Year's End and a New Skill!

Most days, the boy was not much interested in his little green car unless you pushed him along. Or if the bear was on it. Or if he could just get the little rattle off the car to play with it. But TODAY, the last day of 2008, when he's about 10 1/2 months old, he decides he'll PUSH the car (in it's upright walker position) when no one is really paying attention. Daddy was lounging on the floor with JHP in the living room and John just crawled over to the car and before Daddy knew it, he was four or five steps away. Daddy called for me (I was in the office with my mother doing something). I quickly responded thinking something was needed that only Mom could take care of. And there he was pushing his car! I ran back to get the video camera and caught this footage. There is more, but it's much the same. Didn't want to bore you! Now, I KNOW that it won't be long before I'll be running after him. He already thinks its a game when he looks back at me and smiles and then high-tails it in the other direction. You wouldn't think he could move fast on all fours, but you'd be wrong!

I hope your new year is happy and you enjoyed this little slice of Pitchers' Progress. Signing off 2008...

-EBP-

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Our First Christmas Together!

Let's see, it's been a while since I last posted. Lots of stuff going on and a few milestones along the way. I hope I don't miss too much. I must do better next year... It might be a little disjointed, but that seems how it always is with the long posts.

The first milestone was minor: JHP climbed stairs on Friday the 19th at SNBNA's house. He'd never really been interested before and just started right up with Stephen right behind him. He climbed the whole way up with some breaks along the way. Here he is with Stephen and Andrew joining him on the landing.

And with his new found skill, John decided that the best way to help load the dishwasher was to climb right up on the door the next day. I'm sure it won't be the last of his climbing...On Sunday, J_Cubed (i.e., Jimmy, Jane and June) came over to exchange gifts. June was really excited to have Baby Peanut open his gifts, a cute Leap Frog guitar and some MegaBlocks. Daddy got a helicopter and Mommy got a much needed gift card for some massages! There was a cute moment when John H. seemed like he wanted to hug June. Unfortunately, June just can't hold the chunk of boy. Afterwards, they played together looking in the mirror.We drove to Corpus on Tuesday to see Nana and Papa Jim. That night JHP decided he'd take a few steps while holding my hands. He hadn't done this before, really. Most of the time, he just sinks to the ground, content to crawl. But he took several steps across the kitchen that night. On Wednesday, he wowed us with his ability to shake his head yes and no when asking a question. Sometimes, it seems that he's actually telling you what he wants and then sometimes, I think it's just something to do. And he also did this cute little head sway from the chin. It's kinda hard to describe... He does seem to be trying to communicate more using hand signals. We think when he hits his mouth with his fist that he's trying to ask for either water or food. He will make the sign for milk on occasion, but not very consistently. We need to work some more on these things. More frequently now, he is opening and closing his hand as if to wave goodbye.

JHP slept well on the trip and travelled well, too. I'm very thankful that the trip did not create large sleep interruptions. I've read horror stories... While on the trip, John got to meet a couple of my cousins on my mother's side and all of Papa Jim's kids and their families. We took another 3 Johns picture (John Otto, John Nolan, and John Harrison). JHP got along fine with the dog and cat at my Mom's house, although JHP kept putting his hand in the dog's face and the dog did NOT appreciate it. We went to Candlelight service at the church on Christmas Eve. John went to the nursery for most of it, but I got him out for the end with the candlelight. He really liked it!

Christmas morning was kind of subdued. It was not lost on me that this might be the last one like this for a long time. JHP was not really into it because there were so many other things to see and places to go. But he did seem pretty interested in this cute little wooden train that Nana and Papa Jim got him.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed and we kept John on his schedule for the most part. On Friday I took this picture where he was hamming it up. There are others in this series.We left for home on Saturday and brought Nana with us. John N went back to work on Monday and the rest of us have just been relaxing and enjoying the time together. Mom's helped me out a lot by staying home with JHP during his naps so I can run errands. And we've gotten out and done some shopping, too. We started feeding JHP bits off our plates when we were out at lunch and to our surprise, he really didn't turn anything down. It seems that even though he may make a face, you can't use that as the judge as to whether or not he liked it. He grimaces every time you put something firm in his mouth, but he'll work on it and hold his mouth open for more if you offer it. Last night we tried baked chicken, rice and zucchini. And he's getting pretty good at getting things into his mouth on his own, if it's big enough to grasp and not too slippery. Yesterday I introduced some freeze-dried cubes of banana and strawberry. He ate them right up along with the yogurt melts, star puffs, and cheerios.

