Movement!

Nate has started moving forward with purpose! It isn't pretty, but check him out!

9 Months Old!

Starting in a day or two, I will be posting a three part recap of our big trip east...there are just too many pictures to share in one post. But today is all about our big 9 month old boy! He's been a busy guy this month, and he's made a lot of progress in terms of physical development recently. He was evaluated for gross motor skill delays and was found to have a 25% delay, so he qualified for therapy with an occupational therapist. She will be coming here every other week for a while, until we all feel that he is caught up to where he should be. But he is already making a lot of progress--he can get himself down onto his belly from a sitting position, spin in a circle, move backwards (albeit unwillingly) and just today managed to galumph himself forward about an inch. He gets into "plank" position all the time and wants desperately to crawl, so with some help and encouragement, I think he'll be on his way in no time. Oh, and he is even rolling over these days!

He is still a terrible sleeper and he is still sleeping with us most nights. But other than that, he is still a laid back, happy guy. He loves to eat and has no patience for purees...he still has no teeth but loves to chow on anything we are eating. He loves to talk and babbles away all day. I think that's pretty much what he's been up to...so here he is!

Catch up

Since it's been a while since I posted anything, here are a bunch of pictures and videos with no rhyme or reason. Nate has become an adventurous and enthusiastic eater. He will try pretty much anything we offer him, even without any teeth! Here he's enjoying some banana pancakes:

And a quick video of the same meal:

At his first nap of the day today, Nate decided that playing Peekaboo with a pillow would be a whole lot more fun than actually sleeping.

Speaking of naps, Simon wanted us all to take a nap together at his naptime today. We all piled in together, and while it was a really sweet idea, Nate just couldn't calm down. He kept trying to sit up and look at Simon, or grab at his face and hair. So it didn't quite work, but I think it might be a nice thing to try again sometime soon.

And bathtime was extra fun today--I read about coloring the bath water with a few drops of food coloring, so we had a pink bath tonight! You can't tell very well here, but it was pretty fun and Simon thought it was great. And no, it doesn't dye their skin...just a few drops in a bathtub isn't at all concentrated enough to be an issue. 

Simon and I prepared a "choreographed" dance for Daddy one night this week. I taught him a couple of the key moves from Beyonce's Single Ladies and got him to say "If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it". 

Finally, here are some baby giggles to cap off this post:

Phone calls

We're back from our big trip east, and I will post more about that when I've gathered pictures and gotten back on Pacific Standard Time enough to keep my eyes open during the day. But for now, here's a quick video of Simon making some phone calls from the Atlanta airport between our two flights this past Saturday. I only started taping him after he had "called" Grandma, Grandpa, both Papas and Nana. For each one he asked them, correctly, if they were in Atlanta/Jersey. Here he calls me, Matt and Santa, of course.

Chowing Down

Nate is very interested in real people food, as opposed to his purees, so we have been letting him try some thing that are safe. This inevitably leads to a happy, filthy baby...

Here he shared a blueberry muffin with me and Simon, and somehow ended up lying in the mess he made:

And this afternoon I was eating toast with avocado. I gave him some avocado of his own in a little baby feeder he uses, but he clearly wasn't satisfied. So I let him try a bite of my toast...and he grabbed it out of my hands and somehow managed to eat pretty much the entire thing. Mind you, he still has no teeth, so he's just gumming all of this down!

Here are a few pictures and a cute video

Motorcycle Man

Simon got this cool toy from Aunt Donna and Uncle Paul quite a while ago, and it recently made a reappearance outside when the weather warmed up a bit. Now Simon calls it his motorcycle and takes quite a bit of pride in keeping it in tip top shape. Check him out:

First, he poured bubble soap from his bubble machine onto the motorcycle and scrubbed it clean:



Then he dried it off:



And finally, he educates me on what gear you need to go for a ride:

The Boxer

This is Spirit Week at Simon's daycare and they do something special each day. Today was Halloween, so the kids dressed up in costumes. We had a boxer costume that was too big on his this past Halloween, and it fit perfectly. Matt managed to capture a couple of wonderful pictures, enjoy...