Talmage's First Steps

We have been wondering when this would happen. Out of all of our kids, Talmage has been the most physically adept, but he just hasn't seemed to care about walking. He loves climbing up on the bricks by our fireplace and then climbing back down again (luckily we have taught him to turn around backwards). He loves crawling through any obstacle he can find (in fact, the tighter it is and the more it looks like we are trying to keep him away from something, the more he likes it). He loves throwing everything he can get to out of whatever it was in (think drawers of tupperware, bags of markers, bins of toys, racks of magazines, etc.). He even loves walking around the coffee table, walking along the couches, walking while holding our hand, and walking while pushing some mobile object (including his high chair) around. But we have not been able to get him to try walking on his own. He keeps dropping to his bottom and crawling. But finally, tonight, he took a few steps. Below is a video we got of him. Enjoy!

True stories of Morgan

I thought we better give Morgan a little of the spotlight here. Those of you who know Morgan know that he is, well, intense. But he really is a very good kid for so many reasons. We've had some fun experiences with him lately. Sometimes he makes us laugh with how wise he can be.

A few Saturdays ago as we were talking about the chores that needed to be done Emma started complaining that cleaning isn't fun. Before I could even say anything Morgan launched in to a great encouraging lecture about how cleaning is fun. "Emma, cleaning is fun. It really is fun. . . . And the most fun thing about cleaning is having a clean house after. Cause it is really fun to have a clean house. . . . It might not seem fun the whole time, but it is fun, and it is really fun to have a clean house." Well said, Morgan, well said! He does like things neat and orderly (including, he told me lately, getting all the wrinkles out of his socks - by constantly pulling them up to his knees).

Nate and I bought the Wicked soundtrack after going to see the musical. The kids have really liked listening to it with us. Morgan asks me to tell him who is singing and what is happening in each song. I was explaining that Fiyero sings about not liking to learn. Morgan got very quiet and thoughtful. After a minute he said "Mom, I think he really does like to learn. This must be a pretend story because everybody likes to learn." {pause} "Oh and probably no one is really green." It really cracked me up that the not learning was what made him know that it was pretend, nevermind the green girl, the talking animals, or the magic.

His anger is sometimes intense. So much so that he has to find creative ways of expressing it. Recently he got sent to his room for some infraction. As he stomped out of the kitchen he yelled, "I'm so angry I feel like I could throw pepperoni in your EYEBALLS!" And several months ago when the same thing happened he opened his door and yelled "Mom! I'm so angry I'm going to put my PANTS in my SHIRT drawer!" Oh the horrors!

He really is a good kid, though. We love you, Morgan!