For people who read this blog for the articles

My excuse for the long lag-time between posts is that Mommy left the camera at Maggie's house the other night so I don't have any pictures to post. But like the Cavaliers, I am a no-excuses player, so I am posting sans pictures tonight and will just update with photos later.

I have been having some good times with my grandmothers this week. Last Sunday I went to a cookout at my Oma's house (more on that event later) and then stayed with her while my parents went to the Cavs' game. Last night, my Nonna came over and we had a sleepover while my parents went to yet another Cavs' game; my Nonna pulled weeds out of the front flowerbeds while I helped by laughing every time she pulled up another set of roots. And today I went to Grandma T's house while Daddy was at work and Mommy went to school; Aunt Terry played Grandma T's monkey for me, the one that sings the Tootsie Roll song, and we wiggled our backsides and waved our arms in the air endlessly.

Since it was a holiday weekend, I got to go to my first two cookouts ever, and although I didn't get to eat any cookout food, I loved getting to hang out with everyone else outside. At my Oma's and Ono's house on Sunday night, I got to hang out with a ton of my family and friends, and at Maggie's house on Monday night, I got to hang out with Maggie's dad, Matt, who is a particular favorite of mine. I was so excited about hanging out with Matt, I messed myself badly enough to have to take a bath at their house. Fortunately, I haven't yet acquired any sense of shame, so to me it was just an extra bonus to get to play in the bath and hang out with my friends all on the same night. I also went out for breakfast Monday morning with Mommy and Nonna to the Diner on Clifton, and they let me eat nearly all their toast, and I was in heaven.

A big first for me this week was my first Significant Injury. My mommy sat me down next to her on the next-to-bottom step on Oma's deck to eat my supper, and while she turned around to pick up my bowl of broccoli and edamame, I spotted a leaf on the lower level of the deck that looked tasty, so I leaned forward to grab it. I wish I had known that it's not as easy to swivel from sitting to on-my-belly when on a step. I landed face first on the lower level, and boy, was I upset. My mommy picked me up right away and held me close and apologized and kissed my boo-boos, and then my Oma checked me out and pronounced me okay and tried to hold a bag of frozen peas to the big goose egg on my forehead, but I wasn't into it, so she played with me instead. By Monday morning, I had just a very faint bruise on my forehead, a quarter-shiner on the outer edge of my eye, and a scab on my nose. I am just roughed up enough to look a little dangerous. If you saw me, you wouldn't want to find yourself alone with me in a deserted playroom. That's all I'm saying.

Developmentally, I am moving around much more quickly these days, in part because I don't waste time trying to use all my limbs for self-propulsion; I just pull myself using my left arm and the rest of me follows. Since I tend to feed myself with my left hand, there may be a pattern here. I've also had the breakthrough of Tooth Number 3 (ta-da!), my upper right front tooth, and am trying it out on everything I can get in my mouth to get the hang of using the thing.

I'm getting more specific in my verbal communication, using even greater inflection when I speak to indicate my pleasure (or displeasure, as the case may be). I've also started to use the word "dat" when pointing to interesting things, although not strictly consistently. Sometimes, I don't feel like throwing out a dat. You know how it is.

Speaking of my pleasure and displeasure, I've decided that some things I've endured, just to go along with my parents' wishes, are no longer tolerable, and I am making certain my parents know which things they are. For example, I've decided that carrots are no longer my favorite vegetable and in fact should not be eaten under any circumstances, ever. While I will tolerate a little fresh mozzarella, any cheese darker than, say, muenster is unacceptable. Look, I was eating a little Velveeta and colby because my tastebuds were young and unsophisticated, but I know better now and I am not putting that orange stuff in my mouth. Got it? Good.

There are some foods which are not merely tolerated but are so good that I believe I have the right to graze on them all day long. On the top of this list is bread, in all its forms, and don't think you can eat some bread product in front of me and I won't ask for it just because I haven't seen bread in that form before. I wasn't born yesterday. I know bread. Other foods on the list include toasted O-shaped cereal, veggie burgers, graham crackers, green beans (provided I am allowed to feed them to myself), broccoli (ditto) and edamame (ditto ditto). I'm willing to tolerate a little tofu, if there's no bread around. And I will drink some pear juice if I can have it in the sippy cup with the silicon sippy part and I can hold the cup myself, but I can tell if you've diluted the juice with water, and if you give it to me in a cup with a rigid sippy part, you're just asking for me to perform scientific experiments on the effects of gravity on liquids.

Despite my assertion of my preferences, I am still a ray of sunshine to all who come within reach of my charm. I love to talk to other babies, and to sit at the dining table in my booster chair like a big boy, and to flirt with the cashiers at Target, and to have "Barnyard Dance" read to me over and over again, and to occasionally try out my singing voice, and to practice standing while someone holds my hands, and to swap kisses with my daddy and mommy.

Tune in next time, when I'll have actual pictures to illustrate my adventures.