If I were to assign a title to the month of June this year, it would be: On the Move!

Just a few weeks ago that we could put Micah somewhere on the floor and he would pretty much stay there.  Yeah, he could roll over or “lunge” to get somewhere, but never more than a couple feet from where we placed him.  He would contentedly roll onto his back and play with whatever toys were close by.

Then in early June, seemingly overnight, he started to MOVE.

The first stage was something that I like to call “stomach skating.”  We have hardwood floors in our house, so he would just whip around on his tummy and push with his toes.  It wasn’t very fast moving, but he could change directions like crazy.

I think this was when he first realized that if he wanted something, he could get there.

The next thing he had to tackle was getting into the correct position.  He used to get onto his tummy by either by rolling from his back or doing the “face plant” thing, which I can’t imagine was very enjoyable.  Eventually, he figured out that if he reached hands forward, leaned slowly (and controlled, so as not to bonk his face) and moved one foot around to the back, he could get close. It took some practice to get the other foot to follow, but eventually he got it.

Once he figured out the sitting to tummy thing, it wasn’t very long before he was getting up on his hands and knees.  He’d get up, and then push with his hands and the plop back down.  Matt called this stage “The Inch Worm” because it’s an up-and-down way of going forward.  It was slow going, and seemed to be a lot of work… but it worked!

I think I'll go read a book.

Oh, this is a funny one!

I guess that's the end.

On to something else.

Where to next?

I want to get THERE.

Push!

Hold on... I need to take a little breather.

Here I go again!

It was about this point that I realized that I had to be even more careful where I left him.  One day he was playing in his room and I went to the bathroom quick to put in my contacts and throw my hair in a ponytail.  I kept peeking out the door, and by the time I was done (about 2 minutes later) he was already in the doorway!

Oh yeah, getting from crawling position back into sitting position?  I never even saw him try before, and then one day he just did it like it was nothing.  Piece of cake!

As you can see, he didn’t really move very far during that maneuver, but he loves practicing going down and back up.  He’s getting pretty quick at it!

Currently, Micah tends to do a combination of inchworming, toe-pushing, stomach-skating, sideways scootching and good old wiggling to get places.  I guess it works for him, because it has become much more bold in his adventures.  No longer is he satisfied with the toys that are within arm’s reach, he wants to GO everywhere and TOUCH everything.

I wonder what they keep under here...

Ooh fun, what's in there?

Oh yeah, and then just the other day, this happened.

Since when can you pull yourself up on things, dear Micah?  I still haven’t seen him get past his knees, but when he did this in the crib a couple times we dutifully got out the tools and lowered the crib mattress all the way.

Changes are a-comin’ to the Knutson house, folks.  Baby gates are being installed.  Cabinet locks have been purchased. Extra cords are being tucked behind things.  Outlet covers are inserted.  Fridge magnets are re-arranged.  Toys are EVERYWHERE (instead of just sitting in a nice little pile on Micah’s play quilt).

Micah is ON THE MOVE!  … and all that moving wears a little guy out…

All this change is exciting and scary at the same time.  I love seeing our little boy growing up and reaching new milestones, but I am also scrambling to figure out how to keep him safe.  I guess we just take it one step at a time, and try to enjoy the ride!

What could be next in this crazy adventure?  Let’s hope we have a while before he starts running…

Summer is here!  It’s so nice not to have to be cooped up in the house.

Matt often rides his bike to work.  This morning, he suggested that we could go together and then I could come back with Micah.  After quickly throwing a couple of things together, we headed out.  If we take the slightly-longer-but-much-more-scenic route to his work, it goes right along the river and is a very beautiful ride.

We *may* have stopped at Holiday on the way… and I *may* have filled up my water bottle with Diet Coke.  Don’t worry, I brought a separate bottle full of water.  Sometimes, a mama has to have some caffeine. 🙂

Matt pulled the trailer, and by the time we were about 5 minutes into the ride, Micah was asleep.  He was still asleep when we reached the park where Matt had to “peel off” and head up a few blocks into downtown to his work.  We switched the trailer to my bike, and I decided that it was SUCH a beautiful morning that I would go a bit further before heading home.

One of the great things about living in Minneapolis is that it is a very bike-friendly city. There are tons of trails, bike lanes, and places to go where you don’t feel like you are in the way of traffic.

We took off down the river.  Micah was doing great for a while.  Still peacefully asleep in the trailer.

