New people and places!

As much as we love our child care solution, it does mean that Jonathan stays at home an awful lot. So we were happy this past week to take him to a few different places. Last weekend we attended a neighborhood Halloween party with a lot of other little kids. Jonathan was the youngest one there and one of the cutest in his strawberry costume. He made himself right at home! He spent the first twenty minutes crawling around in a continuous loop on the baby-proofed first floor, sampling all the toys. He especially liked the balloons the older children had, and enjoyed a good chew on the tied-off ends until we took them away. Finally, he noticed that everyone else was walking. Jonathan didn't want to commit a party faux-pas, so he stood up and started walking too. Another little boy, about three inches taller and six months older, came up while Jonathan was standing at a toy-covered table, and pushed Jonathan out of the way! He didn't seem to mind so much, and crawled off for greener pastures. The table held a lot of attraction, though, so when Jonathan went back to it, he was ready. He started off next to the other boy, and then reached one arm over. Then he kind of sidled in and before you knew it, the other kid was completely boxed out. Heh.
This week, I have been painting the kitchen cabinets, and Jonathan has been going over to Cara's house. Cara has a dog and two cats, and I was anxious to see how he might react to these new creatures. I shouldn't have worried. His eyes lit up when he saw Cleo the dog through the sliding glass door. He barely even noticed me leaving for the day. When I got him that night, the nanny said he was entranced by Cleo all day long. At one point, he got on all fours and leaned his head out over hers, then started laughing to himself hysterically. The cats, on the other hand, ignored him and were ignored in return. Just my luck that the baby is a dog person! I'll have to have another one to even things out again.
Jonathan has doubled his sign repertoire, by the way. In addition to "eat" he will now sign "milk." Does anyone else sense a theme? Still, I'm so glad this is the sign he's picked up. It's much better than his previous attempt at communication, which was to yank on my neckline and stick his whole head down my shirt.

Big growth spurt!

It's tough sometimes to be a baby! Jonathan is fighting off a little cold, cutting another tooth (number nine!), and suffering the indignities of a Halloween costume - and still finds the time to pick up new skills left and right. He must have wanted to show off for Grandpa this weekend. This is a kid who knows his audience - he rightly thought that Grandpa would be thrilled with some walking. We all smile when Jonathan comes toddling across the room with a big grin on his face. He gets excited as he gets close to his target, and generally covers the last few feet by pitching forward into our arms. He can walk all the way across the living room now!

Our baby's also made some big intellectual strides this week. He remains intensely curious about the everyday objects around him. I was explaining to Dad how the baby gate worked, and showed him how to lift the latch. Sure enough, Jonathan immediately reached up and started trying to open it himself. Later, Dad was talking to Mom on the phone, and Jonathan was playing with his own toy phone. With some encouragement, he lifted the phone up to his ear so Grandpa could "talk" to him. And it seems like a sure bet that our little boy will be a climber. He was struggling to get to the remote, which was tucked away between the cushions of the sofa. Since he couldn't reach, it occured to him that he should climb on up there. He got so far as lifting one leg to put a knee on the couch, but then abandoned this for lack of upper body strength. But I'm sure he'll be up there soon enough.

The neatest stride he's made this week, though, has been with the sign language. All the nanny's hard work in carefully signing words to him seems to have paid off. Jonathan started using some signs this weekend! It is really tremendous to have him so clearly communicate what he wants. We are so excited to see more and more of his personality emerge.

Oh, you want to know what he signed? How silly of you to ask.

"Eat."

Transition to toddler

I can't believe Jonathan is almost a year old!

Our focus these past few weeks has been shifting away from all things babyish. Jonathan's doing a lot of that himself. He is walking more and more each day - the current record is fifteen steps. He likes to pull up on something first, then take off walking. Once he drops on his butt, though, he doens't ever try to get back up. He's fast enough at crawling that he knows he can get where he's going on hands and knees. Chris and Jonathan like to play chase around the chair in the living room. Jonathan will chase after Chris for a few rounds, then stop and wait for Chris to lap him. Then he screams with laughter and turns around so that Chris can chase him.

