Facial Expressions

I love this age. Ruston has sooo many facial expressions, so I thought I would share a few.

This is the excited face... usually he's laughing while scrunching his nose like this.

The angry face... due to me not giving him the camera like he wanted.
Next is the "I want" face. Mouth open, arm or arms reached out, and an "eh eh" noise coming out of said mouth stating that he wants whatever I have.
And the mischievous face. I LOVE this face. And you can almost see those teethers in there. It's hard to get a picture of them!
The happy smile... self explanatory.
And the cuddly smile. I love this one too... Ruston is SO cuddly, we love it! Notice daddy's bald head in the background? Yep, that's police academy policy.
And another happy smile face... playing in his rocker.
then there's the CHEESY smile! This was after I told him he needed to SIT DOWN in his rocker, and he just started saying "didididi" like he was telling me off... sheesh, we're in trouble!
The food smile... yyyuuuuuuummmmm.
And a close up. I believe he was eating a teething bar, which got ALL over him, but he liked it!

Climbing Stairs!

On July 5th, I noticed Ruston was playing VERY quietly by himself. Don't get me wrong, I love it when he's independent and plays on his own, but he was just way too quiet for my liking. He likes to play at the stairs, so I checked there, and this is what I found.

Yes, Ruston's climbing our stairs. I sat and watched him for a bit to figure out how he was doing it. That knee on the stairs is a key part, and he was pretty slow at it, but eventually got up there.
Again, shortly after the picture above, he fell backwards onto his bum... but was just fine and did it again. Needless to say, there is now a baby gate on step number 2 so he can still play with the stairs, but not go up them.

When we got to Washington for vacation (post to come), he mastered his stair climbing on my parents' stairs.

Pretty much acted like stairs were simple and he could not be stopped. If you put him down at my parents' house, he was B-lining it to the stairs. Darn kid is too good for his own good!!!

(check out the other few posts I put up too)

Childproofing!!!

Since becoming more mobile, Ruston has enjoyed getting into A LOT more things as well. My oven drawer is RARELy closed anymore, and if it is, it usually gets opened onto my toe while I'm trying to cook.

It's also difficult to cook when, not only the drawer is open, but there is a high chair being shoved into the back of my legs... here he is demonstrating how he does this.
Getting into cabinets is always fun. I'm not quite sure what he was planning to do with the wax paper, but this is one of his favorite cabinets.
Oh yes, and Ruston LOVES to climb... to anywhere he can get! The dishwasher is one of his favorites.
Yes, shortly after this picture was taken, he did fall backwards. Didn't seem to hurt him though.
The first casualty of the war on childproofing! My bread pan given to me be Kelli. Ruston pulled it out of the cabinet and dropped it on his toe. Did he cry? No... I almost did though!
SO... we now have those obnoxious little childproofers on the cabinets. And here is Ruston learning how these things work.
Now he just pulls on them constantly and slams the doors back shut... noise is always fun when you're a boy!
Just a random mischievous face for you!

I'm not going to lie though, although Ruston is a handful, he is a joy to have. We love watching him learn so much while he's getting into everything!

Practice makes perfect...

Very much on the move... these are pictures from end of May/beginning of June.
Ruston really got to practicing with his walking toy... and would zoom across the room!
One of his very favorite activities is to take all the DVDs off the shelf...

See the damage??
He also uses his table toy to walk everywhere... and is very happy about it.
But he's just soooo cute. :) And a severe cheese ball for the camera!
Ruston's also taken more of an interest in Taco, although I don't think Taco feels the same way.

Stay tuned for A LOT more blogs (hopefully this weekend). I'm trying to catch up since I'm over a month behind!!!

Some new strategies...

One of these days I'll get caught up!! These are still MAY pictures!

I don't know why we ever buy toys for our children... Ruston is perfectly content with a plastic spoon while I'm making dinner, eating dinner, or anything else where he has to be confined in his high chair.

At about his 7 month mark, he learned that pulling himself up was really fun. It didn't take him long to figure out that the futon was a great way to get places!
Funny thing was, when he first started walking along things, he only went to his left, which ended up being a problem when he got to the edge of anything. Watching him attempt to go right was somewhat amusing, but you could tell he was pretty frustrated by it.
And even though he has outgrown his bouncer, he likes to play in it like this.
For cuteness sake:
Yes, he was laughing and having a grand ole time!
Ever since Brook was staying with us, Ruston's bear has been on the floor. Ruston really enjoys playing all over it, climbing on it, around it, and just laying with it.
Gotta have a couple more pictures standing up... and pushing buttons on the Xbox.
He was blowing bubbles and raspberries in this picture below... he can't stand or move around doing anything quietly. Usually if he's quiet, we know he's in something he probably shouldn't be!

Living with an 11 year old...

So while the floods were around, we took Brooklyn in until her school was out for the summer. Ruston enjoyed having an extra person around to entertain him.

And he really enjoyed showing off his new skills!
Boxes and baskets are always fun...


and so is being dumped out.


This picture below is for my mom... when she was here she was saying she should get an up close picture of his eyes because of his long eyelashes. I think he looks like a girl in these next couple pictures.

But even if he looks like a girl, he's still got the GREATEST eyelashes ever... and he's extra cuddly. :)