Playing Catch-up: Video edition

It seems like Dash learns to do something new every day, so I will highlight some of his new things and here are a few videos.

He has learned to talk into a cardboard tube and laugh about it.  (see said cardboard tube in video of climbing stairs and chasing cat)

He will let you balance things on his head.
He still likes to have something in each hand at all times, if possible.

He can climb all the way up the stairs - has been able to climb stairs but never went all the way up.  Cats are great motivators for him to move.  Jamaba enjoys teasing him.  

He still like kicking balls and does pretty good job of controlling it, turning the ball around and yesterday he turned it into a came of street hockey, knocking the ball around with the cardboard tube.  It was rather entertaining watching him try to get it up over the bump in the gateway while the door would close on him in the process.  He did eventually give up and he went through the gate leaving the ball on the other side. 

He is getting lots better at walking over things and through is toys on the ground without falling.  Tried walking up a hill for the first time this week, he was not victorious and had to stop and turn around so he didn't fall backwards.  It was a pretty sudden incline.  His face was pretty priceless.  "What was that?!"

He holds his hand out and up when he wants to go somewhere or wants something off the shelf.  

He can work through a couple of his baby apps I have on the phone.  He points and touches everything with his thumbs still, instead of using his index finger.

He's been working on feeding himself with a spoon.  He had 50% success rate yesterday with cheerios, scooping and holding the spoon flat to put it in his mouth.  It was pretty cute and I was pretty proud of him.  This video is an early attempt.  He's such a cheater.

  

He's making Bryce's dreams come true with his interest in his Star Wars talking, stuffed characters and by wanting to play with his spaceship mobile.  He thinks the Jawa is funny and also likes Darth Vader and Chewbacca.   He gets excited and gives them kisses (or bites their face - however you want to look at it).  

He's mastered light switches, wants to hold the banister when being carried up and down the stairs, peeks through the blinds, digs through is books and brings you the one he wants read to him.  He actually brought me a diaper the other day so I changed him and he didn't fight it at all. 

He loves being chased and chasing you.

He is starting to understand some of the signs we use (I started about a month ago) and I'm pretty sure he did the sign for milk the other day, but hasn't done it since.

He's a mamma's boy, but definitely likes playing with his Dad.

    

I'm going to put my pride aside and post this one because you can see a couple of Dash's teeth.  He now has 4 on top and 3 on the bottom.  Just don't pay any attention to me, ok?

Dash went swinging for the first time a couple weeks ago.  Here's a video from that.  He liked going higher, but I didn't want any proof that we were so reckless as parents. :)  He seemed to get bored if we was swinging slow and low.  He is a little crazy and likes crazy things.

Oh, and on an unrelated note, my eggs were chirping when I was boiling them.  

Kind of unsettling when you first hear it.  Relieving when you figure out it's just air bubbles.

9-month check up

Dash's stats at 9 months old.
29" long - 75th percentile height
19 lbs 7oz - 30th percentile in weight
head circumference was just short of 50% percentile   I can't remember the exact number.  I left his little wookie stuffed toy at the doctors so I have to call and hope they haven't thrown it away.  I think he will be fine without it if they have thrown it away, but he gets excited when he sees it and often gives it hugs and/or kisses when they meet.

He's babbling, like he's talking.  Uses different pitches and tones.  Can say Mama, ada (Dad) and kitty cat or kitty kitty.  Kind of repeats Achoo.  He fake laughs and fake coughs.  Very animated, active, happy kid.  He melts down when he's tired.  Currently takes 2 naps a day for a total of 3-4 hours.

Does a mixture of crawling and walking.  He's very inquisitive and furrows his brows when concentrating.  He can get his big ball unstuck on his own most of the time, he loves reading books, and his current favorite is Dot and Dash meet their friends.

He understands no, whether he listens or not. :)  He looks at you and stops what he's doing for a second before deciding to move on or continue what he was doing.  He has 2 bottom teeth, top two in the middle are almost all the way in and then has 4 more on top and another pair on the bottom working their ways in.  The last 2 weeks he's been teething and it's continuing this week.  He gives lots of hugs and kisses with a side of bite.  We're working on the "no bite" and he's doing lots better with giving soft kisses.  Every once in a while he's so excited he can't help himself. :)

He loves water, splashing, walking in it, dipping his fingers in it and "throwing" it.   Baths, pools, sinks, puddles it's all the same to him.  He does pretty well with his face getting wet and breathing it in sometimes.

He like to play version of peek a boo and "I'm going to get you."  Sometimes he's the one chasing or peek a booing.

He tried Guacamole this week and seemed to like it just fine.  He loves Cheerios and he does great at biting and chewing things.  He tries to share his cheerios with me sometimes which is cute.

40 weeks

Dash is 40 weeks old!  He's officially been out longer than he was in.  Alright, Bud!

It is strange to compare the 9 months of pregnancy to the 9 months of a baby.  Apples & oranges?

A Two-For

Dash's 6 month recap and highlight of our Puerto Rico trip.

Dash's Stats:
16 lb 5.5oz
27 1/4" long (grew 1.5 inches in 2 months)
This puts him in the 75 percentile for height and closer to the 50th percentile on weight (up from 25)

Basically he outgrows his clothes in length before he does in gurth.  He can fit a 3 month shirt still, but it shows his belly when he raises his arms. :)

He's VERY active.  Looking at everything, grabbing, touching, eating everything.  Doesn't like laying down so much anymore.  Would much rather be sitting/standing/jumping.  Working on the coordination to crawl forward.

