New Talents

There's still not a lot going on around here. Patrick's continuing to progress, but slowly. One of his favorite new activities is practicing standing. He has gotten really good at holding up all his weight with his legs and locking his knees so he doesn't suddenly fall. Sometimes he can even balance with me holding on to him with only one hand. He hasn't figured out yet that he can stand next to a chair if he holds on, but I have a feeling he'll get there soon. He absolutely loves standing up too. Earlier today, he was getting fussy, and I helped him stand on my lap. Suddenly he was laughing hysterically. I wasn't even doing anything remarkable; he was just that happy to be standing. I would love to get some pictures of him standing, but I can't both take them and hold him at the same time. Maybe in the next couple of evenings I will be able to persuade Matt to either play photographer or hold Patrick while I do.

Patrick also loves grabbing things, especially clothes and hair. That's nothing new, but grabbing his own clothes is. This was just too cute to watch yesterday, as he showed off his belly with one hand while playing with the other. Isn't that little boy belly adorable?

A little while before going down for a nap, he spit up all over those cute shorts, so when I changed his diaper later, I just ditched the shorts altogether. He also has a tendency to push out his belly like a blowfish when I start to close his diaper, then suck it back in like normal later. That means his diapers are usually a little loose, as you can see in this picture. My favorite part of the picture, though, is that he managed to roll over on his belly and then pull his legs up underneath him. This is another talent that he pretends he can't do when he's wide awake and having tummy time. Once he coordinates this leg movement with getting his arms under him (which he regularly does during tummy time), he may be just about ready to start crawling. That's a scary thought! My little baby can't be ready to crawl yet!