Peter is Starting to Walk!

 It's finally happening - Peter's learning to walk.  Kelly has been so determined to get him to start learning that every time he had a break from work he came upstairs and walked around the living room with him.  He'd sing and march and make a big game of it and I guess it worked!  After two days I noticed Peter standing up, balancing, not holding onto anything for a few seconds.  I decided to see if he'd walk on his own.

Since then, he's done it a handful of times more, back and forth between two people for a few steps at a time.  I've also seen him trying to stand-up and balance on his own more.  When I praise him, he gets a huge grin on his face.  He seems to really enjoy practicing and enjoys the sense of accomplishment.  We'll see where he goes from here.

Today I was going stir-crazy again.  It had rained all day long and since all indoor places are closed, I was ready to lose my mind.  I spontaneously declared it a beach day when I saw the rain let up a little.  I got everyone, even Benjamin, into the car and off we went.  Anyone else would have thought we were crazy to go to the beach on such a rainy day with more storms in the forecast for later.  However, the storms had caused marching band to cancel and so Benjamin was around and there won't be many chances like that again.  I couldn't miss this opportunity and my kids never mind swimming on rainy, cloudy days.  They love having the lake all to themselves.  Just like last time, just as we were driving out to the lake, the storm seemed to move in the opposite direction, and by the time we got to the beach, the storm was completely gone.  The heat and humidity from the storm and the emerging sun combined to make it perfect beach weather.  We all had a wonderful time on our "private" beach.

Peter enjoyed our beach tent at first while he had a snack and watched the others swim.  Then he and I joined them on the lake for the rest of the afternoon.  He enjoyed playing in the sand too.  Unfortunately he got an itchy eye and kept wiping his face with his dirty hands, as you can see.

For some reason he often lifts one foot like this and stays in this position for a while.  I think it's so funny and cute.

He wanted to play with the extra goggles and snorkels. These were his favorite.

Lousy picture of the kids in the lake, but it's the only one I got. Oh well.