Love the Boy

I know its been a while since I have really written anything, so I thought I would mention that there are some new pictures in the Phone #2 Gallery (found here). I made my personal favorite the new album cover - I love the Duke uni but also the pose and the expression. 

I also thought I would put together a little top 10 list as a way to catch you guys up on whats new with AJ. So, without further ado:

AJ's Top 10 Activities this November 

(in no particular order)

• Smashing Duplo block towers that I build on the homework table Alexander gave us (picture here)
  
  
• Imitating sounds. This is one of the most fun ones; I will pick a syllable or a sound and repeat it over and over, usually in a musical or silly way and he will often chime in with me. Soon I hope we can add some new words to his lexicon with this as a jumping-off point.
  
  
• Having finger food for meals, particularly turkey, lightly toasted bread, and the Arrowroot cookies Gramma Ellen bought during her last visit
  
  (On a related note)
  
  
• Slapping away any spoon with food on it that comes near his face. 
  
  
• Climbing... everything. He first got up on the fireplace ledge, a few days later he made his way onto the couch downstairs when the cushion was missing, he's climbed the ottoman and dove from there to the couch, and recently he made it all the way into his toy box.
  
  (On another related note)  
  
  
• Diving off of everything mentioned above. AJ is a firm believer in gravity, so when he wants to get down he puts his hands out in front of him and leans over. A few times he has very impressively descended, but most times I catch him in mid-air and he laughs at me.
  
  
• Snuggling Patrick the Bear when he goes to sleep (so named because his feet say "Kiss me I'm Irish, and because AJ can sorta say "Pat")
  
  
• Break Dancing. He has two unique moves that mean different things. Sometimes he will sit up and use his heels to spin himself around in circles, sometimes going back and forth several times. This is usually absent-minded, and I imagine he's saying "Hmm, what should I do next...?" He also will start crawling and then sit back on his butt like he's going to change direction, but then continue to get up on all 4's and then plop back over and over again. I have to catch this on video to do it any justice...
  
  
• Eating stinkbugs, live or dead. No, I am not kidding, and I truly, truly wish I was.
  
  
• Getting nap-bombed in the mid-afternoon. Ok, maybe I enjoy this one as much or more than AJ does, but when the 3pm crankies come on, nothing in the world feels as good as cuddling up on the couch downstairs under the same blanket and listening to his breathing become regular and even as he slowly tugs on Pat's ear.