myles oliver : 2 years

So many changes since your 18 month update.  You are pretty solidly in 2T clothes... And just graduated to an 8 in shoes!  You currently weigh a little over 29 pounds and are just shy of 34.5 inches tall. 

While you have definitely started into the terrible 2s phase, you are still such a sweet little boy.  You want to help with all of the chores (I recently caught you properly dumping small trashcans into the big kitchen one the other day while I was folding clothes!), and love kissing boo-boos.  You are obsessed with our friends' new babies, and always try to make sure your friends don't lose their cups or toys.

Your vocabulary is starting to take off.  Favorite phrases include : bye bye, thank you, daddy home, Remi down!, wow cool!, uh oh mommy, oh no! (so dramatic!) You are getting better at frequently used words (back (demand...you want things where they should be), ice, milk, snack, cookie, chips, dirty, bath, shoe, cheese, sit, oops...), but still have a few made up versions we have had to learn to make life a little easier.  You are getting really good at possessives; pointing out "mine" or "mommy's" or "daddy's".  You can point to most body parts, and say a few of them correctly.  You really like pointing at eyes on other people or objects we see.  You also have gotten really good at recognizing faces in photographs, especially loving our wall-of-frames.

You have a big obsession with airplanes ("airduh!!!").  You point at every one that flies overhead and love the couple of toy ones I let you pick out.  You also really love shoes, and desperately keep trying to figure out belts (someone please find one in his size!).  Food-wise, you want avocado, cheese and yogurt at all times, love eating whole apples, pizza (any toppings are fine!) and cheeseburgers are a hit.  You have a major love for cooked broccoli, onions, bell peppers, all stew beans (not green beans!), carrots, and virtually all "soups".  Frustratingly though, you do have your toddler moments where you want nothing that I fix you.

At the moment, you would much rather play on the kindle or run around outside than dare to pick up a book.  You are obsessed with Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, enjoy Thomas the Train, Little Einsteins, and Dora the Explorer.  You are getting really good at puzzles, and will sit for a few minutes at a time to play with blocks.  I am able to mostly get out of the house with you without major meltdowns as long as we get out before noon, and except for a few nap-strikes, you have been napping 2-3 hours at some point after 1pm.  At home, you love pulling the pots and pans out to "cook", "organizing" things, plugging in our electronics, getting into the fridge every few minutes (we are going to have to get a lock for that), turning lights on and off, opening and closing doors, and buckling every buckle you can see.  Basically, you are into everything and childproofing is a joke.

Myles Oliver, you know how to push all of my buttons, but you are also really getting good at showing us genuine love.  I can't wait to see what this next year entails!

myles oliver : monthbymonth 18

It is amazing how much has happened in the 6 months since my last update!  At almost 33 in tall and 26 lbs, you have skipped right ahead to mostly wearing 2T clothes.  You now have 13 teeth that have at least popped through really well, with the rest of your incisors on their way.  Teething has been easy.  Brushing them is a major battle.

Your personality is so sweet.  You are so excited to feel like you are helping us around the house!  You love to bring daddy your trashcan when he is taking the trash out.  You love to hand us the dishes from the dishwasher.  Sometimes you toss your empty cups in the sink!  And you are so fascinated with the vacuum cleaner that I have started having to hand you the little handheld one so that I can use the Dyson alone.  

When we go outside, you come to where I sit on the steps and hold out your hand and pull me up to take me on a walk.  We just went to the splash park yesterday morning and after watching me catch Ella Brooks at the end of the slide, you started holding your arm up in the air just like me whenever you saw her coming down, like you are saying "its ok, we'll catch you!".  You give hugs and kisses frequently and love to laugh along with the grownups whenever we tune up.

You words are starting to slowly accumulate.  You say UH OH, momma, dada, bye bye (as goodbye and all gone), hi, Mimi (Zoe the cat and all other animals), Remi (the other cat), Addie, baby, outside, choo choo (every time the train passes), bath, ball, ow, moo, duck, dip, rock, eyes, shoes, doodle (my nickname for you), and 'da' is yes.  You also attempt to say bless you "bot ba" and thank you "ta ta" at appropriate times, but daddy says those don't count.  And whenever we get in a car or you play with a toy truck, you make car sounds.  I'm optimistic that your new interest in books is going to start helping with this.

