Cold Morning Walk

So the funniest thing about this picture is that my child looks very Arab. We went walking this morning in the freezing cold weather at 7:00 and it was sooo cold. I realized that I have NO winter clothes for this child and I have been scrambling all week to try to find/borrow/buy some. If this child doesn't even have a jacket we certainly do not have a hat or mittens. So I grabbed one of my scarfs and wrapped it around his neck and head. He loved it and never tried to take it off. He was posty toasty. But if you notice, you'll see something even more unusual in this picture. See it?
Yep, he loves a pacifier now. I mean what the heck? He is 9 months! He surprises us all the time. Never has he ever wanted anything to do with them (to our dismay and disappointment as it would have probably really soothed him as a bitty baby) but on Thursday last week he just picked up some random one and went to town. Alder loves them. He goes to sleep with them, sucks the "pas" in the car, grocery shopping, and so on. All of a sudden, my rather intense child has mellowed out and it a little bit quieter. I can honestly see his body relax when he puts it into his mouth. It is the strangest thing. Jared and I figure that its ok and after all we are the parents and we say when it goes.

Alderman Rhys at 9 months

Alder turned 9 months last weekend and over these last two weeks I have never seen him change so drastically. He has long conquered sitting and playing, but now can crawl like crazy. Alder has also conquered pulling up, standing, and even inching his way along the dresser drawer, his crib, a piece of furniture.
He is cutting teeth by way of fevers, no napping, double ear infections, snotty noses, rashes, and so on. He truly does not handle the teething well at all.
Alder is already in some 18 month sized clothes. Hopefully we'll plateau out and be able to stay in that size for awhile.
He loves to have books read to him and he loves to look at them as well. If I open the pages for him, he will just touch every page with both great joy and then very intense concentration. Alder is inclined to really study things and people. He will take a new toy or new item and study it with great caution. He can do this with one thing for the longest time.
We have now gotten rid of his bath seat and he just sits like a big boy playing in the water at bath time, but we constantly fight the battle of getting him to sit down and not pull up on either the faucet or the side of the tub.
Alder's personality is becoming more and more evident. He is content and happy a lot yet tempermental and easily frustrated. The child is quiet and reserved in public, but at home he is crazy with noises and very open with his emotions. I already witness fits when he is changed, told no, etc. I will be reading the "Strong Willed Child" by Dobson. I have one.
We are not the kind of parents to really boast about our child or think that a smile at 3 weeks or walking at 10 months is advanced or in some way amazing, but I think he is probably really bright in some areas. Today all three of us were in his nursery talking about the plans for the day. Alder had pulled out some of his books out of the bottom shelf of the dresser, sat down, and then had gone on to doing his puzzle. He sits there and pulls all the pieces out, but of course as he pulls each one out he studies it. It takes him awhile. I was sitting on the floor across the room and Jared was sitting on the other side by the door and the books that laid on the floor. Alder had made his way over to me loving playing on his Mama. I asked him (as it was getting close to his naptime and this is our usual routine) if he wanted to "get his books." I said it just a couple of times and he turned around, by-passed his puzzle, other toys, Dada, and crawled right to his two books. He put his hand on them, patted them, and looked back at me. Alder could not figure out how to pick them up and bring them back to me, but Jared and I were pretty amazed that he verbally comprehended "book." I do work with him on vocabulary words with a video and flash cards and he just loves the activity. I guess some of the words seem to be sinking in. It may have just been a fluke, but it was neat none the less.
Alder is the king of inconsistent on just about everything in his life except two things. One, he will (thank the Lord) eat anything! He loves all food and eats tons of it. I really cannot believe how much food the child can put away in one seating. He also (because he has 7 1/2 teeth) loves sitting in his highchair and eating pieces of whatever it is I give him. Loves it. The only foods is not a fan of are green beans and sweet peas, but will eat spinach and broccoli with no problem. And two, he goes to bed between 6:30-7:00 every night and will sleep until at least 6 the next morning. 6:30? You say. At night? For bedtime? Why so early? If there is one area that he is really king of inconsistent it is nap time. In a week, I may get 2 2 hour naps otherwise most of his naps range from 45 minutes to 1 and 15 minutes. It really can be exhausting and overwhelming as I feel I can never get anything done especially when he wakes up at 2:00 or 2:30 and will not nap again until bedtime at (on that night) 6:30. Oh well, I don't have a napper. It has been a big disappointment, but maybe the next baby will sleep well during the day.
Alder is a joy. I love him and his Dada loves him. I am amazed that he is ours. I am amazed God gave him to us to raise. Alder is a special one and it will take a lot of God's guidance in parenting him, but what parent doesn't need a lot of guidance? He changes some much each day and as sad as it is to see that "babyness" go away, I love all the new and wonderful ways that he is changing.

