46 weeks.

Graham and Eliana took turns pushing each other in the wagon this morning while Ellie was visiting.

Graham took a very tiny and quick step between two toys without holding onto anything today! I think it might have been his first step, though he's a long way from walking. He is getting better at free standing, but can only do it for a few seconds, tops.

45 weeks, 4 days.

Graham exploring a new addition to the graveyard of broken plastic toys in our park! Graham isn't stuck on the swings at the park anymore--he loves the slide (he goes down on his stomach and will push off on his own), playing rudimentary hide & seek around the park equipment, and crawling all over the place, including up the stairs!

45 weeks, 3 days.

Nana, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tim came up to visit and exchange presents today. Graham had a great time seeing everyone and loves his new toys. Thanks for making the trip!

Christmas came at a good time developmentally for Graham--he's outgrowing his infant toys and was ready for a new crop of slightly more complicated toys. For example, he loves his new Old MacDonald truck and has figured out how to push the farmer to start the song so that he can dance to the music.

45 weeks, 2 days.

Merry Christmas! Graham had a great day of eating bows and tearing paper. Oh, and he seemed to like his new toys, too. Daddy's least favorite gift was the coyboys outfit from Auntie Spice and Uncle Schmadam, but even he admitted that it was a good look for Graham.

Thank you very much for all the presents! Graham is one lucky baby.

45 weeks, 1 day.

Graham attended the children's Christmas Eve mass at our local church. He was both the happiest and loudest baby in the church.

45 weeks.

Bath time with Daddy!

Graham is making progress on eating finger foods. Some things he's enjoyed recently include latkes with applesauce, blueberries, cheddar cheese, peanut butter on bread, and hummus on crackers. Surprisingly, he also likes bread slathered with mustard from my sandwiches.

44 weeks, 6 days.

Graham played peek-a-boo with Daddy while on a walk this evening by pulling his hat down over his eyes and then peeking out.

44 weeks, 5 days.

Uh-oh. Graham discovered an early delivery from Santa under the tree!

44 weeks, 4 days.

Graham demonstrates his radio flyer walker and crawling skills.

44 weeks, 3 days.

Graham and I made an expedition to the big city to do a little last minute Christmas shopping.

Thanks for the adorable outfit, Nana! It's a perfect fit.

44 weeks, 1 day.

Graham sports a ridiculous holiday sweater that he borrowed from his friend Sam.

44 weeks.

Graham at our cookie exchange party! I think (hope) this picture distorted the length of his head a little bit....

We think Graham is starting to crack the language code. He seems to understand and sometimes (but not always!) obey certain phrases/commands like "come here," "do you want up?," "no," and "hot." He has been responding to "turn the page" appropriately pretty consistently over the past few days. Using hand gestures such as beckoning to him or saying "high five!" with your hand out helps to get the "correct" response. Graham definitely knows his name and has used "Mama" and "Dada" in the appropriate context...though he certainly doesn't do that all or even most of the time. He seems to know who we're talking about when we say "Mama" and "Dada" but probably not know that he can also say those words. It's pretty amazing to watch him figure things out.

43 weeks, 5 days.

Graham spent a couple hours at the park today, mostly staring at the big kids and observing their play. Later in the afternoon, we went to music class, where he climbed on the drum! He is a very adventurous crawler and will tackle anything (including other babies!) in his path.

43 weeks, 3 days.

2011 class photo at playgroup!


Graham snuggled up with his friends Penny and Vivian, all in holiday attire, at playgroup this afternoon.

43 weeks, 2 days (aka 10 months).

Graham's friend Lucy came over for brunch to celebrate his 10-month birthday...actually, she came over to celebrate Audra's engagement, but a playdate is always fun regardless of the occasion.

43 weeks, 1 day.

Graham and Daddy cheered on the blue devils to a win this afternoon! Graham enjoyed the Duke/Eagles exception to the no-TV rule.

43 weeks.

Graham opens up 2 giant boxes of new-to-him toys from Grannie Annie and Grammy. Very exciting! So far, the tambourine and bell shaker are the biggest hits.

42 weeks, 4 days.

Graham found today's playdate so exhausting he had to take a quick snooze in Violet's crib.

42 weeks, 3 days.

Graham was happily chatting in his crib after his morning nap. I went in to discover him having a conversation with Mike Vick.

42 weeks, 2 days.

Birthday season has begun! Graham took a piggyback ride to the park, and then carried on to his friend Pearl's first birthday party. Pearl has an amazing toy collection--walkers and crawling tubes and pianos, oh my!

42 weeks, 1 day.

After much searching, Graham found the book he was looking for!


While picking out our Christmas tree this afternoon, we ran into St. Nick. Graham didn't seem too pleased to meet him. Graham doesn't react to anyone by immediately screaming, so we can only assume he wanted a classic baby-scared-of-Santa shot for the photo album.

42 weeks.

Graham managed to squeeze in a trip to the park between playdates and a tree lighting ceremony. He's having a great time at the park now that he can cruise around the toys and crawl on the equipment. He also likes to slide.

41 weeks, 6 days.

Graham and his friend Theo had a playdate this afternoon. Graham enjoyed meeting Theo's dog Ricky. Note that the babies are interacting!

We also discovered that Graham is not allergic to peanut butter today. He scavenged a Bamba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamba_(snack)) from one of his buddies at an earlier playmate and scarfed it down before I could get to him...and did not react at all. Good to know!

41 weeks, 5 days.

We returned from Dallas just in the nick of time to host music class. Graham's first taste of Christmas music!

Graham has figured out a bunch of hand tricks--clapping (he will often clap to "If you're happy and you know it..."), waving (sometimes delayed), and the high five. He is also much more investigative than he was just a couple weeks ago--crawling fast, pulling up to standing on everything, pulling books out of book shelves, and, of course, attacking the cats' water and food dishes.

41 weeks, 4 days.

Daddy had to leave Dallas early for business, so Graham flew in his stead today (meaning, Graham used Will's ticket to guarantee us two seats on each flight). Graham has now completed 12 flights!

41 weeks, 3 days.

Graham explores some unfamiliar luxuries, such as a dishwasher, found in the Mathes-Shulman home and tries out the zipline at the park down the street.

41 weeks, 2 days.

Auntie Spice helped Graham say hello (aka chase) Punch T. Cat.

41 weeks, 1 day.

Uncle Adam taught Graham a few tunes this afternoon.

41 weeks.

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We celebrated with Uncle Adam, Auntie Spice, Dawson and Rose in Apryl & Adam's amazing new Dallas home. The day after Thanksgiving, Graham went Christmas tree shopping for the first time. I think he made an excellent choice.

40 weeks, 5 days.

A round of applause, please.

40 weeks, 3 days.

Graham hosted playgroup today. Suddenly, nearly all the babies are mobile and uncontainable. Marlon continues to be a glutton for punishment and plant himself in the middle of the pile of babies.

Speaking of Marlon, yesterday, Graham said "jitty" when Marlon walked up to him. Unclear if it was an attempt at saying "kitty" or just his usual chitchat, but it was certainly appropriate in the context.