Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Baby G, I swear you are changing every single day.

It hasn't even been two weeks since you decided it was time to stand freely and now you're walking upwards of 4-5 feet in one go! Sometimes it's one step forward and two steps back, or one step forward and a sideways stumble, or step.... step.... stepstepstepstepOMGFALLING, but no matter the result there is no one more proud of your accomplishments than YOU! I love watching your face light up when you do something you know is amazing. Your little squishy-faced grin, your hands clapping, your high pitched squeal... it's all so freakin' cute!

Sometimes I look at you and I'm blown away by all of the subtle changes you have going on right now. Your sense of humor is perfect. Your comedic timing rivals the best of the best. You think daddy and I are HILARIOUS at the most random times! You've started mimicking us and, I assume, the day care kids you're around because I have no idea how you learned to do the fishy face but it comes out all of the time now. Your "sniffy face" is one of the funniest things I've ever seen and the mischievous grin that follows it tells me you know you're the one who is making my sides split and you LOVE IT!

Behold! The sniffy face!

You've also started coming up with your own words for things. A cat, in any form, is now known as a "nyah nyah." We often call cats "meow meows" in our house and "nyah nyah" is your way of saying that. I know this because you point at each and every form of cat in the house and proclaim loudly (and in a high pitched tone) "NYAH NYAH!!" Not only is that totally adorable, but it really impresses me that you understand a real cat is the "same thing" as a stuffed cat puppet or a kitty on TV or a kitty in one of your books. They're all "nyah nyahs" and you understand that. I guess I thought that sort of abstract understanding came later but as sure as can be, you'll greet the real kitty as "nyah nyah" and then go over to your cat puppet and ask for that "nyah nyah" too. BLOWS MY MIND!

It also impresses me that you're very willing to try new foods. Your dad and I have a rule when it comes to eating at restaurants. You eat what we eat. This means if we go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, you eat Mexican food. If we go out to Japanese, you eat Japanese. I'm not having my kid sit down at a perfectly delicious Chinese restaurant and order chicken strips! So far you've LOVED Mexican food (beans and rice and beef and guacamole, etc) and at least been willing to give Japanese food a try (you had some tofu and ate various parts of my cooked sushi roll with chopsticks, nonetheless! Yes, I was manning the chopsticks, not you, but you ate from them like it was no big deal! PROUD OF YOU!). You've had hummus and liked that, too. Oh my goodness, baby. There is a whole world of delicious foods out there that you will love! Your daddy and I are trying so hard to introduce you to things early on in hopes you won't become the same sort of picky eater we both were when we were kids. So far, so good. Keep up the good work!

All of a sudden you are discovering things and their purposes. You now know that flipping that small switch near your changing table will either bathe the room in bright light or make it so dark you cannot see anything. How fun! (P.S. It is not fun when I'm trying to change your diaper, by the way.) If you see a button, you simply MUST press it immediately. This is awesome when it comes to your toys! It is less awesome when you decide it's time to shut down the XBox or when I'm trying to pay for something and you try to push all of the buttons on the credit card scanner. To you the world is one big old button waiting to be pushed and there better DARN WELL be something awesome that happens when you push it. It is adorable and infuriating at the same time, as are many of the things you are learning to do!

Sometimes your changes are very welcome (I simply cannot WAIT to be done with formula! I'm so sorry I had to give that to you because it smells awful, tastes awful (yes, I tried it), and is CRAZY expensive! Believe me, milk is WAAAAY more tasty!), and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by them (we totally need to baby proof this house RIGHT AWAY because you will not be happy to stay in the living room forever and you're already starting to make breaks for it every now and then). But with you in the house it is never a dull moment! You've made our lives so much fun and so full of excitement!