James is a Climber

James has learned how to climb.

For several heart-attack-inducing, goose-egg-producing weeks, he has not known how to climb back down, and simply teetered over the edge head-first. Yikes.

Thankfully, we've seen him successfully climb up and down on Caleb's small chair, the "daddy chair" rocker, and Caleb's toddler bed. Talk about the school of hard knocks!

James's current favorite thing to climb is Caleb's small chair. He has even figured out how to stand up in it.

I'm losing years off of my life here, people!

The video below is what I watched him do four or five times yesterday. Believe me that I made this video for posterity's sake, and then promptly (and sternly) got James off the table. That boy is pure second child. Where a stern "no" will stop Caleb in his tracks (most days), James will endure even worse discipline, then head right back to what he was doing.

No children were harmed in the making of this film...only a small heart attack on the mama's part.

Caleb swims!

Despite not swimming much this year, Caleb has overcome his fear in the water! The first time out, he clung to me like his life depended on it (despite the fact that he had more floatation devices on him than most boats). The second time, Grandma was very patient with him, and helped him get more used to the water. By the third time out, he was pushing me away, tell me that he could do it by himself! I'm so proud of him! Of course, he's still wrapped in floaties, but overcoming his fear was a huge step.

Piano Man

James got to participate in his first talent show tonight! Here's the video of my little man rockin' it out! He ended up dancing a lot more when he sat with me in the audience, but I think he did pretty well for his first performance!

The women with James are Allyn (left), his speech therapist, and Tricia (right), his physical therapist.