8 months going on 8 years ...

This kid thinks he is a kid.  Our "baby" is almost in toddler sizes (18 months) and although he can army crawl (and roll over, both ways) he prefers that we help him walk or fly.  I say "fly" because although he wants us to carry him everywhere, he's not interested in holding on.  Like a baby.  He twists himself around and launches himself forward as though he will somehow magically hover in front of us so that he is free to examine whatever tickles his fancy.

Loves "walking" around in his crib while holding on

Rowan now has two teeth (the bottom front two) and we are pretty sure he just started cutting a third.  He has continued to deal with the pain reasonably well and he loves those new teeth - one of his absolute favorite things these days is to "chew" on a glass and sip cold water.  He taps his new teeth on the glass, takes a swig of water, then gives me the biggest grin.  Obviously, I help him.   I have to get a really, really tight grip on the glass, though, because he is strong.

Just coolin' my gums ...

I was DYING when he was wearing just this hat ...

Speaking of his strength, it can be painful at times.  He hits, smacks, pulls hair, and grabs for my glasses constantly.  It is tough because he is still a little young to really learn "no" - we are trying, but he just laughs and thinks it's all part of the Fun Motor Skills Game.  I'm trying to teach him "nice touch" - I stroke his cheek and say "nice" or "nice touch" when he gets really riled up and flail-y.  It's actually kind of spooky - it sort of puts him into a trance.  But it relaxes him and occasionally he'll do his own version of "nice touch" back to me.  We also practice on the cats.  (Hey, they need to earn their keep.)

This is my life now.

We got Rowan a jumper a few weeks ago and it has been a hit.  He doesn't always like it, but he usually does and really gets going with his jumping and swinging.  Usually he will be content to jump for 10-15 minutes, but on occasion he'll really get into it and go for a half hour or so.

This only happened once, but SO funny. :)

Rowan still prefers his Bumbo over the high chair.  I think he likes to have relatively unrestricted movement from the waist up.  He likes to be able to look all around - the Bumbo must always be placed in the center of the action. :)  He also likes to "dance" in the Bumbo - he does this cute little wiggle from the waist and it cracks us up.  The best part is if we do it first, he will do it back.  (Video coming soon!)

We don't have a really strict routine with Rowan, but we try to keep his feeding fairly regular.  He still has 4-5 bottles a day (he has been getting up in the night for another bottle - unusual for him), a bowl of cereal mid-morning and mid-afternoon (occasionally with extra fruit), and a protein and vegetable combo around dinnertime.  I have been buying all of his food, but he seemed to like a lentils and rice mix that I got him, so I might try making that from scratch.

LOVE that sweet face!

I'm not sure I like this ...

Rowan is now fluent in sitting up and playing independently.  He sits on the living room floor and enjoys pulling over his toy basket, picking through his toys, playing with them (particularly a pop-up toy), and playing with the basket itself.  We make sure we are still close by though, and position him away from the coffee table just in case he does topple over.  Sometimes I'll watch quietly from the kitchen - if he doesn't know that I'm right there, sometimes he will slide onto his tummy or side and not even complain about it. :)

Is that curly hair??

So sweet.

Rowan's Likes: Food (especially bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, squash, and green beans), jumping, dancing, standing/pretending to walk, being outside (thank you weird warm streak last week!), taking a bath, anything he can chew on

Rowan's Dislikes: Having his diaper changed (mostly just because he is SO mad that he can't quite sit up from laying down yet), long car rides (short ones have gotten mostly manageable), a bottle when he doesn't want one, waking up from a nap to find that we've managed to lay him down in his crib (it's weird - he doesn't wake up in a bad mood in the morning, but if we manage to put him down for a nap rather than just hold him he wakes up inconsolable.)