New Skills and Changes

1). He can now walk when we hold his hands. He raises his feet and steps really high, like he is marching in a parade or something. To see him making little steps with his feet is the cutest thing ever. Plus walking him all over the house, tires him out and brings nape time even closer!

2). He can sit longer than ever, up to 20 minutes at a time. In fact, he hasn't fallen back in about a week! He sat in the child seat in a grocery cart the other day, and all of the ladies in the store were going gaga for him. I think he liked looking around at everything and trying to grab stuff on the shelves. He can even sit upright (without a bath chair) in the tub. I haven't removed his seat permanently yet as I worry about his stability in the slippery tub.

3). He can make the 't', 'th' and 'd' sounds. He has been practicing every day and said something very similar to 'dadada' or maybe 'taataaataa' the other day!

4). We have started to introduce him to real chunks of food (as opposed to fruit and veggie purees), and let him eat with us at the kitchen table. At first he pretty much either gagged or spit everything out. But its been almost a week now, and hes so much better at gumming stuff, then swallowing it. He cant actually feed himself most food yet (unless it is big chunks). He can get pieces in his fist, and brings the fist to his mouth, but hasn't figured yet out how to open the fist to feed himself. If it is a small piece of something, I have to feed it to him. Baby steps!

5). His tooth has emerged even further and is very visible when he smiles. It makes him look so much more like a kid to see that one large tooth poking up!

6). He can rock himself in the rocking chair. I put him in it the other day while I fixed the sheets in his crib. When I turned around, he was rocking the chair back and forth! I of course was worried that he would tumble out, so hard was the chair rocking. He must have some strong little abs, and is most definitely fearless!

7). He is going through a growth spurt right now. Instead of the 5-6 oz a night he normally drinks, he has been getting up 2-3 times after we put him to bed, and drinking another 5-6 oz. I had a bunch of 11oz bags and he has nearly polished them all off already! 3 weeks ago I weighed him and he was 17.5 lbs. I weighed him this morning and he now weighs 18.2lbs!

8). Hes has had a pretty bad case of stranger danger in the past month. If someone (anyone) got too close, or looked at him funny, he would burst out in tears. I have been purposefully introducing him to more people lately, and handing him off whenever possible, to counteract this problem. Just in the past few days he has been getting better. He didn't cry when his grandparents came over the other night, and when we visited with friends this weekend, he also seemed less suspicious and afraid. 

9). When he is sitting, playing with toys, and he sees a toy that is just out of reach, he will lunge toward it and end up on his stomach. Oftentimes I will leave him for a moment, while he is sitting. When I return, he is on his tummy, happily playing with whatever toy (or the rug) he was trying to reach. He also likes to lunge toward things while we are holding him. He has a lot of strength now, so it can be hard to hold onto him. The other day I was at a bead shop, full of bright, sparkly things. I was carrying Will on my hip and it was all I can do to hold onto him as he lunged in every direction, desperately trying to grab some of the pretty beads. 

10). On March 18th, I noticed that his first tooth had finally erupted (bottom left incisor). Today I noticed that the brother to the first tooth (bottom right incisor) had emerged as well. He has been in surprisingly good spirits considering. Perhaps those amber teething necklaces do work after all?