Adventure Man Extraordinaire

Our sweet, cuddly, carried-in-our-arms-all-the-time baby has just become carpet land Adventure Man Extraordinaire! There was a time in his life when he was not mobile, but that is not now . . . Arrow has discovered mobility. This recent turn of events has only occurred in the last few days - when he realized the potential of crawling. For about a month, Arrow has been able to roll like a ball zipping downhill, but couple that with crawling and you've got the equivalent of a new puppy released in the house with the owners gone. There's not much left in the living room that hasn't been slobbered and gummed to Arrow's satisfaction. The living room is like this expansive playpen beckoning his exploration. What is the most interesting attraction for a baby in this untamed upholstered wonderland? Cords. Electrical cords specifically. (For all concerned, we watch him very closely). Tags are also of great interest to him. Often he's more engrossed with the tag on the toy than the toy itself.

At this point I should probably clarify; Arrow is not quite a full-blown crawler yet. He looks more like an inch worm than a crawling baby as he scrunches and extends his body for some desirable object just out of reach. A fierce determination sets in particularly when there are cords in view. He pushes off with his feet as he elongates his body, stretching as far as it will go, then he'll get his knees tucked up under him and squirm in place for a bit before he lengthens out again. It's quite a little process, and yet surprisingly effective. He transports from point A to point B in no time.

The Light switch Goes On!

The gears have been turning inside Arrow's head for 6 1/2 months now and today it all clicked together! It started with Grandma 'Nine (David's mom, Jeannine) doing "baby five" with Arrow. She's been doing this baby version of high five ever since we first arrived (about a month ago). During a "pause" break during our much loved prerecorded TV show, 18 Kids and Counting, we tested Arrow to see if he knew what "baby five" was without being prompted. Jeannine held up her hand and said, "baby five," and Arrow immediately started slapping it with his hand. He knew what she meant! This is incredible - he understands us!!!! And now a light switch has flipped on in my head; all I want to do is teach Arrow what everything is. And it's working! While taking a shower with Arrow, he was very interested in the towel hanging over the shower door. I said "towel" several times as Arrow grabbed at it. To prove my theory I needed to wait until Arrow wasn't interested in the towel anymore. Eventually he moved on to other things - my opportunity had come. While Arrow was preoccupied with something else, I said, "Where's the towel?" Instantly he turns around and starts patting the towel! This is incredibly exciting stuff for a new parent. We did the same thing with "Daddy," "cup," and "sock." It's thrilling when I recognize the light of comprehension illuminate his eyes. The comprehension of knowing he's communicating with the "Big Ones!"

Arrow Laughing!

There's this special connection between Arrow and Kayla (his 6 year old cousin). Whenever Arrow sees her, his eyes light up and he starts flailing his arms excitedly. We think it comes from the kindred bond that little children seem to share with one another. Today Kayla got Arrow laughing really hard. It went on for a long time; we were starting to get concerned that Arrow would get worn out. We're not sure we've ever seen him laugh so hard.