Dear Zealand, You are quite the mover and shaker! This month you received a walker - your "car" on loan from Auntie Michelle. Pushing this around the house is by far your most favorite activity. You push it as fast as it will go with a gleeful grin on your face until it hits a wall or some other barrier. You have become very adept at maneuvering your car when it gets caught on the rug or needs to be turned around. You can push it through and around toys and other obstacles with the greatest of ease. You also see cars in just about anything the right height. You will push around toy boxes, cardboard boxes, and chairs. The other day at playgroup you went straight for the hostess's walker and pushed it through her house as she trailed after you doing her best to hang on too. At one point you pushed her away with your free hand and attempted to blaze ahead solo.
You definitely do not hesitate to clear from your path anything (or anyone) that is in your way of what you want. Your grand papa found it very amusing that you had the gumption to push his face away as you chewed intently on a baguette that we gave you at a picnic. He was trying to ask for a bite and maybe get a smile out of you. Up went your hand to push away all such silliness during a serious moment of enjoyment for you.
Things that you love so far:
-Dogs of all sizes and shapes
-Kitties
-Birds
-Squirrels
-Swings
-Walks
-Your soft "lamby" that you sleep with
-Climbing stairs
-Watching older kids
-Being read to (especially Sandra Boynton books and books with babies in them)
-Going for bike rides with daddy
-Trucks, buses, and trains (You ooh and ahh whenever you hear or spot one on the street)
-Playing in the sand
-Blocks, stacking cups and rings
-Music
-Nature (bodies of water and trees)
First words:
-MaMa (You started with momma and dada around 7 months. Now the sounds have become words and you know who momma and dada are)
-DaDa
-Da (dog)
-Ba (bus)
-Ba (bird)
-Ba (bottle)
Your babbling has really taken off this month. You chirp and make sounds with purposeful inflection all day long. Your favorite sounds are :oooooh, dooooo, and dadadadada. You use these sounds when you are excited by what you see. They are made either rapidly in quick fire succession or more drawn out with lips pursed and a serious expression as you try and process something. You are very much a character with a million different facial expressions and more and more a million different sounds.
This month I noticed you became more sophisticated in your play. You now play with a few toys at the same time. For example, you will grab your lamby and then hoist yourself up on your walker for a spin around the block. You are now stacking blocks one inside the next and you have started to push shapes into their respective holes. We always clap when you achieve such great feats and you stop to clap yourself and grin from ear to ear. You also will push your trucks and cars while making a motor noise with your mouth. I find it amazing how you are drawing from what you see in the real world into your play.
This month instead of dropping your spoon off of your tray, again and again mind you, to see my reaction and to learn about cause and effect you have started to hand me your spoon when I ask. We also taught you to do a high five - you place your hand gently against ours and wait for us to smile and clap.
Besides all of the new development that is taking place at such a rapid pace, you continue to be a sweet, silly, and adventurous guy. I haven't mentioned all of the pots, pans, clothes, books that you love to seek out and dump ceremoniously all over the floor because it has become so commonplace. All day is spent seeking out new nooks and crannies to explore and upend. You smile so often that even strangers stop to comment on what a happy baby you are.
Lately I have been noticing, although it has been like this for awhile now, how we continue to grow as a family with your personality becoming so much a part of who we are too. We are no longer exhausted and focused on feedings, burps, and poops. Instead we are a family enjoying each other, where we live, and of course you at the center of it all. I have to say that you bring out the best in your father and I. We laugh and smile with you and truly enjoy where we are and who we are with. Your sweet existence has made us the family we are.
We love you,
Mama
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