I'm a Unicorn

This has been a month of parties and adventures. We had 2 family visits. The Lafleur's came to us, and the next week we drove to Idaho to see the solar eclipse with the Johnson's. The eclipse itself was amazing, but Moriarty made it even more wonderful. I spent some time trying to explain that the moon was blocking the sun and that's why it wasn't a circle (through eclipse glasses of course), and that's why it was going to get dark. I'm not sure he fully grasped because he ran around telling people "the sun is blocking the moon", then "the moon is blocking the sun!". Either way he was so excited and we got to enjoy the experience as a family.

While we were in Idaho he shocked everyone there by putting himself down for a nap. For the last several weeks he'll occasionally say "I'm sleepy now" or "I'm ready for my nap", but this was different. The cousins were being put down for their naps so Pip went to find Moriarty to put him down. He found him in his bed with his blanket and animals. Moriarty asked Pip to get me so I could sing him a song. He's just amazing.

He's also maturing so much. I got into a minor car wreck so my neck has been very sore and I've been less able to help him in the evening. Last night he was very hurt by this and after refusing to let me read him bedtime stories (telling me "Go away" and "Leave me alone") he came and found me and said "You hurt my feelings. I'm sad". He couldn't clarify why, but I was so impressed that he could label his feelings and felt safe expressing them. He's also started telling me he loves me on a regular basis. He's so expressive and vulnerable. I feel so lucky.

Moriarty has enjoyed "reading" books to himself for a long time, but tonight was the first time he told us the story of a book out loud. He read Go Dog Go to us. He got close to the actual text on several pages because we've read the book so many times. He used similar voices and cadence to how we tell the story. "Do you like my hat?"

Other highlights of the last couple of months include a trip to Frank and Marcella's Street Food Festival. Their younger daughters adore Moriarty and dote on him every time we visit. We took him to his first music concert, the fabulous 90s rock band Cake. It was at the amphitheater at the zoo and we brought a picnic. There was dancing and much enjoyment. We've also started playing simple card/board games. I learned about a simplification of Uno and we played a long time while we waited during his most recent food challenge (cashews are a go). He voted (our ballots of course) and we picked fresh raspberries and made jam. Moriarty's job was to smash the berries with a potato masher. He excels at smashing things!

Tonight he told me he is a unicorn. He meant because his teacher puts tiny ponytails in the front of his hair, but I think he's a unicorn in a lot more senses of the word.

I'm a baby, Daddy

In the car today Pip and Moriarty had this exchange:
   Pip: Moriarty, I have a question
   Moriarty: Yes?
   Pip: Why are you so cute?
   Moriarty: *long pause* I'm a baby, Daddy. [singing] I'm a baby. I'm a baby. 
I'm not sure he could be cuter. When he wakes up in the morning or from his nap he sings to himself and I hear it through the baby monitor. I'm told I used to do the same thing. He's starting to make up song lyrics too. A favorite song he learned at school is called Slippery Fish. It's adorable, and about the circle of life (bigger fish eating smaller fish). But while we were baking last week he changed the words from Slippry Fish to Spatula and created a song about his spatula swimming in the water. He charms strangers everywhere we go. He just talks to people and asks them questions. A couple weeks ago he approached the lady using the ATM and asked her what it was and what she was doing. He's so tiny they're always impressed and charmed.

The biggest news this month is that Moriarty has become a potty master. All the books told us to prompt him to use the potty, but he says "no" every time we ask if he needs to go. He tells us when he wants to go. Period. And I'm learning to trust him. It stresses me out when he goes down for his nap without peeing first, but he hasn't had an accident since the week we took the diapers away. He's a rock star! When he learned he could wear underwear now he only wanted pink, so that's what we got him. Some striped, some with hearts, and even one with butterflies. 

We've been seeing a lot of Pip's family lately. We went hiking last weekends while Pam and Kent were here. The toddlers are so cute together. They give each other hugs and have toddler conversations. They held hands some of the time we were hiking. It was adorable. We hiked down to a beach and got our feet wet in the water. There was also a wealth of slugs including 'nana slugs' and 'hot dog slugs' (as the brown ones have been named). 

We've been spending a lot of time out weeding the garden. Moriarty is a great helper. He helps pick up the weeds and put them in buckets. And he plays with the dirt and even puts little piles of dirt on the window sills he can reach. I don't particularly want piles of dirt, but he he's so happy and I can clean it up easily. 

The last exciting update this month involves muffins. Some of you know that I have a burning passion for muffins. To the point that I describe Moriarty as being grown from little more than muffins and coffee. Up until now he hasn't been able to eat muffins because he has an egg allergy. But, our allergist agreed to do a baked egg challenge and Moriarty passed with flying colors. We got to bake a batch of special muffins and bring them into the clinic. Then he got specific doses over the visit and they watched for reactions. He did great and can now bake banana muffins with me using the same recipe my mommy used to make. He's a great helper. He pours out the ingredients into the bowl. He turns on the mixer (and keeps his fingers away). And he's an expert at eating the muffins! We have to limit his intake to foods where egg isn't a primary ingredient and they're baked at ~350 for 10+ min, but that opens a whole world of breads and baked goods, as well as egg as binder like in lasagna and swedish meatballs.

I bite my finger on Calvin

Yes, yes, I know it's been 3 months. I have some excuses. Let me briefly list them. 

1) We spent 3 weeks out of the country (Australia if you didn't hear).
2) Toddlers are a lot of work. Mine expects to eat and be read to every day! Sometimes multiple times.
3) We're working hard on the yard to install french drains so we basically dig until our arms fall off every day.
4) Computers are complicated and getting all the pictures together was just so much work.

Now that my excuses have run dry, I'll tell you some highlights from the last few months. Moriarty is so much more grown up than 3 months ago. Not only can he speak much more articulately about his surroundings, but he can speak about his needs/wants/curiosities as well. He's experimenting with conjugation and sentence structure. He had a minor event at school where another kid bit his finger and when he got home to tell us about it (I'd heard from the teacher already) he said to Pip "I bite my finger on Calvin". He came up with that. It makes sense, and we got to correct him and he's learning so fast. Other little things like "I eat my milk", no drank your milk. Tense is also spotty but he listens to how we talk and I hear him correct himself regularly. It's so interesting to watch language construction in real time.

