Happy Friday!

It's early on Friday morning and I find myself with a few quiet minutes before the baby wakes for the day. It's a Kiwanis morning here, so we're up and rolling EARLY to be there by 7:00. Everyone survived our "daycare" experience here the past few days, and I don't think either Sydney or Joshua are any worse for the wear.

We're now in pack mode for the weekend. Tonight after work we'll be headed to my parents' house. My parents and Libby will be helping us with Joshua while Jason and I go to help root PSU into a win. It's going to be a scorcher in Happy Valley, not quite the fall football atmosphere I had hoped for, but any day in State College is a good one. I'm so thankful to Libby and Mom for helping us out with him. Fingers are crossed that he'll be cooperative and have a great time playing with Banana's stash of toys.

Here's a walking report (because I know you're all dying with anticipation for this, right?). Yesterday I saw real progress in the walking department. It seems like he's been stalled out at this wobbly, lunging type of walking (3 steps usually), but yesterday I watched him get a little more brave and take about 6 or 7 steps together in a row to get to his lion. You can just see the decision making going on in his head when he sees something he wants but has to decide whether to crawl or stay upright. It's like..."OK, let's see. I could get down to the ground and then pull up again or I could just chance it and see how this goes. Not too big of a gap to go there....what the heck, let's give it a shot." The priceless part for me is the huge smile on his face when he gets where he's going. It's like he's always shocked that he remained upright after making the attempt.

He's standing up from the floor a lot more easily and doesn't seem nearly as tipsy when he gets to his feet. He's now progressed to running behind the lion, which makes for some funny crashes at the house. He'll take off full speed around the "ring" of our house. Generally, he navigates pretty well, but he always misjudges at least one corner and has to correct himself quickly before his butt hits the ground.

Let's see...other important life changing skills. We have mastered what I call the "snoot face" and he can do it on cue. It's precious, and I've not yet captured a good picture of it. And most importantly, we have been working on "What does the doggie say?" to which he pants. I almost hesitated to post that as a new trick because we're still working on doing it when I ask him to, but we're getting there.

Well, Kiwanis calls. Josh is still in dreamland, so I guess Grandma will get to do the getting dressed honors this morning. I'm already looking forward to getting home this afternoon to squeeze him and love him before our trip.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!