Grant's Catch Up Post

Well, one of the main purposes of this blog is for me to skip over an extensive scrapbooking project with each one of the boys. I LOVE scrapbooking, but I LOVE so many things it's just impossible for me to do half of them. So I've decided to forfeit my love of scrapbooking for the moment and focus on a faster, more efficient way of documenting all there is to document. However, I have really dropped the ball on Grant's updating. I could blame it on lots of things, but I'm not going to. I just have dropped the ball. So, here's my attempt to get back in the groove and get the blog up to speed on the life and times of Mr. Grant Jeffrey.

When I think of how to describe Grant, Steve Martin a la SNL, comes to mind. He's one wiiilld, and crazy guy. ;) Grant is always quick with a smile and giggle and is a very easy going character. He will let anyone hold him (if they can hold on to him...it's a challenge, believe me), he's happy most all the time, and he's a curious little guy. I've already decided that his first birthday will be in a monkey theme. I'm even toying with having "Happy First Birthday, Curious Grant" on the cake. I suggested it, and Landon thought it was a great idea. He also decided Chad should dress like the man with the yellow hat. (this is all from Curious George, by the way.) Now THAT would be a party worth attending!
Along with being curious, Grant is also fearless. This makes for a bad combo. Here he is inspecting the vacuum cleaner, while it's running. Landon until three weeks ago would run out of a room, ears covered, tail between his legs when he heard the vacuum. He's nearly four. Grant on the other hand, runs for the vacuum as soon as it's turned on. He puts his hand on it, feels the vibrations, then pulls his hand away. He tries to climb on it. He hits the lights. He'd pull the thing over on himself if I'd allow it.

Another big difference between Landon and Grant, is that it seems that Grant LOOKS for trouble. He is constantly surveying a room and thinking to himself, "Now, what here would they NOT want me to touch," and that's where he's headed. Landon never seemed to be looking for destruction. Here's Grant emptying a tub of blankies, after I turned my back.

I had to put this picture on. This is one of the many things Grant has endured as a younger brother. Landon is constantly putting things on him, sitting on him, pulling on him, you get the idea.....Hey, who would've thought a DVD would stick to a tushy like that?

Also worth mentioning...at the age of 10 months, Grant has has five, count them FIVE, haircuts...and from these pictures, it's obvious he could've used more! I mean, our niece Abby will be two next week and she hasn't had one yet. Doesn't that seem unfair?! This kid has got a mane!

Okay, onto milestones and accomplishments:

Grant now has seven teeth and he got four of them all within 2-3 weeks. I hate to even type these words, but I must in the name of documentation...Grant has been regularly sleeping through the night, with a few minor exceptions, (like those few hairy days of serious teething) pretty much since September. What a BLESSING. He's getting on more of a routine for napping as well. On most days, he takes a short 30-45 minute nap in the morning, and will sleep an hour or two in the afternoon. Grant likes to be rocked to sleep, but doesn't care if he's held once he is a sleep, which is also a HUGE blessing. He snuggles up, dozes off, and he's good.

He's practicing clapping, which he hasn't quite mastered yet. When you clap at him, he bangs his hands on something in front of him. He gets he's supposed to be hitting something, he just can't quite put them together yet. :) Or if he does get them together, it's more of a clasp and wave both hands type motion. Still pretty cute. He's babbling like crazy, but hasn't mastered too many words. He can say, dada, mama, and bub-bub but WILL NOT do it on demand. You can ask and ask and ask, and he won't do it. It's gotta be his idea.

One of Grant's favorite past times is seeing what he can find to put in his mouth. I mean, SERIOUSLY, this kid puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. I've heard people say that before, and I've always been like, yeah, yeah, babies do that. But I mean it...this kids puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. For 2-3 months now, pretty much since he's started crawling, it's like he thinks his main job is floor scouter. My finger is nearly paralyzed in the fish hook position, from scooping things out of his mouth. He spies a fuzz ball on the carpet eight feet away and he's on a mission to get the thing in his mouth. We've had to work super hard to keep all of Landon's little toys out of reach. Little Grant's oral fixations could put this kid in serious danger. Once he gets something in his mouth, he likes to crawl around with it in there, hanging out. It's pretty funny. Most of the following pictures were taken within a couple day span. No joke.

A clothes hanger

A magnet off the fridge (notice pants are unsnapped as well, changing this kid is a CHORE...to say he's wiggly would be the understatement of the century) One sock as well, he likes to chew on those, too

A crayon (don't worry, snagged that as soon as I snapped the pic)

A clothespin

A play water bottle from Landon's grill set

A puzzle piece

Here he is, mohawked hair, giving the okey-dokey sign (I made that up...he doesn't know how to do that ;) playing a water flute in the bathtub. He really can play these flutes, too. The funniest thing is him blowing on Landon's flutophone. He really can play it. We discovered the other day that a little monkey toy we had downstairs makes a monkey noise when you blow in it. We had no idea, but Grant discovered it. See! There are benefits to putting everything in your mouth. You never know what you're gonna find! (yikes!)

Grant made his first trip to the library in September. Well, the first trip that he made it out of his car seat, how's that. :) He's not much for sitting and listening to a story yet, but we're working on it.

Here's a Curious Grant picture....he crawled under his bed to investigate the wipe wrapper. I have a picture like this of Landon, who crawled under the bed as well, but that was after his binky...a necessity and best friend!

On to eating:

The kid who refused to eat off a spoon as fully recovered. :) Actually, recovered, and is pretty much past it. Just the past two weeks, he has decided he will not eat baby food meat anymore. You put it on the spoon and as soon as it gets close enough for him to smell, he gags. I've tried disguising it in the veggies, and he'll get halfway through the meal, gag, and puke. Uh, kinda counterproductive. He's still liking his veggies and fruits, and will tolerate his cereal, if you put fruit on the spoon with it, but he is over the meat. And really, who can blame the kid. All of it (except the beef) smells like kitty food anyway. So just this week, we've been exploring more table food. So far he's had banana, plain pasta, fettucine alfredo, pancake, steamed carrots, tiny pieces of pear and apple, and gerber turkey stuffed ravioli.

While we're discussing eating, we should discuss one of Grant's nicknames: Nightmare in a High Chair. What it comes down to is that the boy does not want to be confined. You buckle him in the highchair, and he wriggles and jiggles until he gets loose. He then proceeds to stand in his high chair. (Side note: I failed to blog about Grant climbing out of his swing and lifting himself out of his exer-saucer, too) I will have another post on this later, but this one is already plenty long. ;)

On that note, I'm leaving you with some video footage of our bouncing baby boy. I hope I haven't painted a picture of a monster. He really is a love bug! He just is wiggly, curious, and looking for adventure. Hey, come to think of it, that's pretty synonymous with the term "BOY!"

First video: Grant trying to figure out how to get his sock back ON his foot. He's definitely mastered the taking off part.





He thinks remote controls are phones. He can't say "hello" yet, but the concept is there.



Giggle Box Boy! "My Dad is just hilarious! I mean really! The guy just cracks me up!"

Grant learns to throw, and look out Kutscher family, it's a FOOTBALL.....gasp! Uncle Stallion (former All Amerian offensive lineman for McKendree) is smiling right now.