Monkey

This little monkey crawls like nobody's business. He is fast! When Xiana started crawling she was so dainty about it. Not this little guy. It doesn't matter if it's stone, tile, hard wood, cement, pavement, he wants to be off an gone. He's so funny.

He has also at 6 1/2 months mastered the stairs... up, not down! This can be a bit of a challenge. He giggles the whole time he climbs up and then either aborts mission falling to his yet another bruise/scratch on his head, or lays flat and slides. Either way, pretty genius if you ask me.

He has a total of 6 teeth as of 12/7/11.  It appears as though he has a few more of those chompers coming in.  He HATES to have his nose wiped.  I know, all kids hate to have their noses wiped, but he really really hates to have his nose wiped.

It's getting harder and harder to snap posed pictures because, like I said, he is always on the move.

He babbles like crazy. I think he will be an early talker. Brian insists that he says, "dada" regularly, and I once heard him distinctly say "mama."

He stands on everything! Including his crib when he wakes in the morning. He follows you around just to use your legs to stand up on. He often lets go thinking he can walk causing many more it-looks-like-we-beat-our-child bruising. He also likes to climb into things...like laundry baskets.  The tricky part is getting out.  He sometimes propels himself forward to knock over said basket.  Other times he yells for help.

He laughs and laughs especially at his big sisters. He has come to love the magnets on the fridge. He makes a beeline for them at all hours of the day (and the wood burning stove.. troubles!)

There are few things he doesn't eat. He prefers to self feed.  He gets pretty annoyed if we dare to assume the responsibility of feeding him.  He is fiercely independent.  He's happy to be able to sit in the cart at the grocery store instead of in his car seat.  He loves bath time with sissy.  He is intrigued by grandma and grandpa's cat.  I don't think it will be long before he'll be able to catch her.  He is entering the spend-church-in-the-hallways months.  He still sleeps pretty good at night though more and more frequently he wakens once in the night.  This is bizarre since he was always such a good sleeper.  The one time I made him cry it out was utterly unsuccessful.  He woke many times that night.  When I simply rock him to sleep, he sleeps all night.  Go figure.  He is an early bird regardless of how he does at night.  I hope we won't always wake between 5:30 and 6:30, but he is his father's child.  He has begun snuggling a bit more, not much, but more.  Also, he gets around so easily that it's really sweet when he comes to you to lay his head on your leg or chest.  His eyes are still blue, but they are starting to fade into green.  His hair is slowly but surely starting to grow.  He's wonderful.  I don't know how we lived without him.