Those who are parents will probably appreciate this, but it will be old news to you, however for me this has been outstanding! In the last week Joey has really started mimicking our behavior when ever he can. Of course he has been doing some of this through out, things like smiling etc, but now it is becoming fairly ubiquitous in his behavior. Most notably it happens with food. I was trying to teach him to drink water out of a sippy cup, he wanted nothing to do with it until I tried it first, he then giggled, reached for it, and did exactly as I had just done. When feeding him sometimes there are other more interesting things around, that is until I put the spoon in my mouth, then he can't stop eating whatever it is. On top of this, when he mimics he gets extremely proud and satisfied with himself. Typically in the morning once he has eaten and gotten dressed I let him chase the dogs around and pull the laundry out in the walker. During that time I make my coffee and get some toast. The last few mornings he has started walking up to me while I am eating and screaming with his arms out. While not the traditional baby sign for "toast" it has become very clear to me what he is wanting, I always try to give him the "food" "please" signs, but he finds scream/reach more effective. Anyways, as soon as I rip off a piece of toast he goes nuts and makes these great "yum yum" noises as he shoves it in, he then proceeds to stand next to me until he is finished with his piece, and either takes off on another adventure (first to the dogs to give them the leftovers) or "signs" for more toast, again scream/reach. These pics are intended to demonstrate the pure pleasure/pride/satisfaction he has when he mimics our behavior.

One more post today. This happened this afternoon. Joey has really gotten into scooting himself along the floor, albeit backwards, but hey, it's locomotion with not assistance. Anyways, we were hanging out near the kitchen, we'd been wrestling and kicking the soccer ball (i kick it, he heads it), when he decided to back up to the dog's water bowl. He was pretty proud of himself, and happy playing in the spilled water for quite sometime, until if finally leaked all the way through his overalls and I think he got a little uncomfortable. The dogs were less than impressed with the whole situation.

Double dose of post today. Joey is really getting into eating solid foods. He is pretty pasionate about it too. As these photos demonstrate. The screaming face was perpetrated by my taking too long to scoop the next spoonful, seriously it was maybe a 15 second pause between bites and he let me know it was too long. Of course his attitude swings the exact opposite direction as soon as he gets that next bite. All those worries we had about him not gaining weight the first two months have long since past....some days I think I can see him getting bigger, or at least feel him getting heavier while he sits in the backpack.

Spring break for the University was last week. This meant Lindsey took some time off to recuperate, and I took some time off to ski. It did mean we were apart for a short time. Lindsey and Joey flew to Boise to hang with her folks for a couple of days. Diesel and I headed into the Wallowas in Northeast Oregon to do a backcountry ski trip. Denver stayed home with our friend Chambers and took full advantage of sitting on the couch and on Chambers. We were all back together again by Wednesday. I was able to get a bunch of work done on my project at the end of the week, and Lindsey did a lot of things around the house she had been wanting to do. The picks with this post are first of Diesel and I on a ridge called Lookout ridge, just before sunset of our first day, and the second is of Diesel and I on the last day with the Aneroid basin in the background.

The last two pics are of Joey demonstrating the new skills Papa Ken taught him while in Boise.

As I posted before, Joey loves his walker. Here is a video of him getting around. He is really enjoying the freedom, but still prefers to interact with us while he is in it.

Joey just wants to say happy birthday grandma, and we will see you in a couple of weeks! For now enjoy these photos of him playing in his walker, dressed in his engineer's get-up.



Sometimes Joey forgets the walker is not the jumper.



That's when it's time to move!....

To the jumper, he loves hanging on this while in the walker.