The Library

I'm the daughter of a librarian, so it goes without saying that we make frequent trips to the local library. On our way there the other day, I asked G what kind of books he wanted to get. "Animal books!" was his not-very-surprising response. The children's section is at the far end of the library, and it takes everything G has not to run full-speed through the building to get there. This visit, he paused momentarily to check out a Sesame Street Live poster in the children's section, then walked carefully from row to row until he found just the right book. "This one?" I asked. "No." Then he saw it on display--the perfect book. Not only was it about animals, but farm animals. He held the hardcover book, carefully, with two hands, and headed straight for a chair, where we read it several times. "OK, let's go home," he said. He wanted to hold it in the car, and as soon as he got home, he made a beeline for a spot to sit and look at it again.

"I Want to Do It Myself"

This has been a common refrain at our house lately. G wants to get help make dinner, get himself dressed,  put on his coat and carry his own backpack. "Don't help me, Mom," he often tells me.

Washing a snack

Taking off his shoes

Proud of himself

Weekend Scenes

Very serious about breakfast at La Mie

Picking out new books at Beaverdale Books

Hiking and exploring at Jester Park

Throwing rocks in a stream

Look what we found on our hike.

A cave!

Our little tree hugger

Someone got tired at the end of the hike.

Showing some love for his brother

He just started crawling and now all he wants to do is stand up.

Getting over a cold, but still happy and active

George

It's been a sad week at the Smith household. On Monday, we had to say good-bye to George, our much-loved cat.

I brought George home a decade ago, before Kent and kids. A co-worker at the Register needed a home for a kitten, and I was looking for a companion for Milo, my needy 1-year-old cat. The two male cats never hit it off, however, and lived most of their lives in separate quarters.

George was a beefy farm cat with a thundering purr. While Milo was a lap cat, George preferred a bit of distance. But he still loved a good petting and head scratch, albeit a few inches away. He was forever friendly, always greeting strangers and family alike with a kind meow.

More than anything, we'll remember George for his love of and gentleness toward the boys. I remember bathing a screaming Grant in our Iowa City kitchen when he was just a few days old. George, concerned, jumped onto the counter, meowing to check on the baby. He watched over many baths like that, our feline guardian. 

When Miles started to crawl, George had a favorite game in which he would sit just a few feet away, moving a few more feet each time Miles got within reach. Miles, and many other babies over the years, thought this was a hilarious game.George clearly enjoyed it, too.

George didn't even mind a little rough-housing, allowing Grant to "ride" on him on occasion.

 In his last days, George stopped eating and his purr was barely audible. The vet wasn't optimistic he'd recover from chronic kidney disease, so we made the difficult decision to put him to sleep.

We're grateful for our time with him, for his love and affection for the boys, and his sweet, gentle nature.

The Difference a Year Makes

I took this picture of Grant at the Botanical Center last week, which reminded me of another picture taken there a little over a year ago:

Amazing how quickly he's gone from a toddler to a big boy--a chatty, affectionate, inquisitive almost 3-year-old.

8 Month Baby M

He weighs about 17 pounds and still has zero teeth. New this past month, Miles:

• Started crawling.
• Learned to move from a sitting position to a crawling position, and vice versa.
• Pulls himself into a standing position at the base of the stairs.
• Has become impossible to dress because he wiggles so much. It's like trying to lasso a bull.
• Has started feeding himself Cheerios and other finger foods.
• Has been eating like a champ. Grant has always been a great eater, but we can hardly keep enough food in the house to feed Miles. He loves everything, even cauliflower and asparagus.
• Claps his hands.
• Does "so big."
• Has started to mimic the sounds that his brother makes. This makes for very noisy mealtimes some days.
• Smiles, smiles, smiles.{Ok, this isn't new.}

One of these days I'll have to publish some outtakes from these monthly photo shoots. Here's a favorite from yesterday:

And here are the previous months' photos:

So Big

This is how Miles responds when we ask, "How big are you?"

And it's true. He's growing faster than we can believe.

Scenes From Easter Weekend

It's Official

We have a crawler in the house! After several weeks of getting onto his hands and knees and rocking back and forth, this week Miles finally figured out how to put together all of the motions.

His first order of business was to crawl over to the spot where his brother was playing and reach for Grant's race cars. G did not like this one bit, slowly moving his toys farther and farther from his brother. But where Grant and his toys went, Miles went, too.

Looks like a lesson on sharing is in order.

Happy Birthday

To an amazing dad and husband. We love you.

Scenes From Summer...Er, Spring

Scenes from our weekend, which felt more like July than April....

Playing T-ball.

Playing catcher.