Keats This Week (1/8/2011 - 1/14/2011)

Keats wants to walk. Every morning, I hold Keats' hand and we walk across our living room three or four times after some toy or whatever may be striking his fancy. He's easily distracted and definitely still feels that crawling is more efficient, but he loves the practice and laughs and laughs when we get to our destination. I clap and make it generally known to our apartment block (inadvertently) that he's done a fabulous job of walking ten steps in a row.

On Saturday, we went to the Gilroy Outlet mall to get Birch some new shoes and we couldn't resist getting a mini pair for Keats. The next morning, we practiced at the park while Olive didn't fetch. I loved watching Birch's proud look. Keats was sleepy and unsure of walking on the somewhat wet grass so it wasn't his most stellar attempt, but it was still such a great moment as Birch usually misses these things while he's at work.

Morning truly seems to be Keats' most active and receptive time. We read books, play with toys, bang away at the xylophone (which Keats' godfather Leif taught him to use at two in the morning, but that's another story), dance, create chaos, and now walk assisted across the room several times!

All this activity has left little room for cleaning and our apartment is suffering a horrible fate, but we'll get a handle on it soon, I can feel it.

It was my birthday on Wednesday and Keats' Grandmama offered to babysit while me and my man went up to the city to enjoy a baby-free night. It was very fun and very needed. We promised each other that we'd get a babysitter every two weeks to help keep each other sane. It's amazing how neglectful we can be of our relationship without even realizing it. Being able to talk about whatever we want without keeping a constant eye (dividing our attention) on Keats has become a serious rarity and it is so nice to be able to relax, eat dinner while it's still hot, and just be together. Right now our parents seem eager to babysit for us (THANK YOU) but we'd also like to find someone we trust outside of the family to hire every once in a while. Coming back from the city, it was so nice to see little Keats sleeping soundly on his grandmama's shoulder having had a fun night himself full of excitement and new things to play with and see. And I have to admit, it was even better taking him home with us once again and knowing he was ours to have and to hold for as long as we all shall live. We love you, sweet Keats, all your funny antics and your sociable, loving personality. You share so much with us and we love you more than we'll ever be able to tell you.