Happy Mother's Day!

It was quite a busy weekend of firsts for Jared.
When we got to Grandma and Grandpa Briczinski's house, it was nice outside, so we decided to (finally) put Jared down in the grass to explore. He hadn't been in grass before, but I thought he would love it. He did not. He pulled at it some, and tried to put it in his mouth, but he showed no interest in crawling through it. Grandma says that kids don't like grass and sand at first, due to the different textures - go figure.
We also took him to a park near their house where he had his first swing and slide rides. Jared missed his nap (he fights them so much, especially when we are away), so he was really tired. Most of the time in the swing and on the slide he acted like a zombie-baby, meaning that he really didn't do anything at all. He really just sat there with no expression on his face. That was disappointing for me, since I thought that he would really like it, but I guess that will come later.

Last weekend, I went to a community yard sale in our neighborhood and got a bunch of toys for Jared. The best one was the hungry hippo walker. When he pushes the walker, the mouth moves up and down and gobbles up blocks that it comes across. Jared thinks this is the best thing ever, and probably would use it all day if I had the patience to steer it for him. He loved using it at Grandma and Grandpa's this weekend - he had quite the circuit course going through their house.

Last weekend, Jared attended a birthday party for our friend Mimi. The first time he attended a birthday party! Of course he was super cute, and well behaved, which is very normal behavior for him. Steve and I are so lucky to have such an easy-going little guy. Of course this got me thinking that I need to start planning Jared's 1st birthday parties. ugh. I had really hoped to be in a house by then (combining housewarming with birthday parties) - I have no idea what to do if we're still in the apartment. Stay tuned for party news.

I took Jared to a local playgroup last week. I was really looking forward to meeting some local Moms. But there were only about 4 other Moms there, and they didn't know each other at all. That was a big bummer for me, I was really hoping for some camaraderie. Jared had a good time though. He loved playing with the toys that the other kids brought. He also loved watching the older kids run around the room. He wore himself out crawling all over the large room - he had never had that much open space to move around before. He also loved scaling the mirrored wall - he thought it was so cool.

This kid way smarter and quicker than I am. Boy, and I in trouble! He saw me steering his hippo toy by pulling on the ears, and now when it gets stuck, Jared pulls on the ears too! He also has figured out how to pull the nightlights out of the wall, play with the venetian blinds (I'm surprised that he hasn't broken any yet), and take all of the pots and pans out of the cabinet. He pushes himself around on the pots and lids, which looks really funny.

His hair is getting longer and a little shaggy, but I don't want to cut it just yet. It's getting so long in the back that it's curling under.
He hasn't said Mama yet, but it was still a fantastic Mother's Day. I am so blessed that I get to be the Mother to such a terrific little boy!
New pictures from this weekend are posted.