A Big Week

It's been a big week around here.  Dylan has been benefiting from our increased attention and encouragement of his physical and language skills, and he has learned so much.  Not only did he start walking (yay!) but he has also mastered several other new skills:

- Echoes the word "uh oh"
- Waves goodbye
- Signs "more" (but only when seriously coerced)
- Babbles with the consonants "d" and "b"
- Creates a pretty much steady stream of noise throughout the day
- Interacts with other family members instead of just clinging to Mom
- Directs me to do his bidding with a series of grunts, pointing, and occasionally picking up my hand to put it where he thinks it should be

But he's not the only one reaching milestones around here.

We have our first lost tooth!  It was pretty wiggly on Monday at our dentist's cleanings, and the hygienist predicted he'd lose it within the week.  Sure enough, at dinner on Tuesday night, Adam complained that he couldn't eat his grilled ham and cheese sandwich because it hurt his tooth too bad.  I told him he'd better just pull the tooth out, then.  He wiggled it for a minute or two then asked his daddy for help.  I swear Kirk barely touched the thing, and it fell right out!  The tooth fairy made her first visit and deposited a much-anticipated dollar.  Thanks to a few days of fevers, Adam hasn't been able to head to the dollar store to spend his booty yet, but he just reminded me, "Mom... I think my fever is gone today.  That means we get to go to the dollar store!"  So we'll have to fit that in.

As for Alex, the highlight of his week was being picked up by Adam from school on Thursday in what his preschool friends seemed to think was the coolest ride ever: