The lucky number 9

Why is the number 9 so lucky you may ask?? It's because a week ago Wednesday A-man took 9 steps on his own! We were so excited - I was jumping up and down cheering him on and he just looked at me like I had lost my mind. We were in the dining room and walking into the kitchen. I was holding A-man's hand as we walked and when we got into the kitchen I stopped in the middle of the room to answer my phone. I let go of his hand and he decided to just keep on going and walk to the cupboard that holds all of "his" kitchen stuff. I was flabbergasted and totally blanked out on my friend who I was talking to on the phone. I just stared, counted, and then cheered loudly! He has been walking with us but anytime we asked him to walk without holding on he would refuse by sitting down immediately. We didn't want to push him and make him hate walking so we've been patiently waiting.



A-man and a huge Lego giraffe!



I thought for sure after this major walking experience that he would then start walking on his own all the time but that was a little too ambitious of me. But he has been taking a lot more steps without help now. Here and there he takes a couple of steps, and he loves walking back and forth between mom and dad. I think he is secretly waiting until he can run before he really lets go of our hands and then he will just leave me in the dust chasing after him.





A-man, mom, and Uncle B at the museum



We have had a busy month in addition to learning how to walk. He is continuing to sign tons of words and is trying to talk more and more every day. We had Diana's younger brother come out to visit for a few weeks and A-man loved having his uncle around. Uncle B brought A-man an electric guitar that matched his own and those two had a blast "playing" their guitars. We also took a ton of fun day trips all over. A-man saw dinosaur bones, Renaissance faires, lego buildings & animals, elephant rides, zoo trips, and walks all over the city. One of his favorite things were the train rides we took into the city. The entire trip he kept saying "Whoo Whoo" - and showing me the sign for train.





Uncle B & A-man and the dinosaur attack



A-man is also becoming quite the little climber - he loves going up the stairs and luckily he waits patiently for me to help him back down the stairs. He also is getting very creative in order to get what he wants when it is out of reach. Even though he is so young he will push things over to where he wants to go and then climb up on it in order to reach what he wants. It's ingenious to watch him problem solve. It's also super cute!





My little penguin at the aquarium





Penguin time!



He has loved summer and being outside so much. We go on walks and to the park every day. I'm not sure what we are going to do once winter comes and we are inside more. He is also breaking through more and more teeth - we are up to 3 molars that have come in and one more to go. Poor kid does not like this teething thing - he will show me the sign for "hurt" and then point to his mouth. It breaks my heart to have him hurting. But thankfully we are almost done with that stage and soon his mouth won't hurt him and he can sleep in peace.





A-man, dad, and Uncle B riding an elephant!!!



Well that's all for now folks!