Nana's Visit

My nana came to see me this weekend! We have had a blast (after my initial meltdown when I picked her up at the airport). She lets me practice standing up all the time and doesn't complain a bit when I just want her to hold me. She even kept me last night while mommy and daddy went on a date. Imagine that! She brought me some really cool prezzies, too, including a "Laugh and Learn" table, which is my Christmas present. I can stand up at it and play with all the fun toys on it. That is almost as much fun as playing with her silver bracelet!

We're heading to Italy tomorrow morning, so I probably won't be blogging until I get back. You never know, though, I could find a computer somewhere in Venice, so keep checking back. I promise to have updates on all of my Venetian adventures when I return. Until then, ciao, bebe!

Independence

I did it! I crawled this morning! Not the backward crawl, not the army crawl, but the 100% bona fide baby crawl! It happened so fast that I didn't really know what was happening. One second I was sitting, watching Blues Clues, then two seconds later, I was three feet away, dumping Winston and W's water bowl all over myself.

Mommy thought, hoped, and prayed that this would be a gradual process. She thought I'd take one little crawl-step and that would be it for awhile. She wasn't expecting me to motor around the room on the first try. If I know her, she is probably panicking at the prospect of me crawling into a Venetian canal next week or trying to crawl up and down the aisles of the airplane on the transatlantic flight.

Aside from the trip, this will undoubtedly turn Winston and W's world upside down as well. Their food and toys are now fair game as far as I'm concerned. I've desperately been trying to get into Winston's condo, much to mommy's chagrin, and now I can go there anytime I want (as long as mommy has her back turned for just a second).

Free at last, free at last! Until daddy puts up some more gates, I am free at last!

Hanging with P-Daddy

My granddaddy, who wishes to be known as "P-Daddy," came to visit this weekend. He is crazy, but I like to say "crazy" usually makes for a pretty good time. We picked him up from the airport on Thursday afternoon, right during the middle of my usual nap time, so I wasn't terribly thrilled about messing up my schedule. As a matter of fact, I screamed the entire way home. Gran says I was upset because she wasn't here. Granddaddy said I was just doing a rather brilliant impression of mommy when she was a baby. I say I was just annoyed that mommy interfered with my previously scheduled nap time. Don't mess with a guy's nap, especially when his top two teeth are trying to come in, right?!?!

Anyway, we had a good time this weekend, swinging, going for walks, and watching football all day on Saturday. Granddaddy and mommy also played this game called "Scrabble" all weekend long. Whenever mommy was winning (which was most of the time, I might add), Granddaddy would get me to tip over the board and declare that the entire game was null and void. He will probably deny this, but he knows it's true. Mommy is also convinced that he somehow bribed me into headbutting her in the mouth last night when she put me to bed. I'll never tell.

Meet My New Friend

Mommy's friends, Lezlie and David, came to visit this weekend. They brought their 7-week old baby, Lucas, with them. I can't believe I was ever that little, but mommy and daddy assure me that I was. I tried to teach him all of my tricks, especially my ear piercing shriek, but he didn't seem terribly interested in learning any new vices.

Speaking of vices, I have a new one. I learned to spit out food I don't like. I clench my two and a half teeth together and let it (most recently, "it" was a turkey vegetable dinner) squeeze through them while I'm smiling. One thing you will not find me spitting out, however, is my new favorite food, cheese. I can't get enough of it. Mommy had a food contest for me the other day. She put cheese, cheerios, and frozen peas on my tray to see which one I would eat first. Not surprisingly, I went for them in that order. Mommy, whose favorite food is also cheese, was thrilled to see that I really am her son after all.

On My Own Two Feet

I've mastered the fine art of pulling myself up. Now, I never want to sit down! Daddy showed me how to pull up on his fingers last week, but now I can use anything under the sun to get up all by myself. If I'm not standing, I'm screaming. Mommy just loves it. She knows her peaceful days are numbered. The clock is ticking for the days when she sits me down and I stay put. She's mentioned on more than one occasion that my first "real crawl" will probably be into a canal in Venice.

We went to a group called MOPS on Thursday. That stands for "Mothers of Preschoolers." Mommy actually left me in the nursery for two hours while she hung out with other mommies, ate goodies, and did all kinds of girlie things. Can you believe that? Anyway, mommy left this thing called a bottle with me while she was gone. That was kind of strange. It tasted exactly like mommy's milk, but was an altogether different eating experience than I am used to having. The lady who gave it to me told me her children would have starved to death if they had eaten as slow as I did. I told her to give me a break because I was new at this sort of thing. Geez, cut a baby some slack for goodness sake.

Busy Boy

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been so busy learning new things that I haven't had much time for blogging. Since we last spoke, I have mastered the art of eating Cheerios. Sure, I would eat them before, but now I like to see how many I can fit into my mouth at once. So far, I have made it to three. I am just nuts about those Cheerios. If I get in my high chair and don't see them on my tray or in mommy's hand, it is an ugly scene. Also, Daddy taught me a big trick on Friday when he was home all day watching the Ryder Cup. He took time out of the 10 hours he spent watching golf to teach me how to pull up to the standing position. Now I can't get enough of it.



Since it isn't very hot anymore, we have been spending a lot of time outside. Last week, I got in the swing for the very first time. The swing is a little big for me, but I liked it anyway. It is there that I found a new way of smiling - with my mouth closed. I think I look very coy when I do it. Mommy thinks I look like a smarty pants.

Italy Revisited

Much to my Gran's dismay, Delta was able to get Alitalia to release a ticket for mommy to travel to Venice with daddy and me, so our trip is BACK ON! I wonder if all international travel is this difficult. At least I'm too young to remember the hassle this has been.