Superstar!

Jack is growing so fast!  It's so much fun to watch him learn.  As he explores, I can just see his mind working.  When I carry him around the house now, he's constantly squirming, trying to grab whatever he can and figure out what it is and what it does (and yes, usually put it in his mouth :) ).  His favorites lately seem to be TV remotes, anything that makes a crinkly noise, and Albert's tail (we're lucky we have a good-natured dog!).

In the past couple of weeks, he's hit several milestones.  First, he's sitting up on his own.  One night, we had him sitting propped up against the sofa, and we turned our heads for a second and he was sitting up by himself, without the support of the sofa.  He is still a little unsteady and topples over quite a bit, but he's getting better at it every day!  Here are a couple of pictures of him playing with his busy box:

 

He's also dangerously close to crawling.  He hasn't quite figured out how to get on his knees or pull himself along yet, but he'll push off and scoot himself along if you put something behind his feet.

Next, he's started his first solid foods.  Yes, based on the picture below, he doesn't appear to be enjoying his butternut squash very much.  The first day, that was definitely the case, but last night he was opening up his mouth for more and almost finished the whole bowl.  Tonight, carrots are next!

He's quite the artist.  OK so he usually has a little help from us, or from Ms. Juanita at daycare, but he really is quite talented with hand and foot painting.  I'm sure all the mothers in our family can attest to this based on the artwork Jack included in everyone's Mother's Day cards.  Here are a few examples of his talent from daycare:

Finally, we thought he had started teething.  About a week or so ago, he was fussy, waking up at night, drooling, and trying to chew on absolutely everything.  He's gotten less fussy over the past few days and has been sleeping well again, but no sign of the elusive teeth.  Stay tuned!