Davis' Journey: October 2012

Last weekend we took our annual trip to Rock Creek Farms to pick out our pumpkins. Last year was Davis's first time there, and he was still on O2 and hadn't had his heart surgery yet. I couldn't help but think back to last year and how far he's come in such a short time as we walked through the fields. He's really like a totally different, more grown up kid this year. :) Despite the crops being a bit limited due to drought, we were able to find some good pumpkins and then head over to the play area to pet animals, eat caramel apples, and enjoy the day. We had a great time and Davis wore himself out. Before we even got back onto the road, he was asleep in his carseat, adorably holding onto his new tiny pumpkin. Life is good.

Checking out the pigs with dad

Kelly and Lily

Caramel Apples!!!

Checking out the machines with uncle Zach

Family Photo

Crashed out with his little pumpkin

Carving his first pumpkin at Zach & Katie's house later that night

The finished pumpkin (with a few alterations to the mouth/removal of a few teeth, thanks to the squirrels)

Although we're not wrapped up in anything particularly wild or stressful lately, life with a toddler tends to stay busy. Davis is continuing to grow and develop with the speed of Felix Baumgartner in his latest jump from space. It's hard to even keep up with Davis these days, and requires plenty of coffee, snacks, comfortable shoes for chasing him, and lots of distraction techniques to keep him from potential breakdowns. As you know, Davis took his first unassisted steps at Zach & Katie's rehearsal on June 13th. In the last 4 months, he's perfected this skill and is now running, stomping, chasing, doing small sets of stairs and looking very stable in general. He's almost 26 pounds now, and feels very solid. Coming from the mom who carries him one handed on my left hip most of the time...trust me...i know all about solid. He's a pretty happy guy in general and keeps us laughing with his antics. He makes the funniest scrunched up face when he smells a flower or anything for that matter. Some of you may have had the pleasure of seeing his "strong man" impression, which always brings heavy laughter. He seems to like the attention and it fuels these funny antics. In just the last few days, he's started to chatter a lot. I love trying to imagine what he thinks he's saying, but we'll never really know. He sure does sound like he's got a purpose though, and just talks and talks away. Ella is still one of his very favorite things and he loves laying on her beds (sometimes with her), feeding her his snacks, giving her treats, holding her leash as we walk and saying her name. "Ella" is currently the only word he continually says well. For a while I was concerned that he's not saying more, but our pediatrician assured me that he's developing just fine and has excellent communication skills. They count signs as words, so he's ahead of schedule according to them. And, his sign vocabulary continues to grow. He currently knows about 20 signs and can do them well enough for us to understand. Some of his favorites are "dirty, milk, all done, helicopter, cracker, cheese and poop." :) It's so nice for us to have a way to understand some of what he wants or feels. We still have the occasional tantrums of course, but most of the time I'm able to talk to him about what he wants or why he's upset. When talking doesn't work, I just use a few distraction tactics and he usually moves on. Another bit of exciting news is that my parents (Nana/Papa) just got a beautiful Goldendoodle puppy named Lily. She arrived from TN on Monday and we're all excited to meet her tomorrow. She's tiny, fuzzy, and i can't wait to cuddle her up. I have a feeling Davis and she will become fast friends and I can already imagine the adorable pictures of the two of them palling around together. :) There are so many fun memories ahead of us, yet to be made.