I like to put things on top of other things.

Jonathan's continually developing new interests. They seem all-absorbing for a week or so, while he masters a new challenge. Then it's on to the next skill. These days, he is enamored with putting things up on the coffee table and knocking them off again. Some of his favorite objects are LOUD! The best are the plastic balls and the wobble-man, who has a weighted, rounded bottom so he always stays upright. Jonathan crawls over to the table, batting the ball in front of him. He gets into sitting position and reaches up with one hand to grab the table. Then he pulls himself up and flings the object on the table with his free hand. Usually, he uses so much force that the ball goes flying across the table. Then he drops back down, crawls around the table, and starts over. Occasionally he places the ball with enough finesse that it remains on the table. Then he gets very excited, laughing and shouting. He carefully positions himself in front of the ball, and whacks at it. Time to start over again.

He also has picked up his mother's love of reading. We can almost always tempt him away from an interesting corner by holding up a book and offering to read to him. He gives a delighted grin and comes sprint-crawling over to sit on our laps and be read to. He takes his responsibility of turning the pages very seriously and is getting better about waiting until we are done with the page. Tonight I was reading him "Snuggle Puppy," which is not exactly deathless prose, but does have several pictures of a big striped ball, similar to the one Sam gave him that he loves to chase around the room. Each time we see the ball in the book I ask him to point to it. Tonight he finally did! He reached with his right hand over to the left-hand side of the book and deliberately put his finger on the ball! I am more than a little shocked at the thought that he actually understands what we say. From here on out, the only part of "The Sopranos" that he'll be hearing is the theme music, as seen in "Dance Movie 2."

Finally, we had another milestone today. Although Jonathan gave a pretty convincing wave months ago in the grocery store, he has not done it since. We were dancing in the living room when he put his hand out. I followed his line of vision and realized he was intent on his reflection in the mirror. I waved at him and said "Hi Jonathan!" - and he waved at himself! We tried again later that evening when it was time to go to bed. First Chris waved goodnight to him - no response. So I swung him around to wave at himself again and the arm went out. He's got a good Queen of England technique with minimal elbow action. Seeing his reflection seemed to reinforce the idea of waving. We turned back to Chris, who was rewarded with a small flick of the fingers.

Big tall standing up baby!

Jonathan is so proud of himself these days. He can stand for as long as ten seconds without support! It is very strange to come into his room and see him standing in the middle of his crib. He does tend to fall over, though, and so he's developed a new strategy. He crawls over to me or Chris and uses whatever he can grab to pull himself up to standing. He laughs and waves his hands in the air to make sure we are duly impressed. The hand waving gets more and more vigorous and he starts to sway. Then he bails out by pitching forward, confident that we will catch him every time.

It has turned to lovely fall weather these days and the nanny takes Jonathan and Cara for walks in the double stroller. Cara is quite a chatterbox and burbles to the cars, the squirrels and the clouds. In weeks past, Jonathan's been content to listen and occasionally hold her foot. Now, however, the conversation flies between them fast and furious. The nanny can't get a word in edgewise!

Jonathan's cut his seventh tooth, which always makes him a little bite-y. (I'm sorely tempted by the shark Halloween costume on Babystyle.com.) So after getting chomped on the arm, the leg and the cheek tonight, I retreated to the fainting couch and let Jonathan roam around the room. He went over to the coffee table to bang his plastic rings, and then pulled one of the small cushions off the couch. I looked up from my book a few minutes later to see why it was quiet. Jonathan had the cushion on the floor and was crawling back and forth, over the cushion, again and again. His head was down and he was actually sweating from the hard work. Every time he got over the cushion he would give a small triumphant smile. Back and forth he went, not looking up, for about three minutes (an eternity in baby time.) Eventually, he made it over the cushion one last time, turned left, and without stopping came over to see me. He stood next to me, fussed to be picked up, and nestled into my shoulder for a big yawn. Time for bed for a tired little boy.

Touchdown!

Jonathan and I has such a great time yesterday evening. It didn't have a very auspicious start, though. I got home about 7:30 and Jonathan was playing with his evening babysitter. He's only met her two or three times, so he was on his best behavior. However, when I walked in the door, he let me know right away that he was HUNGRY! Chris had told the babysitter to feed him when he fussed, so he hadn't had dinner. I put him the high chair and poured a generous amount of Veggie Booty on the tray. He and I ate together. I finished my sandwich and made him some apple cinnamon yogurt. Every time the spoon stopped moving, he yowled indignantly. He had an enormous bowl of yogurt and fussed some more while I raced to get him some chicken and pasta. After that, however, he was pretty happy.

I let him crawl around on the floor and sat down to play with him. He loves to turn the pages when I read him a book. He waits until I stop talking and flip the next page up with my finger, and then he swipes the page over. When he was done reading, he crawled off my lap and went to find his ball. He has gotten so good at throwing it overhand! We played catch back and forth. You have to start with Jonathan all the way across the room. He gets so excited that he rolls the ball and then chases after it. So the distance between us gets progressively shorter until he's sitting right in front of me, and I have to pick up him and carry him across the room so we can start all over again.

Jonathan also wanted to give a lot of baby kisses, which still make me kind of nervous because he will bite if he gets too excited. He crawled all over me and had an especially good time lunging over my legs to fall head-first onto the floor. After one particularly enthusiatic kiss, I got up to wipe the slobber from my eyes and forehead. I felt some hands on my back and turned around to look. Jonathan was standing up right behind me. He grinned at me, then threw his hands up in the air. Touchdown! He stood there without support for a few seconds, then plopped back down on his butt.