I've seen Ephraim put up with it for so long. They were both lying on the floor together for about 10 minutes. I love how both boys are smiling in the first picture.
I've been amazed at how much both boys have been eating lately. Thankfully, both have healthy appetites. Gabriel was begging for more broccoli at dinner tonight, will sneak your apple slice if you're not looking, and endangers his fingers by snatching carrots as mom chops them for dinner. Ephraim is bounding ahead. He gobbles down whatever I put in front of him. He ate broccoli and chicken (first time) for dinner tonight. I'm sure it helps to see big brother doing it too. He also signed "milk" very clearly during dinner when he was thirsty. We need to get on the ball and teach him more. Here he is walking down the hall. This was taken on Tuesday, he can walk anywhere now. He was "chasing" Gabriel around the couch this morning.


Gabriel's flip, he is so athletic!

10 Months!

On the changing table...
... at the park...
... or at home ...
What can I say? This little boy is super cute!! Ephraim turned 10 months old today. He prefers to walk but will fast-crawl after the first 10 wobbly steps if he falls down. He can roar back to his brother. Both boys love getting into whatever toy the other is playing with (the other makes it look so fun). This past week seems to be a brain-spurt of absorbing signs for Ephraim. He can correctly sign "more" and "eat" and "milk" and was perfecting his high-5 at church with dad today.

Let's not forget his cool older brother. Gabriel turned exactly 3 1/2 years old this month! He's certainly a big boy, constantly singing "The Imperial March." He loves making spaceships out of his megablocks and attacking badguy robots with his jedi figures. The other day he made me laugh so hard: I told him to put his underwear and pants back on after he went potty (I must have been feeding the baby). He comes out with 3 pairs of underwear on and NO pants and proceeds to run around the house like that, superhero-style, for a while.

As seen below, playing with his trains never gets old. Today he built this track all by himself. What I like in particular is that he turned some track upside down (no rail ridges) to be a street for his two cars and left some ridge-up for the trains. See the intersection? (click on image to enlarge) So creative!
Ephraim doesn't have many words, but he knows how to make the firetruck siren!!

Baby Talk

Ephraim is right on schedule working on his consonant sounds. He's got the "ck" and "ga" perfected. It's amazing how many words have those sounds in them. We are still amazed: Ephraim is fascinated by the clock and picture of the kids that hang on the wall next to each other. We visit them frequently. The other day when daddy brought him to the clock and said "clock," Ephraim thought about it and said "cwock." He is trying hard to imitate what we say and learn their names.

Tonight Ephraim was holding onto the plastic flag from Gabriel's dragon castle set. He waved it around and said "grog." I said "yes, flag," but he looked at me funny. So I said "...in the shape of a dragon." His eyes lit up and he smiled and roared at me (what every animal seems to say in this house). It's so exciting to see my babies learn and progress. Perhaps it's only a parent's pride that makes us excited over "grog" but it's fun to see his eyes light up or his hands wave in gestures as he tries to communicate.

9+ Months

We're a little late on our 9-month check up for Ephraim but we went today. He weighs 21 lbs 9 oz (staying at 75th percentile) and is 29 1/2 inches tall (staying at 95th). He is such a mellow happy baby! He loves following his brother and playing chase (both boys crawling around). He has discovered he can power-crawl down the hallway and explore mom & dad's bedroom or the forbidden office before anyone realizes he's gone. And yes, he found the tupperware cabinet!
Besides a doctor's appointment, we've had an interesting day. Ephraim went to bed at 9:30 last night and I was in bed before 10pm. Ephraim has been sleeping through the night with no problems lately, so naturally after I thought that, I knew tradition would hold true and we'd have problems. :) Ephraim woke up around 12:30am and had trouble going back to sleep. At 1:15am he was asleep again and I finally got to go back to bed. Minutes later I hear Gabriel crying for me. This is very unusual, so I go check to see what's wrong. Nothing, except that he's asking for milk (which might mean he's hungry). An hour later, same thing. At 3am when he came into our room, I couldn't take it (oh why didn't he eat dinner like he was suppose to?!), so I laid down with him in his bed. It was clear he was wide awake. But since I was anything but awake, I made him stay in bed for the next hour. At 4:30am I gave up and we got up for the day. I wasn't sure how long he'd last. I was wasted at 1pm. At 2:30pm, I sat down to give Ephraim his bottle and put him down for his nap. Gabriel curled up next to me and was asleep in seconds. Poor thing. It's 5:30pm and we finally were able to wake him up. He just rolled over and snored whenever we tried before. Something tells me this will be another interesting night.

Happy New Year!

I'm working hard on my Christmas thank-yous since we received so many wonderful gifts. Until I'm done, here are a few pictures on this first day of the New Year.

Thank you, Mike, for the t-ball. Gabriel insisted we go outside today (even though it was close to freezing). This is the perfect gift for him. He is allowed to hit something, and he can run to retrieve the ball, and he can easily set it up again by himself. He laughed and had so much fun with it. He even gave mommy a turn. We have a nice-sized yard but I'm sure we'll have to take this to the park in the spring so we don't lose any balls over the fence as he gets better.
Another favorite active toy we received was this tent. It keeps both boys laughing (as long as Gabriel doesn't bump into Ephraim too much).