Photo Thoughts Part 9: My Little Outdoorsman

Wednesday evening, I had a random idea to do a shoot while Jack was eating. So I tied the dog up to keep him from doing anything to ruin the shoot or clobber my son, and brought my son out with a picnic blanket (aka quilt by Ma) and a couple of his favorite things.

I wanted to show how much my son loves to be outside at the age of seven months. As soon as he could crawl proficiently, he would beeline for the door as soon as it was opened. It is the only place he enjoys more than my lap.

It is getting chillier, and so he'd been wearing pants and socks all day and there was no worry about getting him all dirty. So once the horse was tied up and eating, I set him down and let him go. Of course, I made sure he didn't go too far, for he was bent on going to see the old gelding for a little while there.

The blanket was obviously abandoned in no time, and only once was he placed back on it. I got a few pictures of him sitting gnawing on his Nuby cup, which he loves, and one of him holding his teething ring after I placed him back on the blanket, but he was off again in a few minutes.

This time he was after Kaylen, but after realizing how far away she was and that there was a fence between them, he changed his mind and went after Jack again for a minute. Then he sat down and went to his favorite task: examining the grass and the dirt. Of course, several times throughout the half hour or so as we waited for the horse to finish his meal, I had to pull a blade of grass out of his mouth. Most of the time, however, he was too interested in what he was holding to bother tasting it. And he is learning the word "no", which stopped him on other occasions.

Yance is in his element when he is outside. Inside, he finds many things to get into and chew on, but outside, he is quiet, content, and at his best. Also at his dirtiest, but what do you expect from the son of a proficient outdoorsman and a tomboy?

He is already turning into the kind of man I hoped for.

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He has two teeth!

Yep, he got his first on Monday, October 9, but you already knew that. His second came in on October 13, last Friday.

Definitely no more chewing on anyone's knuckles anymore.

D's sister and brother-in-law are coming in this weekend, and we're going to start preparing to put the wood stove in and move the freezer outside. It's going to be busy, and fortunately a lot can be done inside. Because it's calling for rain this weekend.

It's a month tonight since we lost Caleb, but it feels like it's been two - that's how long the weeks have stretched. It's still hard to believe. But I think we're making it. We have Levi and Yance to help us.

Speaking of, Yance is begging to get into my lap, and it's almost time for his morning nap.

Today I am featuring that Nuby cup Ma gave Yance. Well, not that one exactly, because Yance likes it too much. But I am featuring the same style and brand.

And there you go!

Now to go put the boy in bed. Until next week!