Playing catch-up

Well, we are back. My life is starting to resemble itself again- days spent balancing work and baby, nights spent sleeping. Cooper hasn't made any giant leaps in his development in a while, but he is getting so much better at everything he does. Here's the laundry list of recent developments.

Inserting snacks into mouth
In recent weeks, he's moved from being barely able to get food near his mouth to expertly inserting anything (and everything) in there. Matt found him eating a large, dessicated, and extremely dead bug the other day. Cooper has also started to offer food to us and let us eat it (Smiling, offering a cheerio, waiting for us to nibble it out of his sticky fingers, and then looking all proud that he fed mommy something). It is really cute.

Practicing walking
He still cannot walk all by himself, but give the kid a steady hand or a well designed push toy and he's off running. After watching him delight in the push toys at both grandparent's places, we borrowed the clacky-alligator wooden push toy that our friend's little boy recently outgrew and man, does Cooper like it! He squeals with joy as he runs pell-mell around the house, clacking and skidding around.


Saying Da-da and Dah-ghee
Yes, Mama is apparently third best to Daddy and Doggy. These two are quite recognizable and often said while looking in the appropriate location. I think he's got those sounds down pat. He almost never says the "em" sound- for whatever reason, it seems to be hard for him to make that syllable.

Being clingy
Spending 10 days away from home made our little monster quite dependent on my presence. What can I say, the kid loves me.

Asserting his independence
Oh no, you don't DARE feed Cooper applesauce with a spoon. He needs to feed himself. Which is an unbelievably messy and inefficient experience. I've found myself washing the floor, the curtains, the baby, all the baby's clothing, my pants, two bibs, the entire highchair and the dog's head after only a single serving. What blows my mind is that Cooper was a very obedient and patient eater in New York. Hardly ever refused to eat something, ate very calmly, etc. Now that we are back home... oh my god. Complete temper tantrum if you try to bring a spoon to his mouth. He actually flung a bowl at the dog in anger (poor dog). I'm counting on this being a phase that will pass. Or he'll just need to get better with a spoon really, really fast.

Drinking water from a cup
He can drink water from a cup all by himself. He spills some, but truely most of it goes into his mouth without choking, coughing, or anything. It is amazing. He's not even 9 months old! We took a video of it and will post that soon.

Standing up without anything to balance him
Cooper first stood unaided just a few days before Halloween, but he's been pretty tentative about it until the last week or so. Now he frequently stands for 5 - 10 seconds without touching anything. Typically he is holding a rag or toy while he does this, which I think might distract him from the achievement. It seems like when he notices he's been standing unaided he gets nervous- kind of like when a kid sees that Dad is no longer holding onto the back of the bike, they crash.