Family Reunion

Watching Uncle Kevin play his racing game

We went down to my grandmother's house in Tennessee for our annual family reunion.  I think Robbie is getting better about his car rides.  We decided to do day time diving only this time, and Robbie did very good.  We didn't have to make any special stops for him on the way down or on the way back up, which was great.  He even slept through a thunderstorm we drove through while we drove through Kentucky.  Even the lightning strike that struck a telephone pole about 200 or so feet in front of the car while we were driving didn't make him stir.

Being a ham

Sleep was another matter once we got there.  The first night he simply would not sleep in his pack and play.  He would only sleep in the bed with mommy and daddy, and this bed was only a twin so barely enough room for us let alone Robbie.  The other two nights we spent there were better but sleep was not something we got a lot of while we were there.

Posing

During the day Robbie did much better and had a great time.  He enjoyed watching Uncle Kevin play his racing game.  We also took a trip to a park called Fall Creek Falls with Tante Kortney and Papi.  It was hot out 90 some degrees but Robbie got to play in the water for a bit to cool off.

Eating corn right off the cob

Robbie also decided he was going to be a big boy while he was there.  He started eating corn right off the cob, so now he loves corn even more.  He also wanted to wear his big boy underwear (i.e. regular underwear not trainers).  He ended up "sticking out" of his underwear and pointing at it with pride, which made everyone crack up laughing.  He later was watching his uncles though the sliding glass door with this big grin on his face. A few minutes later Granny asked why is the floor wet?  Ummm . . . . . . oops! And more laughs ensued.

Sleeping right through the thunderstorm 

Looking out at the lake at Fall Creek Falls

Robbie has a fascination with rocks

Robbie's First Word

With all the fireworks Robbie has seen lately I guess it's no surprise his first word is "boom".  He has babbled ma ma ma ma and da da da da for quite a while, but this is the first definitive word that he says whenever he hears a loud, well boom.  While he's doing great signing back, we look forward to him saying more words.  He's been doing a lot of baby talk lately so we figure it's only a matter of time before he starts saying words that we can understand.

Fourth Of July Parade

Robbie and I went down to Kent to see Aunt Sarah and her family.  We sat with them at the Stow 4th of July parade.  It was really long, but Robbie did really well.  Kudos to Sarah's family to getting there as early as they did so we each had a front row seat for the festivities.  There were all sorts of animals, cars, vehicles with sirens, and people handing out candy.  The candy was his favorite part - he seemed to think people were throwing them on the ground and he needed to "clean" it up!  Litter bug, he is not!  Here are some pictures, I hope you enjoy them!

Robbie laughing at the clowns on the old truck (Shriners)

Even puppy dogs got his attention in the parade! 

The camera was a little sweaty at this point, but this is a camel in the parade - yes, a camel.  First time ever!

A really cool bike with a sidecar - one of his favorites!

Robbie picking up candy to put in the bag. 

Back home again with his stash, sorted by type of candy.  We only kept a small portion of this, thank goodness! 

Fireworks

Robbie's View

Hurray 

We went to the Brecksville Home Days on Sunday to watch the fireworks.  Robbie absolutely loved them.  He was very animated and excited during the whole show.  During the fireworks he saw a little girl that was near us and wanted to go and give her a high five, she was kind of timid at first though.  After Robbie gave the girl's mom a high five first she warmed up to him.  We caught the picture below of Robbie giving the little girl a high five, very cute.

Looking Enthralled

Giving The Little Girl Next To Us A High Five

Watching With Daddy

Pool Time

With the heat lately Robbie has had a great time playing in his pool and spraying us with the hose.  

Playing The Drums

We went with my parents to watch the Blues Casters at the Glenwillow Grille on Thursday last week.  The drummer let Robbie play the drums during their first break (it's good to know the band members).  He did pretty good beating on the drums.

Signing Update

Since our last post about Robbie signing he has made a lot of progress in the number of signs he signs back to us.  He's now up to over 35 signs and has even signed his first phrase, "more chocolate please".   We're very pleased with Robbie's progress and we'll have to start learning more signs to keep up/ahead of him.  He's gotten to the point where we show him a sign once or twice and he uses it and remembers it. 

While he does a lot of signing and a lot of baby babble as well as few things that sound like words, he is not talking yet.  We believe that because he is communicating so well with signs that he may not be trying as hard to speak as a child that doesn't know sign language.  Our pediatrician was not concerned about his lack of speech; we're sure the amount that he signs has something to do with that.

Below in the order of which I thought of them are all the signs he signs:

Signs he uses regularly:  milk, mommy, grammy, deer, more, again, all done (finished), water, eat, up, dog, please and thank you (usually only when we ask him to), outside, apple, cat, red, chocolate, cheese, hot, fan, quiet, potty, car/truck, nods yes and no with his head

Signs he uses but not as often: cracker, bath, bear, sleep, baby, cold, daddy, egg, hurt, monkey, animal, music, vegetable, corn, sandwich, cereal, home, grapes, banana, flower, book, help, train, horse, light, corn, girl, and there's probably more but I can't think of them at the moment. 

It really helps us to communicate in both directions with him and cuts down on the temper tantrums.  Who knew babies had all these thoughts in their head just waiting to come out! 

He also knows his body parts and some animals, colors and letters/numbers, but the emphasis on those is not as great.  He's smart and cute, but we want him to enjoy his childhood while he has it.