Auburn Visit

A couple of weekends ago we traveled over to Auburn to spend time with some amazing people, cheer on the Tigers, and introduce Alder to Dr. Wayne Alderman. It was a wonderful time with truly amazing families. The Aldermans have three wonderfully reserved boys, Mary is a joy to be around, and as always, Wayne is just a great man. We stayed with them and it was great for the family to get to know Alder. Before the game we tailgated with several families that attend the church Jared and I went to when we were at Auburn. We got to see Dr. Doyle (one of the pastors that married us) and his lovely wife. The two of them seem not to age and only gain more joy as they get older. Alder loved the noise, the craziness that is game day, and I loved his borrowed outfit (thanks Amanda!). After church on Sunday, we ate dinner at the Godwins' house. Their kids have gotten so big and it was fun to go around and ask each one their favorite things about life right now. Very dynamic and engaging kids. We drove away feeling refreshed and reminded of so many key truths that can sometimes be so easy to forget. War Eagle!

Beach Pictures

So I have finally made two slide shows of beach pictures. I figured out how to download more than one picture at a time and so that has revolutionized blogging for me. I went a little crazy and downloaded almost all of the beach pictures we took.
Sorry. It will probably get boring after awhile.
Oh, to be back at the beach!
By the way, you'll see that Alder had these sunglasses on in a lot of the pictures. He kind of looks like one of those special basketball players that wear the glasses and the bands when they play. Well anyways, we had to get them for him because after the first two days of being out in the sun we realized that he was having an "allergic" reaction to the sun. He would break out into a horrible rash on his face, snot would pour from his nose because he could not stop sneezing and so on. Once we got him the glasses, he was great. It was funny to see him with them on though.

Coughing Hugs

So Jared and I are stumped. Alder has started this really odd thing where when either one of us cough while we hold Alder and specifically when we do so in his nursery, he buries his head into our neck and breathes really deep and slow. And Alder will stay like this for as long as a minute. He will sometimes do it in other areas of the house, but never outside. Is it that he feels scared that that sound is coming from us? Does he think that it means sleepy time? Who knows? But it is really sweet though for him to snuggle up to you. I catch Jared making himself cough so lil Alder will snuggle with him. Sweet but kind of cruel if Alder does it b/c he is scared. I caught it on video. Sorry it was late afternoon and the nursery lights were not on. I hope you can see it alright.

Beach Bike Riding

We had the amazing privilege of going to the beach a couple of weeks ago for 8 days for basically FREE. We have these wonderful friends who own a condo close to Seaside and have so graciously let us go down there the last two years, otherwise we would not be able to go b/c vacation is SOOOO expensive. It was just the three of us. The time was precious and particularly for Jared and Alder. The two of them got to spend just a lot of uninterrupted time together which was wonderful and seemed to make up for a lot of lost time. The weather was perfect, not too hot, sunny everyday, and there was a perfect cool breeze everyday in the air. My parents actually were down in Sandestin around the same time with their closest friends and so over the few days we overlapped we got to spend time with them. It really felt like a vacation when we ate out with them a few times and my gracious Dad got the bill. Could it get any better than this? I will post pictures so check back, but this video I took of Alder and Jared is of them riding the bike back from the beach to the condo. I was driving the car with all the (ridiculous amount of) beach gear in the hatch and video taping. Yikes!

Alder and Ally for the first time the other day were actually playing together on the front porch while I was out there talking with our painter. They played and played tug of war with some paper bag and I thought it would not really last long enough for me to run inside and get my flip video, but they kept playing and I was able to capture the last part of it. By the time I was recording though Ally had had enough and wanted to take the bag for herself and shred it to pieces in the yard. Of course whenever you get your camera or video camera out children/pets are inevitably more interested in you and the black thing in your face. Anyways, thought it was funny. Ally is great with children and always has been, but with Alder she is especially gentle and kind.