8 Months Old

Maverick now weighs a little over 22 pounds and is in a size 3 diaper. And speaking of diapers he has suddenly turned into a little squirmy worm when it comes time to get a new diaper.  He tries to turn over on his left side and then sit up.  We're constantly having to wrestle him just to change his diaper.  He is still mostly breast fed, but he also eats Gerber rice or oatmeal and stage 2 Gerber fruits/vegetables.  Recently he began to get a little water out of a sippy cup.  He likes it when I give him about an inch worth of water out of a straw. He does not take a pacifier, but he chews on it sideways as a teething toy.

Within the last month, Maverick experienced his first Halloween .  He was the cutest dalmatian.

This was the first Thanksgiving without my Papaw Billy.  Although it was sad, we still carried on.  It was Maverick's first Thanksgiving.  Here's a picture of him sitting in the same high chair that I used over 30 years ago.

He and Rocco watched some of the Macy's Parade at Mimi and Papaw's house Thanksgiving morning.  (Because they live out of town, we spent the night there Wednesday.)

Later that day we had a big lunch with my side of the family.  My mom, dad, nana, brother, Daelyn, Jason, our boys, and I were there.  My brother's girlfriend and kids also joined us.  That evening, the boys and I headed to my cousin Jana's house.  She has 3 boys and Rocco likes to play with them.

That night my mom, the boys, and I headed to KMart to do a little shopping.  It wasn't truly Black Friday yet, but many stores were opening up so we headed there to see if we could find some bargains.

This is our family Thanksgiving picture that was taken at my parents' house.

Our little boy is into everything.  The last week of November he really began to crawl more with his arms straight (not just on his elbows).  We have to put up barricades (Rocco calls them 'barricaves"), and even then he crawls over them and makes his way to the TV cords or the Christmas tree.

This month he began pulling up and standing.  He's so good now that he just stands there with only one hand holding on to something.  I don't think it will be too long before he starts cruising.

Maverick loves to be read to.  He will take his little index finger and point to different parts of the book. He's good with his fine motor skills; just the other day he figured out how to make Granddaddy's recliner move by pushing a button.  At our house, he pulled his toy to him by tugging on the string attached to it.

 Music is another thing that he likes.  He's begun to rock back and forth when he hears something he likes, as if he is dancing.  When he's playing in the floor it's common for him to bang items or pat on things as if he is a drummer.  I think he likes the clanking noise they make.

We have four Christmas trees up this year, one in the living room and one in each bedroom.  Here's a picture of Maverick in front of the GA tree that is in Rocco's room.

 And speaking of GA, it is a shame that we lost the SEC championship game to Alabama this past Saturday. We would have had the opportunity to go up against Notre Dame for the National Championship title.  Oh well.  We are still training our boys to be DAWG fans.  Just look at this little bulldog.

There are still no teeth in sight in his sweet little mouth, but you can bet he drools like crazy.  At any given time you can likely see a small stream flowing off of his chin, especially if he's been chewing on a toy.  Most things still end up in his mouth.  Recently we started giving him really big stick pretzels when he is sitting in high chair.  He likes to gnaw on it.  He can't really chew it, but you can bet he makes a slobbery mess!  Baby spit is sweet (at least Maverick's is).

On Nov 24, Rocco called out, "Mama come here!  Look at Maverick!"  I came from the kitchen and peeked into the living room.  He had climbed onto the first step of the landing.  Oh no!  It seems like now there is no limit as to where he will end up!

6 years 7 months old

Rocco is continuing to grow and learn more and more.  He has been asking a lot of questions lately, especially science ones.  I love this.  For instance, the other day he asked me,"Why does the mirror do that when you get a shower?"  I was able to explain to him about water vapor and condensation.  Then another day I got this one, "Mommy, this is a hard question.  Why do you breathe air out but you can't see it?"  We talked about solids, liquids, and gases.  Then I tied in God with this one because we believe and have faith in a God that we can't see, but we can certainly see the things He does and creates.  Another question he asked was why certain clouds were white and not dark.

Rocco is one of the best behaved kids in his class.  It's true.  I'm not just partial, you can ask his teacher.  Whenever they do something extra nice, the students will receive dots.  Ten dots gets you a prize of your choice in the treasure chest.  For his first ten dots he got an old cell phone.  You would have thought it was Christmas.  He loved that phone!  For his next ten he got some cheap happy meal toy.  He just keeps on earning dots.  Some kids haven't even earned 5 yet and he's beyond 20!

I don't know why he does this but he is always telling me to tell Maverick something...as if he couldn't say it himself.  Like he'll say, "Tell Maverick what a good big brother I am."  "Hey mommy, tell Maverick about my new phone and my ten dots."  So, I'll go into a long explanation (Maverick can't even understand), for the pure satisfaction of Rocco.  He likes it when I brag on him or explain things to Maverick that he has done.

At school each day he gets to go to a different activity.  He has ranked them in order by how much he likes each of them and bases whether or not it is a good day on which activity he gets to go to.  First place goes to PE.  Second is music, and third is computer lab.  Fourth is science (I'm not his teacher this year because I'm part time to stay home with Maverick), and lightspan is fifth. Coming in dead last is his LEAST favorite...art.  He does NOT like to color or draw.  Art is such a bummer class to him.

He loves to stay inside just like me.  His daddy would rather he go hunting with him or play outside.  If it were up to Rocco he'd stay at home, inside all day and just play with his toys or video games on the Wii.  Recently Jason brought home a used Playstation game system.  His newest favorite is the football game on it.