He's curious about everything. He wants to see all the slugs. He wants to watch every bird. He asks about every sound. He touches every flower. It's incredible (and tiring). And he's no less obsessed with trucks these days. There was an event we went to called "Touch A Truck". He got to sit in the driver's seat of the fire truck, ambulance, and school bus. He got to go inside many trucks and wear some of the gear. He was beside himself. There's construction going on near our house and every morning/afternoon he asks to go see the trucks. And then asks to get out and walk around. He's so polite it's hard to say no. Pam and Kent really helped reinforce saying "please" so it's always "want to go see the trucks, please". "Want to get out of the car and see the trucks, please". "Want a pink motorcycle, please". I said no to that one, vehemently. 

He's even more into pink these days. He wants pink shoes, clothes, toys, stickers. If it comes in pink he wants it. He also wants to do everything Pip and I do. Recently that was learning to use chop sticks. We put a rubber band on some and he did great. We're digging the trenches for the french drain and he wants to use his dump truck and shovels to help us dig. He watches Pip cook dinner every night and often tries to help in some way. Pip's great about involving him. He also wants to help me clean up messes, wipe counters, sweep the floor, put his food in the compost, put away silverware, etc. 

It's impossible to compress 3 months into one blog post, but the thing I'm most impressed by is his emotional maturity for his age. Of course he has tantrum reactions. He's 2. I'd be worried if he didn't. But today we were heading to the construction site after school. Yesterday he threw a fit when it was time to leave and I started talking to him in the car about the importance of having a good attitude. I explained that it's a treat to go see the trucks and if he says thank you and doesn't stomp his feet and cry when we leave I'm much happier to bring him back again. I reinforced once we got there and when it was time to leave he started in with the stomping, but as soon as I reminded him we'd agreed that he'd have a good attitude and say thank you, he stopped fighting me. He smiled and got in the car and asked about Daddy and dinner. He was able to process his feelings, and experience them without going ballistic. I'm going to keep using this phrase and see if we can make more headway with it. He struggles with transitions (like all toddlers) but if this will help him feel less anxious and help us deal with less whining it'll be a huge win for the whole family. All in all he's an amazing kid.

Uncle Becca!

Uncle Becca, Uncle Don, and Grandpa Phil all came to visit this month. No, my sister isn't going through a gender transition, but no matter how many times I tried to explain to Moriarty that she was "Aunt Rebecca", he was insistent. I gave up. He's 2. I have to pick my battles and making sure he has on pants is higher on my list. 

The visit was great. We ate a lot. Pip cooked some epic food and Moriarty ate it all with glee, including ribs on the bone. We went out for sushi one day and I discovered that he likes wasabi with his soy sauce. We also ran out of mild salsa and he was quite happy to use the medium. Wow. He'll be out-spicing me in no time. 

In addition to having a high ball of Lafleurs (my choice of collective noun for this visit), the Roberts clan came over to play with us at the park and eat the epic rib feast. Rebecca and Pip had a corn bread off which my sister handily won, and it's even egg free so Moriarty and I have been begging Pip to make it since.

The milestone of the month was clearly his birthday. The whole week leading up to it we talked about birthdays and that he would get a present. He clearly said he wanted a fire truck and every day after he called his birthday Fire Truck Day! We did get him a fire truck with siren sounds, helmet, and Curious George fire adventure book. He loves the truck. I thought it would make me more crazy from the sounds, but he's learning stuff too. It has arrows that point forward and back which control the motorized wheels. I taught him the relationship between the arrows and movement and now the truck goes where he wants. Every little thing he learns is incredible to me. To make the birthday fire truck magic complete we saw a REAL fire truck when we were in Seattle. The ladder was up and there were real firemen. He was mesmerized and talked about it for days.

We went to the regional yoyo competition and now he's very into yoyos. We bought him his first yoyo (a small plastic one) and during the competition he was imitating the performers by dancing and moving his yoyo string around. It was priceless. The competition was at the Seattle Center (where the REAL fire truck was) which also has that incredible fountain. Moriarty played around the fountain for a long time, then got distracted by something and walked off a 2' ledge onto concrete. He got a seriously bloody nose and there was blood in his mouth. I was a very nervous mommy, but before the blood had even stopped flowing he wanted to go meet a dog walking by. He's hardy. 

In general updates, he had his 24 month well baby visit. He's perfectly healthy. He was thrilled to wear the gown because it had tigers on it. He's talking so much more than even a month ago. His sentences are getting more sophisticated and longer. He's also having really big feelings that are leading to more tantrum-type behavior. We're trying really hard to help him stay calm and cope without punishing him or ignoring him. I think those are the times he needs our help the most and I want to help as much as I can. Not everyone agrees, but that's my philosophy and it's working for us for now. The increased talking and feelings are also translating in positive ways to talking about people more. He talks about all the family members he's seen recently on a nearly daily basis, and friends he hasn't seen in months out of the blue. He's incredibly social and cares about people and wants to look at pictures of the people he knows. It's beautiful to watch. He's magical. I think I'll keep him. Sorry gypsies.

3 - 2 - 1 - COUNTDOWN

The counting has begun. A few weeks ago I started counting his berries at breakfast. I'd grab about 10 and then count them out, 1 by 1, until I ran out. Sometimes he'd sort of count along throwing out a number here or there, but not regularly. We'd count other things, like pictures in his books, or other foods. Then last week he started just counting up on his own. He'd say "1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10" or such. Never getting it right, but still cute. Then tonight at dinner Pip and were talking about something and Moriarty just started counting. 1 through 10, perfectly. I was so shocked! We clapped and got excited and he did it a few more times. He's officially learned to count to 10. 

He's making progress in other scholastic realms as well. I'm trying to point out the color of objects in our normal life, rather than sit down and focus on colors. Sometimes he surprises me. I was wearing a bright pink shirt one day and when I picked him up from school before even saying hello he pointed at my shirt and said "pink" very clearly. Kind of like the counting he's all over the place most of the time. Some days everything is green. If you ask what color it is, it's green. :-) We'll keep reinforcing and eventually he'll learn them. It's not a race. I prefer to build this stuff into our normal discussions and that worked really well with the numbers.

I'm sure all of this is being reinforced by school. His new Montessori school is amazing. They give him lots of fun challenges and the kids and teachers all love him. When we show up the kids exclaim "Mo!" and he gets happy too. I love how enthusiastic he is to see them too. This was definitely the right move. He's still making some progress with potty training at school but we're not pushing it at home. We're still doing so much renovation work it's hard to also carve out time to focus on potty training. In time. We'll get there.

