Just James

James is on such a steep learning curve right now, so I feel like I need to document it. He started really crawling just 2 days ago (at 7 1/2 months - eek). He's been threatening to crawl since just before 6 months. He would always get up on all four, but then he figured out sitting and that contented him for a little while. I was VERY encouraging of this stage. I relentlessly handed him toys that were out of his reach so that he wouldn't feel a need to figure out a way to get to them. Much to my chagrin, my tactics failed. For only crawling for 2 days, he's already remarkably good at it. I think he's going to be a coordinated little boy and love running and playing a whole bunch. Today as I read Annie a story on the couch, he spotted a toy, got a determined look on his face, and march-crawled (I know I'm making that term up, but can't you just picture it?) right over to it. So deliberate and so cute.

Yesterday (the day after he learned to crawl officially), he figured out clapping. I LOVE the clapping. He doesn't quite know it's a trick yet - it almost feels more like a fidgety thing to do when he's feeling emotions. He does it when he's happy or when he's very worked up and sad.

He is much more of a babbler these days, particularly when he's happy and around our small little family. He says "mamama", "dadada", "bababa", a few "ga"'s, maybe a "la" here and there, and lots of cooing things. He has loud squawking laugh when he's being tickled. His favorite thing in the world is getting tossed around and wrestled by Daddy.

He is liking his solid foods more and more. The only thing he still won't eat is rice cereal. He did great with green beans and squash, which made his daddy happy.

He is much more shy than Annie ever was. Annie never really went through a stranger anxiety phase, but James does not light up for every person he sees. He doesn't cry, he just studies them. But if it's anyone from our family that's talking to him (or a few of our cute neighbors), he will light up and want to play and play.

He is still HUGE! One friend described him as "juicy" and another friend as "hefty". Both fit him pretty well. His hair is still quite red. One of our cute neighbor girls saw him the other day and said, "His hair is kind of turning red." :) I get lots of comments about him being a milkman baby. Rest assured, he is not. The conversation goes like this, "Does his dad have red hair?" "No, both of our grandpas have some red in their hair and beards." "Oh, so he's a milkman baby." (In my head, "No, but thank you for implying that I cheated on my husband.")

I haven't taken a picture of him crawling or clapping yet, but when I get those, I'll add them to this post.