Grapes

Mami and Resli were snacking on grapes this morning and I was desperate to try some. So Mami gave me a tiny bite of hers, and here's how I reacted:

And yet, I kept begging for more. Perhaps grapes are an acquired taste?

Entertaining myself at home

Even though Mami's back to work --the fall semester starts Monday!-- we've still managed to find time to hang out together at home. I love playing in the living room, there's so much to do.
I love Resli's purse, I carry it around with me a lot.

And this pink chair, which is also Resli's but she's generous enough to let me use it too, is the perfect place to sit and rest.

And to catch up on my reading as well.

But I get a little tired of the same old baby books, and have been showing a real interest in Stephen King lately. (Incidentally, Resli was a fan of his too!)

And then just to keep Mami on her toes, I hopped in to the food basket!

But it's all fun. She's sure going to miss me once classes start up again.

Home improvements

As you may know if you've read Resli's blog lately, we've had some problems with our house that are going to require some renovations or, at the very least, repairs. (You can read about it here if you haven't already.) But we also have some other improvements in mind anyway, so yesterday we all took a trip to Lowes to see what kind of inspiration we could muster.
Resli and I loved all the colors chips in the paint section.

We helped Mami and Daddy pick out a great color for a new painting endeavor they've got in mind... But it's a secret until it's done. I'll show you pictures then. For now, I'm not telling!

Then we worked our way over to the bathroom section. Resli was surprised by all the faucets and stuff, but I was just kind of calmly checking it all out and taking it all in.

We thought the different tub/shower options were pretty interesting.

We can't wait to see what their new bathroom looks like!

Saturday morning chaos

My sister Resli and I love to play around the house on Saturday mornings. We're never quite sure what we want to do or which toys we want, so we often get everything out, starting with the books...

... and ending with general destruction and chaos throughout the house.

Mami considers it a sign of her great maturity, patience and general easy-going-ness that she only needs to clean up a couple of times a day now, rather than every few minutes. We're glad we can help her with that.

My 9-month (not so) "well" visit to the pediatrician

Today was my 9-month check up with Dr. Grooms. They call this a "well visit" although I think they should change the name, at least for me. More on that in a minute.
When we got there I discovered all the great toys they had in the waiting room. This is just like the one I have at home, although it doesn't speak Spanish like mine does.

Resli did a good job of showing me the other toys to play with. (She had her own adventures at the doctor's office too, check her blog for her version of events!)

I did a good job of entertaining myself by working on my cruising skills. I've also gotten quite good at standing unassisted.

Then in the examining room I started to get a little nervous, so Resli came up on the table to comfort me.

Then everything went by in a blur.

It turns out that on one hand, I'm very healthy:

• I weigh 18 pounds 6 ounces...
• I'm 28 inches tall...
• And my head circumference continues to be way high up on those charts.

On the other hand, though, Dr. Grooms discovered that not only am I a little anemic (to be solved with liquid vitamins), but I also have ear infections in both ears! No wonder I've been a little out of sorts lately. So I've started my first ever round of antibiotics and hope to be on the mend soon. Wish me well!

The vest of the vest

There we were, minding our own vusiness, when Daddy came in with a vig vox addressed to me and Resli. It was a package from Grandpa! We immediately opened it up to find two adorable vests, one for each of us!

Mine has a puppy dog, Resli's has a kitty cat. It's a little too warm to wear them outside these days, vut we can wait patiently until the fall.

Thanks, Grandpa!

Big and Tall

Look how big and tall I'm getting!

These shorts, for the record, are sized 18 months!
I just keep growing and growing. I go for my 9 month check-up next week, we're all curious to see just how much I've grown!

What's for dinner?

I've taken a real liking to Cheerios lately. They're the perfect finger food and they're yummy. HOWEVER, one can have too much of a good thing, and I'm getting a little tired of them at every meal.

