giddyup

Ari's newest thing...playing 'horsey'. If I'm playing on the floor with him, he'll walk around to my back, grab onto my shoulders and pull himself up. Then we'll "gallop" around the house. The horsey gets tired pretty quickly (try this...hold an 18 lb sack of flour on your back...one that wiggles....and then do a little halting trot/run...in circles...for 10 minutes). He also likes to look at himself in the mirror while he's on my back (hence the picture taken in the mirror). I woke up with a weird backache yesterday morning but couldn't figure out why. It hit me later today when I was being "horsey" again. Yes, it's tiring. But it's also awfully cute.

Other new things he's up to (to make up for my self-involved rant yesterday): Standing on his own (not standing UP on his own yet). Walking up to three steps alone. Eating with a fork (loves the fork). Eating from my plate appears to be more fun for him, too. I swear he said "mama" twice yesterday. "Draws" with a pencil on paper...did this on his own without any prompting from me. Is communicating a lot more clearly with us - or maybe we're just getting better at understanding - he tells us when he's done with something, when he wants something, when he's happy that we've done the thing he wants, when he wants to go outside to play...can't remember much else and this list is probably getting a little dull for some of you (grin).

I'll write an update at the end of this weekend. It's Ari's first birthday Sunday and we're going to a Padres game. Should make for an interesting weekend.