Football

Apparently, Kellyn loves football. If you change the TV channel to one that is playing a football game, she will almost instantly become transfixed by it. After a minute or two, she will start cooing and babbling while staring at the screen. She makes several different sounds as if she is commenting on the game. It is so cute and so funny! And it will hold her attention for as long as you leave it on. But if they stop showing the game and start showing a couple of guys doing commentary on the game, she will lose interest and look away. We don't normally watch sports on TV but it's worth it to turn a football game on if she starts getting fussy. We plan on trying to get some video of her watching a game. I recommended to Jennifer that she record a game and save it to use for when Kellyn is bored and fussy and nothing else seems to work!

Tara-speak

We've really been enjoying noticing the way Tara's vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds and how well she puts words together. Some of her words come out really funny and sometimes it's amazing what she's able to express.

Two that have stood out this past week:

"flop-flops" - this is Tara's version of flip-flops

"fusser" - this is how Tara says "pacifier" - amazing how accurate her rendition is!

The little girl loves to talk!

Kellyn - 3 month pictures

There are more, but I guess I should let Jennifer post some of them! But since I scanned them, I decided to post a couple. :o)

I've uploaded this for illustration purposes. I have this photo on my laptop as my wallpaper. Tara knows it's there and will come to me and ask to see it. When I show it to her, she takes great delight in pointing out everyone and naming them. She calls Grace "baby Gace" - r's are still a little difficult for her; I've told her that Grace is also her cousin but she hasn't gotten used to that concept just yet. She can say her own name and Kellyn's name. She alternately calls Kellyn "baby Kellyn" or "baby cousin." She's been learning how to say "great grandma" - sometimes without the r's, of course.

Fingers are yummy!

Fingers are so yummy!

Kellyn loves sucking on her fingers. Jennifer and I have been on Skype a couple of times (better video than Yahoo Messenger), and I have been able to see Kellyn smile and heard her laugh a little bit. Hopefully, she won't totally forget me if she can see me on the webcam occasionally.

Army news

As of today, I officially have a third family member in the Army. Michael was sworn in today and will be shipping out on September 23 to Ft. Sill, OK for basic training. He is going to be training for Tracked Vehicle Repair (tank mechanic). His AIT training (14 weeks & 4 days) is supposed to be at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland.

Nathan will be coming home on leave sometime in October. It will be good to see him but it will be such a long time before seeing him again when he comes home from deployment.

AJ's unit is TENTATIVELY set to return from Iraq around February 15.