Change is in the air

Some big changes have been happening around here. My head is spinning. Just in the past week, give or take, FFM has started:

• 'cruising' along furniture
• purposefully pushing cars around at play time
• dropping a ball through a ball drop toy
• downward facing dog yoga position (he tries to stand up in the middle of the room without anything to pull up on by basically bending in half)
• walking while holding on to our fingers or pushing his little push wagon
• self feed an entire meal (it can get SUPER messy)
• to help himself get up when we count to three so it's easier on our back
• to come when we call his name - this is an older skill but it's so cool!
• crawling up onto things, like steps. No going down yet
• peeks under doors when they are closed to see what's going on behind them. Especially if you've just gone through the door and he knows you're in there doing something fun without him (like going to the bathroom).
• Loads more babbling
• He swims on his own with floaties. It's a scary scary thing. But good, too. I had a conversation with his swim instructor about what to do about his utter non-fear of water. She suggested to let him rip but stick the floaties on him for my peace of mind and so he can rip on his own a little more. Success.

It's crazy how fast all this happened. Sort of like the crawling bit. Commando crawling came slowly, in bits and pieces, but pulling into a sitting position and true crawling literally appeared overnight (on separate days, very close together). One day he's happy crawling around, the next I look up and he's standing at the coffee table. A few days later and he's moving around the coffee table. I'll tell you he's been in a spectacular mood lately, I think his new found perspective agrees with him. Riding horses during swim schoolSplashing. This is our class, minus two kids. The water is nice and warm, but this day it was really cold and wet so I think one kid stayed home. Another wasn't feeling well but came anyway to watch and his mum is the one that kindly took photos. Thanks Yasmine!Kicking with a kickboard and blowing bubbles. FFM dunks his face in with his mouth closed and LOVES to watch all of us blow bubbles but isn't doing bubbles himself yet.We love swim school.

FFM: "Look, Cooper, see this is how you work the microwave!" (knobs turn, buttons push, the microwave turns on). This is the night we went to see Indiana Jones thanks to Sara who came to babysit. The poor microwave gets more things covered up every week. Whoever put a shiny silver box covered with knobs and buttons at knee height obviously never had a toddler.

Work is winding down for Travis, he came home grumpy a few nights ago. The team he is responsible for is working very slowly, perhaps they have 'senioritis.' This is the point of the project where the last bits left are the ones that no one really wanted to take care of before. Sort of like when you move and you have those last little bits at the very end that you just don't want to deal with packing. The end of the week has gotten better, everyone seems to have pulled it together a bit.

Me, I'm trying, rather unsuccessfully, to hang loose while we wait on our 'contract' negotiations for the next job. The big difference this go round is that there are a couple of points that are sticky enough that if we can't get exactly what we've asked for we won't take the job. Previously we've been happy to go even if we got close, but this time the agreement is different enough and our needs have changed enough that we aren't willing to compromise on these few things. News will be posted as soon as there's anything to report.

More video, with so much movement going on around here it's hard not to share it. Yes, FFM is ticklish. I love being a mom.