Dirt from mouth to toe and falling asleep by himself!

Since the weather has finally become nice (it's been raining sooo much here lately!) the Frog and I have been spending a lot more time outside... which means he's been spending a lot more time in the dirt.

I was weeding the other day and constantly looking up to make sure he didn't eat any more rocks (a favorite of his) and one time he seemed very busy with the neighbors ivy, creeping through our fence. Though his back was turned, I wasn't worried about rocks, since there are none over there. Nonetheless, I didn't know if this particular ivy has any poisonous properties when ingested, so I thought it a good idea to be sure he wasn't eating any of that either. I called to him a few times to see if there was anything in his mouth but he didn't turn around. Finally, after approaching him, he turns around and gives me a great big grin (not shown) with dirt all around his mouth.

If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he had gotten into a pan of brownies...

A few days later, I thought he might have some fun finger-"painting" with water on some colored construction paper outside. He seemed to be more interested in sucking on the sponge of water, dragging it around with him through the muck while he crawled exploring, sucking on it again, etc. I just couldn't resist snapping a shot of his cute little feeties before we went inside to wash them off. The tops of his feet are always dirty, too, from dragging while he crawls. It's very cute.



So he's no Van Gogh. On the bright side, hopefully that means he'll keep both his ears. :)

Other news:
We've started letting the Frog cry himself to sleep. Well, really, I've tried many times before now but my heart couldn't take the crying. (Even 10 minutes feels like hours!) But Jay convinced me to try it and he did it with the Frog on Thursday for bedtime and then again Friday morning while I was at ballet, and it seemed to work. (Warning: long boring details. Probably only interesting for other parents of little kids) The first night he cried 30 minutes before Jay went in to comfort him. As soon as Jay picked the Frog up, he settled down and almost immediately fell asleep in his arms. The next morning for his nap, he cried 20 minutes and slept an hour!! That is a loooong time for our little one to sleep. I'm just grateful to get him to go 40 minutes! Friday afternoon, I thought I should continue doing it, while the Frog was getting used to it, and I stood outside his room, watching him through a little crack for 30 minutes. For some reason, I decided the crying isn't as bad as long as I can see that he's ok. Now, when we put him in his crib, he doesn't stand up clinging to the side, like he used to, and he stays lying down, cries for about 3 minutes, and he's out. YAY!!! Sadly, he still wakes up several times at night, but I'm hoping this will be baby-steps to teach him to fall back asleep on his own. Sleep-filled nights are finally on the horizon- for all of us!