A bit later, I looked back, and he was all slumped over.  Poor little guy.  I guess it was kind of bumpy…

So I pulled over and opened up the trailer to prop him up a bit more.  What a beautiful place to stop for a moment and take in the beauty of a perfect morning.

Then, we were off again.  We headed across the Stone Arch bridge and watched the water coming down the dam.

There are some great views from the bridge.

I reached the other side and headed up the other side of the river through the St Anthony Main area.  We saw a tour group on Segues.  I’ve always thought it would be fun to ride on one of those.

Around this time, I looked back and saw that Micah was awake.  He just sat quietly and watched everything go by.

We headed over to Nicollet Island.  What a fun little area, even right in the middle of the city.

After crossing back over the river on the Hennepin Ave bridge and got to go down this fun little ramp.  I wasn’t quite comfortable riding down those tight curves with the trailer, so I walked the bike.  It’s amazing how much more weight the bike has with the trailer and going down hills is a bit more interesting…

We got to the bottom and headed back up the river to the park.  I got Micah out and we sat for a bit, enjoyed the weather and watched the kids play at the park.

About that time, Micah and I decided it was time for a mid-morning snack.  Well, Micah had a snack, and I just wished that I had one. 🙂  I had some water and he had some delicious milk.  I’m so thankful that we are still nursing, but bottles sure are convenient sometimes.

We tried out the swing for a while…

… and then packed up to head home.  No slumping here!

On the way home, we spotted a gaggle of geese and goslings.  Well, I think they were more like teenager goslings.  We very carefully went around them, but the mommy (daddy?) goose still hissed at us.

The hardest part of the whole ride was at the very end.  There is this HUGE hill that we have to take to get from the river to where we live.  I rode for part of the way, but then walked the bike for part of the way, too.  Mommy was tired and hot… and it was a BIG hill!  Plus, it gave us a chance to turn around and look at the bridge that they are building over the river.  It will be so nice when that bridge is done!

By the time we got home, it was definitely time for lunch.  Our little morning ride turned into almost 9 miles and 2.5 hours.  I definitely wasn’t planning on that when I left in the morning, but I’m so glad we did!

I am incredibly blessed to be able to go on little adventures like this with Micah, and thankful for beautiful weather that makes it so pleasant to be outside!

Oh yeah, and for air conditioning, LUNCH, and showers when we get back. 🙂

For the past several years, one of our friends has graciously invited us to his parents’ house for Memorial Day.  They live on a beautiful lake, and a bunch of our friends always show up.  We eat food, hang out in the gorgeous backyard, go tubing/waterskiing, and play lawn games. It has become a really fun tradition.

This year was no different, except that we had a new little person to bring with us!  Micah had a bit of a cold so we debated staying home, but we decided to at least go for a while and see how things went.

We were some of the first ones there, so we camped out on the grass with Micah.  As people came, we added more towels/blankets, and all sat around on the ground.  Micah was great entertainment.  At the point of this picture, I think Micah was dejected after trying to play with a toy that *someone* had hung from his hat.

When everyone got ready to go on a boat ride, we tried to find a life jacket for Micah, since we didn’t bring one.  They had an infant jacket with the head flap and everything, but it was too tight and it made him cry instantly.  So, we moved up to the next bigger size and Micah rocked the pink and purple flowers.  He didn’t seem to mind at all.

The boat ride was lovely, and Micah really seemed to enjoy the wind and the rocking motion of the boat.

The sun was a bit bright so we thought he needed some eye protection.  Haha.  Actually, he was just playing with my sunglasses so we let him try them on.  They actually almost fit him!

After the boat ride, we had some marvelous food and Micah took a nap.  I wish I had taken a picture of that.  He was camped out in the pack-n-play outside on the patio with a tablecloth over the top to keep out the bugs/leaves/etc.  After a nice nap, he was ready for more adventure.  We played in the grass some more while some of the others played volleyball and went waterskiing.

By the end of the evening, the sun started to go down and Micah and I were sitting and waiting for Matt and the last group of waterskiiers to return.  It was a bit chilly and I had totally forgotten to bring Micah’s jacket.  (I thought we would only be staying for a few hours in the middle of the day. Why I brought my jacket and not his, I do not know.)  Luckily, the gracious hostess was able to find us something in Micah’s size.  Can you tell they only have granddaughters so far at this house?

Love my wind-blown hair? I didn't realize it looked this bad until I saw the picture...

