Fun Times at the Pool!!

Kelli and Heath are members of the country club in Morganton and they invited us over for a day at the pool.  Kelli, Mary Ellen and I took Grant and Hannah to the pool and Brandon and Heath played golf and then joined us at the pool later that afternoon.  We had such a great time!!  After Grant gets warmed up to being in the pool...he really enjoys it and had lots of fun playing with the water toys.  Hannah is definitely a little water baby :)  I know I have said this so many times, but it is so much fun to watch Grant and Hannah play together!  After our afternoon at the pool, we went back to Kelli's and MiMi and PawPaw joined us for pizza.  Grant was exhausted by the end of the day and slept the whole way home.  We really had an awesome day and can't wait for our next visit!

Using the spoon...by himself

So I have started to try to teach Grant to feed himself using a spoon.  He does great feeding himself finger foods so I decided to see what he would do with a spoon.  He is actually catching on pretty well...it is just kind of messy! I do have to give him some hand over hand help to coordinate getting food on the spoon, but then he is pretty good with getting it to his mouth.  He fed himself some applesauce last night, but as you may notice from the pictures, some of it also ended up in his hair and on the wall :)  We are going to keep working on it...

Happy Father's Day!

On Sunday, Grant and I went to the lake to celebrate Father's Day with my family...it was Grant's first trip to the lake :)  Unfortunately, Brandon had to work so he didn't get to go with us, but he did make it home in time for a short celebration with Grant before he went to bed...Grant is always so excited to see his Dad when he comes home each day!  Grant had a great time visiting, playing with Hannah and especially riding the golf cart at the lake.  It was raining on and off during the day so we didn't get to go out on the boat, but hopefully we'll get to on our next trip. 

Happy Birthday Hannah!

On Saturday, we went over to Emily and JonPaul's to celebrate Hannah's 2nd birthday.  They had water slides set up outside and Grant had a great time playing with all of the kids, swinging and riding in the wagon.  It was a great time for the whole family!

Family Vacation at the Beach!!

This week we went on vacation to Isle of Palms, SC.  It was the first family vacation for just Brandon, Grant and myself and Grant's first trip to the beach.  He experienced the sand, ocean, and pool for the first time!  We stayed in a beach front condo, which was the perfect location for access to the beach and pool.  It took some time for Grant to get use to the sand at the beach, but he did warm up to it and enjoyed playing with his beach toys and walking on the beach.  He didn't really like getting in the ocean, but did like the pool!  We also took a trip to the SC Aquarium and he loved that!  There were so many cool things to look at and a little toddler area for him to climb and play.  We also went strolling at one of the waterfront parks and through downtown Charleston...Grant absolutely loves strolling and looking at new things!  He did really well eating out at night, slept well, and did pretty good during the 4 hour car ride down and back.  I have to say that vacations are very different now (there wasn't much resting and relaxing for me and Brandon), but we did have a great time and it is awesome to see Grant's reactions to new experiences!

Grant walking on the beach for the first time

It was very windy the first evening we arrived and went out to the beach...this is one of my favorite pics from the trip :)

"I'm ready for the beach!"

This tent was a lifesaver (thanks Aunt Kelli!)...it was so hot and it allowed Grant to have some shade to play!

Grant loved playing in the pool with Dad

We had a great time at the Aquarium!

13 month updates

One of the biggest updates at 13 months is that Grant has switched to drinking milk.  We tried soy milk for 1 day and it made him really sick so we decided to try organic whole milk...and it has worked so far.  He has been on it for 3 weeks now and everything seems to be fine...hopefully it will stay that way!  He is only having 1 bottle a day now, at bedtime.  He is drinking either milk or water from his cup throughout the day and really hasn't seem to miss the bottles very much.  We are going to try to get rid of the bedtime bottle soon. 

He is also doing well eating table food and surprisingly loves vegetables like green beans, peas, and carrots.  Grant is doing great with finger foods and I have started trying to teach him to use a spoon.  It takes a lot of hand over hand guidance, but he is getting the concept.

He is also getting his two top front teeth so he has been drooling and chewing on things like crazy :)

He trys to help with putting on his socks and shoes and can help brush his hair.  He will step out of his shorts when he's standing up to help with undressing.

He continues to walk more and more and is getting even more steady on his feet.

Grant continues to amaze me with this language development.  He really seems to understand so much of what we are saying now and will follow through with a lot of what we ask him.  He is saying so many words now and can identify many animals and the sounds they make (cow, duck, dog, and chick).  He also can show you where his belly button and toes are and we are working on him being able to identify his nose right now.  When we go out to eat, he waves and trys to talk/interact with everyone and gets lots of attention :)  He also has starting talking in what sounds like sentences of words from another language...it is so funny to listen to!  I really feel like he is starting to be able to get across to us more of his wants, needs and preferences.  One of his favorite things to say lately is answer "no" when you ask him a question.

He still loves being outside either swinging, strolling or riding his tricycle.  He is also watching some cartoons now and loves all of the shows on Disney Channel Jr. 

We are looking forward to a fun summer of even more new experiences!

Fun at the Park

Last Saturday night, we went out to eat and to the park in Belmont with the Powells.  It is so much fun to see Lila and Grant interact and play together now that they are a little older...they really are so cute together!  We had a great time watching them slide, swing, and explore the park together and hope we will be able to do these things even more this summer!  Unfortunately, my camera battery died so I didn't get to take many pictures, but a few are posted below.  Check out Lila's blog to see even more pics.