Future vegetarian: Laugh loudly and carry a big (celery) stick.
Rye's starting to get hair! It is more coarse than his peach fuzz, and it's dark. Daddy is thrilled, even though in certain light it's a bit of a Friar Tuck look. His soft spot is nearly grown in.
Rye plays with his red crocheted blanket from Ms. Glenn...after a nap he will hold it up with two hands and look at the world through the holes. He does it over and over.
He notices shadows and wants to play with them. He pulls on the jiggly lion toy himself and makes it dance. Rye is starting to show more interest in peek-a-boo, and played a hiding trick on Daddy at the changing table last week! He is banging toys together to make noise, or banging them on the kitchen table. (Note: We may be delaying purchase of a new dining room set, opting to keep the one that already is banged up.) He looks to see where toys went if they fall or are dropped.
Rye sometimes is able to follow simple directions, for example, to look out the window to see something interesting. Although, he's been able to open his mouth wider to latch on when nursing, at Mommy's suggestion, since he was two weeks old! (Too bad we can't have such great incentives for all of the developmental milestones.)
He is learning to kick and splash in the pool at swim lessons. He is unhappy when we have to get out. He loves the attention the ladies give him in the locker room, and sometimes "acts shy" by putting his head on Mommy's or Daddy's shoulder when he gets a lot of attention in public. It is clear he loves it, though!
He still likes playing with the big floor drum during music class, and often chooses the blue maraca over the others. He also likes to chew on the blue foot of the jiggly lion. He still seems to be right-handed, which was clear early-on.
Rye has been making a hissing sound that sounds like a pulsating th-th-th-th...or what you could approximate from that if you didn't have any teeth. He has discovered his Loud Voice, and practices it frequently. He talks to himself (Inuit? Pashto? Klingon?) when he plays, and especially when he finds some thing new to play with.
Rye knows his name, and recognizes himself in reflections. He still enjoys reading board books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Curious George and the Bunny and The Going to Bed Book. He mostly sits still during the story if you hold the book far enough away. Otherwise he gnaws on the book. We have been sticking to the stiffer books for reading time lately.
He sits up mostly unsupported, but needs a lot of supervision with this. He is starting to bonk his head during play.
Rye is nearly crawling! He has been able to support himself with straight arms for more than a month. Then he releases the arms and falls into a flailing, dry-land swimming position. Just today he started getting all the movements together so he could move in a single direction (not carry about in a circle, which was what he was doing last week). More video here.
Just this week, he's started rolling onto his belly to sleep, after a couple of weeks of sleeping frequently on his side. Trying to roll him to his back only wakes him up.
He has shown great interest in cups and trying to drink from them. (He isn't completely into the rhythm of swallowing, so he often ends up coughing most of what he takes in.) He likes his handled cup, and we'll also be practicing with a smaller, shot-sized cup.
Because breastmilk will give Rye the full nutrition he needs until his first or second birthday (depending on which study you read), and because his gut will not seal for at least another month, we are holding off on solids to keep him healthy and keep him from developing food allergies. We'll let his interests lead the direction we go with foods, and are offering him a few things so he can explore texture, tastes, smells and dexterity.
He's getting teeth! Two are coming in on the bottom. They are sharp.
Trying new flavors.
Feeling the axé in music class.
Rye loves to devour a good book.
At the Zoo.
