Check him out in his cut-off tank top! I don’t see a baby any more when I look at him, I see a little boy, and it makes me a little sad sometimes. He’s already grown up so much…I know he’s still young, but he’s such a “kid” already.

One afternoon when we were home during his Hand, Foot and Mouth contagious phase, I had to put him in his playpen so I could make a bathroom run. His retaliation was to throw EVERYTHING out. He’s tossed toys before, but this was the first time the playpen was literally empty around him. He was so proud of himself that he gave me a huge, toothy grin. (The funny thing is I have a photo somewhere of me around 2 years old making the EXACT same face).

Does this kid look sick to you? 🙂

He loves zooming around with his walker-toy. I’m too lazy to convert the video for the blog, but if you were watching this live, he is FAST! I know, I know, he could/should be walking already. He WAS walking already. Not just while holding on to stuff, but 2 weeks ago he was actually letting go of the walls or whatever and walking to whatever/whoever he wanted to go to. Then he got sick, and he hasn’t wanted to walk since, even though he’s better. I don’t know if he associated the weak/feverish feeling from being sick with walking, but he won’t do it any more. He’ll still be up in a second and cruise around holding onto walls or cabinets, but if you try and walk holding his hand, or stand him up to have him walk from one person to another like he used to, he’ll plop himself right down. If you try a few times in a row to get him to walk he’ll not only resist, but he’ll get really upset and start to cry. I’m not worried- we know he *can* walk, he’s just choosing *not* to. But still, it’s hard for us when we know he was right at the cusp of taking off and running.

He DID accomplish one big milestone while we were home sick, though. He now can eat his meals with a fork and his desserts with a spoon. I need to help him push the fork into his food with enough force to actually spear it, but once the food is stuck on the fork I let go and he brings it right to his mouth without error, and then back to the bowl. The spoon he does great too- although he doesn’t really “scoop” the food so much as he lets the yogurt or applesauce *coat* the spoon then he brings it to his mouth. It gets a little messy, but it’s been 2 weeks and no food has ended up on the floor or walls! That’s good enough for me!