I'd been thinking it was time to get the long hair trimmed up over his ears. His hair is growing in nicely (lots of little baby growth on the scalp), but the long ones over the ears just looked bad. So, this morning John H got his first trim. Nana did the honors. John wasn't so sure about it!

Bath time is still high on the list of enjoyable activities for John, along with strolling in the neighborhood and playing peekaboo with Dad. I'd been wanting some pictures of him wet enough to clump those eyelashes together and finally, this week I got some. Check the WebAlbums for more.

It's been a while since I posted, so you can imagine the photo backlog I had. I've uploaded them to WebAlbums today. I couldn't include all the good pictures here. So go grab a glass of tea, sit back, and enjoy the slide shows.

-EBP-

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10 months and Christmas around the corner!

John's First School Picture
10/23/08 8 months
(by Higgins Photography copyright purchased)
(don't worry - I included this photo in some of your Christmas Cards)

I can't believe two things:

1) that John Harrison is 10 months old already (or on a different day is would be "only 10 months old") Some days it seems forever and other days it seems just yesterday I was breastfeeding or even just pregnant. WOW!

2) that Christmas is next week! Oh my - and I'm not done shopping!


I did update the WebAlbums tonight. I've been remiss. Sorry! Just hadn't taken a lot of pictures that I HAD to upload, you know. Just everyday, ho hum kind of pics. I hope you see more in them than I do. I just haven't captured the cute everyday grins of John's lately. Every time he sees the camera, he freezes or heads straight for me and climbs my legs. I guess he's just at that age to want to know what I'm doing with this thing in front of my face.


JHP's been rather pleasant lately, except late into the evening, when he just whines and whines. Some nights are better than others. I hate to say it, but some days I just have to put the plug in. It just wears on me. Most of the time, he can be distracted and quits the whining, at least for a while. Or he might just meltdown and look like this:





He's very mobile, but still hasn't decided he ready for walking, yet. He'd rather crawl or work his way around stuff holding on. He's very careful when he does let go and eases himself down to the ground. He's sleeping very well these days and is eating well, too. I haven't weighed him lately, but I know he's plenty healthy by looking at his belly. I think he's due a height spurt, but time will tell. He's already well into 12 month pants in girth, but in height, well, that's another story. I'm sure he'll get there, eventually.

I'm still not done shopping - but I'm close. The sad thing is that the list was REALLY short this year. Of course, I'd have been closer to done if some brother and SIL that shall rename nameless had not decided to shop for themselves before Christmas and neglect to tell anybody about it. Anyway - we're getting a Wii out of the deal, so I shouldn't complain TOO much! I'm still at a loss at what exactly to buy my son. It seems like he's more into electrical cords than toys these days (NO - I DO NOT let him play with the cords, but they illicit more interest that most of the toys we have). Maybe he's just bored and needs some new toys. Anyway, JHP has been a trooper when it comes to shopping. He doesn't fuss too much as long as we hold it under a couple hours. One more trip tomorrow and I hope we'll be done. Wish me luck!

We didn't put a tree up this year. We aren't going to be here and John isn't really old enough to miss it. I did contemplate putting one up, but we just need to do some more cleanup and clean out before we'd have room again. We have unloaded some baby gear that John isn't using anymore. The jury is still out on a potential #2 child, so for now I decided to gain some house back. We'll cross that bridge of needing things again if we need to. Maybe I'll be lucky and find folks to donate to me as I'm donating to others the stuff that was donated to me (Thanks SNB!). I digress...We went to SNBNA's last weekend and John got an up close look at Barbara's. Here's a neat (albeit "noisy") photo of John and the tree.






He'll get to see (and deconstruct?) Nana's next week. Or maybe he'll be too distracted by the dog and cat?!? We leave on Tuesday and will bring Nana home with us on Saturday. She'll stay until New Year's Day when we put her on a plane home. She might be really ready to go after she spends that many days with JHP - he's tough to keep up with sometimes!

I finally took the plunge and bought a new camera. I decided on a Sony a700, which is a nice upgrade from my old one. Here's one of the first shots I took with it. It using only the lamp in the living room. I'm not sure what John was reaching for, but I thought it was neat anyway. Now, I just have to learn about all the bells and whistles and PLAY, PLAY, PLAY!

I'll try to get another post up before Christmas, but I might just be a slacker and wait. I haven't even made cookies, yet. A girl's gotta have her priorities!

I hope all is well with Peanut's Gallery! And if we don't (or won't) see you this holiday season, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-EBP-

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Uh - Tissue!

