President Grant

Allow me to introduce...

Grant!
He's not our firstborn but I'm writing about him first because he took the best picture today. He's a happy little boy with an infectious chuckle and a smile that lights up the room. But don't underestimate his ability to let loose a stream of baby swears when he's mad about something.

He got his first tooth on his 6 month birthday and now sports a total of 12 which he wields with devastating results if you're the unlucky carrot or finger that he clamps down on. He weighed 5 lbs 8 oz at birth and the nurses in the neo-natal ICU called him "Barracuda" because of the ferocity of his eating attack.

He was the first to figure out that if you swing your legs over the side of the couch before pushing off, you don't land on your head. He's always been very physical and shows affection with head butts and bites. His largish noggin kept him from walking until he was 13 months old. His first few days of walking I thought he looked like Frankenstein but later it was more like Elvis, arms out and hips swaying all over.



Maybe it's the Elvis in him that has allowed him to charm the older women in Relief Society. We usually have a line of Grandmas volunteering to take him while Sue is teaching the Laurels and Evan is in priesthood with Cole. Grant gives great kisses as long as you don't mind the open mouthed slobber and the very real chance that he'll give you a fat lip with his teeth. He's got very animated eyebrows that dance across his forehead when he's happy and crouch down angrily when he's mad.

One of the first things you'll notice is his round rosy cheeks and square head. I know that sounds like a contradiction but he makes it work, somehow. People say he looks like me but I have a picture of my older brother and I when I was about 14 months old and it's pretty clear that Grant looks more like my brother and Cole looks more like me. Grant has his mama's eyes and when he was born I thought he looked a lot like her nephew. More recently I've seen more of my brothers and even my oldest sister in him. Mostly he just looks like himself.

Okay, I've gone on long enough. A boy is entitled to a few secrets...