His language skills are getting more impressive by the day. This week he started saying "What are you doing, Mommy" over and over and over and over. It's cute the first 30 times....Yay parenthood. Favorite phrases include "I did it", "It's MINE", "I love you" and "More berries please". I admit we prompted the "I love you" a lot, but now he just tells me sometimes and it melts my mommy heart. He is asking for a lot of foods by name. A current favorite is jambalaya. He's really turning into a little person, not a baby. We plan to move him from his crib into a big boy bed soon. Pip captures some amazing videos of him sleeping (snoring!) and waking up. 

He's getting a little obsessive about cleanliness. He likes to vacuum (but only with hearing protection because he HATES loud noises). He also likes to clean up spills on his tray. It was great when it was picking up after himself and sweeping under his chair, but now he seems obsessed with not being dirty. It doesn't seem dire, but it's a bit challenging. He wants to take off shirts as soon as they're dirty and if we're outside and he falls down he gets upset at having a little dirt on his hands. We're trying to be understanding, but also realistic. He does like to jump in puddles when he has his boots on though. We caught another playful video of him hanging out in a bucket. He's magical most of the time. Even the willful morning challenges of getting ready for school are pretty mild still. 

The latest batch of pictures is now up

And he is staggeringly cute.

Who's that? Moriarty.

For the first time today I heard him say his name. I mean, it was garbled, but we were looking through pictures and videos from our afternoon at the zoo and Pip asked him who the little boy stomping in the puddles was. He answered, "Moriarty". OMG. So COOL! Usually he says it's a baby. He hasn't said "me" yet, though he has started referring to he and I together as "we". It's all incredible. As his language improves we're working on polite requests and less whining! If he's frustrated we're teaching him to say "I'm stuck. Help please." It's surprisingly effective. And asking for more cheese/milk/broccoli is becoming a single request and waiting patiently while we get it. He's still 22 months. It's not exactly consistent and smooth, but he's very receptive to routine and if we treat this like routine he takes to it very well. We've been in the routine of cleaning up his toys nightly and occasionally he'll complain, but then he will pitch in and do his part. He's amazing. Tonight after dropping his unwanted broccoli on the floor he got the broom to help me clean it up. :-) Ahh. The confluence of toddler rebellion and toddler desire to please/help.

Bedtimes are another place where routine has really helped. We have it down to a nice pattern of milk, 1-2 books, upside down teeth brushing (just like it sounds) bouncing on the ball with 2 songs (Frere Jacques and Wheels on the Bus) and then we put him in his bed. I can't remember the last time he protested and whined for more singing/bouncing. But then it takes a while for him to actually fall asleep so we hear him singing to himself through the baby monitor. Usually Frere Jacques though he only knows the first 1.5 lines. He makes up tunes and entertains himself until he falls asleep. It's so adorable to listen in to his secret time. He also has lots of public music time that I get to record with my phone!

His adult imitation is ramping up. He can repeat our phrases with good intonation, though toddler sentence construction. We were reading a book with a dump truck in it and Pip asked, "Do you have a dump truck?" Moriarty replied with a snarky tone and pointing finger, "it's right there dump truck!" Another recent favorite is "in a minute". I don't think he knows what it means but he says it to me. He also imitates our actions. I use eye drops when my allergies flare up and it can be really painful if something is in my eye so I keep the eye drop bottles all over the house. I call it eye juice. Well, Moriarty wants to use eye juice now too. He can hold his eye open while I drop liquid into it, then he'll squish up his face in discomfort, giggle, and run away. He requests eye juice every day or so now. Ugh. 

It is an understatement to say he likes trucks. He has insisted on wearing only truck pajamas for weeks now (the dino ones are intensely rejected). He also has a t-shirt with a London bus on it that he takes out of the dirty laundry and tries to put back on himself. Only the bus shirt will do. I bought a second one today in the hopes of washing the first while he wasn't aware! But the physical trucks he got over the holidays really stole the show. His dump trucks, "dig that dirt" (front end loader and back hoe), riding excavator, bulldozer, car transporter, etc etc etc. He plays trucks all the time. He puts his trucks in his other trucks. He looks out the window talking about fire trucks and making fire truck noises. Where did he get this truck obsession from? 

In addition to being truck-obsessed he also really loves animals and his animal books. He wants to hear the sounds the animals make over and over. He wants to say their names and make their sounds and talk about them. This I love and will happily encourage. This is why having annual passes to the zoo is great. We also went to the Reptile Zoo (~40 min outside Seattle) last weekend. They have daily hands-on exhibits with the animals. Moriarty got to hold a snake (he pronounces this [s]nake most of the time). He was thrilled. He also got to pet Rocco, a giant iguana. Other things we saw but couldn't pet included the alligators, many turtles, chameleons, and some very very venomous snakes. There's a farm nearby we'll take him to soon, and the petting area at the zoo. Yay animals.

He's really turning into a little person. We can talk like people, more-or-less, and it's incredible to see him grow up. I love him so much sometimes I think my heart is bursting.  

(note: photo update coming soon. having technical difficulties uploading at the moment.)

My Hot Dog Isn't Hot?

We've reached the stage where he's getting confused about homonyms. He's been very interested in hot food for a long time. We taught him to blow his food off to cool it. He's taken bites of food that was too hot and now he typically asks if any food we offer is hot. For dinner this week we had hot dogs. But they weren't hot. And he found this very confusing. We were almost doing an Abbott and Costello routine. 

Lisa: Here's your hot dog. Yummy.

Moriarty: Hot? 

Lisa: No, it's not hot. It's called a hot dog. That's it's name.

Moriarty: Hot dog...hot?  hot dog? *blows on hot dot that isn't actually hot*

Lisa: It's not hot. You can eat it. It's called a hot dog.

Moriarty: Hot?

Lisa: *giggle* yep. it's hot. *gives up*

We ended up changing daycares last week. When we moved to the new house there was only one school with an opening so we took it. But we've had increasing reservations about the place since. Pip best described it as the Lord of the Flies Montessori. Too much chaos. The kids ruling the teachers. I witnessed older kids being rough with Moriarty during pick-up time. Then after we spent all of the long Thanksgiving weekend working on potty training they just put him back in diapers. That was the final straw. We were miraculously able to find a spot in the other school we had previously toured the next day. OMG. They're fantastic. He's in the "early preschool" classroom so most of the kids are 2-3. 10 out of 14 are potty trained. But he's got the fundamental skills they need like table proficiency, responding to questions, asking for things he needs, etc. He's thriving there. Since he's in the older classroom most of the "toys" are actually Montessori learning tools like puzzles, pouring, scooping, sorting, etc. They're also supporting low-pressure practice potty training while we give him some time to transition to the new environment.

