Dad made it back late last night. Griffith, the little angel, slept all night through for the first time in several weeks. (Allan sleeps through the night nearly all the time, bless him.) All the flirting with Lynn last night must have worn Griffith out. They giggled and tee-heed for hours. He did all of his tricks for her -- rolling over and back, pulling up and standing, almost crawling. Very impressive. She swears that his is the best baby laugh she has ever heard. It is pretty contagious. Allan had his time to shine, too. He doesn't waste time with all of the tricks. He goes right for snuggling and batting his lashes at her. Whatever works.

The boys and I are hanging out on another cold winter's night. Dad has been gone since Monday, but Allan and Griffith have held done the fort (with the help of Kim and Markus and Jennifer and Eric and Lynn, but who is keeping score?).
Things went relatively smoothly until last night when Allan decided to keep me up from midnight until 2 and then Griff woke up (as his now usual) at about 4 for a Scooby snack. We will all be glad for Dad to hit the door.
Allan is paying a lot more attention to Griffith these days. Don't know if that is a good thing or not. Last night they were lying on the bed beside each other and Griffith got to howling about some perceived slight from me. Allan watched him and became visibly more distressed until he joined in the chorus. Great. That's all I need. Both of you squawling. Where is your father any way? Ah, yes, eating a 'lovely' filet at Ruth's Chris and having a nice glass (or two) of wine. Yeah, enjoy it. You'll pay for that later, buddy. Not enough boxed wine in the world will make it okay for you to gloat.....
Speaking of howling, Griffith has just started again, so it is time to sign off.

A little smile from Allan

So much for the long winter's nap...

Griff just howled and woke his brother up. Fortunately, Allan woke up happy.

Griffith - action photo

Unfortunately the action is toppling over as he tries to figure out crawling.

Allan - settled in

Allan, ready for a long winter's nap.

Griffith - stuck

Stuck but not unhappy about it.

Griffith - stuck again

Griff can manage backward, but gets stuck under the coffee table, the couch and the armchairs.

Allan and his carrots

Savings bond mystery

If you sent the boys savings bonds, please identify yourself. The bonds arrived, but there is absolutely nothing showing us who sent them. We really appreciate it and would love to send a "thank you" but are stumped.

Cheryl and the carrots - part iii

Cheryl and the carrots - part II

Cheryl and Griffith - eating carrots.

Allan and his cords (II)

Looks like he is ready to change the oil.

Allan in his cords

Griffith - big, wide grin

Griffith in the new bouncy seat.

Warm as toast

Well, we are all snuggled in tonight after a cold and snowy day. Pork tenderloin is cooking in the oven. Dad is preparing to boil the life out of some carrots. And then smother them in butter. Why do the British hate vegetables? If it keeps him amused and out of my hair, I guess I shouldn't complain.
The big news is that Allan laughed out loud for the first time today. He smiles and laughs, but, until today, hasn't made a true laughing sound. He has been vocalizing a lot more in the past couple of weeks (so long as doctors and PTs aren't watching). He really seems to hit his stride from about 8 p.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. That's usually when we play rock-a-baby and act like we are going to run, run, run away and play like we are riding a bike. (Our own version of physical therapy.) Today, though, we were watching UK beat Tennesse and playing with some silly Leap Frog caterpillar that sings songs and, for whatever reason, two little butterflies and three little bumblebees struck him as very funny. Next thing I know I see a big, wide smile and hear something that isn't a 'gawk.' I would have thought that I imagined it except that he repeated it several times before it wasn't funny any more. The best part is that he sounds EXACTLY like Griffith when he laughs. Sort of a silly heh, heh, heh kind of chuckle. Very Beavis and Butthead. We hope that Allan decides that life is as funny as his brother finds it because Griff laughs all the time. Except for when he is howling in protest.
Griffith continues to be a whole lot of fun. Yesterday he learned to make a kissy face which amused him greatly. (What doesn't?) His girlfriend Caitlin came to visit and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Flora came to help yesterday because I needed to work in the morning and she is going to be off on Monday. She was so jealous that she wouldn't leave. She just sat and watched Caitlin and Griffith and resisted (just barely) snatching him back from her (who knows what would have happened if I hadn't been here?) The boys and I had a good long walk yesterday afternoon while the sun was out and it was warm. It is a good thing we did, since, by 4, it had turned bitter cold and has stayed that way.
On Friday we met with the lady from First Steps which is a program to coordinate different types of services for little guys like Allan. We are going to have someone come in to consult for speech therapy (because he still isn't very interested in feeding from the bottle) and physical therapy. Griffith was almost beside himself twisting around and trying to get the girl's attention. I am very afraid that we have quite a flirt on our hands.

Alice and Allan (II)

Alice and Allan, bonding.

Allan snuggling with Alice

Allan had to get his loving, too.

Alice and the boys

Griffith entertained Greg and Alice for dinner last night. He and Allan had formula (naturally) and we had sushi.

Preparing to launch

Griffith just hasn't quite figured out how to coordinate arms and legs. Thank goodness.

Preparing to launch

Griffith just hasn't quite figured out how to coordinate arms and legs. Thank goodness.

Allan - going bananas

Allan wasn't sure that the bananas were what he wanted for breakfast.