Gifted

Although the doctor tells me Malachi is in the zero-eth (maybe not a word, but if you say it often enough, it becomes palatable) percentile in weight, [very surprising when you consider that he weighs one thousand pounds after he has just eaten and you have to carry him upstairs to bed], we can take comfort from the fact that he is above-average in all of the following:

1. Being interested in things

Ky loves to watch Abe and Seb playing carwash, me cooking, Sam doing pushups, or anyone else doing anything. Sometimes if you walk out of the room and leave him alone, he cries. Then when you come back he gets excited (with all of his limbs). He smiles at anyone who looks at him in church and at the store, and he seems to be just as fascinated with construction equipment as the other boys are. The pictures below show him watching Sam, trying on a life jacket, and looking at a crane (respectively)---all of which seemed to be endlessly interesting experiences for him.

2. Being pleased with himself

Now that he's learning to do more things, Malachi seems highly aware of his own intentionality; that is, he does things on purpose and he's proud after he does them. Many times after he's pushed himself up on his hands or taken a bite of cereal (he has started on a few solids now, and is starting to like them) or scooted across the room to get a toy, he makes a point of looking at me and smiling, like, "Did you see that, Mommy?"

He seems especially pleased when he grasps something he's reaching for, since not too long ago all he could do was bat at things and hope he got lucky. These things he has long wanted, and only recently been able to get, include: any necklace I'm wearing, my lips, my nose, my hair, and my ears (these are all while he's supposed to be nursing), as well as any food on my plate, the pen I'm writing with, and my sunglasses. He's SO happy and proud whenever he gets his grasping little fingers on any of these things!!

3. Biting things

While all babies like to bite, I've never seen such a baby for biting his foot like a hamburger. I often overhear admiring comments about it from passers-by when we're out in public. He also likes to get and bite other things with great ferocity. One favorite target of his ferocious bite is Sam's tie. Another is anyone's finger he happens to be holding, but in a pinch, even apparently unbiteable items (a stomach, a shoulder, the arm of the couch, a newspaper) will do.

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Boys together

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Pictures of Ky-guy

Did you know it is possible to "photoshop-out" (can I say that?) drool? Yes . . . but luckily, most of these close-ups render such measures unnecessary :)

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Pictures of Sebboo

When we were taking Abe's picture, Sebby kept coming over and saying "I want my picture taken too!" Proof that anything an older sibling does, the younger will want to do it too---especially since that was coming from the boy who often says when I comb his hair, "But I don't want to be handsome!"

(All the hands up on his neck and face were not directed by us trying to make him look like a male model, but just because he wiggles around a lot, which includes waving his arms around. I didn't include all the pictures of him covering up his eyes, lifting up his shirt, etc.)

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Pictures of Abraham

We spent two evenings last week walking around taking pictures of the boys (like my friend Beth [who is a great photographer--she took some of our engagement pictures, and has also taken some fabulous model-type shots of me wearing her sister's prom dress--very glamorous], I'm getting tired of paying $20 for one sheet of pictures at a studio--and can you ever manage to contain yourself to one sheet?) and here are the results. Sam applied himself to the white balance, the ISO, and other technical details, and I stood behind him yelling, "Look over here! Over HERE! Sebby, look at ME! I'm right HERE!" I'll put the three boys' pictures up in separate posts.

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Our New House

Here is a picture of it, which Abey drew. It is quite accurate, although Abey added a few things that are not, strictly speaking, present.

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More Wildflowers

Sorry for the similar posts, but I just can't stop taking pictures of all the wildflowers. They are so pretty!!

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