Recent developments:
- Can say: Light, kitty, and Hi in addition to "ma ma ma ma", "da da da da" and "mi mi mi mi."
- Has started pointing at everything.
- Blows on his food when it is hot (and sometimes when it is not). Seriously this is the cutest thing I have ever witnessed in all of the years of my life.
- Climbs (or at least attempts to climb) everything in sight. With no regard to the heart attacks his attempts can cause Cory and I. I have been trying to work with him on proper climbing techniques so that through all of the panic and fear it induces he can develope the motor skills and the thought processes required to use the right limbs and grab in the right places to successfully and safely make it up whatever he is climbing.
- Standing on his own for up to 30 seconds. He is still not walking and is only mildly interested in it. We encourage it as often as possible but are trying not to push him too hard. I didn't walk until I was 18 months! Also, some research shows that the longer a baby crawls the better fine motor and cognitive skills they have as children.
- Makes the sign for milk but uses it simply as an indication that he wants whatever you have. Probably because I always made the sign while asking him, "Do you want milk?" I guess he picked up on "want" as opposed to "milk."
- Picks up a cell phone (or any object similar in shape) and puts it to his ear and pretends he is talking on it.
- Has 8 teeth on the bottom (including 2 molars) and 6 teeth on top (including 1 molar).
Favorite Activities:
- Crawling and climbing all over things.
- Pounding on the keyboard of our laptop. Yes, I know we will one day regret indulging this activity. It is just so cute because he'll bang away at the computer and then put his hand on the mouse and move it around like he knows what he is doing.
- Driving trucks or anything that he can push on the carpet like he can push his trucks.
- Playing with our kitty Louie.
- Wrestling and snuggling with our dogs. Tonight he was having his own little rodeo. He would stand up using the support of the dogs and see how long he could hold on and walk around using their support before they got away from him. At which point he would either sink down to his knees or collapse into giggles on the floor.
- Putting tops on and taking them off whatever has a top. Bottles, tupperwear, babyfood jars, etc.
- Putting objects into and taking them out of a container.
- Building with and knocking down blocks.
- Coloring with crayons, pens, and watercolors on any item he wants to make his canvas... Our walls and couches have served this purpose several times.
He is also developing more of an attention span for reading and loves to flip through the books. It still isn't captivating for him but at least it has progressed from me reading to him while he played with other toys because I couldn't get him to sit on my lap and listen! Now I either read one book and give him another to look through or if he can turn the pages in the book well I let him flip through the pages and just read the page he opens it to. Out of order and lots of repitition but hey at least he is showing more interest in it!
One morning River found this baby doll barrette in a container of my old hair items. In high school and college I wore them often. The first thing he did was put it up to his hair because apparently he knows that is where they go? I don't know where he picked this up as I don't use barrettes anymore but somehow he figured it out. So later that night when he put it up to his hair again I obliged and snapped it in and of course snapped a few pictures. Good to know he is in touch with his feminine side.