You do pretty good with following simple directions like "sit down", "stop", "go slow".  But you definitely test our boundaries regularly.  Your favorite thing to do is sit on the arm rest of the couch and look at us like you are being a big daredevil.  You still don't really play with toys very much but you do go after your blocks, trucks, water table, lawn mower, and cozy-coupe car if you are going to play with anything.  Realistically; my bags, jewelry, keys, oven mitts, and coffee cups are your absolute favorite things.

You still eat pretty well but have started getting picky on a few things.  You no longer like green beans or strawberries and prefer shredded or ground meat.  You LOVE sautéed peppers, onions and mushrooms.  You are perfecting your use of forks and have started letting me put bibs on you again (thank goodness! we have ruined a few shirts from forgetting to treat them before washing).  

You go to bed between 7:30 and 8, and are usually awake by 7:30 the next morning.  You are down to one nap, and do the best with it if you go down at 10:30, usually you will sleep until about 1 if not longer.  We need to move that a little later though so we can hang out with friends again since all of your friends take later naps so you are now waking up when they are going down.

You are such a joy and everyone that meets you loves you immediately.  I could not have been given a more laid back kid.  But you certainly know how to throw a toddler tantrum, my mini man! 

myles oliver : monthbymonth 12

This kid.  Seriously such a joy.  

A year ago, Kyle and I were sitting in the living room timing contractions.  Kyle calling the hospital to decide whether we should go in because they just were not very consistent but definitely getting closer together.  Around 11pm on the 12th, we headed to the hospital and were admitted.  Apparently by that point my parents were already on the road because Kyle had sneakily texted them and told them it would be a good idea to head down here.  I was admitted and given a room pretty quickly.   The nurses had a hard time getting the iv started and that was seriously the worst part of the entire experience for me.  We tried to get a little sleep but I knew it wouldn't happen while I felt the contractions, so I broke and went for the epidural around 2am.  Well, that did its job, but having to bend over so far for the procedure just pushed Myles further up into my ribs.  So no sleep for me at all.  

The doctor on call that night was nice but was definitely the more awkward/quiet one that I had met from the practice.  I secretly hoped Myles would hold out for the shift change so I could get someone else.  This doctor did mention wanting to give me some Pitocin but I knew I did NOT want that unless there was a problem.  There wasn't and I continued to progress through the day.  I did let him break my water after the epidural.  My parents got to the hospital around 3am or so and just checked in on me every now and then.  Sometime in the morning I asked the nurses to find out what doctor would be taking the day shift with me.  Of course!  The only doctor from my group that I hadn't met yet (Dr. G).  He stopped in around lunch time to check on me and said everything was looking great.  I immediately loved this guy and was excited that he was going to be the doctor.  Around 3pm Dr. G checked and said I was 10 cm but my contractions were still only 3-4 minutes apart so he was going to run and do a procedure really quick and would be right back.  About 30 minutes later the nurses that were with me that day (amazing amazing amazing women!) decided that my contractions might be about as close as they might get so wanted to see how Myles responded to a push.  

The ONLY reason I was bothered about getting an epidural was because I knew that being on your back was pretty much the worst position to be in.  I asked them if I could raise the bed up so that I was sitting up more.  They quickly got me positioned basically to sitting on the edge of the bed with my legs in the air.  I wanted gravity to help as much as possible despite my epidural.  Grabbing my legs had me pretty much folded in half and I was able (not really wanting to) to see everything that was happening.  The first push went pretty well and Dr. G showed up and was really excited how everything was progressing, so we kept going.  After about 25 minutes of pushing and some amazing coaching from Dr. G and the nurses and Kyle, Myles was born at exactly 4pm on his due date Nov. 13th.  Dr. G basically forced Kyle to cut the cord.  Kyle really just wanted to be a spectator and not a doctor for this experience.  A head full of hair that wasn't cone shaped since he came out so quickly, and a crooked nose was quickly cleaned off by Dr. G (per my request) and skin to skin time went relatively uninterrupted for the next hour.  We did ask one of the nurses to quickly weigh him for our own curiosity part way into our hour of time alone with our son.  

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and were surrounded by our families the entire time.  The nurses were completely amazing.  The lactation consultants were extremely helpful since Myles seemed to only want to nurse on one side.  It could not have really been much of a better experience.  Unless they had let me eat while I was waiting for Myles to arrive.  That would have been nice.  

