The Harvey Family: Blake

We have officially put up the first Harvey Family Christmas Tree, woohoo! I was hoping Blake would be a little more excited about the lights, but it amuses him about as much or a little less than his toys that light up (and play songs). Ah well, it's about time we start some new family traditions around here and it will be fun seeing the holidays through the eyes of a child again as Blake grows. I've been collecting tree ornaments for a few years now and they finally have a place to be displayed. =)

Our newest ornament thanks to Aunt Tambra and Uncle Carroll.

This week, Blake:

has been waving and saying hi on command a little more. He won't do it every time and his "hi" is more of an "eh". He'll just say it over and over and it's super cute. He gets waving and pointing confused a little so he'll put up his pointer finger and wave his arm.
started saying "eh" at everything. He'll point and say "eh" over and over in a tone of voice like he's asking "eh?".
decided that he doesn't like organization at all which is going to drive me nuts. On his new walker toy he wants everything out of place. He wants the phone off the hook, the shapes out of their little holes and then he can't stand to have any of his letter links in the little tupperware bin that I put them in. I was going to try and teach him the concept of picking things up by putting them in the bin and taking them out again but he only paid attention to half of that lesson apparently.
got caged in. Since he is on the move so much we added baby gates to his living room play area to keep him away from all the electronic's wires at the front of the room. We left one opening so we don't have to step over the gates every time we go into the living room, but he's figured it out and will go crawling out that opening at warp speed.
stopped taking an afternoon nap for the most part. If it's after 1pm there is just no point in trying to put him down or he won't be tired at bedtime. He still takes one or two 30 min naps most days but they're clustered in the morning and they're either in the stroller or carseat... so much for nap sleep training in the crib. I'm sure we'll start it again once he takes one afternoon nap when he's older.
started dancing. He got some early Christmas presents when Mimi and Grandpa Joel came to visit and one of them is his activity table that plays lots of fun music. He'll start some music playing and then hold on with one hand and wave the other in the air (sometimes as a pointer finger) and bounce up and down... so cute!
is really interested in flags. I couldn't figure out why he'd want to stop at certain houses when we were on our walks and finally put the pattern together. He loves the bright red flags that wave in the breeze and just wants to stare at them and figure out what is making them move.
loves the backside of his toys. Ok this has been going on for weeks now but I forgot to mention it. It's like he's checking out to see how the toy is put together or where the sound is coming from. He's such a curious little boy.
started playing peekaboo with himself. He'll take a blanket or shirt of mine and stretch it with both hands over his head so that his face is covered and then move it down real fast and smile. Sometimes he plays with me but sometimes it's the ceiling fan or even the birds outside the window that he smiles at... silly boy.
has been stretching everything over his head (reference above bullet point). He does it with blankets, his letters, pretty much anything he can get 2 hands on, he'll just hold on and stretch his arms up over his head and close his eyes and try and rub it on the top of his head. I really don't know what he's doing and it's hard to get a good picture of it since it's so quick.
outgrew his rock n play. Really this was also a couple weeks ago, but now I put him in there one time a day and that is just to contain him for his medicine at night, and I have to keep my foot on him so he doesn't roll out. There are straps to fasten him down but he's only in there less than 2 minutes and it seems silly to strap him down for such a short time.
has been super sensitive to loud noises and cries if they're too loud. I tried to vacuum the floors with him in the baby carrier (I've done this in the past with no problems) and he just started freaking out. Same with the little hand held vacuum, the blow dryer (a little), a tool that our neighbor was using to wax his car, and his little friend Kalia (when he tried to take her toy she made it clear that she did not approve - lol). His senses must be on overdrive or something, but hopefully if we keep exposing him to these sounds he'll get used to them.
can give you a high or low five on demand now. He gets this big grin on his face and just smacks your hand as hard as he can... he is such a boy.