rivka

Man, is this kid ever the sweetest, happiest, cuddliest, most loving little boy in the world. I love the way he crawls up into my arms, wraps his arms as far around me as he can reach, and puts his head down on my shoulder for a snuggle.

He is an easygoing, happy, sunshiny kid. He definitely knows and loves his family and Nia, our nanny, but he's also willing to go with the flow and let a lot of different people take care of him. He made a friend for life in the church nursery on Sunday - the first time we ever left him in the nursery, by the way - by playing and laughing happily and then abruptly cuddling up to one of the workers and falling asleep on her shoulder. Because he's just a friend to the world like that.

He's got all the "big baby" achievements now: pincer grip (picking up tiny objects with thumb and forefinger), clapping/playing pat-a-cake, playing peekaboo, waving bye-bye, passing a toy back and forth, turning board book pages and lifting flaps, banging two toys together. He loves to take things apart (like ring stackers) and just today made a pretty good effort at putting a ring back on the stacker. He can scoot a toy car along the floor. He likes rattles, cars, dolls, books with flaps and/or photos of babies, animal sounds, hugging, lap bounces, watching Alex run, and being passed back and forth between two loved adults. He loves his bath.

He is very strong and agile. He likes exploring - he crawls fearlessly out of the room that we're in, tries to climb over and behind things, gets himself stuck under the furniture. He opens doors that aren't firmly latched. He inevitably twists himself out of shopping cart and restaurant highchair seatbelts, and stands up. Then he looks thrilled with himself.

Twice, now, he has stood unsupported for just a few seconds. He doesn't seem to be aware that that's what he's doing.

He babbles to himself and to us a lot. He has a few things that sound like proto-words, but right now they aren't consistently applied. I do kind of think that he's saying "A-leh" for Alex. He says Dada and Mama - sometimes he's looking at us or reaching for us, but other times he isn't. Sometimes they're distinct words, and other times they're part of "dadadadada." He is starting to echo sounds a bit more - for example, Nia was having him wave bye-bye to me and he said "bah" in imitation of her "bye." So, you know. Talking is going to happen at some point in the not-so-distant future.

He eats well, all kinds of solid food. He loves cheese, rice, soft bits of fruit, Cheerios, oatmeal, and peas. It seems that he will only take pureed baby food from me. He doesn't eat huge amounts of purees - a 4oz jar or two a day, mostly meat-and-veg blends. He still nurses quite a bit.

Seriously, though, he could not be any sweeter or more darling. He is such a little love. My Colin.