Uncle Cake

At my mom's birthday party, Joe Harrison got his first taste of cake courtesy of Uncle Jimmy aka Uncle Cake. As you can see from the pics, Joe started by staring intently at his uncle until he offered him a bite of cake. It was all over after the first taste. Joe lovingly placed his hand on Uncle Jimmy's shoulder as if to say, "I love you, Uncle Cake! Can I have another bite?" Needless to say, we now know that Joe's 1st birthday cake will have to be a strawberry one from Confectionately Yours. At least he has sophisticated tastes for a 9 1/2 month old!

Tooth Fairy Beware!

Joe is getting top teeth!!! His top right incisor is beginning to poke through and the left one is not far behind it. He has been a little out of sorts the past couple of weeks, and now we know why! Of course, we are lucky because even his "bad" days are pretty good by most standards. Joe just isn't much of a complainer. All this teething has been going on while Dan and I have started back to work, so that has been an adjustment for our little guy as well. But, our sitter says he's pretty much back in the routine (which is more than I can say for his parents!) so I think things should be okay. I will be taking Joe on Thursday for his 9 month checkup. No shots this time (thank goodness!!) but we'll talk about a lot of developmental milestones and get him weighed and measured. I'm anxious to see what his stats are, because he's so dang tall! You can forget it with those 6-9 month clothes. I'm already putting him in 12-18 month onesies and t-shirts. Joe has one long torso. Now where did that come from?...thanks a bunch, Dan! :)

Pull Up, Pull Up, Whereever You Are

Joe has become quite accomplished at pulling up and standing. He loves to stand at his shelf in the sunroom. He has two shelves all his own for toys. We also got him a Leap Frog table that plays music, etc. and he loves to stand up and play with that, too. I can tell that he really wants to walk on his own, but he just doesn't have the balance for it yet. Personally, he already crawls fast enough...I can wait a little while for the walking! That reminds me- I have to mention that he has developed his own style when crawling that we've dubbed the "crab crawl." It's just like regular crawling, but when he uses his right leg, he puts the sole of his foot on the ground and pushes off. Joe saves the "crab crawl" for when he's really hustling. I'm going to try to get some video of it and put it on my My Space page.

Winding down...

This first sweet summer with Joe seems to be drawing to its inevitable close. I'll be going to 2 days of professional development this week on writing and three days next week on literacy for upper grades. Then, it'll be back to work on the 8th. I never guessed it would be harder to leave Joe this August than it was to leave him that first time in January when my maternity leave ended. I'm not ready for it to be over.

It's One Small Crawl for Babykind...

Well, I guess it's all over but the shouting now. Joe has begun to crawl. He started this past weekend and has really taken off by now. Every time we put him down he is on his way somewhere...to get a toy, find a place to pull up, or to look for minuscule bits of dirt and trash even WE can't see on the floor . Most of you know I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, but it is simply a necessity to keep the floors swept/vacuumed now that Joe is on the prowl. No more "Jasper-bunnies" lying around in the corners, which is a good thing. I guess the next big milestone for Joe will be walking...God help us!

The Fourth Time's the Charm

Joe has mastered the art of pulling up to stand now. Although he still can't walk (or really crawl for that matter), he loves standing up while holding on to something. The couch, coffee table, and his favorite-the crib- are all good handholds for him. Today, he even used Dan's back to help himself up. It is so much fun to go get him in the mornings now because there he is, standing up and smiling. It is precious! The only downside to all this progress? I've had to go into his room multiple times now to help him back down when he's supposed to be taking a nap or going to bed for the night. You see, getting down is the hard part...and it's pretty pitiful when you hear him crying his eyes out and then when you open the door to his room he's just standing there waiting for help. The most we've had to rescue him is 4 times. But, we simply lay him back down and tell him "It's time to go to sleep." and then leave quickly. I can see how that cute little behavior could quickly turn bad if he began to think of it as an attention-getting maneuver.

Teachers love summer more than the kids...

So we've been basking in our summer off work as much as possible, mainly showering Joe with attention. I took him for his first swim at the Alma water park this Tuesday with our friends Nikki & Ellen and their kiddos. The water was pretty cool, so I wasn't sure if he would like it, but boy did he. He splashed so much and laughed the entire time. I was feeling like the overprotective first time mom after putting sunscreen on him and making him wear his sunhat even though the kiddie area was totally covered. But then Ellen had Miles in a life jacket and Nikki had Noah in one as well (complete with "goggle glasses" as he calls them), so I felt better about myself. We are planning on taking him swimming again tomorrow at Dan's parent's next door neighbor Jan's pool. By the time the summer is over, Joe may be quite the brown baby!