Mr. Independent

Go, go, go...that's me these days. Some days I've crawled so much that my knee hurts, so then I crawl with one leg out straight. Other times I just stand up on my walker and scurry to keep up with it--whee!

Well, there's no doubt about it - I love my dogs! M must not be feeding them enough, however, because they always hang out below my high chair waiting for handouts. I've discovered that when I stretch over the edge G will gently take it from my fist while B waits for something to fall to the floor. So far G is crazy about spaghetti noodles, french fries and Cheerio's. (I wonder if Maw's presence in the house has anything to do with my new "trick".)

Can you make a trilling noise? That's my new sound - a brrrrrrrr. It's great fun. Almost as much fun as wiggling my hips to the ABC's!

Oh, what a magical day!

My great-grandma, Maw, has come to visit with us this week. We went out shopping at UFS where "It's all about the deals!" and my Maw found an exceptional bargain on this blue kids' tent for only$5. I love it!!!! In and out of it I zip. Once I even tried to crawl out the window causing the tent to collapse - whoops! When D comes home from work, I think I'll invite him inside to read a book about knights to me. This summer I'll take the tent outside and play in the shade while M tends to the garden.

I tasted Coca-Cola for the first time today, and also enjoyed french fries and chocolate cake with whipped cream. Mmmm.

This is going to be a magical week full of fun, music, dancing, reading books, singing nursery rhymes, and oh yeah, a little bit of spoiling!

One sock on...not for long

So, I love cruising along the furniture and "marching" when M&D hold my hands. However, there is one thing I could do without, and that would be SOCKS! They can be slippery; they taste horrible when I use them as teethers; they become wet too easily and leave incrementing trails of evidence (water from the dogs' bowls that I tip over), and can even cause me to fall off balance when I'm removing them!

"FBI" Command Station

Here I am at my "FBI" Command Station - that is, Friendly Baby of Illinois! M and I watched the Inauguration coverage this morning. I had my phones ready for any urgent messages. Of course, all was well so I was able to sit back and enjoy my string of Cheerio's and bowl of whipped cream with red sprinkles on top. Mmmm.

Last night D laughed and laughed at me. He thought my attempts at walking looked more like I was marching. OK, so I lift my legs a little high right now, but I'm just accenting my movements so that everyone takes notice of my hard work. And, learning to walk IS hard work! M says that I'm really getting good at rearranging the furniture - I move chairs, stools, baskets that are blocking cords, my toy piano and anything else that I can grab ahold of to walk behind. Of course I'm learning that grabbing onto Gertie's fur really isn't my best choice for a steady walker.

Music! Music! Music!

This morning I have been making lots of "music". First, there's the usual Toot!Toot! which comes from my lower extremities. Then, I picked up a plastic tube, blew into it and it whistled. Next, D grabbed my toy saxophone, and by golly, I understood that I needed to blow into the mouthpiece. I made some lovely high pitched shrills. Pretty soon I'll be a one-baby band accompanying myself by banging on metal bowls with my wooden spoon. (Oh, did I tell you that I can play the sax upside-down too?! It's so jazzy!)

I've been busy lately trying out my new legs. Sometimes I pull myself up to a stand on the kitchen stools and push those around while I walk behind them. Other times I use the Little Tikes walker to move around the living room. However, I often become curious about the knobs, flaps and roller balls on the front side and therefore cut my walk short so I can investigate how those things move.

Well, I'm off to roll the soccer ball around for a while and chase after it! Toot-a-loo!

What's this white stuff?

Before leaving for work, D took M and me out to play in the snow. Brrr... I made a little snow angel, sled down the front lawn with M, and tried to eat a little of the white stuff. M says one day we'll add sugar and vanilla to make a delicious winter treat. (But don't worry, we won't use the yellow snow Gertie and Bongo make.) Unfortunately this snow was too powdery to make snow balls. Next time, watch out M&D!

Can you find me?

Where in the world is JULIAN? I'm here among my cuddly friends!

I wore myself out today crawling around on the tumbling mats at the gym. Mom hasn't taught me how to do a somersault or a cartwheel yet, but I seem to be a natural when it comes to arching backwards and swinging around upside-down.

Playing in Peoria!

The winter weather is NOT keeping mom and I inside the house all day long. No, siree...we've been going around and about town checking out all the COOL things for a guy like me to do. For instance, there's play groups like Motor Mites, Totally Tots and Proctor Playhouse where kids get to play, and mom's too! I love watching all the other children. I usually find someone my size to crawl up to and hug. Today I sat on one end of a small teeter-totter while an older kid sat on the other end rocking us up and down - what fun! Oh, and I loved crawling through a tunnel to touch mom's nose on the other side.

Over the weekend M&D took me by our McDonald's in town with the indoor playground. I chased after another kid in the tunnels and M held me as we went down the slide. I look like such a big kid D says. Well, I am already 12 month old clothes after all.

I think I'll spend this afternoon engaging in some active listening. M picked up about a dozen Dr. Seuss books so we could laugh at all the silly words together. She even has the Spanish version of a couple.

Take it easy everyone!

P.S. Anyone know the advantages to letting your dogs clean your baby teeth? Mine are certainly doing a good job of it. M says it looks like we are French kissing.

"Me" as the New Year Baby 2009

It's January 2009, and I am now 9 months old. Mom, Dad, Gertie, Bongo and I are all back home safe and sound after visiting relatives during the holidays. Guess what? I slept through the night on my first night back home in my own crib; it felt great!

Today Mom and I headed up to Riverplex to swim in the splashdown pool, and SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH is what I did. Mom says I take to the water naturally. I didn't bring any water toys with me this trip, but next time Mom thinks it would be OK to bring along Scuba Man and his yellow boat. Mom suggested that I should leave rubber ducky (my favorite bath time toy) at home though because a recreational pool is supposed to be different from a tub.

I supervised M&D (that's Mom and Dad) putting my new toys into the toy chests where I can reach them easily. Have you ever noticed how much fun it is to get everything out and spread it out all over the floor? I just love looking at all my new "stuff"!