A year later, you are about 21 lbs and 30 inches tall (your doctor's appointment isn't until next week so I'm guestimating here), have basically 6 teeth (4ish on top and two on bottom).  You still eat pretty well but are having issues with your high chair.  You would much rather eat while standing or in my lap.  It might be because daddy is gone, or because I have started progressively weaning you to soy milk.  Or because I have let you do that for snack times and you think you can get away with it at meal time.  Whatever the reason, its annoying.  You love pizza, even weird ones like greek pizza with lots of feta and olives.  I recently tried out peanut butter on you and no allergy!  You are enjoying PB&Js!!!

Not walking yet, but several times a day you will get distracted and let go of whatever is supporting you to hold onto your cup or a ball or something.  You are standing longer and longer amounts of time.  You climb all over everything and try using everything you can as a step stool.  You are certainly mischievous and have perfected your "look".  You know exactly what you aren't supposed to get into or go and look at me and grunt right before you do exactly that.  You love trying to "share" everything with the cats and me and your friends.  You cuddle with everyone and have been known to launch yourself into the arms of complete strangers.

Your hummed "meow" has evolved into "mam mam" every time you see the cats and sometimes you say "buh buh" when you wave goodbye.  You like the "T" sound, going around saying "atttttttt".  We think you are trying to say daddy but it usually comes out as "da Ttttt" it is probably still just a sound to you, more than a word with a meaning.  I think you tried to say "ball" one time while playing with a ball.

We had to make an upgrade this month, you really seem to enjoy being in your big boy car seat now.  A lot less whining and the cupholder is your favorite feature.  For now it is your "snack cup" and you immediately put your hand in there to check for some rogue Cheerios.

you were Dr. Conway for Halloween.  We were your patients.  

It might be you getting older, or just your response to daddy being gone, but you have been extra snuggly lately.  Several times a day you will want up on the couch with me and just sit there or lay next to me for minutes at a time.  I am soaking that time up since all other moments of the day you are busy busy busy all over the house.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching you morph from newborn to little boy these 12 months Myles Oliver.  I can't wait to see what you get into next!

myles oliver : monthbymonth 11

Late again.  Fighting viruses over here.  Myles had a mystery fever two weeks ago, other than being sleepy, he didn't seem sick.  Well thats because it was a sore throat.  I know that because I JUST got over it.  Luckily he only seemed to have it for 48 hours, unluckily, mine lasted a week.

You seem so much bigger but I'm not sure how exactly.  Maybe you gained a pound or so?  I measured you the other day at 29.5 inches so I guess you have gotten a little taller?  You wear a lot of 12 month clothes but 9 months still fit a little better in the waist of pants.

You randomly started lifting your belly off the ground to do some normal style crawling.  It kinda weirded me out.  You were just so fast with the army crawling I don't understand why you randomly wanted to change.  But whatever, you have picked up speed this way now so its a little less strange.  You should be walking any minute so none of it matters.  

It isn't just "bababoo!" being spouted off every minute of the day anymore.  Still no real words but you are definitely exploring sounds.  Finally making dada noises and occasionally throwing in mmm and nnn.  You "clap" most of the time we say "YAY!"; you don't quit have the motion down though so its more like you are slapping the backs of your hands.

A pretty huge thing to me was that we discovered you are actually paying attention to the animals when we go to the zoo now!  You looked at the monkeys and the vultures and pulled at the fence between you and the black swan when your Aunt Tracy and cousin Natalie were in town.  It might actually be worth it to renew the membership for next year.

your crazy eye face.  you make this every time you make
the noise that apparently is the same as The Grudge. (?)

No extra teeth.  Still just the 4 with no extra bumps in sight.  You love to give kisses to everyone and do this by request sometimes, but there have been a few moments when your kisses have turned into bites on Mommy's face.  Ouch.  You really hate being told to "stop".  It makes you whine or cry every time I say that word, even when it isn't directed at you.

my only photo from Fall for Greenville this year.

you loved the chicken yakisoba.

