More fun in the kitchen

The kitchen has really become a second playroom for John. He always has a good time hanging out by the dishwasher and refrigerator, but the pantry and spice rack are his two new kitchen favorites.

The pantry is so huge that John seems to think it's an actual room of the house. He loves to grab things from the lower shelves and "organize" them. He also loves pressing the buttons on the toaster and blender (both of which are unplugged, of course).

Untitled from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

As for the spice rack, John loves to spin it around and pull out the bottles. Sometimes if he's feeling ambitious he'll even put the bottles back into their holders.

spice rack from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Sunday afternoon at the park

We went to a park in Harker Heights on Sunday so John could show Daddy how he plays on the slides and swings. Daddy had never seen him do it before!

John started on the slides. He prefers climbing up them to sliding down them.




Once a swing opened up, Daddy took him over to it and pushed him back and forth.



In between playing on the slides and swings, John practiced his walking. He did a great job navigating the bumpy woodchips of the playground!

Before leaving the park, we headed over to the pond to watch the ducks and geese. John is fascinated by them! He loves to point at them.

The stacking rings

John recently rediscovered his set of Fisher-Price stacking rings, which I bought for him on sale at Kohl's back in August or September. He had never really taken an interest in the set, so I was pleasantly surprised a couple of weeks ago when he started taking the rings off the pole and putting them back on again! It's amazing how much his eye-hand coordination has improved. I'm sure his shape sorter toy has helped him develop this skill.

Here's a video of John playing with his stacking rings and clapping his hands after placing each ring on the pole -- albeit in random size/color order. For some reason, John usually only claps when he plays with this toy! He is very proud of his stacking abilities.....

Untitled from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

The little walker!

Last Thursday evening, while we were having a Valentine's Day-themed dinner at his Aunt Sheri's house, John started walking on his own ALL OVER the place. He was unstoppable! He would walk from the front door, through the living room and into the kitchen and then turn around and walk back to the front door. And once he discovered the stairs, he wanted to walk up those, too!

Then, while we were at the marriage retreat this past weekend, he walked all around our hotel room as well as the nursery area. Apparently, he even taught a nine-month-old little boy how to walk by dragging him around by the hand! I did videotape John practicing his new skill, but afterwards I realized I had been holding the camera the wrong way and the video was sideways. (I have a problem with this.....just ask Ross.)

John's been sick with a virus since Monday morning, so we haven't gotten any more videos of him walking. I think being sick has actually caused him to regress in his walking. He is just very lethargic and wants to be held about 95% of the day. He definitely does not event want to stand by himself right now, let alone walk.

Anyway......to satisfy everyone's desire to see John walking, here are some pictures of John from that fateful Thursday evening last week when our baby officially became a toddler. (Notice his nervous Mommy's legs in the background of each picture.) Thank you, Aunt Kami, for being our photographer that night!




Yay, for John! Look at that smile!



Clapping his hands for his big accomplishment.....



The toddler finally got tired of toddling!

John and the mirror

This past weekend we stayed at the Lakeway Resort and Spa in Austin for an all-expenses-paid marriage retreat, held for about 70 couples in our battalion. It was really incredible. Ross and I still can't believe everything -- including child care during the marriage sessions --was free!

Our room had a gorgeous view of Lake Travis, but John didn't care about that at all. He was far too interested in looking at himself in the floor-to-ceiling mirror! I think the narcissistic phase has already begun.....

John and the mirror from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Here are some pics from the weekend, too:

John playing the piano!

This video speaks for itself.....watch and be amazed by John's musical talents!

John the pianist from Stephanie Powell on Vimeo.

Two videos of our adorable little 13-month-old

Today is John's 13-month birthday! It is really crazy how the months are flying by now. In honor of his special day, here are two videos of John doing some of his most adorable new "tricks."

This video shows John doing some booty shaking. For some reason, he really only shakes his booty like this when he's standing against the rocking chair in his bedroom. Look at those thighs.....he was born to dance!

Untitled from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

In this video John demonstrates his Indian calling, which he started doing a couple of weeks ago on his own, without any prodding from Mom or Dad! You'll also see John waving bye-bye. I can't remember exactly when he started doing that, but it was at least a month or two ago. John's wave looks a lot like the baby sign for milk. Sometimes John uses these interchangeably.

Untitled from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Friday night pre-bed playtime

Here are some photos Daddy took this evening of John and Mommy hanging out in the playroom before John's bedtime.....

John has recently rediscovered his shape sorter toy. He is especially good at putting the blue circles in the correct hole (actually, he tries to put every shape in the circular hole). I think his helicopter toy from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Jeff helped him figure out how to do this!

Daaaaadd! More photos?! We aren't looking our best!!

John also played with his new rocket ride-on toy, which was a birthday gift from his Uncle Ethan and Aunt Lindsay from Chicago. He loves to press all the buttons by the handlebars. They say fun things like "Approaching warp speed" and " Welcome to Jupiter." Hehe.

Look at those washboard abs!!!!

Our little helper

John loves to "help" Mommy and Daddy. On Sunday John lent a hand reorganizing and packing up some of the random stuff in the guest bedroom that we forgot we even had. You'll notice from this video just how beneficial his assistance was.

Our little helper from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.