The entire last month

Well, I've been extremely delinquent in updating the blog over the last month and can't believe that I've failed to post a single entry (except for Sullivan's birthday). The last couple of weeks have been so much fun that I haven't wanted to take the time away from Nolan to sit in front of the computer to provide an update. So, here it goes - the last month in review...

Of course everything I think Nolan does is cute, but here are some pictures of my current "favorite" things he does:

(1) Since he now pulls himself up on everything, he thinks he's a big boy and can stand...but until recently he hasn't had great balance. So, he has gotten a little creative and just leans against things (such as his activity table) with his belly so that both of his hands are free to play and he doesn't have to focus so hard on keeping his balance!

(2) He is fascinated with his tongue and is constantly sticking it out, twisting it around and playing with it. While this extremely cute, it makes picture taking a little hard since every time he sees the camera, he thinks it's funny/appropriate to stick out his tongue.

(3) He LOVES his Zebra (you can see it in the above pictures) and his Giraffe (Raffey). Whenever you hand either of these animals to him, he gets a huge grin on his face and gives the stuffed animal a huge hug. It's really adorable to watch him get so excited to see and play with his animals.

(4) He still does "fat face" whenever he gets really excited and shy at the same time. I've tried so many times to capture it on-camera and finally have a good shot...so not attractive, but adorable to me nonetheless.

(5) He is the sweetest little thing, even with he's sick. This last month, Nolan spiked a 103 degree temp for about 6 days, then followed that with a nasty head cold. Needless to say, it wasn't fun for any of us, but he somehow managed to keep a smile on his face and wanted to play even when he wasn't feeling well.

(6) I probably don't need to mention this because you can tell by just looking at him, but Nolan LOVES to eat! He has tried just about every major food and while he continues to eat from me, he's starting to transition to a predominately solid food diet. Since I make all of his baby food and freeze it into ice cube trays, there's minimal prep time for meals. However, as I'm de-thawing the food, I always sprinkle some Cheerios on his tray for him to play with and eat. He's getting so good with his dexterity, despite how chubby his little fingers are. What's really funny is that sometimes he has squirrelled away so many Cheerios in his little fists (and doesn't want to let them go), that he decides to try to just eat the Cheerios by leaning over with his head and sucking them up off the tray. Apparently this is something that Brian was famous for as well (since he dove head-first into his first birthday cake), so we can blame this cute little trick on his daddy!

(7) He LOVES Cheerios and he LOVES Miss Sue (his babysitter). When I drop him off in the mornings, he starts wiggling the second that he sees her house. When we get in the front door, he's ready to be put down...so that he can make a bee-line for her coffee table where she keeps a small bowl of Cheerios for him. Because of this, Nolan now associates Cheerios/food with coffee tables and is constantly pulling himself up on our coffee table at home to see if we've put out Cheerios for him...such a little piggy:)

(8) Whenever Nolan gets super-excited he does three things at one time. First he starts shaking his fists up and down. Second, if he's sitting on the floor, he does what we call "carpet angels" where he moves his legs in and out like you do when you're making a snow angel. Lastly, he does this inhale and laugh type of thing and it's the cutest sound (at least to us). We have so much fun trying to come up with new ways to get him to do all these things!

(9) He moves everywhere and is into everything. Most of the time we welcome this, as it is so fun to see his mind explore things. Right now, his current obsession is the door stoppers around the house. He'll crawl to any number of them and hit them with his hands so that they make a "doooiiinnngg" sound and vibrate back and forth.

(10) Sullivan is still his best friend. In fact, when Nolan was sick and I was home with him trying to get a little work done, I glanced up to find Nolan had crawled onto Sullivan's doggie bed. To make things even cuter, Sullivan then went over to join him...they are quite the pair!

Well that's a quick summary of the last month. I promise to be a little better in posting updates over the next couple of months...he's just growing and changing so quickly!