We've been introducing more and more toddler-type foods as well. Jonathan starts most mornings now with a blueberry waffle. The nanny cuts it into bite-sized pieces for him, which he gravely assesses, picks up, and methodically eats. Most afternoon and evening meals start with some nifty star-shaped pieces of cheese I buy at the grocery store, all precut. He likes to admire the teeth marks after he bites off a piece. If Chris and I are hungry, we pull up Jonathan's high chair to the dining room table so he can eat with us. Last night he enjoyed several good-sized pieces of roast chicken, but he still declines chunks of avocado from our salads.

We think he's teething again - he spent most of yesterday in a cranky mood. There was copious drooling and he had his finger permanently tucked into his mouth. He has really developed a specifically cranky cry, which I suppose is a harbinger of toddler temper tantrums to come. I do feel bad that his gums are hurting him, but it is difficult not to giggle. He looks so absolutely and totally furious! It is a strange sight on such a darling little face.

Finally, he continues to show a love of dancing. We put him the playpen the other day while we ate our lunch and watched yet another episode of The Sopranos. He was mad to be stuck in the playpen - he wanted to see the sushi we were eating! But when the well-loved theme music came on, he got a big grin and started shaking his hips and bouncing. I took him out of the playpen and he held my hands while we danced standing up. He even picked up his feet a few times! The Electric Slide can't be far behind.

Sister Cara

Two quick stories today; one from the nanny and one I saw for myself.

Jonathan continues to show a great love of reading. We have books stashed all over the house now. When we need to put Jonathan in his crib while we get dressed in the morning - we hand him a book. When we want him to lie still after a bath so we can rub him with lotion and dry his hair - he gets a book. When I want to distract him from climbing the stairs for the fifth time in a row - I pull out a book. So the nanny wasn't at all surprised yesterday to find Jonathan and Cara sitting quietly together. Jonathan had a book open and was turning the pages one by one. He "read" a full story to Cara, who sat by, entranced. At the end, he closed the book with great gusto and threw it away.

He is truly starting to see Cara as another person and not just a toy, although he does forget this at times. Yesterday afternoon I got home a little early and was watching the kids play. Jonathan was practicing his walking and crashed down next to Cara, who was startled and began to cry. The nanny picked her up to comfort her, but she kept wailing angrily. Jonathan showed true concern. He walked around and around the nanny and Cara. He reached up to pat Cara's arm, and when she looked at him, tears still streaming down her face, he put his head to the side on her hand with a clear look of "I'm sorry."

A lovely weekend

Actually, the lovely part started once I got home from work on Saturday and turned my pager off for the first time in two weeks. Ahhhhhh. Jonathan was so happy to see me! We played together much of the afternoon. I got out the baby backpack and we had a nice walk to the park and back. Since this was our first time using it, it was a pleasant surprise to discover that Jonathan did NOT pull my hair even once! However, he has a definite preference for looking over my left shoulder, which has given me with a bit of a strain on my right side. Still, it was nice to walk someplace the stroller can't get to, and when he fell asleep, his face squished into the back of my neck and tickled me all the way home.

We went to the schnitzelhouse for dinner Saturday night to enjoy the Oktoberfest celebration. Jonathan was thrilled to receive a set of rubber duckies and alternated eating veggie puffs, chewing on the ducks, and trying to make friends with the table next to us. He was reasonably well behaved, considering he had been short on naps, but we did eat fast. Chris won one of the door prizes, a model beer truck that Jonathan should love in a year or two. When we got home, he was a little too excited to go to bed, so we let him roam around and around the coffee table. As a topper to the evening, he let go of the table and took two faltering steps on his own! We were so proud of him.

Today we dragged the playpen outside so Chris could wash the car while I went grocery shopping. We thought it was a good plan, but it turns out Jonathan is very scared of the garden hose when the water is on. Chris showed it to him, let him handle it, turned the water pressure down - nothing. Jonathan wailed every time. So only one car got washed today. We all went for a walk this afternoon, and then let Jonathan crawl around in the evening to stretch his legs a little. He hasn't walked again, because he's mastered a new skill - stairs! He can go all the way up to the landing in under a minute. Once he gets there, he's so excited he can barely stand it! He crawls back and forth, screaming with laughter. Chris blocked the stairs with a gate later this evening and Jonathan was furious! He wanted so much to practice more climbing that he just stood by the gate and fussed for ten minutes. He hasn't figured out how to go downstairs, though, so we both stood firm. Stairs only when one of us is right there.