nine months old

He's mobile! Last weekend, Cole took the plunge from reaching out far for his toys and started to crawl. He still has a stronger interest to pulling himself up and learning to walk than to crawl, but I'm suspecting once he realizes the power of being able to quickly scoot away from us or go beyond the boundaries of his pillow fort, he'll take to crawling a lot more.

This past month, he also learned how to pick up and feed himself puffs, yogurt melts, and other small food pieces. It's been so great to watch him progress from just pushing around the mashed food on his high chair tray to actually being able to pick it up and put it in his mouth. Cole also went on his first flight to visit the fam in the Bay Area.

My favorite thing we do together these days is play a game of monster. When I'm the monster, he gets tickled a lot while I nosh on his tummy making nom-nom sounds. When he's the monster, he makes the cutest roar-like sound then lays a sloppy slobber on my face. Thanks, son.

first laptop

I've been holding off on getting this for Cole 'cause I didn't want to be that geeky mom, but each time I'm on my laptop it seems so unfair to tease him with the key tapping noises that make it seem like a big toy. However, when I thought it was harmless to let him play with my keyboard, I lost my left shift key. Those little fingers sure do get in there quite easily! Auntie Winn learned this lesson the hard way when she chose not to heed my warning when we were in the Bay Area for a visit. At first, she thought it was the cutest thing to watch Cole type away on her laptop until she lost the enter key.

Now that he's a lot more curious and determined to reach out for the things he wants (read: my things), I arrived home with his first laptop.

He couldn't contain his excitement with his first keystrokes. His reaction ranks up there with the best so far. He couldn't even use his "words" and just kept humming "mmm, mmm, mmm". Occasionally he'd stop and just give a big toothy grin. Adorable!

I'm sure if there was an internet for babies he'd have blogged, tweeted, and updated his status about his new device before bedtime.

eight months old

We have one monkey in a barrel. When I bought this ottoman I thought it'd be a nifty source of extra storage. I just didn't think we'd be storing Cole in it. Leave it up to Cole and his dad to come up with fun games. The other game they showed me this morning was Cole as a Scone where he wears our (acrylic) cake dome as a hat.

who dat?

The other day, Brian surprised us all with his annual (yes, annual) haircut. He mentioned that it took Cole about fifteen minutes to figure out who he was when we got home. ha.ha.

We've been getting lots of close encounters with baby "monkey bird" lately. (Brian says baby monkey bird is Cole's kindred. aww, sweet.) He and mama have been coming down from the eucalyptus and have been perching on our fence. It's their new fave lunch spot.

Often times when we're hanging out in the backyard and baby monkey bird calls out, Cole looks for him. Yesterday, I finally put it together...he responds to that sound 'cause it sounds like his squeaky toys!

seven months old

Big milestones for Cole this month. Two weekends ago, his first tooth broke through and the second one's been coming up right next to it. A little extra cuddle time and teething gel seems to soothe things for him. Though he has several teething toys, he seems to really like my finger the most. youch. Cole's also learned to sit up on his own. He still refuses tummy time and has gotten really good at rolling over just to avoid it. He's been reaching for things while sitting up, so we'll see if it will lead to crawling. The week before his tooth showed up, he also discovered that banging on his piano made sounds. That night, Brian and I were treated to Cole's first piano recital.

six months old

He's a happy baby and a natural yogi. His gyan mudra must be working. Cole and I went to Baby and Me yoga the other week where he also showed off his happy baby pose and forward bend. (hee.hee.)

He's learned a lot of new skills this month with reaching out for things being his most practiced one. He reached out for the camera today and leaned very close toward the edge of the couch. We definitely have to keep a close watch on him these days.

He's also learned to roll over both ways but, he mostly rolls around in his sleep. I used to think his crib was a big space for such a little boy. wrong. He takes up practically every inch of the crib throughout the night. Boy, am I glad we've moved him to his own bed. Otherwise, I'm sure I'd be getting kicked and scooted over to a small sliver of the mattress.

On Mother's Day Cole and I were up early and chatting when he cooed "mum". Oh what a lovely gift on a special day! I told Brian when he woke up. Of course, he didn't believe me until he heard it himself. Okay, okay, so it was a happy coincidence that was the sound he made when he rubbed his seemingly itchy gums together. I'll take it!

pool lounger

After a busy day at the Farmers Market then an Arts and Craft Fair at Bernardo Winery, it was time to relax. We put Cole in his floatie and flipped up the canopy. This is the position he slipped himself into. He didn't make any effort to move for a while and just drifted along with us. He's a natural.