9 Months In - 9 Months Out

The Dude has been on the outside just as long as he was on the inside.
Pretty cool to think about, eh?

We met with The Doc this morning to gather the latest stats:
(Drum roll, please....)

-Height: 27 1/2" (an 1 3/4" gain in 3 months)
-Weight: 17lbs. 2oz. (2lbs gain in 3 months)

He's fallen down the sliding scales of "averages". 10th percentile in weight, and 28th percentile in height. (What can we say? We have us a little Mighty Mouse!) The doctor isn't concerned about his lack of weight gain, but he did say that we probably need to up the fat content of his foods. Time to introduce whole milk dairy and proteins. We have a feeling he'll be okay with that.

And with all the moving around he's been doing lately, he's going to need the extra energy! Holy cow, The Dude is ON THE MOVE. He has completely mastered the art of crawling (on his knees, not just pulling himself around) and he's quick. Watch out - 'cause he'll be across the room before you can say "Where'd he.....?".

He has also mastered the art of pulling himself up - on EVERYTHING. The couch, the coffee table, Mamma's legs, the high chair...

Even this:


Oh yes. We promptly lowered his mattress so that it now looks something more like this:



He babbles constantly, and loudly at times. He says "Ma Ma Ma" and "Da Da Da", but we're not really sure if he knows which is which. He went swimming in a big pool for the first time the other day, and LOVED it. And he has learned how to flip over on the changing table, and gets red-in-the-face MAD if you don't let him.

We discovered a new tooth emerging on top, so now he has 5. And despite what The Doc said this morning, he eats like a pig... and is doing quite well with finger foods. Cheerios are his favorite, and he stuffs his cheeks like a chipmunk.

The changes are coming at us pretty fast.
We're currently lacing up our running shoes...

Summertime is Berry Time

Auntie A had a great idea... Berry Picking! Of course! Something that The Dude has not yet experienced. So we loaded up Goldie (Poppy's VW Camper) and headed West to one of our favorite local farms that is a short drive, yet a long ways away from all the concrete of the city.

We rode the tractor out to the field, rolled up our sleeves (and applied sunscreen, of course)and got right to it...



The Dude was enamored with the glowing red orbs... he couldn't resist -



Mama and Papa cringed as the red juice dripped down his front and stained his clothes... but watching his face light up as he sucked on his first Strawberry made it all worth it.

Attack of The Dude!

Peas!

Look how good he is at feeding himself! In fact, The Dude is all about the finger food phase... he much prefers this method than the ol' spoon feeding thing.

Sun, Sand & Surf

*It's been a couple of weeks now since we went to the coast for The Dude's first official summer vacation... and yes, we are just now posting the details. You see, we have been chasing our little man around the house - he's on the move and keeping us busy! More on that later...

We loaded up the car with all the life-support systems (stroller, travel crib, high chair, 13 changes of clothes) for 3 nights & 4 days at the ocean side with The Family. Cousin E is here for her summertime visit, and we all felt the need to get some sand between our toes. We found a great house that had a marvelous view, all the comforts of home, and that great "beachy" feel.



Though the sun was out, it was still a bit chilly - but we managed to get down to the surf and roll around on the sand (in the stroller, that is...)



We ate well, rested fairly well and sucked in the fresh air. Of course, like all good vacations, it was too short. But this one goes down in the history books as the first of many summer vacations. We look forward to many more for the memory files...

8 Months Old!

Whew! The months keep clicking by - and no stopping that freight train, right? And now that mobility has entered the picture, we will be stopping to catch our breaths often.

The Dude is, for the most part, crawling. He pulls himself (military style) from room to room, to Penny's bed, to Penny's food, to the beloved stereo... just about everywhere he's not supposed to be. We are reinforcing "No" and "Ouchy!", and are sounding like a broken record.

He can wave hello and goodbye, sits up beautifully, lifts his arms when he wants to be picked up, can sort-of feed himself (with the help of a feeder bag or sticky millet puff cereal), eats like a horse (pretty much anything we put in front of him), smiles at everyone who smiles at him, babbles constantly, and is napping on a somewhat regular schedule.

AND - he is getting one of his top teeth! It's coming in quickly, but hasn't broken the skin just yet... but it could be any day. Anything and everything goes in the mouth, and we do wardrobe changes often.

Oh, how we love our Little Man... we never imagined we would fall this hard.

Happy Birthday Dude!

And away we go...

Ok - so, he's figured it out. He's not exactly crawling, but this is the first step.
This video was taken a couple of days ago... he's much faster now.



As you can imagine, we'll be babyproofing the house this weekend. He's already discovered Papa's stereo - we put a pillow in front of it, but he's too smart for that - so we'll be figuring out how to keep all the knobs and dials safe.
On the baby, that is.