POTTY TRAINING. Everyone's favorite subject... To successfully use the potty, Moriarty needs to be able to identify that he has to go, alert someone and/or go himself, hold it in until he's at the potty, then let it go. When I write it that way it actually sounds pretty complicated. He's very good at telling us he needs to go. He's very enthusiastic about it. He's struggling to know in advance and have enough time and muscle control to make it to the potty without an accident. After 4 days of practice at home he was getting about half of his attempts successfully in a potty, and the other half on our lovely hardwood floors (where we'd rolled up the carpet because we're smart). I was very proud of him for that much progress at his age. But the school transition was just too jarring. His first day at the new school we tried to keep going and he had accidents all day long. I felt so bad so we bought some pull ups and will use those until he is more comfortable at the new school and can focus on this better. No worries. Not a failure, a set-back. The skills he's built so far will still be valuable when we start focusing again. 

OK. Enough about toilets. Let's talk about cuteness. He's very empathetic. When I am hurting he gets very worried and wants to give me a hug and help my owies. When he hurts himself he even apologizes. :-) He got a HUGE book of animals for [early] Christmas from Grandpa Phil and he wants to read it all the time. He likes to read to himself (YEAH) but the book is so big if it's on his lap he hits himself in the face when he turns the pages. Last night this went down for the first time and he'd bump his nose and say "sorry uh oh nose". Then turn the page, bump his nose, and say it again. Pip and I were trying so hard not to burst out laughing. He also really likes to help clean. We clean up toys every night before bed and he's very helpful. He also likes to wipe his own face and clean up his tray if he spills milk. We took him again this year to collect donations outside a local mall for the local food bank. I firmly believe children guilt people into donating more. And I want to incorporate him to our philanthropic lifestyle early on.

We attended our first toddler birthday party. It was great, but chaotic and I'm not sure I'm up for something like that for many more years. They rented live bunnies for the kids to pet and hold. That was AWESOME. Moriarty was very into it and was very gentle with the bunnies. The hostess mom also made a special birthday cake that was egg/nut/butter free for him. He had one bite, made a face, and didn't want more. I'm guessing it was sweet and he's hardly had any desert foods so hopefully we're still winning the game against sweets.

At some point he hit a full on truck obsession. He used to love dogs, then dinos, and now it's 100% trucks all the time. He has a book with truck pictures and names and he's memorized most of them. He just wants to scoop and dump and drive and talk about the sirens all day long. Neither Pip nor I have any interest, but we're becoming experts to support him. I do admit, we've let him watch some TV. Well, youtube. We found a video of pretty well written songs and videos of real trucks in action. It makes him SO happy. He quotes it... "put it out". I honestly think he'd watch it all day if I let him, but I don't. Moderation!

Merry Christmas from Moriarty and The Older, Taller, and better Potty-Trained Lafleurs

Dig That Dirt

It's been 5 weeks since I last wrote and Moriarty has grown up. He's just a different kid. He talks in multi-word phrases all the time. He is very clear about what he wants and is expressing more of his little-person will. He has become obsessed with "big trucks". Not any trucks, big trucks. He talks about them throughout the day. He gets excited when he hears something that might be a big truck and cranes his neck for a glimpse. He's getting comfortable with truck jargon like "dig", "scoop", and the most important "dig that dirt". I'm not sure where he picked it up but he gets this very serious look on his face and says "dig...that...dirt". Of course, we have video! 

Another big contributor to his big-boy-ness is his first haircut. He went from Baby MacGyver with a long curly mullet to a toddler. The place we took him had trains and cars for the kids to sit in during the hair cut. He was mostly OK with it, but it's a strange experience and he expressed his displeasure.

We moved into the house last week and he's very excited about all the new things to see and do. The dining room table overlooks a creek and every morning he alerts me that there's water. Creek water! He also has a small stool that he carries around so he can climb up on the couches or see out the windows. He has a propensity for moving tools around, which is crazy making, but we'll live. He likes to use the tape measure to help. Since we haven't put the cabinet doors back on in the kitchen, he also likes to take out any pans, lids, or other exciting things he can find and "cook". I love that he finally has a room and it has toys and books and nothing sharp that he's not allowed to touch. It's his room and he loves playing with us in there.

The hardest part of the month has been starting at his new daycare. He LOVED his old daycare. He loved his teacher and he had a best friend and they were inseparable. They couldn't be put next to each other at nap time because they would stay awake talking and keep the other kids up. We knew it would be hard for him to lose her, but the commute just wasn't feasible. The new school is different, but also great. We're trying to adjust but he's very sad every day when I drop him off. They were impressed at how verbal he is, and how well he can use regular cups and forks. (he has a fork obsession but can't say the "f" so he asks for something that sounds like "work") It's a mixed age Montessori school so the oldest kids are 5-6, but he spends most of the day in the toddler class. They told me today that when all the kids sit together Moriarty sits with the older children. I don't think he knows he's a baby! 

His favorite sensory experience right now is ice. He wants ice milk, ice water, ice on his face, ice in his hands, ice in his mouth, etc. In addition to using his stool he's becoming adept at climbing in and out of his learning tower so he can be "up high". Overall, he just seems older and more capable. 

Our plan is to start potty training over Thanksgiving weekend. We'll have several days home to let him be naked and practice, then more time during the Christmas break to practice outside the house. I'm excited but nervous of course.

Why Baby Make Poo Poo?

Moriarty's language has been progressing at a lightning pace. He's been obsessed with things being 'up high' for weeks now. He wants his animals up high (like the top of the fridge or over the stove). He wants his pacifier or his milk up high. I've been trying to teach him about things being 'down low' too. He's getting that. A few days ago at breakfast he held his cup up and said 'up high', then moved it down and said 'down', repeating the cycle over and over. SO cute. But yesterday he put the concepts together and held up a small box and said 'up high box'. Pretty crappy grammar but I won't judge him until he's at least 2. That was quickly followed by 'Daddy cook' and 'Mama no work'. ugh. That's telling. But the highlight of the month for me was his first sentence. I swear he said this (or I'm hearing things). When I change his poopy diapers I say he's 'made a poo poo' and he's very aware that Moriarty in pictures is a baby. Sometimes he refers to himself as baby, but not always. I was changing him a couple days ago and he said 'Why baby make poo poo?'. Best first sentence EVER! His grammar is unique. He has starting using 'me' in place of 'my', so it's 'me mama' and 'me daddy'. Another exciting new word is hiocado (helicoptor).

