He's still growing!

Robin has now learned to climb over obstacles. We were doing some work in our bathroom and we placed a large chest in front of the door to keep Robin out (the bathroom doorway was too narrow for our baby gates.) It worked for a while, but he was hoisting himself onto it, and then after a while, he managed to get all the way over. And then he repeated the process many times, and is already an old pro. Here I was, trying to keep him out of the way, and instead I taught him how to climb!  Well, on the plus side, he did really well watching us work and wandering about our room before he figured that out, so that gives me hope that if we buy a new house (which we are actively thinking of doing) and have to do any work on it, Robin will be somewhat patient with us while we work.  As long as he gets to watch the use of fascinating power tools.

He's getting pretty good at the use of spoons and forks (mmm... ice cream!) He still primarily feeds himself with his fingers, but he can spear solid chunks of food on a fork now, and immediately puts it in his mouth. In fact, if he doesn't want to eat some vegetables, I can get him a fork and he'll go to town on them now. I wonder how long that trick will work for?

I dressed him up like Tom Sawyer the other day.  Isn't he a cutie??!!!

He must've just had a growth spurt, which is now over, because his voracious appetite has receded. I haven't measured him, but he has reached a magical height for me--he's now tall enough that if I hold his hand while we're walking, I don't have to bend over anymore!

I can't remember whether I've talked about this before or not, but when Robin drops food (purposefully) on the floor during meals, we take his tray away and spin him around to face away from the table for a minute as a way to try to discipline him. Well, it seems to be working. I don't think I've had to spin him around since last weekend! I suppose that means it's time to expand the discipline to include utensils and cups that are deliberately dropped. Anyway, I'd been worried for a while, since I wasn't sure this was having any effect, but his behavior in that regard has definitely improved!

The other day, he called "Mama" for a boost into my blue chair, and once up in it, he sat there with a book in his lap and babbling for a while. Dean thought it looked like he was reading the book out loud! That's what we do, after all!

He says "hi" now, and finally resumed saying "night night." He also might be trying to say "teeth." His comprehension is really growing too. He knows the parts of the face, he quacks like a duck when he sees one (real, toy, in a book), and he can put some of the shapes in his puzzle together. Last weekend he was pointing to the stop sign on the side of his school bus toy, and when Dean told him "it's an octagon," he ran over to his shape puzzle and grabbed the octagon piece.

He has discovered the off/on switch on his toys. Now I can never turn them off for silence!

I think I understand part of why the first year of life goes so fast. They just grow so much, and learn SO MANY new things in that time, that all the accomplishments help mark the passage of time. Things have slowed down a little, and I definitely take fewer pictures (he's still the primary subject of my photos though!)

I thought it was funny that he was eating his "Feed Me" shirt.

We went to the zoo this week with my friend, Sela, from Fort Collins, who aptly called it our "biannual get-together," since we don't see each other much. It was a really nice day, much warmer than we expected.  We had a fun time, and it was good to get Robin together with some other kids for a bit.