Swings!

So we tried swings with Sutton a while back and he was having none of it. He got the same look on his face as he did when he met Santa. Like he knows he's SUPPOSED to be happy and he's trying really hard for Mama and Dada's sake, but he's just not feeling it. Since the weather has been GORGEOUS, the evenings have been longer and I've mastered the easiest, quickest meals imaginable for supper, Sutton and I have been taking walks around the neighborhood and down to the park, just exploring and checking out the scenery.
Last night we headed over the park/play area on the block behind our house. I thought I'd try Sutton in the swings since I saw my friend Linsay and her son Owen enjoying them so much on her blog. (Shoutout to Linsay, the most amazing, put-together, fashionable SAHM I know.) I plunked Sutton down in the swing (one of those baby/toddler swings that he can't fall out of) gave him a little push and....

HE LOVED IT!!!!

Oh thank Goodness. I was really worried that I was going to have one of those big, brawny boys who are afraid of something ridiculous. Like a swing. Seriously, he was laughing and kicking and squealing and flapping his hands all crazy-like. It was so cute. We were both just cracking up! Apparently we were just being REALLY goofy because all of a sudden a little 6-7 year old boy on the swings next to us says, "You and your baby both laugh the same. Really loud." Um. Thanks? Of course, I didn't want to leave the conversation on THAT awkward note, so I just threw out, " I know, we're having so much fun!" And that child (bless him) says, "Your baby is really cute. But he's wearing a diaper." To which I respond, " Yeah, he's still a bit small to go potty on his own. He doesn't quite walk yet, but he can crawl REALLY fast!" Yes, I felt the need to justify (to a 6 year old) that my 10 month old doesn't use the toilet. Here is the rest of our conversation:

Boy: "How does he crawl so fast?"

Me: "Well, you know how you can run really fast because you run and play all the time and the more you run, the faster you run? (Like that makes ANY sense at all) Sutton crawls a whole lot so he's really fast!"

Boy: (jumps off his swing) "Yeah, I can run really fast like THIS!" and proceeds to stand in place, but pump his arms like he's running one million miles an hour, all the while making what I'm sure is the same face he would make were he to actually run one million miles an hour. Something of a the-wind-is-blowing-my-face-skin-back grimace.

It gave me a nice glimpse into my future as a mom of a crazy little boy.

Sutton Update

Oh my goodness. I am completely ashamed of myself for going so long between posts. I can only attempt to justify this lapse in blogging by saying that I would much rather be living life than blogging about it! Here are some random updates about Sutton:

• He eats pretty much anything now. We started solid table foods at New Years and he LOVES it! He'll eat whatever we're eating for supper and usually has oatmeal and fruit or yogurt for breakfast. Still loves crackers and one of his new favorite snacks is Cheerios.



Cheerios!

• He crawls like no body's business. The kid is FAST. He would much rather crawl than walk right now, since it's easier and faster for him to just crawl to Mama and Dada than practice walking to them.
• He's starting to associate words with the items they correspond to. 'Dada' is Rusty. If I'm ever the one to pick him up from Phyllis' at the end of the day (it's usually Rusty,) he doesn't say Dada until Rusty gets home from work. He also says 'Dog' (well, really is 'Duh!') but it means 'dog' and, just recently, 'Gizzy' which is what Phillis calls her teacup Yorkie, Gizmo. Sutton gets so excited when you say Gizzy and he starts looking around on the floor for the little puppy. Oddly, he says 'Zaza' too, which has absolutely no meaning other than it's the name of his calf out at our family farm, who only is named Zaza because it's a word that Sutton says. Zaza can sometimes be used instead of cow, too.



This is Zaza.

• He's cruising! He pulls up on anything, and I mean ANYTHING. He tried to pull up on a pair of pants I was hanging up (or trying to hang up) in our laundry room this weekend. He can pull himself over the edge of the bathtub, which isn't great, because he just falls in head first and then starts to cry because he bonked his head. If he pulls up on something, he doesn't stay in one position long. He holds on with one hand and walks as far as he can then crawls to the next piece of furniture, pulls up and resumes cruising. Of course, this is all done without letting go of his favorite toy...
• A dirty sock! He loves dirty socks. Ewwww! So gross, I know. They're his own dirty socks, so it's not like he's handling anyone else's dirty feet germs. He likes to hold onto one and crawl around, or sometimes he puts it in his mouth and crawls around like a puppy. Crazy kid.

It's pretty much like this, since he usually gets his dirty sock right off his own foot.

• He waves and gives high fives. Oh my goodness, just thinking about him waving his hand up and down and the way he laughs when he gives high fives just warms my heart! It's so stinkin' cute. He flaps his whole arm and hand up and down for a wave and high fives are basically the same action, but slapping your hand and laughing hysterically. He's said 'Buh!' a few times while waving bye-bye, so we're thinking that may be 'Bye!' but he hasn't done it enough for us to really think that he's associating it with bye-bye.

Those are the big updates! Of course, there are so many little things that change every day with him. He's just growing up right before our eyes. In less than two months, he'll be a year old! I guess we need to start thinking about themes for his first birthday party!