Finally, as the sun was setting, the skiiers returned with a bunch of fun stories of waves and wipeouts.

I felt a slight twinge of saddness that I had not been out with them, but Micah and I had a fun time on shore, too.  Amazing how life changes with a little one.  Different, but not at all bad.  Change can be hard sometimes, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

So much has happened in the last few months.  Time is flying by, and we are having so much fun as a family of 3.  Here’s a quick overview of some of the things that we’ve been up to:

Micah started on a sippy cup back when he was about 6 months.  Even now (at 8.5 months) he is not super great at actually drinking out of it.  He mostly just loves to play with it.

Also, around the same time we started him on some purees.  The first kind we tried was peas.  Nutritious, yes… a good choice for a first food, no.

Fortunately, it got a lot easier from there.  He has loved almost every type of puree that we have tried (at least after maybe the first bite or so where it’s something he’s not expecting)

More recently, we have given him some other soft foods such as chunks of bananas or avocado.  He also likes cheerios, but it took him a while to figure out that you can’t just swallow them. 🙂  He likes to play with food on his tray, but can’t seem to figure out how to put any food in his own mouth yet.  Soon enough, I’m sure.

Somewhere in the last few months we have realized that we have a side sleeper.  It’s really cute.  He usually pulls his blanket or monkey over his face/eyes and rubs his feet on the bars of the crib.

Micah is not crawling yet (thankfully).  That’s not to say he’s not mobile, but he can’t really get anywhere fast.  He can wiggle and roll and get places, but not usually in the direction he wants, it seems.

However, when he’s sitting he can “lean” with the best of ’em.  He’s amazing how much he can reach just sitting in one place. If something is just out of reach, he does this crazy face plant thing and ends up on his tummy right next to whatever it was that he wanted.  It works great, except for when there’s a hard floor or toy in the way.  We’ve had a lot of head bonks.  Luckily, he’s getting smarter about how/where he leans and lunges.

We have also acquired a few new pieces of baby gear recently.  First, we got a new stroller.  We LOVED our Chicco stroller, but there are these funky pieces that stick out on the sides that I never even noticed until Micah’s shoulders got too squished between them.  He wouldn’t even sit back anymore, and it looked really uncomfortable.  So, we opted for a reasonably priced lightweight stroller with a 50lb weight limit.  It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it’s much more convenient in many ways, too.  It gets used a LOT.

The old stroller, back when he still fit in it ok.

The new stroller.

The next item on our list was a bike trailer since we have really been wanting to go on some family bike outings. We found a Burley on Craigslist amazing deal and emailed the seller about 15 minutes after it was posted.  A couple hours later, we were the proud owners of a 10-year-old-but-barely-used-and-in-super-condition trailer.  One really nice thing is that it can hold one or two kids, so it should last us for a while.  We’ve used it several times, and Micah seems to like it.  Although, he tends to be lulled to sleep and slump to the side, so sometimes we stuff some blankets in there to make it more comfortable.

Since we have had some great weather in the past few months, Micah and I have gone on many walks, and stopped by several parks.  It’s hard to “play” at the park much because he can’t run around or anything, but we have tried out the swings a few times.  His first experience on the swings wasn’t so great, but after that, he seemed to really enjoy it.

First try - tired and hungry - not so good...

That's better.

Mid-April, we noticed some little bumps on Micah’s gums.  He has always been a crazy drool machine, but it was finally time for some teeth to pop out!  It ended up taking longer than we thought, but the first one came (along with a cold) and the second one came a month later (along with another cold).  They make him look like such a KID, rather than just a baby.

The next new experience Micah had was swimming!  He has never really LOVED bath time, but doesn’t hate it either, so we didn’t know how he would like swimming.  Tía & Tío live in an apartment with an indoor pool, so one evening we went over to give it a try.  It was sort of cold, but he didn’t seem to mind it too much.  We had a fun time together.

A few weeks later, we went to the beach.  The water there was really cold, and Micah didn’t like the water so much that day.

It's cold, Daddy!

That day, Micah and I were content to sit on the beach and play while Daddy went swimming.

We went back a week or so later on a really hot day, and Micah actually let us put his feet in the water, but there was a whole posse of elementary/middle school age boys splashing around, which made things interesting.  (Here, it looks like they were all just standing around, but believe me, there was a lot of splashing and running.)

We are looking forward to having many more adventures this summer, and hope to keep you updated as much as we can. 🙂