He's been into dancing and music for a long time. A week ago we were listening to The Beatles on random and Twist and Shout came on. It's a favorite of his, but it's also a song I play on guitar for him sometimes. As soon as it started he ran and pointed at my guitar because he made the connection. I was very impressed. He's been requesting I play more and although I am truly terrible at guitar, we're getting good at Wheels on the Bus and working on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Wheels on the Bus is his current ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG and he requests we sing it multiple times a day. Like all parents we use spelling to thwart his toddler brain and one afternoon I asked Pip if they'd sung B-U-S earlier. Moriarty immediately said 'bus!'. I don't know if he connected the 's' sound or what but it was creepy. He better not be able to spell and be hiding it from us!

He's on the cusp of being able to jump but still can't. He thinks he's jumping. He bends his legs, flails his arms in the air, he just doesn't leave the ground. It's painfully cute. It doesn't stop him from stomping in mud puddles though. 

It's been an exciting month with the house renovations, lots of babysitting while Pip and I work and time with Grandpa Phil. Overall, Moriarty seems more grown up to me this month. Like he's clearly not a baby anymore. He's a small person with a limited vocabulary but a clear sense of what's going on and what he wishes was going on. He can mostly communicate it to me and it's just my job to enjoy him and watch for new communication signals. Once we move he'll be starting a new daycare and things will change a lot in his day-to-day. New school, new house, new places to walk and play. We'll fill you in next month. 

It isn't C4, it's the baby language explosion

In the last few weeks Moriarty has started talking a lot. He regularly says please, though it sounds more like peas. It makes me melty and I struggle to maintain the proper parental role. I want to give him ALL THE THINGS. But, with a lot of effort, I have stood fast. He's getting more food names down like cheese, [avo]cado, chicken, berry, apple, fish and beans. Nana is old hat now (though I still have to hide them in the cupboard). He has a toy bus and now says bus. He has been saying ball for a long time (more like bah) and now also says bath, though it sounds suspiciously similar to ball. Context helps a lot. He repeats things he might not understand fully like elbow and boop (onomatopoeia is not lost on toddlers for long). He has a favorite word that sounds like appoooo and I have no idea what it means but he says it every day and laughs. Maybe he's pretending to sneeze like in his book Pigs Make Me Sneeze. He tells me when he gets owies or has gone poo poo. And the most indicative of a new phase of toddler-hood, he has acquired yes and no. He was nodding yes for a while now but said it recently but just tonight he said no for the first time. He just made the 16 month cut-off by a few hours. He was having his bath, which he loves because there are balls and splashing, but he bathes in a big plastic tub because we don't have a bathtub. When he stands up he is more likely to slip so he knows (and we remind him) if he stands in the bath he has to get out. All done. And then he sits back down. Tonight he was standing and Pip asked if he was all done and ready to get out of the bath, Moriarty said 'no', and sat back down. It happened twice. We have a replicate! I'm so proud and also excited that the first time was information transfer not defiance.

That's most of the excitement. We bought a backpack style carrier and are carting him around with more storage space for the farmer's market trips. He ate his first hamburger (home cooked of course) but his mouth isn't big enough to eat properly so he open faced the meat and ate it from the middle. He got serious ketchup face. Pip made leek soup this week and Moriarty ate it with his spoon like an expert. Legitimate spooning of drippy soup into his mouth without spilling! Fava beans are harder because he doesn't seem to want to chew them so he chokes. We'll have to wait a while to try those again. He got a taste of lemon at school as part of a sensory exploration exercise and really likes it. And last, but certainly not least, he's obsessed with his monkey suit and wants to wear it every day. For about 10 minutes before it gets uncomfortable. There's a great pic of him kissing himself in the mirror wearing it. He's amazing. Pip also caught a video of him getting stuck in his duplo bucket.

If you haven't heard yet we are buying a house. Our offer was accepted, our inspection went great, closing is scheduled for 8/12. We are planning some updates before we move in and then projects as we go (but I don't want to live in a construction site for long). It's ~2K sq ft of living space and another ~2K sq ft of shop and partially finished basement (more shop). 2.75 acre lot. We hit the jackpot. Moriarty will get a tree house and we'll cut hiking trails and get chickens and someday goats!!!

He's misplaced his nose

Well, people did say we were tempting fate by naming him Moriarty, but I think he's just living up to the hacker precedent set by his parents. About a week after we installed child safety locks he learned how to defeat them. Granted, we didn't use the super fancy magnetic kind, we just 3D printed some classic L-shaped tabs, but he's got these tiny little arms and he can just slip them into the cabinet and defeat the safety locks. We discovered this the day he came out of the kitchen holding a jiffy pop package. It's shiny and has a handle so it's not surprising he thought it was a toy and carried it around the house. Our current solution for some of the cabinets is to just tape them shut with blue tape. He doesn't have the dexterity to pull it off. Take that mini evil genius!

The most fun thing that started this month is our dog walks. Not walking a dog, but walks to look for dogs. One Saturday morning Moriarty got his shoes and brought them to me. Then he pointed at the front door and made his attempt at woofing sounds. It was pretty clear that he wanted to go out and meet doggies. So that's become a thing. Many evenings and every day on the weekends we go for walks and meet the doggies. This gives him walking practice. Pip shot a great video of him just walking down the sidewalk and exploring the world. He's regularly walking 0.25 mi or more. We get coffee, and then we go looking for dogs. We always ask the owners "Can we meet your doggie" and then we always practice touching gentle. I want him to learn that not all dogs want to meet people, and it's never ok to touch a dog without the owner's permission. It's mostly for his safety but it's also a good practice. Touch gentle is a common theme these days. We practice touching the plants gentle (which only happens 1/4 of the time so my philodendrons are suffering), and they reinforce it at school. He's also getting better at the order of operations of things in his routine. If he wants to go for a walk he has to get his shoes then sit in our lap. If he wants to read a story he'll pick up a book and bring it to us then sit in our lap. 

He's getting taller and leaner. I don't think he's gained much weight but his belly seems a bit smaller and his head is enormous. I am currently buying him 24 month shirts because the smaller ones don't fit over his head. The increased activity is also doing a number on his clothes. He wore the knees out of a pair of jeans so I patched them with monkeys playing guitar. When we talk about noses he'll point to his nose now. Except today when I asked him where his nose was and he pointed to his ears. Either he's become confused or he's screwing with us because he thinks it's funny. It's honestly hard to tell. But when I ask if something is a hat he always puts it on his head, and if you mention monkeys he'll usually pat his head and make monkey noises. I even put him in his monkey suit and he had a grand time looking at himself in the mirror. He's also gotten better at climbing. He can use boxes to climb onto furniture, and is appropriately fearless. The couch cushions are quite bouncy and great fun. 

