RICE FAMILY

The Middle Child

Whenever I call my mom and say that I have a story to tell her, without even mentioning what the story is about, she immediately says, "Great! I need another Grant Story." 95% of the time, she is correct, my story is about Grant-- he's a busy, entertaining, energetic (and LOUD!), pensive, sincere little boy. Here's what Grant's been up to lately:

Grant is a HARD sleeper and has been known to sleep walk. One night hours after the kids had gone to bed, Scott and I heard loud thumps and then saw someone running/falling down the stairs. It was Grant. He was partially awake (we think?) and he landed with a THUD smack into the corner of the wall. He ended up with quite the shiner, but of course they never look as good on camera. . .

I don't know why, but this boy prefers to jump, run, crawl, slide, bounce, waddle, walk on his hands, or roll rather than walk-- ANYWHERE!

Just relaxing!

We've joked for years that Grant can find a stick anywhere. He always has a stick. ALWAYS!

I've been trying to document this for a while, unsuccessfully-- a week or two after Grant's training wheels came off this summer he decided that merely riding a bike was not fun enough, so he began doing tricks, like this one, where he goes speeding down the road and lays down on his stomach with legs straight out behind him (I know they're not straight in the picture, but this is the best shot I have).

In December I bought myself a Christmas present. It was tumbling classes for Grant. The thought of being stuck in the house all winter with a little boy bouncing off the walls was NOT my idea of fun. So, to help him get rid of some energy (and to help me stay sane) he began tumbling in January. I was pleasantly surprised at how many boys were in the class-- obviously I wasn't the only mom with this idea. He did really well. We figured that since he was going to do things like this (see pic below) anyway, he might as well do it in a controlled environment and be praised for it.

Ha ha ha ha! I have NO idea what the inspiration was behind this outfit, but it was quite amusing. And, YES, I AM one of those moms that will take my kid out in public dressed like this. :)

After a hard day at tumbling, Grant crashes on the couch with Scott. Lets just say there is a reason why male gymnasts DO NOT do the balance beam. . . and Grant learned it the hard way. . . OUCH!