Griffin at 9 months

This kid is still so cute, cuddly, and happy!  Such an easy baby!  He loves to be around his brother which may be why he doesn't get into much stuff; he's too busy doing what Layton does.  Griffin can speed crawl, stand up with support and walk along furniture.  He sleeps great through the night and still falls asleep on his belly.  His two bottom teeth are in and 3 more on top are on their way now, all at once (which equates to tons of drooling and runny noses).

Griffin's favorites:

Shaking his head back and forth to be goofy
Sucking his thumb
A warm bottle (he gets pretty excited about this)
Baby food (he'll down a jar in seconds)
Finger foods (especially saltine crackers)
His brother
Tickles
Toy balls
Bath time with brother
Clapping

Laugh Out Loud Layton

Gee, this kid is a character and he has become such a good little boy.  He has so many quirks about him that I find so silly.  He will become fixated on an item and have to have it with him all the time for a couple of days until he forgets about it.

Layton wore this tube for a good couple of days.  It was traumatic if we had to take it off.

 



Layton started school a couple months ago.  The Kuna High School has their students run a preschool that goes for an hour every day until the end of the school year.  At first, Layton would cry and say he didn't want to go to school, but I think he's gotten used to the idea now.  The teacher says he is one of the high school girls' favorite and if you ask Layton how school was, he will say "perfect".

A little of Layton:

• His favorite color is orange and requests everything to be orange.
• Yellow and pink are girl colors and he wants nothing to do with them.
• He is anti "girl" things and doesn't like girls, so he says.
• He loves juice.
• He gets excited to see the moon and when we are driving, he thinks it is following us.
• If it's dark out, that means it's bed time.  When he wakes up in the morning he looks out the window and says "see it's awake time, it's not dark out".
• He really really wants to go swimming and keeps asking if it is summer.
• He says "Oh my gosh" and "seriously".
• He will usually eat what we eat for dinner but still prefers snacks and asks for one every night when we put him to bed.
• He likes playing "grown up games".  (Adult board games)
• In the car he always asks "May I have a piece of gum, please?"

Griffin at 6 months

Wowza Griffin is such an easy going, good baby.  Crying is rarely his thing and even a stranger could put a smile on his face!

At 6 months Griffin:
Get on his hands and knees and push up on his tippy toes.  No crawling yet, but so close!
Sleeps 11-12 hours at night.
Puts himself to sleep.
Prefers to be on his belly and will just lay on the floor with his thumb in his mouth when he's sleepy.
Loves to play with toys on the floor.
Just likes being on the floor over any other place!
Sits unsupported for a moment.
Eats oatmeal cereal and baby food.
Constantly has his thumb in his mouth!
Admires his brother.
Giggles at animals, like dogs and cats.
Is in the 17th percentile for weight (almost 16 lbs) and 36th percentile for height, even though he doesn't look that little to me.

 

Snow!

A few weeks ago we woke up to a few good inches of snow.  As Layton got up I showed him the snow out his window.  He got very excited and ran out into the living room to get a better look.  He said, "Oh mom, it looks so beautiful!"  "Should we get our snow stuff on?"  "We need to go snowmobiling!"

We spent a good half an hour getting on his snow gear as it was quite chilly outside; all for a short trip outside and back in again.  (You know how that goes.)

My Layton Love

Layton is three, it cannot be!  I must journal some of the things this cute kid does.  We celebrated the big 3 by having a dinosaur birthday party (Layton's request).  Layton loves all things dinosaur.  He asks every day if we can watch a dinosaur movie and his favorite game to play on daddy's tablet is an application that makes dinosaur sounds.

 

Layton knows a lot of shapes thanks to Blues Clues, can identify a few colors, counts to 12 (skipping a couple every so often) and really has no interest in the alphabet. 

He just recently figured out how to open his door, making bed time a pretty big issue.  He has many "friends" (stuffed animals) that he likes to keep in his bed and if you listen carefully at night, you can hear him talking to them before he falls asleep.

Some of my favorite things he says are "I love you", "You look beautiful mommy", "Your hair looks nice", "Oh my goodness", "That's delicious", and "That's disgusting".  He has a large array of vocabulary and speaks in clear, long sentences.  He'll tell you some real crazy stories!

He is a pretty picky eater and prefers to snack rather than sit down and eat a meal.  His favorite food is BBQ "chipies" and chocolate milk.  Every morning he requests a "GoGurt" which is really a Danimals smoothie drink, and it must have a straw.

 

We visited the zoo this summer while they had the dinosaur exhibit.  As much as he loves dinosaurs, he was too scared to stand by them.  We got a picture by the giraffe instead.  A few months later and he still talks about the zoo.  Roaring Springs was another favorite trip for him, even though he didn't want to go on any of the slides or be sprayed by the water.  He is always asking when we can go back to the water park. 

We had a major storm this summer that flooded the streets.  Both Layton and I had fun standing out in the rain as the water rushed by our legs. 

Lately we've had to fight off the monsters before going to bed.  We get them with swords and tell them to go sleep somewhere else.  What an imagination this kid has! 

Layton loves paints and playdoh.  This particular night he would accidently get paint on his arm and call it a road rash.  I'm not sure where he got that from... ??

 Guess what we carved his pumpkin to be?  Yep, a dinosaur.

Still in love with his little brother. 

 



Griffin at 5 Months (almost)

 

Time isn't going to slow down even though sometimes I wish it would.  Griffin is such a happy, cute baby that I don't ever want him to grow up, yet I can't wait for him to walk, talk and all the fun things that growing babies do. ;)  And this kid is growing quickly.  He can roll over front to back and back to front.  You lay him down on his back and he immediately finds his way on his belly.  At this rate I think he will be crawling soon.  That sounds so crazy to say.  He grabs at objects and puts everything in his mouth.  Although he takes a pacifier every now and then, he prefers his thumb.  And anyone can give him a smile and he loves to shoot a smile right back.  (This always attracts the ladies.)  The best news of all...this kid sleeps through the night!

 

 

A comparison photo of Layton (left) and Griffin (right) at 3 months.

 



Griffin went on his first Rzr ride at 3 months. 

3 month photo with "Bobby".

 



He's a major wiggle worm!

 



Thumb sucker



First taste of cereal (4 months).  He loves it!  He'll grab at your hands or the spoon trying to get it into his mouth faster.

 

 

 



4 month photo with "Bobby"

 

5 months

Big Brother

The moment we brought Griffin home, I swear Layton grew 5 inches.  All I needed was a new baby at home to realize how much my first baby has grown up!  Layton loves being a big brother and is extremely helpful.  He always wants to be doing exactly what his mom or dad are doing.  Here's a glimpse of what he's been up to.

Layton doesn't really enjoy baths anymore.  One of the ways we talk him into taking one is by telling him he can take one with Griffin. 

I had Griffin in the carrier, and Layton wanted to carry his baby too. 

He's got his tool belt on, no pants, and a little bit of mommy's lipstick on his face too.

 

*I tried potty training twice-Christmas break and Spring break.  Both were failed attempts.  A week of letting him run around without pants on this summer and he did it all himself!  Hooray for undies! 

He loves to hold Griffin and pet his head.

 

 

We made some zucchini bread with our over abundance of zucchinis.  Layton liked dipping his fingers in the sugar.