He's still a great eater. He's better at telling me what he wants and when he wants more. He'll even eat garlic pickles! We started using forks and I'm trying to teach him how to stab his food. He mostly treats it like a spoon, or a drum, but we'll keep practicing. We were having breakfast yesterday and I had gone in the other room and he made whiny needy sounds to get my attention because he wanted more milk. I explained that if he wants my attention to use my name, "mama", and I'll come help him get what he needs. I said it a couple times but he didn't seem to be paying attention. About half an hour later he was playing blocks and then said "mama" and made the milk sign. He totally gets it. Or at least gets that adding mama will help him get what he wants. 

We took 2 trips to the zoo. One with the Johnsons and another with Ben and Kim. He got to pet a goat for the first time. He was kinda hesitant but tried it out. I think he prefers dogs. We also took a field trip to Home Depot. We're building him a Learning Tower so he can help out in the kitchen and we needed wood and hardware. He and Pip shopped for gloves while I got some cuts made so the wood would fit in our Hyundai. He loves to help out. We bought him a toddler sized broom and he 'sweeps' the floor like Mommy.

More milk!

Moriarty amazes me all the time, but this week he formed his first completish sentence, which was "more milk". He has known how to sign both words for a while but I'd never heard him say either. This particular morning I'd given him a small glass of milk and after he finished it he looked at me and said out loud, more milk. I was a bit surprised given both the phrase and being spoken, so then he signed more as if to say "duh, Mom. I said MORE MILK!" It was pretty exciting. He gets to practice saying "more" a lot because I have been giving him his drinks in regular cups most days (they're small, but not sippy cups). He loves this because another of his favorite meal-time practices is to plop whatever he's eating into these cups (of water or milk) and then rescue his food either with his hand or by drinking the food. He does this with everything. Oatmeal, sausage, bread, banana, watermelon, whatever. At first I tried to discourage it but it makes him so happy and he does eat it, just in his own special way. He hardly ever drops/throws food on purpose. His spoon skills are also improving though he does enjoy just using his hands. 

In addition to drinking solid food out of cups he's started mimicking me because he's seen me drink the milk from my cereal bowls. He tries to drink food out of his yogurt or soup bowls which either doesn't work (yogurt doesn't flow that well) or works too well (leek soup does). The last cute dining moment was when he reached for my napkin and I handed it to him. I wasn't sure if he'd rip it up or use it as a hat, but I was curious. Instead he brought it to wipe his mouth then set it down. OMG. He has table manners! Much better than I did even in high school. 

In general he's getting more expressive and more curious. He wants to try to do things himself. He tries to put his shoes on. He opens the bookshelf and gets out books to read to himself. He has a lot more facial expressions and babbling. He's trying to talk. He thinks he's talking, I just have to keep working to understand him. He's also walking much better. We have started letting him walk part of the way to the coffee shop nearby. He walks about a block then we let him ride the other 2. Same thing on the way home. He gets distracted by plants and other people's stairs (he loves stairs) but it's worth it and I want him to learn that he's expected to walk on his own. 

We went with his cousins to a cool play space called Wiggle Works. It's inflatables to bounce on, and moving things to climb/ride on, etc. It was a lot of fun but I noticed something for the first time. Many of the other kids, even kids his age, were kinda bounding around not really looking at their surroundings. Running into walls, literally. Not to burn off energy, but because they weren't looking. Moriarty looks. He's very thoughtful. He surveys a scene then decides what he wants to do and where he wants to go. Pip says he does this when he arrives at daycare too. He stands at the door for a minute and looks around, then goes and finds a friend to hug and play with (usually Hannah his best friend). He also watches the birds and squirrels out the window. I'm curious how much of this is just his personality, and how much Pip and I have helped instill by stopping and touching plants, and watching birds, and looking around and talking to him about it. I can't know, but I really appreciate how thoughtful and intentional he is. I love that he can play by himself and find things to entertain himself when we are occupied with other things. I really feel like I've won the baby lottery.

Crawling Backwards Down Hills

He isn't running yet, but he's walking a lot more. He can get 10 or so steps in at a time without falling and it's so cute. We got one video of a few steps (including an impressive magazine throw) and I'll work on getting more. Here's a video of him practicing at the Farmer's Market with daddy's help. He's talking more, using more sign and vocal words, and just communicating better in general. He loves to dance and often when I start singing or put on music he'll just start dancing. He does it at school too. 

He has been sick, like babies are. He managed to get a bilateral ear infection followed by a recurrence in one ear 2 weeks later. He had 2 rounds of antibiotics and the second hurt his stomach a lot and caused diarrhea. He also had hand, foot, and mouth followed soon by roseola. Basically, there's a checklist of things babies get and he's ticking all the boxes. He's also started to get toddler angst. He'll try to do something (today it was putting a toy into a bag) and he doesn't quite have the coordination so he'll have a melt down. Lay his head on the floor and cry. Or throw his head back (which ends up hurting when he hits the floor). It's cute but also really frustrating when we just want to help him eat or play with his toys. It's a new and exciting stage!

He participated in another baby science experiment. This one was on perception of negative emotions. They want to see if babies can differentiate sad from angry from scared, etc. He watched a bunch of videos of people reacting and they video taped him. No skull cap this time. 

We're spending more time outside since the weather has improved. We've been to the playground several times. He tries out the cuisine: pine cones, sand, and sticks. His favorite is the swing. He cackles when he goes high. He likes swinging on my lap too (they have a molded plastic seat swing). He is fascinated by dirt in other contexts too. He likes to liberate it from the confines of the planters and help it search for a better home on the floor, the window sill, and his mouth. We have over 50 plants so it'll take him a while to make much progress. We tried to go canoeing at the UW waterfront last weekend. They have a weight cut-off of 25 lb and he just missed. We fed him a big lunch and lots of water but he was only 24.2 lb. Oh well. We'll try again in a few months once I've fattened him up.