Food wise, you are getting sick of oatmeal every day but the egg restriction makes it hard to do much else.  You aren't super impressed with toast and gluten-free waffles (eggless) end up on the floor after about 2 bites.  You love most fruit but get tired of strawberries pretty quickly sometimes.  Roasted winter squashes are a particular favorite, and you gobble up BBQ chicken sandwiches and hotdogs.

trying to box up old clothes turns into you digging them all out to "sort"

You love dancing whenever there is music and are the friendliest little thing.  You make everyone smile that meets you.  You try to climb on everything, love opening and emptying drawers, and if a door is cracked then it must be flung open.  You are regularly testing me; going to places you know you aren't supposed to go and reaching for things I have told you not to touch and look at me right before you touch it with a little "huh?"  like... "are you sure you don't want me to do it, because I would really like to".  Mischief always.

myles oliver : monthbymonth 10

So I'm almost a week into his 10th month of life... it was a busy weekend.  I've had recuperating to do! And some work to get ready for our next round of visitors!  And more work to maybe, possibly, start getting photos for some roombyrooms.  I haven't forgotten... just had some last minute changes that I wasn't planning on in a lot of areas.  All good.  Enough about me.

Myles Oliver.  Last Saturday (the 13th) you turned 10 months old.  The past month has been full.  Basically, the day after you turned 9 months old, you had your first tooth break through.  On top.  A few days later, another.  A couple weeks later, your bottom two started in... you now have 4 teeth that have broken through... but you can really only see the top two and the tip of one.  Teething hasn't been too bad; the top were definitely worse than the bottom have been, and even then, still not bad with Tylenol.   I'm afraid dear son that you are going to have teeth like your mom.  I'm so sorry.

Midway through the month, you had your first haircut.  Mommy was overdue for one and so I figured I would get your's cut while we were there.  Charla from the church nursery was happy to do it for us.  She was so excited, and you were thrilled to get to see her!  You were a bit wiggly but Charla is pretty good at chasing you little guys in her chair.  She mostly just evened things up and got rid of the mohawk bangs.  

We managed to make it to all of your dad's flag football games this month.  You liked crawling around out there even though it was ridiculously hot most of the time.  Sometimes other babies made it out there with us.  Other times there was usually a resident's dog to keep you company.

You are so big.  You are pretty well into 9 month clothes and can fit in some 12 month stuff if I want you to.  You are still such a ham; making us laugh all the time.  You still army crawl everywhere but have shown us that you are capable of normal crawling... its just faster on hardwood floors not to.  Cruising is done without a pause and you are having fewer head-bumps.  You are doing assisted walking; sometimes with only one hand.  If we try to let go you immediately sit down.

note to self : grab the wipes before you hand the 

popsicle over to the baby.

Still eating up a storm.  I'm amazed how much fits in that little belly.  An entire banana plus your normal oatmeal for breakfast??!!  You eat everything but are particularly fond of blueberries and goldfish crackers.  You LOVE yogurt and cheese but ever since you got some half-n-half all over your face, I have decided that you are allergic/sensitive to dairy too... it seems to only be a skin thing since nothing bad happens intestinally after you eat it but I figure I would be a bad parent to keep letting you eat it all the same.  I just have to eat my yogurt while you nap now.  Thanks to Anne, I ended up ordering a set of popsicle molds but have only busted them out the one time since I didn't think through using a vibrantly colored food pouch to make them.  It  did make for a great photo op though. You are pretty good at feeding yourself most things and are busting out the pincer grasp on the daily.  Palming some things into your mouth is still more efficient though. 

You are obviously focusing much more on your motor skills than anything else.  Still only "babababababababa" coming out of that adorable mouth... sometimes "ba ba boo".  You still love people; attention from strangers makes long grocery trips possible and you love putting on your "shy" act for them.  You also fake cough when anyone around you coughs.  Its pretty funny.  Oh, and though he still won't let you touch him, you are developing a relationship with Remi the cat.  He has bouts of "crying" and you noticed it and have started "meowing" every time you see him now.  

As mentioned in my last post, your uncle came to visit and we had a blast.  He is a fantastic uncle to you.  He focused on your ability to give very wet open-mouthed kisses and took that from the very occasional level to the I love giving them to everyone all the time level.  He also taught you how to "dance".  You had occasionally waved your arm to the beat but now you twerk bounce for a hamburger birthday card song of your dad's and to Usher's Cheerios commercial.  We just have to be sure you aren't leaning over the coffee table for this because you have now hit your chin and teeth several times.

give monkey kiss 

Bedtime is still mostly 7pm.  You had about a week of wanting to be awake at 6am but have since gone back to 7am and even slept in a few times until almost 8!  You still have two good naps but they are further apart now, so I have a much nicer slot of time to get out of the house without interfering with them than I used to.

you still prefer random junk to toys any day.

