We've been a little lax on posting this month. For good reason: Life gets in the way of posting about life. But a blitz of posts about all that we've been up to will follow soon. In the meantime, here's an update to get caught up on Malcolm, now 6 months.
This past month he cut his first two teeth on the bottom. We miss the total gummy smiles for sure. But the two teeth are pretty cute. And they are as cute as they are sharp and bitey. We thought he was working on the top two as well, but those haven't appeared yet.
Malcolm is able to sit on his own. He tries, but can't quite get from lying down to sitting up by himself. And just because we sit him up, doesn't mean he'll stay there. He still tumbles over occasionally, both intentionally and unintentionally. And until he figures out how to crawl, he's mobile by rolling. He can make it across the room rolling.
He's expanding his vocabulary. The vocabulary of "gee" and "lalala." He's added coo's and babbles of more sounds. Sometimes we think they sound like "mamama" and "dadada," but it's not official. He especially likes to jabber to himself in the morning. Malcolm also can blow spit bubbles that drench his shirts. He seems to feel quite accomplished by this.
He's still a smiley, happy baby, but is becoming more reserved with smiles with people he doesn't know as well. He loves to interact with all kids and babies, especially his cousins.
He also seems to love the element of surprise. And there is a fine line between being surprised and being scared. If you can find the right amount to surprise him, he'll giggle and want more. If you overestimate that amount, he'll look at you terrified. If you underestimate that amount, he'll look away from you uninterested.
At times we'll notice Malcolm has such focused interest on a single object - a book, a tag on a blanket, or a picture. He can just about get his hands do what he wants them to do - grabbing at toys, holding our fingers, and rubbing his eyes.
He spends time just watching and absorbing everything that surrounds him. Malcolm's eyes are drawn to shadows and lights. Some of his favorite things to observe are cars. He loves to watch the traffic. He also likes to look out the window of our living room to see the neighborhood. The wind blowing through the leaves on the trees. The bees on the flowers. The chipmunks digging holes in our yard.
And even though life's been busy, it's been busy with more interactive time with Malcolm. He wants to know what we're doing and wants to be a part of that. It seems appropriate that since this last month John Hughes passed, we find ourselves living by the immortal words of Ferris Bueller: "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
Window shopped for hats. 
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We saw about 6 six different types of butterflies. But Malcolm seemed most interested in the giant carp. 
We also met their newest edition, James.
Whoops. This isn't James. This is Lex who demands much of the attention in the house.
This past month he cut his first two teeth on the bottom. We miss the total gummy smiles for sure. But the two teeth are pretty cute. And they are as cute as they are sharp and bitey. We thought he was working on the top two as well, but those haven't appeared yet.
Malcolm is able to sit on his own. He tries, but can't quite get from lying down to sitting up by himself. And just because we sit him up, doesn't mean he'll stay there. He still tumbles over occasionally, both intentionally and unintentionally. And until he figures out how to crawl, he's mobile by rolling. He can make it across the room rolling.
He spends time just watching and absorbing everything that surrounds him. Malcolm's eyes are drawn to shadows and lights. Some of his favorite things to observe are cars. He loves to watch the traffic. He also likes to look out the window of our living room to see the neighborhood. The wind blowing through the leaves on the trees. The bees on the flowers. The chipmunks digging holes in our yard.
Arlene (Voelz) Grunze, Erin Grunze, Russ Grunze, and Richard Grunze
Colleen (Liebzeit) Hoerth, Erin Grunze, Donna (Hoerth) Grunze, and Clarence Hoerth
Ruby (Johnson) Lindell, Barbara (Lindell) Schlomer, Paul Schlomer
Richard Schlomer, Duane Schlomer, Paul Schlomer, Vivian (Hansen) Schlomer
