Big Boy Legs

Walker has become very opinionated. He likes to be outside. He has now learned that shoes=outside.
He brings me his shoes a MILLION times a day and becomes quickly agitated if they don't lead to "outside..."
He also has started standing at the front door and going "unh, unhh, unh" over and over while reaching for the door knob. Sometimes he even cries if I don't take him out at his request. It's a good time to learn a lesson-we don't always get exactly what we want, when we want it. :) But...most of the time we do. We spend a lot of time outside. :)
Once outside, he runs. He literally runs. He seems to not know how to walk at a normal pace once he hits the fresh air. His little legs are all beat up because he thinks running down the small hill on our concrete driveway is fun. He doesn't have baby legs anymore, he has big boy legs...and I MISS THE BABY LEGS! (but, I love, love, LOVE this stage...)
At least he's wearing shoes. He's also learned to step down the doorstep by holding on to the side of the house, rather than sitting down or crawling down. He's so cute stepping down the step. And so BIG! He is so proud of himself, he does it over and over. Up, down, up, down.

This is just a cute picture I don't think I've posted yet...and since the rest I am going to post are kind of "weird" shots, I thought I'd post a normal one too. :)












One night this week, Walker randomly woke up about an hour after falling asleep. He just needed some cuddling...so that's what he got. We set up his pack-n-play in our room and Cliff was going to lay down with him for a few minutes while I worked on getting things ready for the next morning. After a very long time, I went in to check on them and this is how I found them...














Walker is beginning to enjoy coloring. He still gets a little confused about not putting crayons in his mouth. :)







After Uncle Cory and Grammie's birthday party dinner tonight we were all sitting around in the living room. The "grown-ups" had gone home and it was just us 6 kids + Walker left. Walker had been asleep about 30 minutes and woke up. He seemed recharged. He has a very hard time going to bed when we have "fun" company and so we let him come back out. He ran around playfully for about 45 more minutes before finally being ready to settle down and go to bed for real. Well, in those 45 minutes, he managed to get to the pantry and pull out a bag of sub rolls. He walked into the living room with two in his hand...chowing down on them. Crazy. (see picture)








Earlier today, we were in the living room talking. Somehow, we started talking about the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." Cliff incorrectly quoted a line from it and I corrected him...which he thought was hilarious considering I am the queen of misquoted lyrics. Well, I guess Walker was very tuned in to what we were talking about because he goes over to the fireplace, gets his "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" books (he has two of the same...one big and one little...) and brings them both to us. He's so smart.


He is continuing his loves of books and this just thrills my soul. A whole new world awaits him that he won't otherwise experience if he doesn't enjoy reading.
Judy surprised him this week with the big "Brown Bear" book and also the brown bear to go with it...you know how Kohl's has them at the check out line...she also got him "Baby Bear, Baby Bear..."

Next weekend is his birthday party. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. Ironically, he's started pointing with his pointer finger...so we are teaching him to make that mean 1. I think by Saturday he will be able to put that as a response to "How old are you?" since he's doing it pretty much constantly right now.
His actual birthday isn't until the 24th, so the party comes first. :) I'll be sure to update with pics.

Well...it's late and the morning will come soon.