Explorations and Encounters Part 1

Cheetah is extremely intrigued with all things outdoors. Anytime he can detect an open door he makes a run for freedom. Jane and I were concerned early on that our small property lot would not interest Cheetah very much, but for now he enjoys roaming our small piece of the urban jungle. One big draw is the wildlife, both organic and mechanical.

 

Cheetah loves the cats. To him they are mobile teddy bears. I must say how surprised I am at how tolerant the cats are of Cheetah. He can be quite grabby but aside from laid back ears and exasperated facial expressions, the cats put up with quite a lot from him. They don't always let him catch them but often they will approach him and let him pet them. Ripples of the Garden of Eden I suppose.

Cheetah also loves moving vehicles. Whenever I take him with me to check the mail his head will constantly swivel to focus on the nearest vehicle on our busy city street. Left to his own devices, he will hang on the front fence and happily watch to world go by. Life is huge source of entertainment for this child.

Sublime Sundays

I have always enjoyed Sundays as a rule. Certainly as a bishop I don't rest much, but the work is different and it relaxes me. Now Cheetah is becoming a larger part of my day; a very cute one as the above picture will attest. Jane snapped this picture of Cheetah walking around in his Sunday clothes before church and it pretty much sums up our Sundays. He is cute as a button and always so happy. Thanks again to cousin Brenda for the baby sized bowties, they are so adorable and rather practical for a toddler who grabs anything he can see.

With Cheetah walking and Jane being so busy in Primary, I take Cheetah for the first two hours of church and aside from how heavy he is (30 lbs.), I enjoy the time we get to spend with each other immensely. Sometimes when I am playing hymns I will hand him to one of my counselors, but for the most part Cheetah is content to sit on my lap and observe his surroundings. Its quite a wonderful feeling to have him with me as we get to spend so little time together during the week.

The secret of course is that as Bishop, I don't stay in one place for long and this compliments Cheetah's temperament nicely. Whenever Cheetah's environment changes, he pauses to observe and assess the situation. He does get antsy after two hours of this but that is in just enough time for Jane to relieve me and give Cheetah a snack during sacrament meeting. Jane has mentioned many times that Cheetah is giving us the most seamless and painless transition to parenthood that anyone could hope and I heartily agree.

Epic Recap

I wonder if any one has failed so spectacularly quick at their New Year's resolution?
There is no explanation other than I am a lazy bum and enjoy playing with blocks and reading books all day.
However, Tarzan has posts scheduled for the next few days so I thought I'd speak before we jump into the current moment to get us all caught up. 
The last time I shared any pictures was before Thanksgiving - mostly because I do a lot of my posting from my iPad which does not post pictures. (Or I can't figure it out if it does.) - and as we learned, the small ones make progress really quick.
When we last saw Cheetah he was crawling and pulling himself up. Particularly when near a thing that makes noise:

Or when items require flinging from the shelves:

He's quite adept at emptying a bookcase in record time.
He was very interested in our Little People Nativity during December (thank you Liezel for the recommendation!) His favorite part was pushing the angel to make it light up and sing:

(It was a really adorable set, with a lot of pieces - none of which we lost, which was amazing - and my only comment/criticism is why would it include a sheep, a cow, two donkeys and no shepherd?)
He was less amused with Santa:

It was fantastic to have Tarzan home more during his Christmas break from school and he and Cheetah spent many adorable hours bonding:

We got a larger Christmas tree than last year and Cheetah thought it was great. It looked a little odd as the season went on. We kept having to put the decorations back on higher up so he couldn't reach the breakables:

Which is always higher than we think. I remember the day I walked in on this:

Cheetah quit nursing in January, and I think I pushed him to continue longer than he may have cared to. This kid came into the world expecting to eat steak and when presented with only milk it just wasn't enough. He eats everything:

We cut his hair for the first time in January. The back was just a little too long:

Of course it's a little crooked now, so I'm not sure which is the greater faux pas:

Somewhere in there Cheetah let go of our hands:

And started walking:

Of course now he's an expert, up and down everything, even stairs, needing no help:

He loves to 'help' me with the dishwasher:

He's a big reader:

And he likes to climb:

The latest stats from his 15-month appointment this week.
*Almost* 33" tall. (32.84")
*Almost* 30lbs. (29 lbs 11ozs)
Gigantic head 20.24"
This is me with only the one excuse for not blogging. I've got to get it together.