40 weeks

He sometimes gives me voluntary kisses

All top four teeth are all the way through his gums now.

He waves and hi fives on demand...usually, unless he's more fascinated by something else.  He gives a big smile when he does it too probably because he revels in the reaction it illicits.

He can obey even when he doesn't want to.  He doesn't always do it, but I didn't even know obedience was an option at his age but he's proving it is.  He's a very good, little boy!

I am trying to teach him the baby sign for "more."  That and "milk" are all I know.  I keep meaning to look up some others such as "up," "down," and "all done," but I haven't so far.

He is very good at finger foods and not picky whatsoever.  He will eat anything--even new flavors and textures without so much as the bat of an eye.  We don't introduce him to a lot of finger foods, we stick to cheerios, carrots, puffs (although he ate too many carrots and threw them up and pooped them out whole so we're holding back on them as finger food for now).  When we give him purees it's mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies, bananas, rice.

He stopped sleeping through the night for more than a week.  He woke up at either 11:45pm or 2:30am or both.  Since I struggle with insomnia, especially at certain times of the month, it made for one very exhausted mommy and a mildy exhausted daddy. 

He is afraid to stand up holding onto something after a backwards fall he had last week where he hit his head pretty hard.  He gets shaky and weepy when you try it without lots of support.  I suppose he'll do it on his own when he's ready.  He's physically slower than his sister was at a lot of things both physical and social.  He's more laid back and also more attached to me than she was, if that's even possible because I was (and still am) her whole world.  He pulled himself up to a sitting position once a couple weeks ago but hasn't done it since.  In any case, he'll do things when he's ready. 

He makes lots of fun, growly, gurgly noises and he says "oooh, ooh, OH" a lot. 

He is very good at picking up small items with a pointer finger and a thumb.

The neediness for mommy that started after his stomach but was kind of permanent and only just now do I stand a chance at being able to leave the room for a couple of moments without a meltdown--and then, only if he's just woken from a nap and been fed and he's really, really interested in playing.

We still brush our teeth together just about every night.  And he LOVES that toothbrush.  Mostly, he chews on the suction cup at the end.  If I can manage to keep the one hand away from the other, he'll stick with the brush because he can't flip it--as in this picture.

Daddy accidentally dressed them sort of alike one day and sent me this adorable picture!  Daddy never takes pictures so this was a treat.

"Mommy, pick me up! Now! What are you waiting for?"

He has discovered the book shelf.  He likes going over there and opening and closing the door and taking books out.

He usually loves the crazy things his sister comes up with to entertain him--such as this laundry basket trick.  He was so thrilled! And this was after she'd been pushing him around in the living room much to his delight--his LOUD delight!

He's not very good at hide-and-seek.  He makes noises and always gives away our position.

Again with the brushes...

Big feet, little feet.

He's very interested in the big, colorful puzzle.  He's sure it would feel so good in his mouth but he's not allowed to try it which is a bit frustrating, in his opinion.

I introduced him to Molly, my doll from when I was a little girl.  She's been residing with his sister's baby dolls up until this point but I let her know that her brother was going to borrow it for awhile so he could explore body parts without poking the eyes out of real people.  Eventually, he'll grow tired of it and give her back. 

A Facetime call with my sister.

Ah, the lovely outdoors which he is experiencing for the very first time that he can "remember."

A comparison shot with his sister.

Playing together--which is hard to do with such a gap in their ages.  Also, Bunny gets very concerned that he'll ruin her castles or she gets controlling about what he can and can't do.  Sometimes, she just goes over and puts all his toys away and we're not sure why.  Poor little guy.  She  means well, but we have to stand up for his rights a lot!

Chillin, watching a UCONN game with me, I think.  He never just lays back and chills like that so it was special.

HAIR!!! IT"S SO MUCH FUN!!!

This thing is what we put him in when he wants to be held but we're really busy.  He prefers it to being left alone but it's not his favorite.  He'll grunt a little but mostly he's content because he's snuggled against a warm body.

Again with the fascinating shopping carts!