more about where we are now

Peter started clapping on Saturday. He recognizes all his family members and claps when they enter a room. Somewhere in the last month he stated crawling up stairs. He cannot crawl down stairs.

He offers his food to other people (and random inanimate object). The other day after he offered my breast to his toy monkey and then to me. On the other hand, while we were at the library one day he pushed another baby down and took his bottle. And this Saturday at a picnic he crawled onto another family's blanket and ate all their baby's puffs. So much for sharing!

He's always very active. He tries to stand on his head while nursing. He also sits up and crawls and throws himself around in his sleep. I've been taking him swimming at the Y since he was 4 months. He LOVES this. He gets really excited when we start walking down the hall for the pool. He can stand on his own for longer in water then on land. He's not at all afraid of getting his face wet. They have a bunch of cool squirty elements in the pool, which he loves to play with. He's extended this "fun with fluid mechanics" play to his bottle, and breast milk. Funny: I can barely pump him a bottle with a pump. I can't express ANY milk manually, but Peter can work me like a cow.

We are trying to teach him simple signs. A few times he made the "milk" sign, tho he usually just tries to pull my shirt up. Not ideal -- but, at least it's clear. He does repeat simple phrases like "all done" and "bye bye." And he waves. He knows that he's "Peter" and I'm "Mommy." He knows if he says "Mamamama" in a pitiful voice he can get my attention.