Rye practices coordinating the use of both hands by fitting wooden barrels into a curry jar, and placing the lid on the jar.
His work isn't exactly unassisted, as his table surface is uneven (the child-size table and chair my grandparents gave me when I was 4 or 5 are too big for him now), and nevermind that the room is so crooked that everything rolls to the windows, regardless. So you see The Hand come in frequently to wrangle loose pieces. He also is new at sitting chair-style without a back. The "chair" actually is a plastic storage box with two folded tablecloths on it. The "table" is a handmade wooden crate I bought at a rural garage sale in northern Michigan in 1985, that has moved with me to the 15 different places (maybe more?) I've lived since then. I think I got my three bucks' worth—Rye uses it every day now.
Rye is getting taller and more curious! He is starting to wave hello!
He helps with getting undressed now, pulling the shirt over his head and lifting each leg one at a time so you can get his feet out of the jeans. He is no help whatsoever in getting dressed, as he does not like to stand or sit still any more. This has turned messy diaper changes into a challenging sport of Olympic caliber.
Rye has six teeth now, four across the top and two across the bottom. It has not been a great month for sleep for any of us. He enjoys "ice pops," which are a chip of ice in a mesh feeder. He likes to feed himself banana this way as well. He is biting everything: the couch, your jeans, your arm, your knees, mommy, mommy, mommy. He grinds his teeth to see how they feel.
He crawls around a lot, and likes to crawl between your legs. He goes for "line of sight" paths, taking a difficult route (climbing over a large item, for example) over the easier route of going around an obstruction to get to the same place.
Rye still puts everything in his mouth. He loves Legos, especially the piece that looks like a split-rail fence, the Thera-band tubing piece from Grandma, and especially his blocks set and woodland animals. The woodland animals are looking a little gnawed-on, with the teething.
Rye also loves to see dogs outside, especially little ones. He always looks to see helicopters and airplanes in the sky when he hears them. And, he loves to see the moon at night. He is getting good at looking in the direction where you are pointing, to show him something. He has developed an angry, "I am frustrated!" cry he uses when he really wants something—the sign language words are still in process.
He might actually be getting some hair!
Not really sure about the new play tunnel...he bails and gets the heck outta there:
Rye really is getting into peek-a-boo now. He started a game while Greg was battling Laundry Mountain. We don't have any good stills of this yet, but here is some cute video.
Well, Rye and Mommy both have been sick all week and we've missed out on all of our regular stuff like music lessons and monthly happy hour to make sure we don't "share the love" with other babies. At one point Rye seemed a little antsy so for a change of venue we went to see a bit of free outdoor music with a group called Jambo Jam. We ran into Maggie, Noah and Hannah, who are regulars on the free-music circuit, and also were in Yosemite with us. Maggie shot some video of Rye going "bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce, jump jump jump jump jump..." The video doesn't really show it, but he really was trying to bounce around like the older kids, in spite of being really out-of-it because of his cold. (Sorry, no still photos on this one.)
So much for trying only one food at a time...Rye wasn't that interested in the avocado again, so I mixed in some lemon to keep it fresh until later. Which wasn't a big hit, either. So I gave him a carrot stick to gnaw on....which he naturally wanted to dip in the avocado. I put the bowl out of his reach when I went to grab a napkin, but he used the carrot as a tool to pull the bowl closer. Here's some video (long), and a still from other adventures. You'll notice no placemat...because he throws it on the floor.
Trying sweet potatoes at Grandma and Grandpa's
Earlier today, out of the blue, Rye grabbed a playsilk and held it in front of his face for a moment, then pulled it down to reveal a huge grin. "PEEK!" I said, brightly. And he tried it several more times. This charm definitely helped balance out all of the biting-mommy activity which comprised most of the rest of the day.
