Joseph...

is a few days over 8 months now. At his last two doc appts, he has been in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. He seems like a chunk, though! He has the chubbiest little legs with wrinkles all over. He loves meal time. The only thing he pushes away are the green veggies. He will not eat green peas, and will only eat green beans when I mix it with a fruit or fruit/meat combo. I can't get him to take a pacifier or bottle, though, just Mom. That makes for lots of bonding time. :) His bottom front teeth came in at about 6.5 months, and he just got in his top two front teeth this week. Bring on the corn-on-the-cob!!! He is not yet crawling, but I think it won't be long. He can roll front-to-back and back-to-front and will scoot, pull himself along, turn in circles, whatever it takes to get that toy he spies.

He has performed two "tricks" to date. About two months ago, we began working with him to give kisses. He quickly developed his own technique, however. When one of us would ask him for kisses, he would lean in and put his mouth over the requestor's entire nose! As Noah says, "slobbery kisses!" Last night, he responded consistently to me with his first self-initiated trick. While feeding him his cereal,I was making silly noises to get and keep his attention. I tried a new one, sort of a growl. He turned to look at me, very serious expression of concentration on his face, and let out a low growl back at me. I laughed out loud and he grinned proudly. We tried it several more times, and every time, he would resume that same look and let out a growl from deep down. Very funny!

My favorite thing is the way he lights up when he sees me! I come into his range, and he reaches for me, arms in the air and hands twisting excitedly in that motorcycle-revving motion that Isaac also used to do; smiling that toothy grin; and bouncing, twisting, and stretching for me to get him. I can't resist it! When I get him, he gives me a big hug, holding my face in his hands and giddily pushing his face into mine. He excitedly bounces in my arms and pats me on my shoulders. He is such a sweetie!!!