2 Years

Tonight is our two year anniversary of being in our first house together. Now we've got a little pumpkin streakin' across the floors!

Gooseberry Falls

The family migrated north on Thursday night to Duluth. Friday morning, we decided to see some of the North Shore during the fall color season. Here are some pictures from Gooseberry Falls.

New Discovery

Elizabeth was amazed to learn that the toilet seat cover could be lifted. As I was getting ready this morning, this great discovery was uncovered, and the look of satisfaction on her face was priceless. Now mom and dad really have to keep her from the bathroom, or she'll be swimming in the toilet!

Fall has Arrived!

The Grant family celebrated the beautiful fall weekend by going to the Northwoods apple orchard. Elizabeth got to pick a peck of apples and crawl around the pumpkins.

Then, she took her dad out for a ride on the John Deere B. This was her first time driving, but she was a pro!

Finally, Elizabeth ended the weekend with a big bite of watermelon. She loved feeding herself this...and it put her two teeth (plus two more coming!) to good use. Bye, bye baby food...

Where's the Learning Curve?

I realize that all parents want their children to be intelligent, fast learners. This is true of Josh and me, although I wish that motor development wasn't something that Elizabeth seemed to excel at. Today as Josh and I were finishing up dinner, we looked up to see Elizabeth walking down the hallway as if this was totally natural. So now the little bugger has learned to get up into the walking position without help from the wall and can string together 6 or 7 steps...all of this in less than a week. I'm sure by Sunday she'll be training for her next marathon!

10 Months Old!

Elizabeth is ten months old today! At 10 months, she loves playing with her teddy bears and doll, crawling and cruising around the house, and sticking everything you can imagine in her mouth. She is on the verge of walking but still prefers to crawl because it's much quicker. Elizabeth is developing a lot of personality (some days her parents wish she had a bit less!), but she is overall a really happy, easy baby. Happy 10 months little girl!

First Steps

The momentous developmental milestone happened today- Elizabeth took her first steps. Josh stood out in front of Elizabeth and convinced her to take three steps towards him. (This was all while Sam melted in the background!) Seriously, we knew that the day would come, but it was our hope that it would be a little closer to the first birthday.

Here's a video of our little granny Elizabeth cruising with her walker a couple of days ago. The speed got her more interested in walking. We will post a video of her walking soon.

New Habit

This weekend, Elizabeth exhibited a new habit- she sticks her tongue out all the time! As Josh was busy reading for school, I chased Elizabeth around and took random pictures of her sticking out her tongue. It seemed to be especially prominent when she was concentrating on attacking me and grabbing the camera. It's a pretty cute mannerism because I know in a couple of years, she'll be sticking her tongue out at me intending to send a much different message (which will be anything but cute...)!

First Day of School!

Today was Josh's first day of school. I forced him to take the dorky "I'm waiting by the door" picture. (He should be happy that I don't follow him to Goodhue and take his picture in his room.) Elizabeth got up just in time to wish her dad a good day- 5 more years until she joins him.

Josh reports that the first day went really well. He is looking forward to a fresh batch of students. This year he will be teaching AP US History, 7th grade American History, and 9th grade Civics. His highlight of the day and a great start to the year was one eager student asking him, "Would it be okay if I read ahead in my AP History book?" Score for education!

A Weekend of Firsts

This labor day weekend was filled with firsts for Elizabeth.

On Saturday, the Grant family met the Senich's (plus Chris) at the State Fair.Elizabeth sampled her first Strawberry shake. (Probably not part of a 9 month old diet!)


Then on Sunday, Elizabeth went swimming for the first time in a lake.

Sports Illustrated here I come!
(Note: Elizabeth usually doesn't swim in the nude. We didn't intend to go swimming. Only as a baby can you pull that off!)