Momentous times

Hold on to your hats, loved ones. It has been quite a momentous 2 days. First of all, Theo started cruising this evening. Quite an auspicious day he chose for this, being Thanksgiving and all. It is so exciting I'm sharing two videos: a low def web friendly version and a high def version with some good baby talk included. The low def video is so cute, I could not omit it, since Theo gives us a good quick drum solo on the coffee table, plus he cruises farther. I was so touched when he started doing it I cried. My little guy!

Also, yesterday Theo finally embraced eating things that are in non-mush form. He ate, of his own volition, 2 entire baby mum-mums, a rice cracker made mostly of air, but highl

y crunchy. He ate 2 more at Thanksgiving dinner, along with his first tastes of mashed potatoes, which he loved, of course.

Last but not least, Theo can climb the stairs now. Not one or two, but all the way to the top. With back-up of course. What an amazing 2 days!

New talents continue to pop up

Theo continues to enjoy his standing, and he no longer needs more than a wall to pull himself up on. His crawling is also becoming more expert - his "off road" skills are improving. He can crawl over legs or climb over the bar on his high chair. This morning he climbed his first stairs - 2 of them. Something about being able to climb stairs strikes Matt and I as really a huge deal. He also points and claps a lot these days, but really, what is bigger than climbing stairs?

One week ago Theo learned to pull himself up to stand. Now he is an awesome pro, pulling himself up anywhere and everywhere: on my leg, on the chair, on the couch, on the oven, on the shelves, on the bookcase, on the stairs, on the high chair. The list goes on. I don't think Theo would have developed his standing skill quite so quickly if it wasn't for the activity table Matt bought him on Tuesday. Theo basically spent 2 straight days playing on it and we found that he was actually taking steps as he used it, inadvertent steps, but steps nonetheless. I told Matt he just sped up the walking process by leaps and bounds with one purchase. Now he can push his table or a chair a few feet across the room, clumsily pulling his feet in behind him. Here's our collection of shots from the last week and a video of him banging the kitchen chair like a drum. A fun game.

Stand and be counted

Theo will be 10 months old on Tuesday. My friend Hallie tells me I only have a few short weeks before he is no longer a baby. I'm starting to believe her - the little dude is becoming a stander, and toddling isn't far behind. This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper when I heard the distinctive sound of little hands hitting the vinyl fabric covering our kitchen chairs. That is odd, I thought, as I peaked under the table. Low and behold Theo was standing there, holding on to the chair seat. Boy has I proud, and so was he. Later that day Theo made his first attempts at climbing the stairs - not getting anywhere, but sending a clear signal it won't be long. Then a couple of hours later he's pulling himself up on his toy box, repeatedly. And so the standing saga begins.

Grooming time

Blue sweatshirt guys

Cutie crawling

Happy Halloween

We didn't quite make it out to the Halloween party yesterday, but we did have fun making a jack-o-lantern and dressing Theo up like a Yankee. I've included a couple of other "scary" shots from recently, just for fun. Boo!

Movin on up

Theo's spending more and more time on his knees these days, and tremendously enjoys pulling himself up on his knees. He can now pull himself up from the floor while I prepare his bath and watch the water fill the tub. He has yet to pull himself up to stand, but it is only a matter of time. Even though he can't get there on his own quite yet, he does enjoy a good bout of standing holding on to something, and Mom enjoys setting him up and watching him bask in the fun of being "up".