We taught him to get off the couch (and bed) backward so he doesn't hurt himself. He's very good at that and has started applying it to many other situations. He crawls down hills backward, climbs down steps backward, and even goes down the slide backward....It's so cute I'm not going to bother trying to correct him. He's nothing like Pip in this regard! I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

and....LIFT OFF

No, he didn't fly, but he did walk. 2 whole steps. Not going to set records any time soon but I'm so excited and had to share. We put a step stool with his monkey, Grapes, on it a foot or so away and he took the 2 steps to get his friend. Awesome.

So many firsts

This has been a month of firsts. We'll start with daycare. He graduated from the baby room to the young toddler room (12-23 months). It's much larger with more kids, more toys, more art, a slide!, and a big table where they eat meals. They use spoons and forks and different types of cups based on ability. Moriarty is still a big fan of using his hands, even for things like yogurt, but he's learning to use a spoon. He loves playing with the kids but sometimes kid rumbles happen and he was blocking the slide last week and a kid bit him. He has quite a mark (in the pics) but it didn't break the skin. No rabies this time. He's still not walking yet but he's quite confident standing unassisted and hopefully watching the other kids will inspire him and give him confidence. Now that's he such a big boy we've also started having him help us clean up his toys and do laundry. 

He's added some awesome new words to his vocabulary. We regularly eat [ba] nanas for breakfast and now all things that are kinda shaped and colored like bananas (including sweet potatoes) are "nanas". He's also started saying "book"  several times a day and was really into books this week. He's become more engaged in the stories. We read more together and he's been reading them alone. I'm also convinced he said "monkey" at the zoo when we saw the orangutans, and "Poof" the name of his rocking dragon. Those are dodgier and he hasn't repeated them yet.

The weather finally turned and spring has arrived in Seattle. We went to the awesome playground near our house for the first time a couple weeks ago. He had used kiddie slides at school or the covered area of a local mall, but this was the first time on a big (little) kid slide. Also the first time in a swing. He loved the swing. I took a video of him giggling while I pushed him. He spent a fair amount of time that first visit sitting on the park bench watching people. He talked to lots of kids and adults and blew people kisses, like he does. We tried out the sand box but he wasn't a fan. 

Now that we're taking him to more outside activities, and he's so good at standing and cruising, it was time to get shoes. If you weren't aware, baby shoes are ridiculously cute. Baby feet are really small! We wanted to make sure he got properly sized because that's critical to learning to walk well. The first 4 stores we went to (3 children's stores and one shoe store) didn't actually size baby feet. They just sold crappy shoes that were cute but not focused on healthy feet. I was not OK with this. We ended up at Nordstrom and had a great experience. They were really nice. They found a few pairs that were good for him and we picked one. They give babies pictures to commemorate the event and a stuffed "Nordie" doll. 

We went for his 12 month check-up and vaccines only to discover he had Hand, Food, and Mouth...and was cutting 4 teeth at the same time. SHEESH. This kid takes after me and never does half measures. This week he managed to get bilateral ear infections and is oozing from all his orifices. Pip and I have tried to split up the week but we're both missing tons of work. One upside is he's super snuggly right now and just lays his head on my chest like when he was tiny. The doc also said that his eczema will be better if we start daily baths and lotioning. He'd had a few baths before but since we don't have a proper bath tub we mostly shower him. We got a big plastic tub and are doing regular baths now and he loves it. He splashes and giggles and is just a happy baby. I've decided to keep him. 

He's not dead yet

That seems to be the theme of many first birthdays. We didn't kill the baby and the baby didn't kill us. YAY! We opted not to do a party for this birthday partly because we were already spending time with out-of-town family, and partly because I'm a brazenly self-proclaimed introvert. Through some sick twist of fate Moriarty is the most social baby ever. He blows kisses at strangers, he talks to people on the bus, he smiles at everyone, he just LOVES people. Which is great, it's just certainly not something he inherited from me. But, that said, we skipped a formal party.  We did commemorate his birthday with a family photo shoot. My father, sister, and brother were in town, and we all went to the Arboretum and did an amazing playful shoot that felt very natural. Lots of throwing the baby in the air and giving snugly kisses. The full album is in the main Images gallery.

In terms of biggest milestones, I think we've hit a language explosion. He's very confidently using several words now. He'll pick up a ball and say "ba", or put something on my head and say "ha[t]". He's been signing food for a while but yesterday he whipped out "foo" while he signed it. OMG. He's trying to repeat the sounds we're making and it's getting clearer every week. I love the improved communication and it's fun to realize that we can teach him anything we want. That's a lot of power...

We built him an activity wall with things to sproing, latch/unlatch, touch, and it has a ball tube that he can put his ping pong balls down. It's fun to watch him play and it took about a week for him to figure out how the deadbolt blocking the exit of the ball tube could be opened to release all the balls. Now he does it often. 

As his mother I pin all my self-worth and hopes and dreams on how well he learns and out does the other children, so I'm sad to say he's not quite walking yet. He is, however, standing unassisted for long periods of time where he seems perfectly stable. He just doesn't seem to have the confidence to walk on his own yet. He'll use the chairs or ottoman to function as a walker and slide them all over the place, but those first steps aren't here yet. He's crawling like a maniac though and utilizes his mouth to hold things. Rather utilitarian, I think. He has gotten far too tall and I have to keep re-baby proofing all the time. I'd really like a break!

To ensure he is prepared for his life of baby competition, we've begun increasing the diversity of his world cuisine. This month he had sushi and Ethiopian food for the first time. He was a pro at Ethiopian because you're supposed to eat with your hands. He also at the sushi with his hands, but no surprise there. He excels at eating.

My last exciting milestone is that he is no longer Moriarty, Destroyer of Worlds, he is now Moriarty, Stacker of Very Small Towers. He has successfully stacked cups on top of each other several times now. It's not easy, cups are very complicated, but he's making real progress and it's exciting to watch. I love him more than I can possibly convey in a blog post. My heart just explodes when he smiles and babbles up to me when he comes home or when he wakes me up talking to himself and looking at the birds through his window. He's incredible. He's my baby!

Moriarty: Destroyer of Worlds (or at least all things on shelves)

The biggest change in the last month is that Moriarty is now pulling up on everything. All the time. He's cruising around on furniture. He's using the foot stool as a walk-assist because it slides. It's awesome. But it also means the next level of baby proofing. Doors must be shut. Plants are not safe. Many shelves had to be cleared otherwise he'd just knock everything off them when we weren't watching. 

But with pulling up comes other independence. This weekend he was taking a ridiculously long nap (over 3 hours) and we had to leave for an event so we went to wake him up. I try to avoid waking him, but who could have predicted a 3 hour nap? Well, it turns out he wasn't asleep. He was awake, standing in his crib, he'd pulled the curtains aside and was looking out the window. I have no idea how long he was there but I hope he got to see some squirrels. 