Otherwise, it is your goal to go everywhere you aren't supposed to (bathrooms) and do everything you aren't supposed to do.  Taking everything off the table with a flippant toss over your shoulder is a particular joy, as well as emptying every drawer you can pull open.  You also want to eat everything.  I have fished out a lot of junk from your mouth that I never realized was hiding under our furniture in the past couple of weeks, and have found out that you seem to think the chalk drawer in the coffee table (its a chalkboard!) is your own personal snack box.  You are even perfecting the mischievous looks and giggles to go with it.

Handfull. 

myles oliver : monthbymonth 9

you are getting to be impossible to photograph each month.

I'm not sorry it has taken so long to write this... I really need to start writing things down to remember what happened in which month.  Because the way I do these... the 13th of the month ends what I can write about... and I'm late... but a lot of things have happened since the 13th.  After vacation though I tried to fit in a million social events and naps were thrown off and exhaustion ensued so here we are with me awake late on a Sunday night trying to get this finished almost a week into your 9th month of life.

I drove your dad insane while we were on vacation with comments about how you had to be 20 pounds by now since you feel so gosh darn heavy lately.  Much to his delight, I was wrong.  At your 9 month checkup (no shots this time yay!) you weighed 18 pounds 14 oz and were 29 1/4 in long.  So still a little bit of a light weight and soon to outgrow your infant car seat based on height alone. 

You were really in an awkward stage this month.  Even though you are getting to be too heavy to easily carry in the infant car seat, we still love that you fit in it because you handle restaurants and shopping a lot better when you are confined to it.  While you can safely sit in a high chair or the shopping cart, with the freedom and closer proximity to your parents, you are a little more whiney wanting to be held.  

You had your first fever inducing sickness the week before vacation.  I guess I started it.  I had some drainage and felt a little off for a couple of days and then you woke up on Sunday before church feeling warm and super snotty.  We stayed home and a good thing.  You had a fever until Wednesday.  Nothing too concerning, just your first really bad cold.  The worst was the snot because I had to use the bulb so that you could breath at night but you really really hated it.  Otherwise, extra snuggles and Tylenol were your only change to the day.  You kept chasing the cats at every opportunity.

During vacation, you figured out how to pull up on things.  You have since mastered this skill and are cruising all over everything.  I really should get things off of the tables.  No more taking my eyes off of you for even a second.  You can no longer be trusted!  

You are so wiggly.  Diaper changes have to be made with musical toys for you to hold.  If you don't have one (or something equally loud to squish) then you spend the entire time trying to flip over and jump off the table.  Which is partially our fault... we let you go off the couch head first all of the time (while we hold your ankles).  You just love it so much.

one of the only pics of you guys this month since you are scared of your 

friend most of the time.

You are still sensitive to loud noises that you aren't the one making.  Eliza is a loud little thing so a lot of your play dates are spent with you in my lap, grabbing my arm, or crying.  If she (or any other kid) is quiet then you are fantastic and spend the time "sharing" and trying to grab their hands/hair/feet/faces.

my former coworker and friend stopped through 

town on her way back to TN from ATL!

You are also really clingy.  It is much harder to get things done without you freaking out.  I mostly have to do everything during your nap times now.  I used to be able to put you in a jumper and you would entertain yourself by gleefully jumping for a long while.  Now that you are able to cruise, you like the freedom and you almost always cry when I try to put you in those.  Sometimes if you can't see me then I can get away with doing something really quick but that is mostly wishful thinking.

Ever since our trip you hate being in the car.  I don't know if it is really because you had enough of the car, I have had you way too much on the go, or if it is purely because you are teething.  On top.  You would be weird and get top teeth before bottoms like normal people.  Either way; you whine all the time in the car now.  Unless you are jabbering (only bahbahbah, you flat out refuse to say dada.. in fact you almost always blow raspberries when we try to get you to) or you are making your sweet singsongy soprano noises.  You make those noises on your own, in response to us making them, in response to your dad whistling, and in response to whistling on the radio.  

You are so awesome.  Even when you are driving me insane!

myles oliver : monthbymonth 8

No matter what we did while trying to take the picture, you just were not a happy camper... This was the best I could do this time :/.  You did smile in one.... with your feet up in the air... which defeats the purpose of this monthly picture :-P.

