Getting stronger

Krassi has made some big strides in the last week or two with what he is attempting physically. I guess I'm not surprised that this is coupled with his positive weight gain - a lot of that weight (all ounces of it!) appears to be muscle, and he's putting those muscles to work.

See how he can climb himself up onto these cushions? The bent knees and hips are a new thing for him as he's starting to try to use his legs to help him navigate instead of relying solely on his arms to pull himself around and dragging his legs behind him. As usual, you can see that he's both very proud of himself, and delighted by the camera being out. What a ham!

On this day he got himself completely off the floor and onto the cushion.

And even more exciting and impressive to us is how he's working on pulling up to standing. He is very much not capable of doing this on his own, but the big thing we've noticed is that he's trying. Someone from my parents' church wanted to make a Lego table for Krassi (which he can share with his siblings). It's super sturdy and a great height - and big enough for quite a few little ones can gather around it at one time. Krassi, though, still thinks that the method for standing up is to pull really hard with his arms until his feet lift off the floor and then set them down. This obviously doesn't work. ;) But it means that my job is to help him place his feet in such a way that he can feel what it is to use his leg muscles to push his body up. And then, to make sure that he doesn't tumble back down again because he really does not have a good sense of what legs are for!

I think Rinnah may have taken this one, since Owen uses his own camera, and Leah is in the photo... Not bad for a two-year-old!

It is so exciting to watch him working - he tries so hard, and is making strides in so many ways. We are so proud of our oldest little boy!

And although this last photo may seem somewhat disconnected, it's still a fun one to share - Krassi found a bag of bags sitting by the back door of the kitchen, and, well, you can see the results. He was pretty pleased with himself - loved the sound, loved pulling them over himself and scooting out from under them. Even though this isn't an example of muscular strength in the same way that the others are, there's still a thrill for me to see him getting to play this way - I'm sure he's never had an experience like that before! Also notice his bare feet. It is NOT bare feet weather yet, but he loves to pull socks off - anyone's socks, including his own. And he, unlike Reuben, who's still working on the skill, taught himself how to do it! That's my boy. ;)