tooth no. 2, tomatoes and all that babble...

Our Labor Day weekend was mostly spent upstate visiting my family and celebrating my aunt and uncle's 30th wedding anniversary at their lake house. G was an incredible traveler in both directions, napping most of each three plus hour drive and entertaining himself with toys for the rest. He was a huge hit at the party and we were reminded yet again just how lucky we are to have such a happy, easy-going baby. He flirted, giggled and was content to be passed from person to person all day long at the party. When it was time to nap, I put him in the Ergo, walked him down to the dock so that there were less faces around to distract him and he drifted off in a deep sleep for an hour. (photos to come...)

Just before we arrived at the lake, he was getting a bit restless in his car seat (so were we!) and I wondered if his tooth might be bothering him some. I grabbed the orajel to soothe him, went to apply it to his bottom gum and - bingo! Tooth #2 had arrived. Now his front two bottom teeth are in a race to see which pearly white can come all the way through first.

Probably the only drawback of not getting teeth until past eight months has been that G is wanting to eat more solid foods than his gums will allow. He'll try anything we will let him and will lunge for our plates in hopes of grabbing something new to eat. He's still eating the purees but, I'll often have to give him breaks at meals to eat a few puffs or cheerios so that he can work on his chewing and self-feed. On Sunday, we went out to lunch with my mom, sister and nephew and he was eyeing everything on my plate, even as he hungrily ate his yogurt and applesauce. When he had finished both, I gave him a few bites of my pasta salad then (against my single gag-worthy food bias) a few pieces of tomato. My little traitor loved every bite! I suppose there wil be tomatoes in my grocery cart in the near future. But, you still can't make ME eat them.

And then, there is the babble.

Yesterday, as soon as G woke up we knew about it because he sat chattering away in the pack and play. For a half hour. I had tossed in a few of his favorite toys to buy an extra few minutes of rest before we started the day and he happily chattered away as he played. That was the theme for the rest of the day. When he was awake, he was babbling. Lots of vowels and consanants, some squeals and sound after sound strung together in his sweetest little voice. Love.

Every month and at every large miletone, I catch myself saying, "THIS is my favorite age." Though I'm sure to continue doing so, 8.5 months is just so much fun with this happy boy.

G is 8 months, 2 weeks.