Baby Butt Cheeks, Rhythm Machine

Vash is one musical maniac. The boy loves rhythm. His new favorite movie, Yes Toy Story has been dethroned, is Finding Nemo. Wanna guess why?

HA WHO WA HE HA HO HO HO!!!!! Remember the chanting around Mount Wanna Hock A Loogy? He just dances and dances and asks us to sing it for him so he can dance more. And he loves shouting out HOO! at the end of the chant. He's pretty much a dancing machine.
 But before he had so much coordination he used to be a marcher. He'd march around the room to any music. This brings me to the Butt Cheeks. One time when I was cleaning the house, I had on the sound track to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters (Yes the Disney Ride.... I am hopeless).  Vash was marching around with an animal from his Noah's Ark in each hand. Well, he had a poopy diaper and I stopped to change him. After he was clean, but before I could get the new diaper on, he was up and marching again. Imagine it. Little Vash, lion in one hand, sheep in the other, arms straight out in front of him, pounding in time to the music, t-shirt on, bare bum, marching around the living room. I laughed so hard I nearly cried. It's one of my favorite memories to this day.

Movies

When Vash was super little, I'm talking 8 weeks old, Craig and I started taking him to the movies. You have to understand. He was little and it was summer in Mesa. Over 100 degrees everyday. We couldn't just take him for walks outside or anything like that. So we'd walk around the Superstition Springs Mall until we were bored and then go to the dollar theatre. He actually seemed to like it. He would just lay in mine or Craig's arms and look distantly at the screen. Probably watching the changing shapes and colors. He'd whine a bit and we'd give him a bottle that he would happily eat while still looking at the movie. We even took him to late night, special event at a Harkins Theatre once. We could hear people groaning when we came in holding a baby, but they'd see soon enough. Vash didn't make a peep the entire time. Slept through the whole thing. At the end a couple came up to us and told us that we had the best baby in the world. "We were worried when we saw you bringing that baby in here, but he was excellent." "Thanks", we'd say. Even a teenager made a point of coming up to us and saying Awesome baby as he was leaving. Once he started crawling though, we had to start getting a baby sitter because Mr. Vash has never been much for sitting around. In a way, I miss having him along.

Swimmy Swimmy Boy

Vash was really disappointed when the water at the Hampton was too cold to swim in. This reminded me how much he loves swimming. We used to take him swimming at Nana and Papa's pool, and at the pool in Grandma and Grandpa's apartment complex. This last summer we even put him in swim lessons at Aqua Tots. I took the class with him and he seemed to really like it. We practiced putting our face in the water to blow bubbles and grab rings. We learned to float and swim on our backs under a hippo bridge. We learned to monkey walk and Vash learned to be passed under water while holding his breath. I remember how cute he looked when he'd come up, water streaming down his face, blinking his eyes wildly, and taking in a big gulp of air. And I loved his big padded bottom. Not just wearing a swim diaper, but also a washable second (Just to be safe) diaper, and his   pooh bear swim shorts. My little super white, easily burned, chubby cheek bubbas, covered in sun screen, and a sun cap. Those were the days. At the end of swim lessons he even earned two ribbons. Expert Monkey Walker and Junior Bubble Blower. (I'll post pictures of them when we get home.) Despite the ridiculous heat of living in Mesa, I'm very excited about summer coming again, just so that Vash can be swimmy swimmy boy again.

Mr. Independent

Vash came out of the womb declaring his independence. The nurses lay him down to weigh and measure him and he instantly began lifting his torso off the table. They couldn't believe how strong he was. Looking back now, and knowing him as well as I do, I see that he wasn't trying to display his strength. He was trying to prove his independence. I can imagine, all too well, his baby thoughts screaming out, "I don't need your help. I'll weigh and measure myself. I'll clean myself off AND get myself to my mom. Oh, and I don't need her help to eat either. I'll latch all by myself." Yep, and he weaned himself too once he realized he could hold a bottle by himself. Loved that. Sitting in his bouncy seat, feeding himself. And when he learned how to crawl and then walk? That boy was in hog heaven. "You mean I don't need Mom and Dad to get from here to there? This is AWESOME!" Relatives   used to say trying to snuggle Vash was like trying to cuddle a board. He did NOT want to lean into you or have any help supporting his head. And he really didn't like anyone trying to interfere with his sleeping habits. "No way am I sleeping in my crib. You're going to hold me Mom, so I know I'm not missing anything while I take my nap." I remember rocking him to sleep, the deep sleep where you can lift up and drop an arm and they don't budge, but the second I set him in his crib, his eyes would flash open and he'd wail till I picked him up again. (Found out later that was because he had Reflux and laying flat in the crib hurt his tummy.) No one could tell him when to go to sleep either. Even when I was pregnant with him, if we went for a walk, I could feel him inside trying to brace himself to stop me from rocking him to sleep. Couldn't win that battle though. He only had so much room to fight. So on and so on, Mr. Independent about everything from insisting on feeding himself solids and with big boy utensils to trying to change his own diapers now. I love that little guy. And all his stubborn energy. Deep down inside, I know he's a love bug. I know this because now that he's getting big enough to have a real amount of independence, he wants me to hold him when I read his bedtime story, and rests his head on Daddy's shoulder when he's ready for a nap, and gives baby sister big kisses when  he's sorry for stealing her binky.