happiness is a warm bottle

Another happy week for the Cutest Baby Ever^TM. He's gotten quite good at crawling, and now wants to spend most of his waking hours exploring. He can also almost pull himself up to a standing position. If you help him, he can stand up and look out the window, which he really enjoys. He's still a big fan of the classics, too: a puppet show with Sheila the Sheep never fails to amuse, and a little afternoon dreamfeeding is always a good thing.

friday i'm in love

Cassidy spent all day Friday with Mommy and Grandma, and had a fabulous time. He got to read books, play with his new "snail pail" (plastic blocks) and his frog-with-wheels, go to the park to swing, and hang out at a cafe while Mommy and Grandma had a snack. As usual, he was his good-natured self, and impressed everyone who saw him with his cuteness and calm demeanor.

In terms of development, he's gotten quite good at crawling - it's amazing how fast he's picked it up. He can stand with a little help, and is actively trying to figure out how to pull himself up, mostly so he can launch himself over the railing of his crib. He loves examining things and trying to figure out how they work (or taste :-). He's also fascinated with the fringe on the edge of blankets, and the edge of the living room rug.

carpet crawler

So we made the trek over to El Sobrante last weekend to see Freya (and DD and Mike). Freya and Cassidy had a good time on the swings at the park nearby, and Freya introduced Cassidy to a whole new world of toys, including the deliciousness of plastic blocks.

Cassidy has also gotten quite good at crawling forward in the past couple of days. Here's some video evidence of his skills.

swinging party

So Cassidy is figuring out how to crawl forward. It turns out that there just needs to be something in front of him that he desperately wants to grab on to. In this case, that thing is Flannery, who he's quite infatuated with. She's quite patient with him, letting him grab and poke her. I think she realizes that he's number one, and that the way to work herself back up the cuddle pyramid is to be nice to him.

We also went out to Holly Park last weekend with Carrie for a ride on the baby swings. Cassidy really liked them, although it's hard to tell from these photos. He also enjoyed seeing Carrie again and making sure that she was still a member of his fan club.

eight miles high

Today is Cassidy's eight month birthday. His front teeth finally(!) broke through the gums -- this has apparently eased the teething pain a little and left him in a particularly silly and chatty mood. Lots of giggling and squirming around. These pictures show his more thoughtful side as he prepares for a little pre-dinner snack of peaches.

my son cool

Cassidy has about 58 teeth coming in all at once, apparently, which has dampened his natural charm a little, although he's still pretty sweet. His upper gums are all puffy and there's a bunch of little white visitors poking through.

He's also learned how to get into a sitting position from his tummy. He puts one leg into sort of a half-lotus position (all that baby yoga is paying off) and then pushes back with his hands. (try it yourself.) He's quite pleased with himself about this.

He's also started vocalizing quite a bit. He already made little baby sounds from time to time, but now it's pretty common - we get a serenade of 'bagagabladabla' most mornings over the baby monitor. I'm sure Shakespeare is just around the corner.

We're also starting to notice that, some of the time, Cassidy looks more like a little boy and less like a baby. Time flies.