Houston has become quite the little fly chaser. Good thing we have so many stinkin flys in our house huh? Anyways, he is always following them around. The other night we were sitting on the couch watching him chase one and *whack* he got it! Of course it immediately went into his mouth... Since that night I have pulled two more flys from his mouth. Weather he caught them I don't know for sure. We keep the house pretty clean, so there's a good chance.

 Heath absolutely loves to help me cook. Anytime he hears my mixer start he comes running to the kitchen gate. "Help Mommy please!"

 The other day I was changing Houston's diaper and Heath started yellling, "Mommy come find me!" I came out and found this laying perfectly motionless.

 and under that, this...

 Heath has gotten really good at responding to a request with," Yes, Mommy" or "Yes, Daddy."  I don't think we've really worked with him much at it but what little we did has stuck. I can't tell you how nice it is when I say, "Heath, will you go wash your hands?" to hear, "yes mommy!" rather than the usual "nooo!"

 I was nursing Houston on the couch and Heath came up to me and asked, "Mom do you like feeding Houston?" Honestly the question kinda caught me off guard and before I thought up an answer he continued, "Yes, you like feeding Houston." then walked away to find something to play with. I thought that was pretty considerate of him; how many two year olds wonder if their mother enjoys doing something or not.

 Heath had done something notty, I can't really remember what, but he was put in timeout for it. (to sit on the ground with his hands in his lap) Houston was playing happily so I thought it would be an ideal time to take a bathroom break for myself since Heath would stay sitting and not bother Houston. I was gone maybe 1 minute total. After a bit Heath started fussing, which I thought was just because he didn't want to be in timeout anymore so I just continued washing my hands. When I came out though Houston was kneeling next to Heath with his hands a wavin' smacking Heath in the face repeatedly while Heath just sat there with his hands in his lap begging Houston to stop because he was in timeout and therefore couldn't move.  I pulled Houston away and told Heath how sorry I was that he got attacked, and thanked him for being obedient and staying in timeout. I couldn't help but laugh when Matt came home and I told him about it though.

 I gave Heath a box of packing peanuts to play with while Houston was napping in an effort to keep him happy for a while so I could get some major packing done. It worked beautifully and the best part was that cleaning it up was just as much fun, if not more so, for him. I gave him the shop vac and he went to work watching the pieces get sucked up. He literally sucked up ever single speck on his own and then was sad when he was finished. 

Last month I bore my testimony in church, and when I sat back down it took almost everything I had to hold Heath back. He wanted to go "talk loud too."  Every Sunday since then Heath has asked when he gets to go talk. 

The boys were playing with a ball and hit one of my plants knocking it over onto the ground and spilling dirt all over the place. Heath came running to me saying, "Mommy was Heath knotty?" and we talked about how it was an accident so it's ok. Then I told him to hold Houston until I could get the broom and sweep it up to which Heath said, "Come on lil' buddy." and pulled Houston away and held on tight. It was pretty cute. He's becoming so helpful and acting so much older lately.

We went to Daddy's work to eat lunch with him one day. As soon as Heath saw him he asked for his flashlight. (Matt carries one in the pocket of his scrubs to look in ppls eyes) Heath then climbed under the table and said, "See Monkeys Houston? See Tigers? Roarrr"

Lately if Houston does anything that could have possibly been knotty Heath will ask, "Houston was knotty? Houston sit it in timeout?" 

We went to a wedding at Lake Springfield which was a pretty nice place with little guys because Heath just watched the geese through the whole ceremony and was perfectly quiet. Afterwords we tried to walk across the lawn, but they were a bit too protective. Since then whenever a duck or goose comes up in conversation Heath is sure to let us know that "geese are mean!"

This was our attempt at a family picture with lots of distractions around...   

 Houston has been standing up a lot the last few days all on his own. He'll stand up for a few seconds then lower himself back down and repeat it over and over again. 

The other day (July 3rd) he took his first unassisted step.

  He was doing his standing up and sitting down practices (which he loves to climb up onto Heath's toddler bed and do for some reason, the most dangerous place possible. We have to keep Heath's door shut lately) and just took a step towards Heath. He stood for a few seconds afterwords but then just lowered himself back down.