+ Baby Mozart +
I almost forgot - the piano! Your newest trick, about a week old now, is to crawl full-speed across the living room to the piano. You stop just shy of it, reach up to the piano bench and pull up to standing. Then you reach carefully, one hand at a time until you have both hands up and onto the piano keys. Then you play! Yes, you do. The first time you did this (on the upper keys), I thought it was cute, but a freak occurrence that would likely never happen again. Wrong. You do it a couple of times a day. You love it. You even pretend to be playing the piano on every flat surface in front of you now. Boy, I hope this piano love sticks around!

+ Christmas pictures +
Incidentally, photos are in the ofoto.com album. Not many, but still... If you don't have access or lost the password or whatever, just let me know. :)

+ Christmas and 2004 +
I don't know why I've never gotten around to updating on Christmas and the week before/after with its developments. No, nothing all that exciting, but still worth of chronicle I suppose.

Let's see. You're clapping now, and I don't believe I mentioned that. Around Christmastime, Daddy decided to teach you how to clap and that was it. One part-day of example, and now all you want to do is clap and wave and laugh. It's endlessly cute. We usually say "Yaaaaaaaaaaay" when you clap, too, so recently you've begun saying "Aaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaay" when you do it yourself.

Your favorite pasttime is biting, particularly the nose of whoever is holding you at the time. This occurs quite frequently because you are absolutely in the throes of attachment anxiety. I cannot be in the room or within earshot, or you are demanding to be held. By me. Only by me. There are times when this is not true, but it is usually the case and it gets very old, very fast. I always thought it would be handy to have a sling and now I am cursing myself for not buying one. Your future sibling will reside in a sling, I can promise you.

Sleeping is going much, much better. Most nights you sleep through or nearly through the night. A quick nip on The Boob and you're back to sleep for even longer. You're doing a lot of growing, I daresay. Your favorite food is currently Brown Cow vanilla yogurt. I could feed you two whole bowls and still have you demanding more! I don't, though. I usually give you one full baby bowl and then if you're still hungry you get some cereal mixed with juice. We're still working on introducing more finger foods, but the fault for the slow introduction there lies solely with me. It'll come, it'll come.

I'm shopping for your new carseat now. I think we'll get lucky and go straight from your infant seat to a front-facing carseat since you'll be 20 pounds right at around a year (the two requirements to go forward). Having said that, the more research I'm doing, I keep finding that it might be better to have you facing back a little longer, in a convertible carseat. Either way, your current carseat maxes out at 20 pounds so it's getting to be an urgent issue. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing you're currently in the 18-18.5 lb. range.

Christmas was wonderful. You got a wonderful assortment of clothes and toys and gifts. You are so blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful extended family. You absolutely got the idea that there were new and interesting things being handed to you. Of course, the wrapping itself provided quite a lot of entertainment. But you were able to assist with the unwrapping and were rewarded with all sorts of fabulous gifts. I can't even begin to list them here, but rest assured if it's out there you probably have it now. We had to put a shelf in the living room to hold your medium-sized toys because we just had no place to put them all!

I believe you will be walking soon. You already have all the concepts, it's just a matter of believing you can do it without assistance. You cruise like crazy, and can balance without your hands holding on (but something else must be touching, like your elbows or your belly). You go from one thing/person to another with ease. You even want to climb things (already!). If you encounter resistance at your feet, you pick your feet up to climb the object in the way. Yikes! Thank God for baby gates. I think we'll have to lower your crib to its lowest setting too, soon. Where did my little baby go?

I was pondering that the other day, and I decided the real turning-point for a baby is being able to push up and stay up. Coupled with the ability to sit, that's just the beginning of the end of pure baby dependency. No baby is able to see the world from a new perspective and recognize the use of its own muscles without wanting to do more, see more NOW!

Anyway, long update but that's how it goes. We're in 2004 now, with new fun on the way every day. I am more in love with you than ever, and I can't wait to see what this year brings.

+ Sleeping! +
I've been trying to remember, but I'm pretty sure that last night was the first night when you fell asleep before me and woke up after me. That's right, boys and girls, an honest-to-goodness full-night's sleep. It was fantabulous.

Last night we went to ZooLights. And you LOVED.IT. You cried the whole way there and I was more than a little apprehensive about the whole thing. But once we got you out and put you in our "new" Gerry backpack carrier, you were happy. We made sure you were bundled and warm and we set off to the Zoo. All the lights and kids kept you entertained for almost 2 hours while Daddy, Uncles Chris and Mason and I strolled around the Zoo with you. It was so much fun, and I definitely hope we make it an annual tradition. We took a couple of pictures with the regular 35mm camera, so I hope those come out.

+ Oh, so true +
From http://www.americanbaby.com for this week:
"Baby's understanding of "no" will soon extend to using it himself, either in words or through a definitive shake of the head. Although he's probably not yet sure what it means, it feels natural to him to move his head from side to side rather than up and down--which means that it will take him longer to grasp the concept of "yes." Once he understands about "no," he'll practice refusing everything from baths to diapers to his favorite meals...

As soon as your baby grasps the concept of "no," he will start playing with it as if it's an interesting new toy. To elicit a "no" (and the attention that comes with it), he'll bang on tables and chairs, pull at your clothes, or head for objects that you've placed off-limits, such as the computer or phone cord. If you don't say "no" fast enough, he'll slow his pace, give you a big smile, and continue on his way. The point of this game isn't to reach the forbidden item--it's to interact with you. And the best way to handle it isn't punishment, but providing safe, alternative ways to play together. "

You've been frantically shaking your head no for a couple of weeks now. Lovely new trick, really. You think it's hysterical. And a couple of days ago, it really dawned on me that you are trying it - and us - out. You totally do that thing where you crawl a few feet, stop, turn to look at us with a devilish grin as if daring us to say no, then crawl a few more feet... Wash, rinse, repeat. VERY cute. Exhausting, but very cute.