Jake on the Move

After Jake and I spent the day with Jennifer and Baby Becca, we went to spend the night at my grandmother's house, which was only about 30 minutes away.  It was a quick overnight trip, but it was very special.  My grandmother and I have always been very close, but I never get to really spend time with her when we go visit.  When we go to see her as a family, I'm always running around chasing Cooper or visiting with other family members, which is wonderful, but I don't get time with her.  For the past couple years, I've really wanted to go visit her and just have a little time with just us.  It was something really important to me.  I also wanted her to have some time with Jake.  Sometimes second children don't get that special one-on-one time, and I wanted this for both of them.  She met Jake at Christmas time, but it was a crazy time with most of the family there!  This was just the three of us, and it was so calm, relaxing, and peaceful.  They got to bond, and I got that time with her like I've been wanting.  I told Karl when I got home that it was good for my soul!

On the way to her house, Jake and I stopped at The Varsity to get frosted oranges.  It's a family tradition. :)  The first time Cooper crawled was at Mama's house, and Jake had been flirting with the idea of crawling but hadn't yet done it.  I was hoping it would happen here again.

And it did.

Same rug.  Same scenario.  With Cooper, Mama teased him with a water bottle.  She dangled it close and pushed on it to make noise, and Cooper went for it.  When he would get close, she would move it just a tad.  It worked!  With Jake, she used her frosted orange!  She let him feel it, and it got him curious; then she moved it just a little bit, and he started to move!  Without even realizing what he was doing, he started army crawling!

When he got to her, she rewarded him with a little sip!  

He makes this face every time he tries something new:

But he liked it enough to go after it again!

It just made my heart smile that both of my babies crawled for the first time with my grandmother.  We only see her a couple times a year, and she is so special to me.  I'm very thankful that they hit these big milestones with her there to encourage and coax them and that she got to experience that excitement with them.  I've talked before about how much I love going to visit her and the many memories I have at her house and how much it means to me that my boys are getting to make memories there too.  I just never imagined when I was a little girl running around outside her house playing with my cousins that my children would be doing the same thing one day.  I know we're not quite there with Jake, but I sure do look forward to those days.