Video: Griffin is Crazzzzy

Griffin is our wild child.  He is constantly on the go; he's crazy and very funny to watch, albiet exhausting.  Of his toddler buddies, he's definitely the most bouncy and loud... definitely a mini Tom & Vicki.  Here is a quick video that shows him at his finest...

click here for the You Tube video...

A First: Griffin Sang the ABC Song!!!

Griffin has continued to impress me with how fast he can learn.  This morning, just for kicks, I asked him if he could sing his ABCs.. and he did!  It was completely amazing.  Granted, it was far from perfect.. lots of jumbled letters, but he made it all the way through the song.  I caught it on video:

Puddle Jumper

Ewwwwwww. The whole "April showers bring May flowers" thing is a load of crap, at least this year it feels like it is.. I can barely remember the last time the sun was out. Despite the dreary wet weather, Griff and I have been managing to have some fun outside. I dressed him in his hand-me-down Spiderman snowboots and some sweats, and I let him romp around in our driveway puddles.  He loved stomping his feet, and splashing the water with his hands and then licking them off... yum. I definitely consider jumping in puddles and getting wet and muddy to be one of those things every kid should do. Griffin can check this off his list!

 

Here's a video of the action:

A First: Griffin Stands Up!

Whoohoo!  Griffin achieved a milestone yesterday: he stood up for the first official time (3/9/11- 2 days shy of turning 14 months old).  By "official", I mean that once he did it, he smiled and celebrated, and then repeated his new trick over and over to earn my enthusiastic clapping and praise!  It was adorable.  I ran to get the camera, and was able to catch this video:  Caution, your head may explode at the cuteness...

Stop, It's Hammer Time!

This morning while Tom was running around the house getting ready to bring Griffin to daycare for his first "Daddy drop off", Griff and I were playing in the living room with his plastic mirror pound-a-ball toy. Typically, Griffin's version of "playing" with this particular toy means that he snags a few of the plastic bahuuulls and claps them together in his hands. Eventually the balls will roll out of reach under the TV stand or sofa, or our cat Penny gets a bad case of the "crazies" and she chases one into the kitchen. On occasion, Griffin will sit and watch the bahuulls travel down the zig-zag shoot if I'm there to tap them in with the mallet. This crazy morning however, he floored Tom and I with his impressive new hammering skills, as he randomly took the mallet and started whacking each ball down the shoot, as if he'd done it a million times before. In my mind Griff, at the ripe age of 11.5 months seems way too young to be able to do this, but there again is the proof of the amazingly rapid development of babies. Back in month 3, Griffin was just discovering that he had hands.. and now he's able to do this:

The two things that surprised me/made me laugh the most were the accuracy and the insane brute baby strength he used to hammer each ball in. Perhaps our baby was a carpenter in a previous life, or he is genetically destined to be mechanically inclined and share a love for home improvement projects like his good ol' Dad. 

Some Fun Firsts...

A few awesome firsts to document:

1. I discovered today that I can say "clap your hands" to Griffin, and he does it!

2. We had our first family pancake breakfast today, partly to celebrate Tom's upcoming 29th birthday.. Griffin got to eat a baby-sized pancake, sans coconut syrup.

3. Griffin successfully fed me a Cheerio (happened a few days ago), which made me gush with that wonderful proud Mom feeling. There have been several failed attempts where I'll open my mouth, Griff will hold a Cheerio right up to my lips and as I'm about to eat it, he tears his hand away, eats the Cheerio himself and laughs. :)

4. Griff ate meat! (organic chicken pureed with sweet potatoes) Yes, it does make the poop more stinky.

5. Griff pulled himself up onto his knees. (This happened while I was trying to undress him for his bath. He excitedly pulled himself up to watch the water fill the tub.)

6. Also, Griff recently started doing the funny Indian (feathers, not dots) pow wow sounds with his hands/mouth. "wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah". When Griff was younger and he'd cry, I would repeatedly tap his lips with my open hand and make the "wah wah wah wah" sound, which distracted him from his crying and made us both laugh. He then went through a phase where I'd start tapping his lips with my hands and then he'd make the sound, and this weekend he started doing it all on his own. He uses both hands closed together in a ball, and laughs while he does it.. what a funny guy.

See this video of Griff's latest bag of tricks:

Griffin Rides the Lazy Susan

Tom and I shot this funny video of Griffin while we were at Grandpa's house last weekend... check it out.. here is a still shot preview..

Rice Cereal Extravaganza!

On Monday July 5th, 6 days shy of Griffin's 6 month birthday, we started him on solid foods. Griff ate 1 Tbsp Gerber's Rice Cereal mixed with 4 Tbsp breastmilk (well, he probably only ate about 1/2 Tbsp rice cereal as the rest of it landed on his bib/bumbo chair/table/floor/fingers/chin.. etc.) Delicious. Here is the video:

Griffin Eats Shave Ice

Over Father's Day weekend, while we were down in Bethesda for Ella's first birthday, Tom found a shave ice stand and got a large cup of green apple/grape. We figured as the responsible parents we are, shave ice would be an appropriate second food to give to our five month old. (Grandma Hendrix let Griff lick a lemon back on 6-6-10.) Click here to watch the video: "Griffin Hendrix Eats Shave Ice"