Hey, where are you going?

Jonathan has made some progress towards independent mobility. Good thing, too! I'm going to have the shoulders of a weightlifter if I have to keep carrying him around much longer. Anyway, we set a new record for tummy time this morning - ten minutes! I put Jonathan down on the bunny blanket in the living room and laid down near him. I dangled a toy just out of reach and rattled it enticingly. His eyes lit up and you could tell he really wanted to get his hands and teeth on it.

First, he tried to swim to it. This seems to come pretty naturally to him, since his tummy makes such a great platform. The drawback is that it doesn't work. Next, he stretched his hands in front of him and pushed his torso up as high as he could. This gave him a better view of the rattle, but still didn't bring him any closer. He started to look a little frustrated, but just for a moment. Then he gave me a big grin. He grabbed a corner of the bunny blanket and pulled it. This caused the rattle to slide closer to him. "Nice try," I said with genuine admiration, "but that doesn't count." I moved the rattle back and smoothed the blanket down.

Whap! He planted his face into the floor and started grunting with effort. First one leg and then the other bent, and his butt went up in the air. I told him "Good job!" and waited for the next logical step, thinking crawling was right around the corner. Face still down on the ground, Jonathan reached out and braced his arms. Then he gave a mighty push! And promptly slid backwards.

He looked up and seemed a little surprised to be farther away. I was laughing too hard to explain. He tried the whole procedure again, and this time wound up halfway off the blanket. In all, he moved about a foot - but in the wrong direction. Oh well!

New toys

Toys come and go in Jonathan's favor. It also depends on what I take out of the toy box from week to week. The current all-absorbing favorite is Miss Spider with her pretty feet and her friend Mr. Fly. This is a fabulous toy that Aunt Carrie gave Jonathan. We've had other moms ask us where we got it. Miss Spider is a stuffed toy with eight legs, appropriately enough. Each foot is covered with different materials and has squeakers, or music chips, or buttons or rattles inside. Mr. Fly has lovely crinkly wings and velcros on to Miss Spider. She comes with us on our walks and keeps Jonathan company on the floor, while Mr. Fly takes high chair duty.

Tummy time is still a struggle; Jonathan may never learn to crawl at this rate. The playmat is helpful at stretching sessions out to five minutes. Jonathan still loves to chew on the monkey feet, but he now just discovered the crinkly butterfly on the mat. He likes to reach up as it lies next to his ear and play with it. It will keep him busy when he's on his tummy, but the fuss starts pretty soon.

Our daily walk

I'm a firm believer in fresh air for mommies and babies. Jonathan and I go for a three mile walk almost every afternoon. Occasionally we drive to a new neighborhood to explore, but most days, we do our standard loop. We go through our subdivision, then out to the main road and loop through the next two developments and back again. We've met four or five moms and their kids at various points along the way, and now it's a rare day when we don't meet up with some of our friends.

Jonathan likes sitting up straight in his stroller. He's usually content to just watch the scenery roll by. He looks pretty surprised when I come around to the front of the stroller to ask how he's doing - I think he forgets that I'm there. Moving objects will grab his attention - dogs, kids playing, trucks and buses - and he'll turn his head to watch them. He got very excited last week when some fire trucks drove by with their sirens going.

One of our friends has a swing hanging from a tree, which she has invited us to use whenever we like. It's designed for babies, with a bucket seat and a high back. A rigid gate comes down to act as a seatbelt. Jonathan can sit up now for almost a minute at a stretch, so I thought this week it might be fun to try. He's so serious on these walks! When people greet him, he just stares intently and takes everything in. So I wasn't expecting much when I hoisted him up into the seat. I buckled him in and gave a tentative push.

He looked startled for a moment, and then he cracked an ear-splitting grin. I gave him a little bit more of a push and said "Whee!" He started to laugh and didn't stop. The giggles just bubbled out of him; he was absolutely delighted. We swung for a few minutes and then I took him out. He seemed amused to be standing right up against a tree and laughed some more, then pressed his head into my neck. I think he was saying "That was fun, Mommy!"

I got your teeth right here

We were playing our usual morning game of "Eat the Thumb" this morning. I pull Jonathan up to a sitting position and he keeps going forward until he lands on my thumb and starts to gnaw. It's a classic. Anyway, this morning there were sharp little hard things pressing into my fingertips, almost like grains of sand. What the heck? I though I'd take a look, but Jonathan initially had other ideas. Do you have any idea how hard it is to look at a baby's gums if he doesn't want you to? Finally, with a lot of tickling and poking, I managed a peek. And there are two little bits of teeth poking through on his lower gum. My baby has teeth! They don't seem to bother him too much. He does like to run his tongue over them a lot, which is why it was so hard for me to see them. It's still not clear to me how much of the clinginess this week was teething versus a little tummy bug. Overall, though, it hasn't been too bad. Certainly not something I would give him whiskey for, which is apparently what they did in the old days. Maybe a little shot for me, though. . .

Happy Anniversary

Thank you to Tedra and Misha who babysat last night so Chris and I could have dinner. We're sorry Jonathan got a little fussy!

Thank you to Chris who got me a beautiful vase - and found some time in his busy schedule to drive down to Richmond to buy it. You're amazing, honey.

Thank you to all our family and friends who came to our wedding six years ago today.

Today was a good day.

Where's the Teeth?

Jonathan is kind of fussy these days. It seems to be a mild form of split personality. One moment, he's happy and laughing; literally the next second his mouth is forming that pout both Chris and I know and dread. We're both developing lots of arm muscles from all the extra jiggling. Today, he fell asleep towards the end of our usual walk. I really didn't want him to wake up, so I just carried the stroller (with him in it) up the stairs and into the house. He's sleeping in the entryway as I write.

I was wondering if he might be teething. I mean, there's no way to honestly say that the drool production has picked up, or that he is biting things more than ever. He's been maxed out in both those categories for some time now. But the lower gum has two little dimples in it, and it feels a little rough there. So maybe our little Jaws will soon develop some bite to go along with his bark. Can't wait.