A 10 month old (almost) doesn't know how to blow his nose. But mine has discovered that if he has some snot that needs removal, he can use his mother as tissue. YES - this child of mine has twice decided that instead of rubbing his nose with his own hand that he will just rub his nose on me. This morning it was: Sneeze! Turn to face Mommy's shoulder as she's holding me. And rub my nose across it to get rid of the snot. So lovely! I was kind of shocked at how swiftly he accomplished this, with seemingly little thought. Can't wait to see what's next!

As for the snow...I was up late last night working on a project. After the snow quit, I went outside to discover that the whole front lawn was COVERED as well as the truck, the plants, even the little rose that had bloomed a couple of days ago. By the fence estimate, I'd say we had about an inch or so. Granted, that is by my Southerner mind. But I have a picture to prove it.

Alas, when I got up this morning about 7am, it was already mostly gone.
-EBP-

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So Barbara called and said...

..."It's SNOWING - go look outside!" I'll be darned if it wasn't snowing and they were big flakes, too. We haven't gotten enough to go skiing (yet), but there is plenty of snow in the plants. The sad part is that John N and I probably would've missed it if she hadn't called. John had put JHP to bed and he was heading there himself. It had been a long day all the way around. Here's what it looked like a few minutes ago:









And to think JHP was running around in a short sleeve shirt and no socks yesterday!
I've got more, but not tonight!
-EBP-

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Got a new hairdo while I was sleeping!


Just couldn't resist taking a picture of this new 'do. Recently when he wakes up, the hair is sticking straight up.
-EBP-
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A Visit with Santa!


We went to visit Santa yesterday. John H was a little tired because I had woken him from his nap in order to get to Santa before his break (he's gotta eat, you know, to keep his jolly figure!). JHP went easily to the man with the furry face and the first thing he wanted to touch - Santa's beard. They got a good picture of the two of them looking at one another, but it could have been any kid on Santa's lap because all you saw was the back of John's head! We didn't get the best smile, but not bad for the first picture.
-EBP-

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Home again, home again with only two to hold me!


Well, we are home again. Got home on Saturday afternoon. JHP was rather good on both flights. I wish I could say the same for the two infantile boys (junior high age) sitting behind us on the return flight. I should have just let JHP cry just to spite them, except that then I would have had to listen as well. I thought my husband was going to come unglued! He did manage to let the flight attendant handle the situation, though, and things got better.



The visit itself was good. We got to see all the Pitchers, some of whom had never met JHP. He was the beau of the ball! And he got a little spoiled with all those hands to hold him and entertain him. Recovery from that was not as bad as we expected, although yesterday was somewhat painful for me as I was the only one here and when JHP wanted attention, he wanted it NOW. I'm sure this will continue for a few days. Wish us luck!

John H got to meet his Uncle Andy for the first time. True to form, Andy made a statement with his entrance. JHP did not seem concerned at all about this new person and went to him readily. Grandma wasn't so sure and had to do a double take! See the picture for why:

From Pitchers' Progress

Grandma got some toys for John to play with on this visit, although he seemed much more interested in checking out Grandma's house. One toy was especially suited to wearing, although you can tell from this picture he wasn't so sure about it. Later in the trip, he warmed to the idea and wore it (among other things) for much longer. You'll have to check the WebAlbums for more pics of JHP and his new found hat! I'm sure someday he'll be in therapy over the items we put on his head, or maybe, he'll just be a hat-wearing kind-a-guy!

From Pitchers' Progress

On Thursday night, JHP decided he was motivated enough to start cruising (the term for walking around objects while holding onto them). After that, he cruised everywhere he could. Oh, so close to walking...And I forgot to mention that he clapped on his own last Tuesday. Dad was playing with him and JHP clapped and Dad clapped back and JHP clapped again. He seemed to use it in place of the arms flapping. So much to clap about, but only when he wants to.

I love this half-smile he wore while playing during Grandpa's 90th Birthday party (that's Great GP to JHP).

From Pitchers' Progress

And I've figured out why onesies are so popular at this age. A little crawling and we have crack showing! Oh, my! We changed him shortly after this was taken. And then he decided it was time for a nap and slept the rest of the party...



I've uploaded pictures from the weekend along with a few since the last post to WebAlbums. Be afraid - there are almost 250 casual pics from the weekend and another 60+ of "formal" family photos that I took. And I had to clean out some of the earlier stuff from the WebAlbums to make room.

I know I have more to say, but I'd like to get this posted. I'll be posting some more of my favorite pictures from the weekend after I tweak them a little.

-EBP-

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EBPitcher
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