Our sweet baby James turned nine months old last week! And what an absolute gift and delight our little man is--he blesses each and every one of the three of us in his house, as well as those in his wider circle of family, friends, and acquaintances.
Although James has begun resisting settling down at naptime and bedtime lately, he is otherwise almost always delightfully happy and content, and his daddy frequently refers to him as "a jolly fellow." He has also loved to snuggle from the beginning, and we continue to take as many snuggles as we can get around here!
Since our little man was a couple weeks old, his home-away-from-home has been our trusty Ergo (usually) or hand-me-down Moby (sometimes); he has ridden along for miles of hikes in Percy Warner Park, errands to the grocery store, weekly outings to church and the library and the playground and friends' houses, and beyond. As he continues to grow (and grow and grow), he provides his mama (or whoever is wearing him) with an ever-increasing workout, too!
Since he hit about five months, though, James has been itching to hop out of his pouch and bust a move, at first scooting around like an inch-worm and then motoring with a more traditional crawl. In the last month, he has begun to pull up and cruise along on anything and everything in sight (yikes!). We marvel at how differently Ev and James have developed; at the same age, Little Miss Priss was much less interested in moving and much more interested in socializing and working on her fine motor skills while eating or reading or playing. Mr. James, on the other hand, is less interested in chatting and dainty finger-work; rather, he loves to explore his physical environment, put anything and everything in his mouth, and move as much as possible. He has finally come around to solid food in the last month or so; he showed no interest in pureed baby food at all, but once he could chew/gum chunks of softer food himself, he decided he was all in! Like his sister before him, he is an especially big fan of avocado, although he is also enthusiastic about chicken, eggs, beans, rice, oatmeal, all sorts of roasted veggies, and summer-time fruit:
Speaking of his sister, we are loving watching the relationship grow between Evelyn and James. Though she continues to beat up on him a fair amount, they also share many sweet, sweet moments of giggles and chats and romps, which never fail to delight our hearts:
We just love our guy to pieces and are so thankful to have him! And note the last picture above? A preview of our two (mostly) heavenly weeks spent at the beach last month with the Cummings clan. Happy Monday, friends! May you, too, find something to celebrate this week:)
