Ben & Shae Cecka's family in Gilbert, AZ

Ahhh… too much to tell… where to start.

Ji is full speed with his crawl now, up fully on his hands and knees, sometimes feet! It reminds me of a scene from the Disney movie The Jungle Book where Mowgli is imitating an elephant, I think, walking on all fours. It is quite a sight.

I have not seen him bring himself to sitting position, but he pulls himself to standing. Last Sunday Ben let me sleep in (until 7!) and told me that Ji used him to pull himself up partially. Hearing this and seeing this are two entirely different things. Ji did it again with me later that day and I couldn’t hold back the shrieks of “oh my gosh! Oh! Oh!” Ben looked over right quick like “Oh no, what’s wrong?!” Haha. Then, Monday while Hallie was here, I had her in Ji’s room changing her diaper and when we came out the little man was standing straight up next to a chair. It is very odd to see him vertical when I left him sitting!

The new accomplishment of standing, however wonderful it is, has gotten in the way of the little guy’s sleeping habits. For the last couple of weeks we have been enjoying putting him in the crib and letting him put himself to sleep. Now when we put him in there he wants to practice his new skill and you can’t stand and sleep at the same time! He gets exhausted and won’t lie down. I went in his room to lay him back down and his poor little legs were warm and red from the strain. At least he still sleeps for a good length.

Food- I hate feeding Johnathan anything other than his strained baby food style cuisine. We experimented with toast and after just a couple of gags I got nervous and threw in the towel (or the bib). After much reading and realizing that he is ready to move on to the next step I started letting him self-feed. And I thought standing up looked funny? How about the sight of a banana clinched in his fist slowly diminishing with every bite. Yes, bite, He only has two teeth!
The first finger food he tried (after the failed toast attempt) was canned carrots. Not knowing quite how to do this the first time, I started out giving him a bowel full of them. He picked up one, took a bite and reached for the next. He now gets one at a time.

Carrot time introduced another new development to us- his tray full of food became tiny pea sized pieces of carrot confetti, which he picked up with thumb and pointer finger sticking out of closed fist. He has mastered the pincher. Kind of hard to get those small pieces in your mouth with a fist I imagine. I’ve been reading that babies start to do this around his age so it shouldn’t be a surprise to me, but it’s just so cool to see him grow and develop. It’s almost strange. He morphs!

I love that boy more and more every day. I don’t think it is possible to have anymore love for him and then the next day comes and there is! I recently read an opinion in an article that a parent loves his/her children so much that love becomes a silly four-character word that doesn’t begin to explain how they really feel. I agree. Can’t say the last eight months has been easy (the last 17, actually!) because it hasn’t. I’ve had frustration and tears. But I think all the hard times just make me realize even more that I love him.