Our Amazing Little Boy

Griffin loves to figure things out!

It's been way too long since I've posted anything about our amazing boy and what he's doing these days. It's ridiculous how fast the time goes! I know, I know, everyone says that. But it's true! He's nearly a year old, and already he can do so much. He amazes us regularly with the things he figures out!

For example, he loves my digital camera. He knows how to take the lens cap off and put it back on, and (get this!) he knows how to press the sides of the little dish-shaped button to get the pictures to change on the LCD screen. OK, so he doesn't get it every time, but he does as well as some adults I know! The point is that he figured out how to do it, just by watching me switch the pictures for him.

Not amazing enough? OK, how about this... Mombi's computer is fairly close to his play area, and there's a bit of a gap between the sections of the mesh playyard fence. The other day, she noticed that one of the cables on her computer was jiggling. She looked down, and saw that he had hooked a piece of play-mat foam (one of his favorite toys, go figure) around the cable. She marveled and wondered how he'd managed to get it caught on a cable, and un-hooked it for him and put it back in his play area. A couple minutes later (you guessed it!) the cable started jiggling again. The little bugger was doing it on purpose, trying to get something that we'd made sure was out of reach!

Need a bit more proof that we're raising an amazing kid? Well try this one... I have a graphics tablet that I use instead of a mouse. It's basically a hard mousepad that I "write" on with a stylus. (Do a search for Wacom if you can't visualize it.) Anyway, I also have a program on my computer called "Keyboard Pounder" which basically makes my keyboard and mouse (stylus) baby-proof. He can bang on them all he wants, and instead of messing with my computer, it just makes fish show up on the screen while some fairly horrible Midi classical music plays. Anyway, he sits on my lap, takes the stylus pen from me, and taps it and drags it around on the tablet to make fish show up. While looking at the monitor screen! I know, studies say we shouldn't be over-exposing him to computers and TV at his age, and truly he doesn't spend that much time watching screens (although you wouldn't think it by the way he gravitates toward them). I don't think it's doing much harm, though, and he certainly is ahead of the curve so far for computer skills!

Beyond blowing our minds daily in general, he's still a total treat to hang out with, he's nearly always in a great mood, and he has yet to get truly sick. He had a mild fever for a few days while he was teething (did I mention his 12 teeth?) but other than that he's been healthy since he came home from the hospital. He's funny, he makes great faces (he has mombi's overactive eyebrows) and he's so proud of himself every time he walks someplace by himself without a crash landing. He's even starting to get some hair! We're still waiting to identify a definite word, but it's only a matter of time.

Stay tuned for easter and birthday photos, coming soon! And if you haven't yet done so (thanks, Aradia and Ava!) please consider sponsoring Griffin in his first charity campaign. He's going to be participating in an Arthritis walk to support finding a cure for his ten-year-old cousin. See the post below for all the details!