I'm calling it

Noel has said his first word: Da-da. Of course he's babbled this for a while, but now there seems to be meaning behind it. This afternoon, while Dom was licking windows, Noel was standing next to him, watching for Mike and saying "Da-da." Not "da-da-da," but "Da-da." I'm hearing more m's in his babbling, so maybe "Mama" is not far behind. Interestingly, Dominick has started calling me Mama since I've been encouraging Noel to say it.

Three steps

Noel took a few steps tonight, first between me and Mike and then from the ottoman to me. He's been practicing his walking skills lately by cruising and pushing his little hippo toy. We've also been encouraging him to come to us. When he took off from the ottoman, nobody was prompting him. He just decided to go on his own, making the effort all the more impressive. Watch out, world--Noel is coming!

Ten months

These pictures are getting harder and harder to take! Noel laughed and mocked at my attempts to keep him seated on the chair. He should thank me for preventing him from going off it head first! That's part of my hand in the third picture as I went to rescue Noel yet again.

Noel has finally started to sit up unassisted. Just like his brother, he crawled a month before sitting. Bathtime will be so much more fun now!

Big day for Dom

At the risk of seeming obsessed with toilet training, I have to share this news: Dominick had his very first accident-free day! Yesterday, he almost did but got off track one time when he was at the park up the street after dinner. We had just gone through three very difficult days, beginning last Thursday when Dom seemed to have no control over his bodily functions. I lost count of how many times he peed on the floor or chair or wherever he happened to be at the time. The two times he did it on the toilet, he sprayed the bathtub. Another time, he sat on the toilet without doing anything, then, while washing his hands, peed on the front of the pedestal sink. Then he rubbed soap in his eyes, and hit or kicked me (I don't remember which) as I was trying to help him, so he ended up with a time-out. The one bright spot that day was that Dom went off to the bathroom by himself and announced that he had pooped. Hooray! But now, for whatever reason, something must have clicked. The real test will be when we are anywhere but home.

A quick basement update: as of 6:00 tonight, the drywall work is now complete. Mike is downstairs cleaning up the dust, which I can't do because of my allergies. Instead, I get to start priming tomorrow night.

Milestones

DOMINICK PEED AND POOPED ON THE TOILET TONIGHT!

Can you tell how excited I am? It's quite amazing how my perspective on human waste has changed since having kids. Dominick was excited, too, especially since he finally had something to flush. He just returned from spending the weekend at his grandma's, where he peed on the toilet three times yesterday. After tonight, I have hope for Dom being able to start preschool in four weeks.

Noel also had a productive weekend. Yesterday, he sat up unassisted, though it was actually a high kneel. Does that count? (I made sure he was not W-sitting.) He likes to kneel while bouncing and jamming on the alligator piano. And today, he pulled up to a stand, using me as his support.

Mike had a very productive four-day weekend working in the basement. With the walls and ceiling drywalled, it looks more like a room than a basement. Pretty soon, it'll be my turn to start putting in some hours down there while he hangs out with the boys.

We have a tooth!

It's barely showing, but I can see and feel it. For once, Noel has hit a milestone earlier than Dominick, whose first tooth came at nine months. Now for crawling and sitting up...I'll keep you posted.

Our nephew Seth is here for the weekend. This morning, the three older boys went to the Missouri Botanical Garden. They all got wet playing in the fountains, which must have been a sight. Tonight, after the little boys' baths, we did some fireworks in the backyard. This time Noel was with us. He did NOT like it at all. Good thing we didn't drag him to a big fireworks display Wednesday night!

Seth, Noel and Dominick