Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Merry Christmas!!

This past week has been very, very hectic, but I think Grayson had a lot of fun. We've been busy visiting with family and friends, going to church, and opening presents. Grayson's schedule has been completely messed up, but I think he's recovering well today.

Christmas started out rough because our dog Sarge passed away that morning. He was a Beagle/Shepherd mix and was around 13 years old. He was a very loyal and sweet dog and put up with a lot from Grayson. Grayson loved to roll around on the floor with him and pull at his long hair, and Sarge never minded. Shortly after we got the new camera, we were able to get a picture of Grayson with Sarge. We were never able to get one with the old camera because it was too slow, so I'm glad we have some pictures to save of them together.

After the sadness of the morning, the day started moving pretty quickly. We opened our gifts together and then started getting ready for the family who would arrive at 1:00 for lunch.

With the family here, we opened more gifts and then headed over to my Aunt Dee Dee's house for the night. All three of us were very, very tired by the time the day was over.

Grayson, Wil, and Tevyn

Grayson was more interested in playing with the paper he tore rather than any of the actual toys, other than the books he was given (he wanted to sit down and read them right away), but now that the toys are open, it's a whole new ballgame. He's really been enjoying them, especially his computer keyboard. He has always wanted to play with the computer and I did a little research and found the Comfy Easy PC. I can't even explain how much he loves it. He hasn't sat still like that since before he started walking!! I'm going to order more programs for it soon and hope he continues to enjoy it.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Camera Crazed!!

Dominic and I bought a new camera last week because the old one just couldn't keep up with Grayson. We missed so many pictures of him because the shutter speed was so slow or I had to wait for the flash to warm up. Well, not any more! We purchased the Nikon D50 and it is AMAZING!! I am addicted to taking pictures. We bought the camera Friday night and as of yesterday I had taken over 200 pictures of Grayson. I'm now sorting through them and trying to delete a few, but I'm amazed at how incredible and clear each picture actually is.

I took a lot of pictures yesterday when I took Grayson to the park to play with his friends. Yes, we went to the park on December 17th - it was over 70 degrees!! He had a blast and I had a great time breaking in the new camera. Here are just a few of the pictures I've taken over the past few days. I'm going to upload more in Grayson's photo album when I get the chance.

Day One With the Camera

Eating with a Big Boy Spoon

Playing in the Park

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Communication is Key

Grayson has really seemed to grow up a lot just in the past couple weeks. Maybe I just never really noticed it before, but recently I am amazed at how well he communicates. New words are constantly becoming a part of his vocabulary. There are really too many to name, but he's been saying "bath tub" for a while now and he's really starting to try to say "please." Right now the "p" sound is about all we're getting, but he's saying it right after we tell him to say please, so I think he's trying. He also says "ball" and we recently took him to his cousin Brooks' basketball game. He loved watching the kids running up and down the court, we even think he was trying to give them some advice, but we could tell he wanted to be down there with them. And yesterday he added the word "bubble." At the end of gym class they always blow bubbles onto the kids and yesterday he kept saying "bub-bull" over and over again as the bubbles were blown into his face. We're also noticing that he's beginning to make up his own words and we have to try to figure out what they mean. For example, I learned that "ta-ta" means cracker. He now has applied the word to all types of food, but I'm also trying to get him to learn some basic food names.

In addition to all that talking, he's comprehending what we're saying to him very, very well. He just may not always listen. If I ask him to put something away, he usually does it. I especially noticed this at gym class when they put the bells and balls away. He loves to go get others in addition to his own and give them to the teacher. He also understands when we're leaving the house (as he constantly repeats "bye bye"), when I'm talking about food, the instructions I give him when we're playing with his toys, etc., etc. I'm truly enjoying this stage!!