Growing fast

James has learned all kinds of fun things.  He perfected the forward crawl just recently, as seen in the previous blog entry.  Now he has learned how to stand up on his own.  The play table in the picture above was originally much taller, but I cut a bit of the legs off to make it easier for James to reach.  At the time, he was not yet able to sit up on his own, so I thought if he could grab the top he could support himself.  Within a couple of weeks, he was not only supporting himself with it, but crawling on top of it.  Now he can stand up beside it.  Of course now the legs would be better at their original height; I hope I saved the pieces I cut off.  But James is using all sorts of other things to stand up now: the walls of the playpen, the edge of the couch, the footstool, and me if I happen to be sitting on the floor.  I imagine soon I will have to pull him down off the top of the bookshelves.  

   James also learned to play the piano.  His grandma sat down with him in front of her piano last weekend and he learned that hitting the keys made a fun sound.  Mommy has an old electric keyboard, so we got that out for him to practice on.  He's already better at the piano than I am.  

Finally, James's manual dexterity is developing quite well.  He can pick up his Gerber Puffs (little cereal-like finger foods about the size of Cheerios), although he doesn't much like the taste of them.  He can also pick up his pacifier, turn it around in his hands, and put it in his mouth the correct way.  I've been trying to wean him off the pacifier - only giving it to him when he's going to sleep - but now he can get it himself.  He likes the teething ring better, though, so maybe we can retire the pacifiers soon.  

We got James a small inflatable pool this week, so of course the weather is now unseasonably cold.  It should warm up soon, though, and then we'll see how he likes the water.  He enjoys the baths, so hopefully the pool will be fun too.