Since my last Arthur update, he's gotten much more mobile and had his first real illness. The outcome was a moving cranky snotting baby...

Likes: Cardboard to chew on, playing outside, other baby friends, cuddling before bed time, any kind of food, new crocodile stuffed animal

Dislikes: Being sick, waiting to take a bath

Sleeping: Arthur was sleeping from 7pm to 6am until getting sick. Now he's waking up multiple times a night. Thankfully he's taking 2-3 naps a day. This is helping, but I can't wait until he's feeling better and hopefully sleeping through the night.

Eating: We're experimenting with more and more nonpureed foods. Just last week he tried and loved fish, chicken, oranges, broccoli, potatoes, green beans, and rice. I'm hoping to move up his solid food intake this coming month. Plus, I've introduced water in various sippy cups. He prefers the take and toss simple spouts as opposed to the true sippy cup. He also drank water out of a regular cup the other day. Granted he got most of it on himself, but he did swallow some of the water.

Playing: Arthur's main goal this past two weeks was exploration. He explored all areas of the living room: behind mom's chair (got stuck), the bookcase near his room (need to put those things away), under the dining room table, under dad's ottoman (getting stuck again). Because of his exploration, we've had to install both fences, blocking off the entertainment center and dining room/kitchen area. Plus, we now have to put the hall gate up during the day so we don't have to chase him down the hallway every two seconds. Other than exploration, he's been loving his stuffed animals especially his mini sock monkey and any ball.

Medical Milestones:

Week 29

Playing peek-a-boo -- He likes it, but hasn't actively participated in the activity yet.
Smiling or waving at people in public -- Nope. Although I think this is due to his fairly serious personality and not his inability to smile at people. He gives smiles only after getting to know people.
Frustration when not able to get somewhere on his own -- Check! he wants to walk and run, but has to settle for crawling right now.

Week 30

Preference of one parent -- It used to be all mommy all the time, but he's now getting very excited when daddy comes home. Although while sick, he prefers cuddling with mom.
Faster and more coordinated crawling -- Double check! He's almost gotten a hang of proper crawling. Even without it, he's quick!
Preference for certain foods -- Check! He loves sweet potato puffs and most fruits.
Fascinated by his reflection -- Double check! Looking at himself in the mirror is his favorite pastime. A quick way to get Arthur to smile is to show him a mirror.
Developing a sense of empathy -- Not quite sure if this is happening yet.

Week 31

Testing limits -- Check! He knows the hallway and computer cords are off limits, but yet he goes straight for one or the other. The entire time he watches me waiting to be reprimanded.
Developing the pincer grasp -- Check! He's getting much better at grabbing small pieces of food.
Sitting without support -- Check! He's been fairly stable for a weeks now. Just this past week, he started moving from crawling to sit up in one fluid motion.
Clapping or waving -- Not yet.
Expressing unhappiness when toys are taken away -- Yes, however he hasn't yet developed object permanence so he forgets about the toy pretty quickly.

Schedule:We've settled into a weekly routine of mom's group activities. We have things to do Monday through Thursday. Arthur seems to thrive with the social interaction with other babies near his age. Unfortunately, our schedule will be changing once the twins arrive. Hopefully we can still attend baby playdates and activities at the park.

Out and About:

Multiple Parks -- For playdates and a mom friend's surprise sprinkle.
Library Storytime -- We're now regulars every Tuesday at the Sunnyvale library.
Friends Jakob's and Luke's houses for playdates (and mommy social planning sessions)
Sushi dinner with mom and dad
Book club -- Morning Starbuck's visit for mom's book club
Stamp club -- Went to mom's stamp club class but was pretty cranky
Deer Hollow Farm -- We visited the farm with the mom's group last week. It's a cute little working farm owned by the city of Mountain View. The farm is in a lovely nature preserve about a one mile walk from the nearest parking lot. They have cows, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and geese. Lots of fun for the babies. We plan on going back soon.