Tries to imitate sounds.  Says Hi, but doesn't really know what he's actually saying. Same with mama.  He will try to bark or howl with the dogs and meow at our cats.

He's a happy kid and makes us laugh regularly.  The doctor at his checkup commented that Dash has no shortage of personality.  He still likes to cuddle which is nice.

Dash had his first beach experience in Puerto Rico.
We went for fun for Bryce's birthday and for a family vacation.  Dash doesn't have a passport yet so we had to go somewhere warm and US owned.  Flights looked best o Puerto Rico so the choice was made for us.

We went to the Camuy Caves - one of the largest cave systems in the world, and drove on mountain roads through the rainforest to Ponce on the south side of the island.  Bad decision, but Ponce would've been cool if he had more time that night and if we weren't so exhausted from having just landed and the caves the same day.  El Yunque Rainforest, and Luquillo Beach filled our second day.  Beautiful Beach - one of my favorites so far.  We ate some local mufongo and took our time enjoying the island of Puerto Rico.

 Camuy Caves

 Dash took a nap for part of it

 view from a look out tower in the El Yunque national park

 Mina falls that we hiked to.  We forgot the carrier at the hotel this day so we held him for the walk down and back up.  We met some very out of breath people coming back up who said we were in for it trying to hike it with a baby.  We made it just fine and in record time as well...Maybe the other people were just really out of shape.  You can swim in the pool at the bottom of this fall.

 We found some pretty artwork along the way

 Took a water break on the way back up

 part of the weird path we were on...

cool leaves were really big and white on the back.

At Luquillo Beach:  Nice clean facilities.  You pay $1 and get a wristband so you can use them as much as you want while you're there.  Showers, lockers, clean toilets and sinks, and some big drums of clorox water.  If anyone knows what these are for, please tell me.

Within 5 minutes of being there Dash had sand in his mouth, on his face, all over his clothes.  He liked going in the water and took a nice nap with mom while dad saw if he could swim out to the buoy. 

 They do have Wal-mart here so I was able to grab some cheap sunglasses - I forgot mine while packing.

Updated for him today being 8.5 months old:

He's a pro at crawling but prefers 'walking.'  He can take 2 steps before falling down.  I don't think that counts as walking but still noteworthy at this point.  He enjoys kicking things, running to it and kicking it again, or kicking it as he walks with it.  He has impressive dribbling skills - maybe he'll be a soccer player.

He's just about out of the 6 month clothes (because of length) but still good in 6-9 month clothes and is comfy in 9-12mon shirts.  The pants are still too big around so we're in 6-9 there and constantly pulling them up.  Definitely not ready for bigger pants.

He's about 18 1/2 lbs.
Made another trip to Nevada for my grandpa's funeral.  He's a trooper and that's a blessing on long cross-county flights with 4 hour layover.
He LOVES splashing in water.  Even a glass of water that he's drinking out of - he wants to put his hand in and splash what he can.  Waterbottles?  He sticks his fingers in there. :)

I've re-posted this picture twice and it's still importing it distorted like.  If you click it will look better.


Must have a toy in each hand.  Give him 3 toys and he is constantly putting one down and picking up another so one doesn't feel  left out.

He found the cat tunnel.

He's not so sure about blenders.

More

Dash is a big boy now and is munching on solids and drinking out of cups and water bottles.  Not saying we're perfect, but he impresses me with his skills sometimes.  When he gets excited, he sometimes sucks in to make noises.  Why he decided this accurately portrayed his enthusiasm  I'm not sure.  Here he is getting excited about some chicken and rice.

Dash is a great helper.

Dash will be 8 months old tomorrow.  Crazy.  He's very mobile and wants to be on the move constantly.  We put up our first safety gate last night and he was a great helper.

Here's a video of his early crawling skills.  Cupcake is a dog.

I have some serious camera dumping to do from Easter, our trip to Puerto Rico and random happenings over the last month or so...wait for it...wait...for it.

Teething

Dash decided to cut part of a tooth on his 7-month birthday.  I guess he figured he needed to celebrate somehow since he knows his mom is a slacker and would'nt have any festivities planned.  I think this explains why he woke a couple times the previous nights.  Last night he was back to sleeping his 9-10 hours and I thank him for that.

Here's the best picture I could get.*  We'll try again. :)

I feel like there should be a witty caption on this picture, but I don't know what it would say....Feel free to make your own.

*explanation of bad picture: Dash doesn't hold still to begin with.  When you pull down his lip he sticks his tongue out.  When you do get it open long enough and the tongue out of the way, the iPhone takes too long to snap the picture.  Oh and this wiggly kid has hand and little fingers register just as well, if not better, on touch screens.  It was zooming when I was trying to take the picture, or when I thought I got it, turns out the camera was reversed and I got a quality shot up my nose.  

Dash told a joke

and cracked himself up

...it wasn't that funny.  :)

2 videos for you

Jamba's tail hit the spinning rattle on Dash's toy and she turned around to attack it.  It looks like she's boxing to me so it made me laugh.  Needs some Rocky music in the background.

And here's Dash gabbing and playing with is ball.

...and a hat for the birthday boy

Happy Birthday! 4 months old

This is from yesterday, so it was on the correct date.  I just didn't think about posting it until today.