Happy third...

One third of a year old!!

I'm overwhelmed by how absolutely beautiful this little guy is. It sometimes stops me in my tracks.

He smiles the most delightful smiles, all the time, from the moment he wakes till bedtime. When I come home from work and he greets me with a smile across the room, my heart melts. Yes, of course there are tears as well, but few and far between. I was on the phone with my mom tonight and he started crying - she asked in astonishment, 'What is he doing??' because she hadn't heard him cry before.'

He's so talkative. He and his dad look at each other and coo back and forth for long stretches. In the morning, I'm awakened to the sound of his voice, talking to himself in his crib.

One of E's favorite activities is scootching himself across his playmat when we hold his little feetsies. He'll lie on the mat, face up or face down, and push his whole body against our hands and just take off.

He's learning so much about what his little body parts are capable of, and it seems that he is doing something new every day. This week, he'll swing his head to one side and the other, over and over and over. Today he was sticking out his tongue to touch the left side of his upper lip.

He can hold his head up like a champ. Hasn't quite figured out how to roll over, but he's getting closer. Kicks like crazy, particularly during diaper changes (while smiling and laughing the whole time), and has started to bounce in his bouncy chair all by himself.

Every so often, he'll reach up to his bottle during meals and hold the bottle on his own. He's still a ways off from mastering that one, but it's so cute when he does it. So autonomous.

Tonight, he had his very first real food - butternut squash puree. Messy but fun. More pics to follow.

Man, this baby stuff is just a blast!