Myles Oliver you turned 8 months old on Sunday.  You are such a stinker.  You have mastered crawling on your belly.  You don't really show any interest in getting your belly off the floor though.  Except to pull up on things.  You have done that a few times on the side of the tub to watch the water fill... but otherwise we refer to it as "mountain climbing" because that is what you are doing... pulling yourself up and over things.  You explore EVERYTHING and make these excited noises and grin ear to ear the entire time you crawl.  Every time that you do, the "Everything is Awesome" becomes the theme song for your adventures in my head.

You are getting bigger too!  I just didn't realize how much!  You recently (with clothes on) weighed in around 18 pounds and about 28 inches!  I knew you were getting heavy but based on the last pediatrician's visit I was thinking maybe only 17 pounds.  No wonder you have headed more towards 9 month clothes.  Though 6mo clothes still fit you just fine.  

Weighing in brings me to your most recent doctor's visit.  This time for the allergist.  I completely expected to go in there and have them decide to do all sorts of shots on your back and everything come out negative and you in tears and me continuing to be paranoid about your food.  Boy was I wrong!  Based on the information I gave them, they did want to do an allergy test... but there were no needles... just a stiff plastic thing that they put the chosen allergens (eggs, shellfish, fish, orange, strawberry, pineapple) on and pressed it on your back.  You barely noticed.  Then I had to keep you from touching those spots for 15 minutes.  Within 3 minutes we knew you had an allergy.  Eggs.  Who know eggs were in sherbet?  Looks like you won't be having any birthday cake for your birthday.  I like pie better anyway.  We will retest in 6 months to see if you have outgrown it or not.  As for me... they recommended I be more careful about my egg intake while I breastfeed you.  They are confident that is the reason for your eczema.  I'm not going to freak out about having some bread or a muffin on occasion but no more scrambled eggs at breakfast for a while.

your first 4th of July was uneventful.  I think we went shopping and then your dad went to work.  But you were pretty darn cute for it.

Still not saying "dada".  You have occasionally made "baba" sounds but for the most part it is still "mamamama" and trilling your lips.  You do smack your lips a lot now and my favorite is where you hold your breath then slowly blow it out with your cheeks puffed and humming.  No idea where that came from but it cracks me up.

You are getting more adventurous in the pool.  Splashing like a madman.  Your friends Eliza and Grayson look at you like you are crazy but oh well.  I think this fall we are planning on giving you swim lessons at the Y.  

PaPa and Nonna came to visit one weekend.  We got a few good family photos in while they were here.  This was a spontaneous shot.  You LOVE being upside down so right when the camera started going off your dad flipped you around!

Food is still no issue for you.  I'm still buying some jars of baby food and making some.  I like making our own because I am getting to slowly get you more used to different textures and thicknesses.  I started just chopping things up in the food processor instead of liquifying it in the blender.  I think you like having that extra element to deal with when you eat.

  

you don't really share though...you both took turns stealing all the toys from each other.  the basic principle of "she has it so I want it" and vice versa.

You have also randomly shown that you know how to "share".  By this I mean you offer things to us and your friends while holding on tight to it.  I did NOT teach you this.  Just one day you were gnawing on  a teether and I asked "can I have some?"  Without missing a beat you put it in my mouth.  No joke.  I made a big deal about it and now you are biting your toys and then literally ramming them against our faces and laugh so hard when we act like we are eating them.  We should probably work on that...

we had a week with Gamma and Gampa plus the dogs. which I was sick during.  we did manage a little fun time out though.  and then Gamma got sick too.

Your sleeping habits are weird.  You are still taking 2-3 naps a day but sometimes they are awesome naps and other times you fight it forever and then only sleep for like 20 minutes.  And the past couple of days you have still wanted to go to bed at 7pm but are waking up earlier and earlier each day.  This morning was 5:50am.  I was not enthused.

I guess I should also mention that you are also sitting up really well now.  You almost never fall over unless you mean to.  You can even go from sitting to crawling relatively easily.  It has been nice to be able to just sit you next to your basket of toys and let you play while I get a few things done.  I love how independent you can be.

But you aren't always.  You have also become clingy.  Sometimes you start freaking out when you realize I am setting you down and you hook your arm around my arm or leg.  And I am not always leaving you.. I'm just sitting down with you.  Its really sweet but a little annoying too.  

But if you get too fussy and all else fails, we just go swing!  Gampa installed your own swing in the backyard and you LOVE it!  You make everything so much fun Mr. Man!