http://www.coachandcounselor.com/

I will no longer be using my wordpress blogs.

Thanks to my brand-new, designer-computer know-how, does-this-for-a-living brother-in-law I have my own website!  The great part about this is that it allows any readers who read it all to find it all in one place.  And for those of you with a particular interest, there will be no more need to wade through boring, unrelated posts!

If you’re in it for the cooking, recipes, and food photos check out In the kitchen

Love my son almost as much as me and like to know about his latest slurps, giggles, and faces?  Then Canaan’s Land is still around with lots of new content (I couldn’t let Grandpa go that long without some new pictures!)

And we’ve got two new sections.  Around the house combines all of the fun events, travels, and every day life reports that I like to record and At the office is all new content, specifically designed to keep you updated on our work in Quito, Ecuador.

Check it out and let me know what you think … on the new site!

Not to mention the laundry balls. Now those can provide HOURS of entertainment. Funny-feeling spiky balls that are perfect to chew on with your two sharp teeth.

Lately you’ve also taken to some really big grins. We call this your fake smile, because it seems so cheesy. But it’s all real.

You are happy! Happy almost all of the time. It’s really easy to tell what you want now, whether it be food, your bed or sometimes the computer power cord. You are moving like crazy. You’ve always been a baby on the move but til now you didn’t have the skills to get anywhere very fast. Now you use a combination of hops, rolls, forward plunges and rocking on all fours to get where you go … relatively quickly. Your dad thinks it looks like a version of the butterfly stroke, just on land. I’m starting to realize I’ve got to keep one eye on you at all times (maybe too slowly because the other day you found my dirty underwear on the bathroom floor and had them in your mouth before I noticed).

You are a good eater, eating most anything put in front of you. But it’s obvious you like sweet fruits more than green vegetables. You love to sit in the high chair and bang your feet over and over against the footrest. You are also becoming a pretty good sleeper. You usually sleep 12 hours and take 3 naps during the day with no tears. Your first two naps are anywhere between 1 or 2 hours and the third nap is 45-minutes or an hour. Sometimes I have to wake up up from this nap because I want to make sure you go to sleep early. You still don’t sleep super soundly but you are getting better at it. Every once in awhile you stay asleep when I come in your room and turn on the light to wake up at 5. This is very, very cute and I like to watch you sleep, curled up with your thumb and blankie.

You love to explore. You are looking everywhere, at everything. When you see something or someone new you want to stare and look at every part of them. You don’t smile when there are new things around so sometimes people think you aren’t friendly. But I know you are just so interested in figuring out new things that you are using all of your attention up on that. You love anything with a tag, a string or a cord. You never tire of putting things in your mouth.

You have cut your first two teeth this past month (the bottom two). One is peeking through quite well but the other is a little further behind. You are starting to know your likes and dislikes. You love your elephant and monkey wrist rattles (good for sucking) and your keys (good for banging) but you aren’t very interested in Leo the Lion or Zoe the Zebra anymore. You are showing your will, whining and protesting when I take away the cell phone you are trying to eat.

You have a variety of sounds now. It started with “ba-ba-ba” and then you did “ma-ma-ma” and currently there are lots of “duh-duhs.” One of your favorite sounds, though, is to growl.

You don’t mind hanging out with other people but you are starting to notice when I leave the room. When you can no longer see me you let out a howl – even if I am just in the next room.

Your dad has loved seeing more of you this month. He is home earlier from work and he loves to come in and see you playing. You break out in a big grin the minute you see him. You still love the water and it’s one of our favorite activities. The minute your feet hit the water in the bathtub you get such a look of concentration on your face and then you kick with ferociousness, splashing your whole self and all of us. Sometimes we hide behind the shower curtain while you kick. You kick and kick so seriously and then you break out in the biggest grin at your accomplishment. Lately you are rolling over in the tub but we are trying to discourage this since it doesn’t seem too safe. We are loving seeing your little personality. Your dad and I love that you are full of energy and excitement. We like your curiosity. We love how content you are getting at playing by yourself.

Just kidding. That’s my new favorite, cottage cheese. I think it tastes great but it takes me a long, long time to mush and smash and roll it around in my mouth before swallowing. Sometimes my mom thinks I have swallowed when I’m really just taking a break. Before you know it, I’ve got cottage cheese curds in every nook and cranny of my mouth. And then my dad makes me smile and they all come popping back out again.

The amazing part is that I had no idea one was on the way. You always drool and you always chew on things so we didn’t have those signs. And you’ve been happy as a clam the past two days. As it turns out, you’ve slept late and taken extra naps. Your mom thought this was a lovely new trend but it’s most likely just a sign of the extra work you’re doing to push that tooth to the surface. I guess we should pick up some Orajel just in case, huh?

Your mom IS the Crawl Police. The below video does not do you justice. You do crawl, just not all the time. So mom (aka – Crawl Police) keeps shooting video where you aren’t quite crawling, but fails to mentions your wicked crawling skills. Even when you don’t “officially” crawl you really get those hips moving. – N