Skills

Jason has learned how to do so many new things recently!  He learned how to push himself up to a seated position from his belly, and he's pulled himself up to a standing position a few times!  He also waves bye-bye when he knows people are leaving. Sometimes when we make kissy noises at him, he'll try to do it back.

He came with us to Barton Orchard for some fall fun. 

He still prefers puréed food, but he's starting eating some of our food too.  So far he's had pulled pork, grilled cheese, chicken tikka masala, cod (his favorite!) and some other yummy things.  

Post-church breakfast at the Daily Planet.  We offered him bites of omelette and French toast, which he politely declined. 

Jason dressed up for his first Halloween and was pretty gosh dang cute.

Jason is excited for his christening, and can't wait to try some calamari at Cosimos afterward.

Ring Bearing, like a boss.

This weekend, Jason was honored to participate in Aunt Val's wedding. He had the important job of being carried up the aisle while "holding" the ring box.

The morning of the wedding, I left early to meet up with everyone at the venue for some hair and makeup prep.

End result. 

Unfortunately, Jason had been nursing a nasty cold for the week prior to the wedding. He was cranky while Dave got him dressed in his little suit, and when Dave arrived at the wedding, he opened the car door to see this:

Seriously, Jason?

Dave quickly cleaned Jason up with wipes and tissues, but our little ring bearer was stinky for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, the vomiting was an isolated incident, and Jason charmed the crowd as he fulfilled his ceremony duties. He was well behaved during the vows, and kept himself occupied by taking off his show and chewing it.

Awwww.

Then it was party time! Jason got a nice round of applause during the introductions, and enjoyed looking at all the pretty girls. 

After dinner, Jason had pretty much met his limit. Babci and PopPop whisked him off for his very first sleepover at their house, which allowed Dave and me to enjoy the rest of the festivities. Jason spent his time away from home making friends with Stella the dog, going for a nice morning walk around the neighborhood, and being adorable.

Reunited!

Firsts

I'm writing this while getting my birthday mani-pedi. Happy birthday to me!

Jason has experienced several new things recently. For instance, he spent his first night away from us while Dave and I went to the Dudek wedding. Grandma was nice enough to have a slumber party at our place, and Jason seems to have had a great time! 

A happy Jason.

Jason also experienced his first post season disappointment as the Yankees failed to win their wild card game. He handled the loss like a class act. 

Jason competed in his first staring contest with Uncle Mike.

Let's call it a draw.

He also rocked his first hoodie.

And lastly, he got his first stuffy, green-boogery nose. We are providing a humidifier, on-demand snot aspiration, and lots of TLC. 

Sleeping it off.

Flu season is here! Go get your shots.

On the move

Jason can crawl! He's not very good at it yet, so he really just uses one arm and one leg to drag himself on his belly. But he's a smart little stinker, and when he really wants to get somewhere in a hurry he'll roll himself across the floor.  So we bought him a baby jail. 

Doing hard time.

Jason likes his baby jail quite a bit, and it's very helpful that he can entertain himself while we're doing things like cooking dinner.

Jason still just has two bottom teeth poking through, so he looks like a little chipmunk/jack o lantern. I keep trying to get a good picture of them when he smiles, but as soon as he sees my phone his expression changes.

The best I could do. You can kind of see the top of one tooth.

He's been better about eating his fruit, mostly peaches and pears. I tried mashed up avocado this week and it was a total flop. 

Not a guacamole lover.

I also tried giving him chopped banana to see if he would pick it up and eat it. He played around with it for a while, but was confused by the sliminess and didn't seem to know how to get it into his mouth.

Jaso has gotten two special new outfits! A suit for Aunt Val's wedding, and his first Halloween costume!! He also got some new fall onesies and pants.

His last outing in size 6-9 month pants. I seriously didn't realize how much he grew until we put them on him that day.

Southpaw

Every night before bed, Jason and Dave have been playing catch. They sit on the ground facing each other, Dave rolls a green ball towards Jason, and Jason picks it up and flings it back at Dave. I sit behind Jason, both to offer encouragement and to prevent face plants.

Much to Mommy and Daddy's excitement, Jason's accuracy and strength are far superior when he throws with his LEFT hand! Not only that, but he also seems to favor his left hand when he's reaching for toys and smacking his animals.  It might be a little too soon to have Jason's future career all picked out, but his odds of making gazillions as a leftie pitcher for the Yankees are looking pretty good. 

(Just kidding. We are not wackadoo parents who will force Jason down a path that's not right for him. We want him to go wherever his internal compass points him... I'm just saying, if his internal compass points him towards professional baseball, his checks will be a lot bigger if he signs them with his left hand.)

Jason now requires both his Babci's blanket and his magical, musical seahorse when napping.

His current favorite toy. It's also the loudest thing he owns, what a great coincidence.

Enjoying a bedtime snack of his own feet.

Jason finally gave in and has been tolerating the occasional mashed banana.  He also discovered that he quite likes a nice helping of puréed pear.

Seven months old!

Look at our big boy!

Jason celebrated his seventh month ex-utero by rolling over from back to tummy. He did it once while I was starting dinner, and then screeched and flipped onto his back when he saw me watching him. But once he saw how impressed I was, he did it over and over and over and over and over again.

Unfortunately, our attempts to introduce fruit into Jason's diet have been, um, fruitless (lol).

First we tried bananas:

And then we tried peaches:

And today I tried bananas again, since Jason's cousin Chad loves them so much:

We'll try some apples tonight, but so far Jason's favorite food is yogurt, with oatmeal and squash a close second. 

Tomorrow Jason is going to brunch for the first time! 

Growing so fast!

Jason had his six month checkup this past week. He is 15lbs 8 ounces, and 26 inches long, so he's definitely spurted over the past month or so! He also is starting to demand constant stimulation from us, which is why I'm writing this while sitting in the chair at the hair salon.

He holds his own bottle now!

And sits up like a big boy!

He chews everything, including his bib.

And he is generally well-behaved during his checkups, except this past Wednesday. He peed on Dr. Cutler and cranked when the nurse gave him his oral vaccine. Then he turned into a Tasmanian Devil of Rage after his shots. I took this picture in the waiting room, before all the screaming.

This morning we gave him some whole-milk organic yogurt for the first time. He liked it for a few bites, but then lost interest. He's more of a veggie and oatmeal baby so far, but this week we can start trying some fruit! 

Post-diaper explosion nap. He looks so innocent when he doesn't have poop smeared halfway up his back.