Milestone Minutiae

Emmett made a contraption yesterday, just after Blogger added video. Serendipity, I suppose. The video is clipped quite short, it seemed like I could get short videos to upload but not longer ones. So it starts and ends abruptly, but I think you can still make out what's going on. The only thing you really miss is the "E" on the flag. I invented the last two links in the contraption to get things started (the flag and the weight that falls to release the flag). Once Emmett saw those, he got into the swing of things and added the first two links - the apple juice can and the pendulum to start the whole thing. He's currently mulling over ideas about how to trigger the first pendulum.

Luke's been chasing me around the house today yelling "mamama! ma! mama!" and pointing. :) So I think we'll add that to his word list, which has contained only "dada" so far.

Emmett has a decent sized pool in the backyard, so of course Luke is interested in being in it too. The water comes up to his knees, so crawling gets his belly wet with lots of splashing for his face, too. He only tried crawling once, the first time he went in. It made him mad, but then he sat up and saw Emmett playing and was ok . Emmett gave him some toys (Emmett is so great with him, most of the time!), and they played happily until Luke looked cold enough that I pulled him out. This morning, Luke wanted in the pool again. He stood up and touched the water with his hands., but each time he lowered his bottom into the water he'd scream and stand back up. Then he'd take a couple of steps to go get a toy, and it was high-stakes walking practice! Sometimes he' d make it, but sometimes he'd fall on his bottom and scream about the cold water while getting back up ASAP. I wonder if he'll want to go in the pool tomorrow.

Saw the doctor today, here's where Luke is: Weight: 20 pounds, 8 ounces Length: 28 1/4 inches Head circumference: 48 cm That's between the 15 th & 25 th percentiles for weight and length, but 90-95 th percentile for head circumference. At birth, his weight and length were in the 50 th percentile but his head was just a hair above the 25 th percentile. I guess he's been putting all his energy into growing his head! He's basically caught up with Emmett on head size (Emmett was 48.5 cm at 12 months). Of course, at that point Emmett weighed over 23 pounds and was 31 1/2 inches long.

When Luke wakes up in the morning or after a nap, he usually crawls around the bed. He mostly doesn't fall off, but I do try to keep him near me or I'll grab a foot. To try to get him to come closer to me, a couple days ago I said "Hugs!" and threw my arms out wide. He crawled to me and put his head on my chest, so I hugged him. Another time, he was near an edge and David was nearby, so I said "Hug dad!" He crawled over to David and gave him a hug.

Where does the time go? Luke will walk 5-6 steps at a time now, or all the way across the house if he's holding your hand. He is still faster at crawling, and crawls much more than he walks. In fact, it seems that he crawls when he wants to get somewhere, and walks mostly for fun.

Emmett and Luke have started playing chase while I make dinner. Emmett runs around the wall between the kitchen and living room and Luke crawls along as fast as he can, getting lapped all the time. The two of them laugh and squeal - it's really fun. In other news, Emmett has started picking Luke up! Emmett can't hold him for long, and he can only pick him up if he's standing. But it's cute to watch Emmett grab Luke under the arms and try to carry him around. (So far Luke hasn't been dropped.)