Rye, 3 months *

Rye is growing like crazy, and we are building up a box filled with sleepers he can't wear any more. He grabs and holds on to things a lot more, now, and wrings his hands. He sucks on his hands, and sometimes his left thumb. The pacifier still soothes him, but he doesn't want it all the time. (He only really wants it when we are in the car and I can't reach it to put it back in his mouth. In his excitement to grab things and hang onto them, he still has not always figured out that pulling on the ribbon attached to the pacifier is what takes the thing out of his mouth.) Sometimes he's able to jam a loose pacifier back into his mouth with the back of his hand. He DOES want to gnaw on soft things using the right side of his mouth, toward the back. Since he started drooling in earnest a couple of weeks ago, we think our non-teething days are numbered.

Rye giggled for the first time this week, while getting zerberts on his belly. The sound was like a peal of angel bells. It's been difficult to repeat, since he knows what zerberts are now, and they aren't as surprising.

He wakes up only 2-3 times per night, now, so we are all feeling a lot more rested than in the early days. He still smiles in his sleep and occasionally calls out with nightmares or joyful sounds.

We've been practicing baby sign language with him, even though it's a little early, and it seems as though he understands some of the signs, although he can't really reproduce them. He seems to try sometimes, though. He is getting to know "Mama," "Daddy," "Mama's milk," "Nuk/pacifier," and "change diaper." We are working on "bath," "hurt/pain," "wait," "stop," "dog," "bird," "funny," "cry," "drive/car," and "help (me)." Some of the conceptual ones will be difficult, which is why we're starting early on them. Plus, we need time to learn them ourselves.

He makes a lot of sounds in an attempt to communicate; as Anne Lamott has said, he switches from Pashto to Serbo-Croation in short babbles that consistently express emotion, even though we don't know what the hell he's trying to say. Even with their updates, Babelfish is of little use.

Rye had a lot of visitors, and a lot of firsts this month:

• First restaurant trip to Masa, a neighborhood pizza and pasta joint

• First band-aid (dang nail-clipping!)

• First giggles

• First trip to El Conquistador

• First Sunday church service (the organ totally freaked him out and Mommy had to take him outside)

• First camping and climbing trip, includes first long car ride

• First visit to Daddy's work for lunch

• First long stint sleeping, 5 hours sometimes!

• First Thanksgiving and walk along the beach

There are videos here and here that shows him just hanging out and making his swimming movements. And here's one of him in the bath (This one only will be up for a week or two, so watch it now.). No Oscar contenders, of course. Not even if I'd used a tripod.

*Pashto is the language, I discovered, while Pashtun are the people. This entry has been corrected as such.