Forward Progress, and Some Backward

First of all, if you haven't seen it yet even though Dad blogged it twice:



Yep -- I'm officially crawling. On the second, I rocked forward, brought my knees with me, and I haven't stopped since. We're all totally excited, too. Me more than the folks, because now I can get to the dogs or their toys or the magazines or junk on the floor with ease. (Yeah, Dad thought he'd babyproofed!)

The tooth is even more prominent this week, and its neighbor is threatening to join it. Today, Dad said I'm officially no longer allowed to chew on his nose (which has been sort of my fun, loving gesture with him) because it's starting to hurt him. Well, if he thinks he's hurting, let me tell him how I feel. Why does he think I keep putting everything in my mouth? Those frozen pacifiers are a godsend, even though they really only stay cold for a minute. I have a teething ring, too ... it might be time to stick that bad boy back in the fridge, assuming we can find it. My grandpa the doctor-hunter is all on my case to go to the dentist ("first tooth, first visit," he says), but we're going to talk to Dr. B first at our appointment in a few weeks and see if she can recommend someone.

Thanks to the new pain, though, I've slipped with the sleep so far this month. Dad tries to put me in the crib (which he had to lower today because I pulled up on the dishwasher), but I'm not falling for that nonsense anymore. No sir, the only way I'm going to sleep is lying next to him in the big bed. Plus it sort of hurts to eat, so I'm not getting as much out of my regular meals and wake up hungry twice in the night instead of just once (or not at all, which happened a couple of times in December). Since Mom's still working nights, none of us sleeps very well. Oh well ... luckily she goes back to a day shift next week. I think most of the problem is just that I miss her.

In terms of food, I'm trying all kinds of crazy new things. Dr. B said we could start introducing some protein-rich stuff at eight months, so we've tried yogurt (love it), lentils (they're OK), chicken (delicious) and turkey (nasty crap). Dad made edamame puree for me to try tomorrow (which will be three days since introducing chicken), and we're going to have black beans this weekend. We're also experimenting with herbs and spices -- when Dad made my food yesterday, he put oregano in my zucchini, cumin in my carrots, parsley in my peas, and (if you believe it) adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in my sweet potatoes. I know, the spicy food thing seems like it's way too early, but I already ate some of the potatoes and they're great. Trust my dad to start serving me chile before I'm even a year old, though, right?

Speaking of food, it's just about dinner time, so I ought to sign off. See you next week!