Groundhog Day

I'm sure the groundhog in Michigan couldn't even find it's way out of the ground with the 8 or so inches of snow we received yesterday. Too bad I couldn't take any pictures since our camera is off being repaired for some quirk it has.

Yesterday, Austin hit his 20 month mark. It's hard to believe that just a year ago he was still nursing and not even crawling yet! He seems older to me than his sisters did at this age, mostly because he likes to do whatever they do and they weren't exposed to some of the things he is now. For one thing, he loves hot chocolate. They just started drinking it a year ago, but he's not even 2 yet and he really enjoys it. He also loves all kinds of soups and can feed himself all of them, which they had a harder time with it sliding off the spoon before they could even get it to their mouths.

My favorites of all the words Austin repeats are "surprise!" (uprise) and "peek-a-boo!" (pee-boo). He will join Karissa, who he calls Deega, and hide from me and then jump out and say, "Uprise!" The way he says cookie is pretty cute too, especially when he goes over to where the cookie jar is, but I don't mind giving him a cookie when he asks (when we have some) since he eats his meals so well!

He enjoys playing Duck, Duck, Goose with us and is sad when he is left behind from all the fast runners (we play our own version where everyone runs in a circle with the chaser and the goose). He is still very helpful and always wants to help me make bread, other baked goods, do laundry, and put things away. He is very good at following directions. Yesterday, we had a friend over for our snow day and I asked all the kids whoever wanted a fruit smoothie to raise their hand. Austin was the very first one. His hand shot right up. The funny thing is, I haven't asked them to raise their hands in a while, so I was surprised he knew what I was talking about.

Some time when my camera is back, I'll have to video tape him dancing to High School Musical's 16 Minutes and Will Smith's Getting Jiggy With It. He enjoys dancing to those songs and singing with Will Smith. He also likes the song John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt and calls it "John Jacob".

He's such a cutie!