Welcome home, Daddy!

Matt's been gone since Sunday in NYC for a visit back to work.  Grady and I have managed okay, but we sure can't wait for him to come back later tonight!  Grady doesn't understand the concept of "New York" but he does understand the concept of planes.  So when I ask where daddy is, he'll say "Daddy plane!"  Sometimes when I ask who's on the plane, he'll say "Daddy!  Ciff?"  He still remembers an loves his Uncle Cliff!

I didn't take many pictures this week, but here are a few random shots -

Grady trying on the new hat I made for him, and me forcing him into a sweater vest that no longer fits

All dressed up for my co-worker's baby shower - we had to wake him from his nap for it in case you're wondering why the stink face

"Daddy shoes?"

They fit pretty well this way!

The biggest development for Grady this week has been working on his sentences.  I missed his biggest one - it was at daycare - but he said "I read monkey book?"  He's consistently getting 3 word "sentences" out - "more cracker please," "read truck book," "party on top" (he likes to dance on top of boxes)....  I know all kids go through this, but it just seems miraculous how much he is picking up every day.

Although I didn't take a lot of photos, I do have a bunch of videos to share.  (Sorry about all my singing in these.)

A few weeks ago, Matt was singing the Smokey the Bear song.  Grady started requesting that it be "Daddy bear" instead of Smokey.  It takes some (extremely subtle) coaxing here, but the payoff is worth it. 

For some reason, he can only say "Daddy bear" as if possessed. This next one is a demonstration of how Grady has inherited his mommy's gift of patience.

He just hates those pauses in songs!

And a video of Grady playing with Besa.

This video is mainly for Peggy.  One of Matt's favorite recipe is spinach strata.  It's basically white bread, spinach, cheese, and some other stuff.  His mom sent me the recipe, and suggested that Grady might like to help rip up the bread.  It took him a while to get it, but he eventually did...

after consuming half of it!

In other news, progress on the house continues.  Here are a few shots of the progress so far.  Still mostly tearing down, but you can see the structure of the new bedroom and the progress made on the kitchen side of the house.

Baby girl Wilkinson seems to be doing well.  I've been feeling her move for a while now, but a few days ago her movements became much more constant.  It's reassuring to feel her moving around in there.  I'm measuring about a week and a half ahead (and my belly seems to be measuring even further ahead than that!), and I can tell.  She is strong!  Only four months to go.  Crazy how fast it's going.