His sleep has also become more independent recently. Our bedtime routine involves a nice solids meal, bottle to top him off, brushing his teeth, reading a story, a kiss from Daddy, and bouncing on the yoga ball while I sing a song or two. He's a very compliant tooth brusher, but recently he's been fighting the yoga ball bouncing. I realized he just wanted to be put in his bed so he can go to sleep. He's got this. So, I started trying that and he's gone down without any problems. Most nights he wakes around midnight for another bottle then sleeps until it's time to get up in 7 or so hours. It's kinda heartbreaking that my 11 month old doesn't want bounces and songs anymore, but it's also really exciting that he's growing up. He blew me a kiss today for the first time. 

In addition to becoming a higher-reaching destructive force, Moriarty has been chatting up a storm. I'm convinced he's using words, but they're protowords. "ba" for ball, "ah dun" for all done, "pa" for pat (we pat heads a lot), "at" for hat (he wears a hat every day commuting on the bus or taking a family walk), and of course "mama" and maybe "dady". It's happening. It's incredible. I'm still trying to use a lot of sign but he only really uses 'all done' and 'milk' on his own. He talks to himself a lot. Often in the car, when he's playing and I'm doing something else in the room, etc. It's magical.

We did well over the holidays. We visited with Pip's family including his parents, and sister's brood of 3. The twin cousins are also growing and the boys can interact more. Sofia (now 4) LOVES Moriarty sometimes to the point of completely violating his personal space and bodily autonomy. We're working on it.

The hardest part of the month was the mystery of the 10th tooth. He got his first molar and was fine until it was about halfway in and then the drool cascades started and the fussing in pain. That tooth seems in but he seems very hurt by something in his mouth. So, either it's risidual molar pain or a mysterious tooth about to burst that we can't see. One night we were eating his dinner and he took a bite and started screaming hysterically. Not, I don't want food, but I'm dying Mommy. Water didn't help. Milk didn't help. We just had to hold him for 20-30 minutes until he wound down. We're theorizing that bite did something with the new tooth/teeth causing all the pain. A toothy landmine. It was heart breaking. 

Next month all of my relatives are coming. First my dad, sister, and brother from the Baltimore area. Then my brother and his wife and 2 kids from Austin Texas. ALL OF THE FAMILY! It will be the first time the Austin crew meets Moriarty.

Now I'll eat ALL of the things!

Hello Moriarty lovers, our little super villain is now 10 months old and he's gotten so much more fun. He's making new faces and interacting with Pip and me a lot more. One fabulous face is the 'I'm trying to pull this apart' face. He strains and squints his eyes and pulls his cheeks back. There's also a squinty grin where his eyes get very wide and he has this broad closed-mouth smile. He's been sticking out his tongue at us more, particularly when we do it first. He also manages these exasperated looks as though he has a 14 year old trapped inside. All-in-all it's more fun to play with him because he's more engaged.

He's also getting more independent with his toys and playtime. If we're trying to do some chore we'll often set him on the floor and he'll go to one of his toy buckets (there are a few scattered around) and pull out something to play with. Or, all the somethings in all of the baskets, but we're keeping the total toy count reasonable. When he gets more stuff at Christmas I plan to put some things away for a few months so they'll be fresh and exciting again, and we'll keep the clean-up at home manageable. 

I think my favorite part of hanging out is when I feed him. He eats so many things now (like squash, beef stew, shiitake mushrooms, and salmon) and we're always trying to give him new foods. By 1 year he should be drinking a lot less formula and we'll transition to cow's milk so at many meals now we only give him solids. He also prefers to eat with his hands or to attempt to use the spoon himself. He's not good with the spoon but if I load him up some food and hand it to him he sometimes gets the food in his mouth before upending it and letting it plop on the floor. This is just the first in a long line of things that will take longer to teach him to do himself than for me to just do, but the payoff is huge. I want to give him independence. He's a pro at his sippy cup but we will keep practicing with small, regular, cups so he can transition. 

We've been having adventures around town. We made it to the aquarium when he was actually awake and he got to watch the trainers feed and play with the sea otters. We took a trip to the zoo and saw monkeys and leopards and sloths. There is also a great exhibit where you go into a closed-off room full of birds where you can buy a popsicle stick covered with bird seed. If you hold it up the birds land on your hand, or the stick, and eat. It was very exciting and Moriarty got to see the birds very close up while I held the stick. We're also now recognized by most of the merchants at our local Farmer's Market and they all say 'hi' to him. 

The staph infection is completely healed and he's in great shape. He had one minor mishap at daycare where he crawled into some egg that other kids had dropped on the floor. He got hives on his arm but he's OK. Just a reminder that the allergies are lurking and we need to be vigilant. We have eaten out with him several times and finding egg- and nut-free foods hasn't been an issue. People have been very considerate of his needs and taken it seriously.

We're spending Christmas at Pip's sister's in-law's with Pip's parents and all the babies. Happy Holidays, or as Moriarty would say 'AH'.

The Sunnier Side of the Street

You may think I'm exaggerating since it's Seattle in November so how could it be sunny, but it has been the last couple days. The baby has also been feeling sunny. He's mostly healed from the terrible skin infection. The culture came back stating the bacteria was "not resistant" though it didn't specify if it was staph or strep. I guess it doesn't matter as long as he's healing. We have a couple more days of antibiotics and his skin is still healing, but there are no open wounds or crusty skin left.

His mood is also back to its cheerful self, overall. He's started doing these mini-melt downs and cries when he doesn't get his way but we mostly just patiently soothe him without giving in and he's over it in 10 seconds. Sometimes it's a sign that he's tired. Other times we just have to be the parents and make sure the GIANT chunk of food he wants to leave in his mouth when he gets down from his high chair, does in fact come out before he goes off to choke somewhere. 

One cool thing he did this week was climb off the couch, by way of a foot stool. He backed from one to the other and got on the floor in a pretty coordinated fashion. He's still not pulling up but he's growing and exploring at his pace and when he figures it out he'll just add cruising to the repertoire. 

I'm excited for the Thanksgiving 4-day holiday. It'll be tons of time with the family and lots of exciting new foods for Moriarty to try. If people are curious about Christmas, we do have an Amazon wish list set up for him for ideas (connected to Pip Lafleur's account). Non-physical gifts are always awesome too.