Did you feel that?

It was time whooshing past. I feel like I just wrote the last post which I see is dated Oct. 31. My new years resolution is to keep the blog more up to date. Obviously I'm not off to a great start but I'll keep trying.

Hank is just over 9 months now and seems to think that crawling is for babies. He has his own way of scooting around that involves a lot of sitting up, lunging towards something, rocking a bit on hands one knee and one foot, then returning to a sitting position. I know that sounds terribly inefficient but he can actually move surprisingly far, surprisingly fast with this method. He began going from lying to sitting a couple days before he hit 9 months. The same day he started clapping and saying Dada. Now he is trying desperately to pull up and isn't too far off. He can put a good bit of weight on those thick little legs and has great balance. I'm thinking we're headed straight for running.

He continues to be big. At his check up he weighed 25 lbs 11 oz (98th) and was 30.5 inches (97th). He wears all 12 to 18 month stuff now. He also seems to have Jack's feet. I bought him some size 5 shoes that I thought he would grow into only to find that they fit snugly now. He has 6 teeth and would eat all table food if I would let him. He is really a sweet baby and laughs all the time. People think he must be at least 18 months and try hard to get him to talk to them when we are out.

Jack and Charlie continue to love school. They bring home lots of art and good reports. They are both really interested in music and we may start lessons in the spring. Jack has really taken to sign language as we started learning some to use with Hank until he can talk. He loves to learn and can read. We found out at Christmas that he can write his name. He is also almost potty trained (hallelujah). Charlie continues to love animals and has really taken an interest in cooking. He has a very active imagination and talks non-stop, keeping us very entertained. He particularly loves to paint and keeps us covered in art!

In other recent news we found out that Meredith, our beloved babysitter and good friend, will be moving on soon. We will all miss her greatly but (good news for the grandparents) she will continue to give the boys french lessons. Also, we just bought a small plane. The boys claim to be very excited about it although I'm fairly sure they don't really grasp the whole thing. Charlie is constantly telling us that he wants to go to Africa or the north pole or where ever so I'm sure this will cut down on our travel expenses ;).