Eleven months!

Who is that?



It's Julian!

Julian turns eleven months old on Monday. On the whole he is a happy little guy, though still frequently sick. His cruising is getting more death-defying; he has recently started walking along the coffee table using only one hand, while holding the other one in the air! Total walkage can't be far behind. We're still waiting on that first word, though his sound effects are getting more and more expressive. Also, sometimes he laughs. We think he's a pretty funny guy, which is fair enough, since he seems to think the same about us:




Which is not to say that he doesn't sometimes leave a trail of destruction wherever he goes.



He has a new music box, all Mozart all the time, which being the dancing fool he is, he's pretty fond of. (Thanks to Milo for tipping us off to this fabulous toy!)



Maybe too fond.



But sometimes he makes music all by himself!



And he's an excellent driver. We just upgraded his car seat to a larger, de luxe model, too, but sometimes nothing beats a dining room chair.



And sometimes when you're following Daddy around the house all day, you can't beat the old all-fours method of transportation.



We've got photos, too. He chats with Daddy and reads with Mommy!

"But Mommy, the underlying representational symbolism in the metaphoric subtext of 'I am a Bunny' necessitates a third reading!"

But then he left to tour with Devo.


Upon his return, some days were warm enough to sit outside. Other times, he just stayed indoors and practiced new methods of sippy cup transportation.


And let's not forget the promenading around downtown!




And needless to say, after all that, he tends to get all tuckered out.

Birthday wishes

Julian would just like to say:


Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Rock Chalk

Julian says, congrats to the Jayhawks on winning the Big 12 tournament!

Ten month photos

Some photos from the past month:

Julian has acquired a number of new modes of transportation:
 

And of course he likes to play, whether with his friend Anjalie or with the PS2, the swings at the park or the toys Nature gave him right there on the ends of his feet:


 

He loves his Grandmas:



Just like Mommy and Daddy, he can't wait for spring! He's got his hat and sunscreen and a snack in the meantime:
 

But while we're waiting for winter to move on out, he's always getting up to something.

Ten months

Julian is ten months old!

First, he would like to wish a very happy birthday to his grandma Paula. She came for a visit recently, to help out while Daddy was away, and they had a great time together!


He missed his daddy, though.


Julian is very mobile these days. He can't quite walk without help, but he'll take off as soon as he has something to support his hands:


He's also a dancin' fool.


He loves berries of all kinds, which leads to some terrifying moments:


But he still puts other things in his mouth too. (RIP, tape measure.)


This is what happens when the weather gets warm enough for short sleeves...

9 months!

Julian is 9 months old! Last week we went to the doctor for his checkup: he weighs 17 pounds 2 ounces, and is just over 27 inches tall.

Recently he's gone from a little guy who scoots around on his tummy to a boy who wants to walk, everywhere, all the time. He can't quite walk on his own yet, so he cruises around the furniture, holding on to the couch or the coffee table or the fireplace (or, alarmingly, the kitchen drawers), or he convinces his parents to hold his hands so he can charge across the house. He can crawl on his hands and knees, too, but that's not nearly as exciting. He knows how to climb the stairs, though now that he's more into standing than crawling, he'd rather just stand at the foot of the stairs and pound on them. He likes to drive around the house with anything that's not nailed down: the full laundry basket makes an excellent walking toy, as do the knitting basket and the dining chairs.

We've shifted his solid food consumption from purees to finger foods, mostly in self-defense, as he will try to grab any spoon within reach whether it has carrots on it or not. Recent favorites include: cherries, blueberries, mango, peas, diced carrots, Cheerios, and cheese. He's remarkably efficient at picking up little bits of food and stuffing them in his mouth, and after eating for a few minutes he gets very chatty. Where by chatty, I mean loud. He's very proficient with a sippy cup and can drink from a regular cup with assistance (he can hold it himself, but will fling it away after he's done drinking).

A few weeks ago it was 65 degrees and sunny on Sunday, so we walked to the park and Julian played on the baby swings for the first time! He thought that was just great, and he also enjoyed going down the slides on our laps. We've also been having a few playdates recently; we went to the park with Anjalie and her parents, and we went to the swimming pool with Milo and Daphne and their moms and then had lunch at the bakery, where Julian had a little bit of mommy's margherita pizza and shared a big fruit salad with Daphne.

He can play peekaboo and pattycake, and he has all sorts of consonant-vowel syllables (ba, da, wa, ma) and growls and gurgles. He's completely lost interest in pacifiers. He knows how to put toys into containers and take them back out again. Being upside-down is hilarious, as is being chased by Daddy. He likes to blow raspberries on our arms, he tries to grab our noses at every opportunity, and he gives his mama big sloppy kisses on the cheek!

An eight months report

In an utterly alarming development, when put to bed at night or put down for a nap, recently Julian has been waking back up and then crying more than usual. And when we go to check on him, instead of a little boy lying down and trying to sleep, we find this:


You may ask, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?? Well, like this:



I can't overstate the danger this poses to humanity. Because once he's up, he'll come to get you:



And once he catches up to you... things can get ugly.



But he has other talents! He's a musician:



A budding chef:



Not to mention an expert yodeler:



A yoga practitioner:



And of course, a connoisseur of fine dining:



So we shouldn't be too surprised that all in all, he's a stand-up guy!

 

Here he is with some of the attractive members of his extended family:

 

His cousins are big fans!

 


But of course, his biggest fans are Mommy and Daddy.