Well, we’ve come a LONG way, but I am finally helmet free!  I’ll probably have a few visit to the chiropractor and a few more physical therapy visits because I am still dealing with torticollis, but I’m almost perfect.  Mom and Dad joked that we won’t get anymore comments everytime we go out of people wondering about my helmet or being extra nice because they think something is wrong with me, that I’ll just be another regular baby, but I’m perfect to them!

1st helmet (30 weeks)

Second helmet (April 2010)

Helmet free!  Notice the space left between the helmet (what my head currently is) and the mold/model (what it was)

Well, mom is pretty much living for the weekend now.  I’m having a great time with Dena and Drew, but mom misses me so much.  We had a great time this weekend, making the most of the time we have.  I made her some handprint magnets at Dena’s and helped dad make a frame of all kinds of pictures of me for her birthday, I think she liked it.

We spent a TON of time outside this weekend.  I walked up the whole slide all by myself!  I picked mom some more flowers, took lots of long walks, and just enjoyed the weaning summer days.  I also got to see my girl Lilamae!  I’m learning more body parts, I can say and identify “eyes”, “mouth”, and sometimes “nose”, I can also point to my ear (note the picture of me and mom), toes, and bellybutton, not bad for a little guy.  Helmet comes off Tuesday! 🙂

Mom has been having a pretty hard week going back to work and all, so I decided she needed some flowers.  I picked several daisies (her favorite) from the yard on Saturday and brought them to her.  Dad has taught me to take care of mom, I guess I’m doing a pretty good job.  She says that leaving me this year is way harder than last year, I just don’t know what I’m going to do with her, she is a mess. 

I love being at my new sitter’s house.  I’ve had lots of fun learning to climb up the slide, playing in the pool, and she even brought me to mom’s school!

I’ve been learning all kinds of body parts, working on the potty and putting on shoes (mom’s in these pictures), and beginning to jump–I’ve almost got it.  I’m definitley keeping mom and dad busy!

Mom and I have been having a great time in our last few days together.  She returns to work Monday, ughh, can you believe it?  What a fast summer!  We have done so much together.  Mom thinks it is going to be harder to leave me now than last year, since I’m so much fun and can actually say goodbye to her. 

One of the biggest milestones we’ve had in my interest in the potty.  Though I’m faaaaaar from trained, I’ve shown a lot of interest in, and have gone at least 2x/day since 7/29, I’m on my way! 🙂

I’ve spent a lot of time in my whale pool this summer, here are a few pictures from yesterday.  There is cool fountain made by the whale’s blowhole, I love playing in that thing!  In some of the pictures I am telling Dad “more” so he’ll turn the fountain higher.  How smart am I?  I even wanted to go on the big-kid teeter on my swing, I did pretty well if I do say so myself.  Also included, my crying face when we had to go inside, I am definitely an outside kind of guy.

We’re also throwing in some pictures of this huge buck we saw in our backyard, Dad is guessing at least a 10 pointer.

Thanks to everyone who made this such a remarkable summer!

Today Mom had to go back to work for in-services so it is just Dad and I hanging out.  I forgot how much fun Dad is when it is just us boys!  So far today, we’ve read several books, played my flashcards on the iPad, played with my truck, but I’ve mostly have been playing with my new tube.  Mom and Dad got me this new inflatable tube that is so big that I can walk through it!   It’s so big that even Dad can fit in it!  I also made some silly faces that you’ll see.

I hope you’re having a great day at your in-services Mom!  I’ll see you soon!

We arrived back home today after leaving Grandma at 4:30am.  I did a much better job traveling this time around.  I fed Roxy several times, ran around some rest areas, and even took two 1.25hr naps!  Mom was proud of me!  I had such an amazing time in Florida!  Grandma is perhaps the one person that can take me from my mom and I’ll be okay.  We had such a fun time playing and exploring.  I got to see Uncle Jesse, Rhonda, Mal, and Pap too. 

Mom said she learned everything she knows about how to be a mom from grandma and mom said she has a lot to live up to.  Grandma has helped mom so many times with her silly questions and concerns and told me that grandma sacrificed a lot and she hopes she can be like the great mom she had.  I can’t wait until I see her again! 🙂

I LOOOOOOOOOOVE the beach! I had such an amazing time when Grandma took me to the beach on 7/21/2010. It is called Paradise Beach and boy was it! I enjoyed going in and out of the water, I laughed and laughed as the water splashed around me. I DID NOT like when mom made me hold her hand when we walked out, Grandma let me be a little more free. I also played in the sand, but it didn’t match the fun of the water. We flew a kite too! I’m definitely going to have to come back to this place! 🙂

Canton is becoming quite the animal lover!  Enjoy this clip of Canton on 7/19/2010 feeding giraffes at the Brevard Zoo!

Feeding Giraffes from Mike Murphy on Vimeo.

On July 19 we headed to the Brevard Zoo.  I had an AMAZING time.  It was a beautiful day, hardly any people around, and lots of shade!  I saw so many neat animals and I was able to get so close to them!  I rode a train around the park and got to see rhinos, a cheetah, monkeys, but the giraffes were by far the best part!  Can you believe that I did something with animals again that mom was afarid to do?!  I fed the giraffes!!  I was sooo brave and got a huge kick out of feeding these graceful animals.  Melvin, my favorite giraffe, let me feed him several times.  I stayed over four hours at the zoo and only got fussy a few times.  Grandma was proud of how I stayed interested in all that was going on.  As soon as we got in the car I conked out and took a 2.5 hour nap!!  That’s pretty huge for me!  Mom and Dad might need to bring me here more often!

On July 15 we started our journey to visit Grandma in the Sunshine State.  I sure didn’t like the car ride to FL. We had to make many many stops, but mom and dad we’re okay with that, especially after they got some super cute pictures of me posing at the Georgia sign.

And here I am playing in the driver seat to stretch out my legs…