five months and end of summer

I'm just going to lump this whole post together because if I try to come back and post more tomorrow or the next day...it probably won't happen until the six month update :) Baby Warren is growing so fast and constantly coming up with new tricks. Here are a few stats on him:

• Rolls over often (back to tummy) but only likes to hang out on his tummy for about a minute before he starts yelling for help
• Sits in his Bumbo sit with pretty good control
• Has very busy hands. They are always either in his mouth or holding onto each other. His latest trick is to use his left hand to hold onto his right thumb. I need to get a picture of that one!
• Wears size 9 and 12 month clothes
• Has lots of wispy hair on the top of his head that sticks straight up. (thanks, daddy!)
• Takes all his baths in the bath tub now. He LOVES to kick like crazy and make big splashes!
• Wears size 3 diapers
• Sleeps pretty well! 
• Loves to watch Henry and is completely entertained by him. Storing up all sorts of good ideas, I'm sure.
• Smiles and laughs so easily. Henry was a happy and content baby, too, but with Warren you don't even have to work to get a smile out of him :)
• Has tried rice cereal twice but spit it out both times
• Doesn't like his swing quite as much as he used to
• Seems to like to snuggle and be held a little more lately. He is strong enough to be carried on my hip now.
• Might not be blue-eyed. We still can't tell for sure.

And now for the end of summer fun. Just a selection of photos with captions, really. On this particular day, I asked Dameon to deal with the branch that was in the way of Henry's swing. I believe my exact words were, "Could you trim back that branch that's in the way of Henry's swing? It's thorny and kinda dangerous." A good chunk of time went by while I was in the house with the boys. It occurred to me that Dameon had been outside for quite awhile. I looked out the window and saw this:

 He must not have heard me right.

We made a bit of an impromptu trip to the Indianola Balloon Festival. The weather was beautiful and it was a really enjoyable time. We ate our Subway picnic in the parking lot and watched the balloons fly over before going through the gate and enjoying some bounce house chaos. Wouldn't be a complete experience if Dameon didn't have a small heart attack and use his teacher voice as some too-big-for-the-bounce-house kid is threatening to steam roll our son. The highlight was when Dameon bought Henry his own hot air balloon. Total thrill.

Another Warren trick: Tries to get toys to mouth and toys end up on his shoulder. Cute!

This is how Henry plays hide-and-seek. After awhile it's hard to know how to keep acting like we can't find him. But we roll with it.

And, finally, potty-training. He is starting to show just a little bit of interest and has went potty once, so we'll see.

 Turns out this whole thing requires more patience than I seem to have, so sometimes we move the potty chair into other areas of the house and get on with our day. Ice cream, anyone?