Rye, 9 months

With the object permanence box

Rye is growing, growing. We have to drop the footrest on the high chair already! He's crawling all over the place, wants to explore and wants to climb. He can climb up one step no problem. He really wants to get on the couch, but luckily hasn't figured out how, yet! He is graduating from having to have a strong fingergrip on something to stand up to being able to palm it for balance. He generally anchors himself to a low shelf with his elbow. He pulls up to standing at his bookshelf and at the baby gates. He is not able to let go of a good handhold, however, and often has a hard time getting down again.

Rye now carries favored toys with him when he crawls. He can hold things tightly when you carry him around (he used to drop things as soon as you picked him up). He enjoys playing with the wooden cars daddy had when he was a kid. When he hears the helicopters overhead, he immediately looks up to the sky to try to see them — even indoors.

He has said "Mama" a couple of times and he recognized a photo of Daddy on the fridge and immediately said "Dada," when he saw it. He is trying to copy our speech, with multi-syllabic words and phrases like "goodness!" and "helicopter." (These only sound like the original to the trained ear.) If you call him to come over to you, he will crawl over. If you ask him to stop doing something that is dangerous, sometimes he will listen ... unless it's a very interesting cord or wire. Then you have to pry it out of his hands.

Rye still loves music class, especially leaning on the floor drum and touching the djembe and guitar, and watching Sarah play the berimbau. He plays the maracas and shows interest in the instruments the other babies are eating playing.

In swim class, Rye has sat on the edge of the pool and waited until Mommy said "One, two, three, GO!" before jumping in, and he even climbed out on his own...to get a toy. He tries to eat the water. He does not like putting away the rubber ducks after play time.

He is working on at least two more teeth, a top incisor and a canine...and since teeth often come in pairs, we're expecting two more immediately. It's been a rough couple of weeks for everyone with wakefulness and some discomfort. The Hyland's homeopathic tablets have been a dream, as has Baltic Amber. We think he's having a growth spurt at the same time...judging by his height next to the bookshelf, he has easily put on a half-inch to an inch over the last month, we think.

Rye thinks it's hilarious to smack his tongue after eating, especially if you copy him—which creates a long smack-a-lackin' game between the two of you.

He still charms strangers in restaurants and grocery stores.

For comparisons to developmental milestones, you can try the charts here or here.

The Lego Days have begun. Let the bare feet beware.

You are the sunshine of my life.....

In the handknit cotton sweater set that Aunt Baba sent

Weekly snapshot

Rye had a great day at swim class; he climbed out of the pool nearly on his own (...to get a brightly-colored ball). Last week he sat on the edge and waited until Mommy said "1, 2, 3, GO!" before he leaned into the water. No photos, unfortunately, it's too much to manage without a PA.

On Tuesday he tried to say "helicopter" as one flew overhead. He said: "HHHcopTHHHH."

Standing and playing

Rye hasn't figured out how to get down once he's standing,

so dropping stuff on the floor creates a challenge.

More camping!

YeeHAH we're playin' in the cave where it's cool and shady.

Rye discovered his tongue this weekend!

Early to bed....

Rye still working on his tongue...

Happy Mother's Day!

Meeting Aunt Margie, Aunt Henrie and Uncle Denis

An East Coast family wedding brought together a contingent of Grandma's family.

Aunt Margie from North Carolina

With Aunt Henrie and Uncle Denis from a town near Paris, France

Teasing the overtired baby past his bedtime with tricks of the eye

photos by cousin Paula

Object Permanence

Rye plays with an object permanence box. The Punch and Drop was intended to create resistance so the balls can be hammered through the holes (a great eye/hand coordination exercise). But I removed the rubber gaskets to create the object permanence exercise. I left one gasket in, to see how Rye would handle the difference. At first, he seemed to think that hole was "broken" or "less desirable," and just tried other holes. Later, he accidentally leaned on the ball and pushed it through the gasketed hole, which seemed to surprise him.

He also tries to put the ball through the hole at the top of the box when the box is tipped — bit this hole is a handle and the ball won't fit. He does figure out he has to use a hole on the side, now, but has a hard time getting the ball through so believes it to be a failed hypothesis.

After the video was shot, I later found a pacifier inside the box. Some time after that, he figured out how to put it in and fish it out again.

The video is long — 10 minutes — and shows him experimenting (and occasionally whacking his face on the box). It was late at night, so we cut him some slack on making him shag his own balls when they went loose. You'll see them rolling in from the sides.

Sorry for the delay in this posting, it was quite a wrestling match with YouTube and the video had to be uploaded several times before it would display.

Play and exploration

Rye loves to pull himself up, stand and be tall. He wouldn't let Greg put him in his PJs tonight, so Greg let him explore on his own until he was ready to try again. (Until Greg was ready to try again, to be clear.)

I found Rye in his room, investigating his toy baskets, while taking an aggressive stance against toppling over (I'm reminded of riding the bus or the subway). You'd think this would utterly preclude him from barn door-ing, but at one point during the video he bites it and points his head toward the one square of floor that isn't covered by pillows. I caught him, though the video suffered.

The video is very long — about 10 minutes — of Rye playing, undisturbed.

Stylin'