The Keene Family

One of the first things JT heads for with his newfound skill is the book basket. There is one in his room and one in the family room, and he knows right where they are. As a teacher, this makes me thrilled. He pulls them out of the basket, as if he's looking for a specific one, and then finally chooses one to play with. He chews on them, which we discourage, but if he has a binky in his mouth he will just sit and play with the book for quite a while. This week Grandma Cole treated me to our favorite Chinese restaurant, and JT enjoyed chillin' in his chair while we ate. I included the second, not-so-adorable picture because people often comment on his big blue eyes... and sure enough, there they are! JT is just starting to pull up. For this first picture, I helped him, but he stood there for awhile all by himself. Note the cool Star Wars shirt I found for him! As I was writing this, I realized I didn't have a Flip Clip from this week. Then I saw what JT was doing and deci...

At his nine-month checkup, JT weighed 19.5 lbs and was 29 inches long. That is thirtieth percentile in weight and seventy-fifth in length. He continues to have Grandpa Cole's metabolism! He is on the move now more than ever. He gets stuck in his crib slats on a daily basis. This is how I find him, with all sorts of appendages reaching out at me. We also started feeding him "table food" that he has already had in pureed form, per our pediatrician's recommendation. Here JT has some mashed sweet potato and some peas on his tray. As you can see, he was not impressed. He eats veggie puffs and toasted Os off his tray, but apparently this was a completely different thing. What was funniest was that he wouldn't touch the peas until Jim put them on a fork. Then JT wanted to hold the fork and get the peas in his mouth, and would eat them just fine. Jim pointed out that JT doesn't see us eating peas with our fingers... so maybe he was just trying to be tidy. :) And fina...

We had a wonderful day as a family, celebrating the risen savior, Jesus Christ. Here we are at the cross of flowers, a tradition at our church. The children bring flowers up to add to the cross, and this year JT got to add a daffodil from our front yard. He got several compliments on his handsome outfit; one woman even grabbed my arm and dragged me over to her family to show off "this adorable little boy." How embarassing... JT loved his Easter basket. It included new books, a Star Wars tshirt, some toys, and a new fork and spoon just for him to use. He also got Easter baskets from his grandparents (of course) and a beautiful wood cross from his Aunt Jennifer. What a lucky guy!

Picture of the week: JT is so close to crawling that it's getting quite funny. He crawls backward, actually, just not forward. But he moves from place to place with relative ease, and gets his hands on anything that he finds once he gets there. He even does a little yoga-ish movement like this: When Jim and I were outside working this week, we had him on a blanket. As time wore on and we were tired of putting him back on the blanket (instead of letting him scoot over the edge and grab handfuls of rocks), we finally put him in a big box with a couple of his toys. JT thought that was pretty funny, and then everyone was happy. He also gets stuck under things. He plays there for awhile before he realizes that he can't get out. This week he played for so long under the coffee table I almost built him a fort. Of course, he pulls up on things too... only if it's close enough and enticing enough. Like a steering wheel, for instance! This week at story time he didn't want to put...

JT is turning into quite an excellent boater. He especially enjoys playing with the ropes. This week we had a seventy-degree day (woo-hoo!) and we spent all afternoon lounging in the boat. The Skagens came and joined us for a boat ride, and so Jim and I could ski while they held JT. Aly and Cole enjoyed their boat rides very much!

Last Sunday, our friends the Shucks invited us to go with them to Pike's Place Market and the Seattle waterfront. What a beautiful afternoon!

Yep, JT has now been alive outside as long as he was alive inside . This week we had some great weather. JT and Slider went with me on a run on a trail near our house. What do you think grabbed both of their attentions? When we got home, JT spent some time on the deck while I ate lunch. He thought Slider was so funny when she went in her kennel to rest. He thought she was even funnier later on that evening. I had to keep checking to see if he was crying or laughing. He gets that from me!

Sometimes when we're singing at church, JT will put one hand in the air. He started doing it when he was younger, and we would joke that those were his "Praise Jesus arms." The other day, Jim was playing the guitar while waiting for me to finish something on the computer. JT was on the floor and he started singing along. This clip is a longer than the usual ones, but we had to finish the song. :) After family singalong was over, there was a big wrestling match on the floor - even Slider wanted in on the action, of course. JT isn't crawling, but he certainly gets into things anyway. He rolls, scoots, pushes, twists, and ooches his way to whatever he wants. He is fascinated by drawers. I put his toy duck in the drawer in my nightstand for him to get out, and this is what happened: JT and I have an ongoing battle over socks. He likes to take them off. I want him to leave them on. Somedays I win; others I lose... and then this is what he looks like by the time we get home...