So, I'm taking matters into my own hands. I pulled out some cookbooks, and I'm figuring out what we'll make next.

This one looks good... but I don't think we have all the ingredients. (Mami never goes shopping!)

All right then, it's back to the old stand by, the Joy of Cooking. I'm sure I'll find something here.

Do you blogfans have any favorite recipes you want to share? Please?

I'm a lean mean crawling machine

I'm not actually mean. I'm one of the sweetest babies around. And as for lean, well, I'm not really that either, considering that I hover around 90th percentile on the growth charts. BUT, I am a crawling machine!

9 months (and a few days)

I turned 9 months old a couple days ago! It's been a busy week (my sister Resli blogged about that, you can catch up with her), so we're just now getting around to pictures. It's a good thing we waited, though, because now I have this new pretty t-shirt that Mami's student Laurie got me in Granada, Spain. (Wasn't that nice of her? She's so sweet.)
So yep, here I am - 9 months old. Wow.

It's so exciting! I'm 3/4 of a year old - that's pretty old, don't you think? (Spidey does.)

Pretty soon I'll be writing my own signs.

Now come over here and give me some smooches, Mami! Enough with the pictures.

The proof is in the photos

Say hello to Tooth #1 and Tooth #2.


If you look closely, you can see Tooth #1 hiding behind my thumb here.


I think you might be able to see them here too.

A tale of two teeth

It was the best of times,

It was the worst of times.

And then there were two teeth!

(You might still have to use a little imagination to see them, but they're both there, front and center down on the bottom!)

It's so great to have a big sister

I'm so lucky to have a big sister. We sit next to each other when we eat dinner and keep each other company.

She gives me tender gentle hugs.

And soft sweet kisses.

Where else could you get this kind of TLC except from a big sister?
Don't worry folks, I get her back every now and then!

I miss Daddy!

Daddy's away at a conference for a few days. It's the first time he's gone away since I was born.

It's so sad without him! Luckily, I have my sister Resli to keep my spirits up. Check her blog to see how.

Fun in the sun, according to Lela

We took advantage of the sunny weather this morning to play outside a little. It was my first experience in the grass (can you believe that!?), and it's gotten pretty long thanks to the afternoon rains. So at first I was unsure about it.

But then when I got used to it, it was fine.

I even flew through the trees for a while too.

Then the thunderstorms came so we had to run back inside. Such is life in Florida.

Capturing the tooth

Mami has been trying really hard to get a picture of my new tooth for you all. But I'm not cooperating!

Oh sure, I tease her every now and then, open wide... and stick my tongue out!

But at long last, she caught me with my guard down. (You may have to click on the picture to maximize it to see the tooth, but it's there!)

And here too, albeit a little blurry.

So here's the proof. And just in time, because its neighbor is making its way through the gum now too!

My hair is growing!

My hair is growing really fast these days - look at it!

And I've got this cute little curl up top, too.

I'm a regular old kewpie doll, aren't I?

Documenting my progress

The last month has been a very busy and exciting one for me. So much is happening these days...

First of all, I HAVE MY FIRST TOOTH! My bottom left (front) tooth has finally poked through. Here's a picture Mami tried to take of it:

No, you can't see it... When I open my mouth I smile, when YOU open my mouth I either stick my tongue out or bite you. So I guess I'm not quite ready to show this tooth off yet, you'll just have to take my word for it.

I've also started working on eating real solid food (well, quick-melting air-puffed real food), see?

Don't laugh, it takes me a while not only to figure out where the food is and how to put it in my mouth, but what to do with it once it's there - that's a lot to think about at once!

And on top of that, I'm still perfecting my cruising. I was a little tired in this video, but you can see that I'm sort of cruising along the couch.

I do it better and a little more quickly than you can tell in this video, but again, you'll just have to take my word for it. (Come on, if an 8-month-old's word isn't good, whose is?)

It sure has been a busy month. I can't wait to see what the next few weeks have for me to discover!