Linnaeus 11.2

The biggest milestone we passed this week was Sprout's first time away from me & Papa. Auntie Sarah took care of him for a half hour or so when he was a few weeks old, but since then, we've never left him at all. Thursday, Sprouty's best friend's mama took care of him for a few hours in the afternoon. They went to the park in the wagon & Sprout had a great time. He even (finally) got the bottoms of his shoes dirty! I suppose that's another thing that's changed just this week: now, when you put him down on the floor/ground, he'll actually stand up, rather than holding his legs out horizontally to sit.

It feels like Sprout has started moving just suddenly, though it's been two weeks now that he's been crawling. He's getting faster & has realized that he can go get things & people. He never really drops down to his belly anymore, as he's now faster on his hands & knees.

Pulling up on the couch is no longer a strenuous process & he can easily get up on most of our furniture. He'll stand there for quite a while, playing with the remote controls or the phone. He hasn't quite grasped the idea of moving his feet so he can cruise, so when he wants something out of reach on the couch, he'll pull himself with his arms, ending up stretched out diagonally, with his feet in the same place he started. He falls over a few times a day, incurring only minor bumps & bruises so far.

Anything that he can get his hands on becomes a toy. He loves going into the kitchen & playing with the broom or dustpan. My Birkenstocks are a constant source of amusement for him, as is my hat or any cords or cables he can grab. He endlessly harasses the cat, picking up handfuls of skin & fur or attempting to reel the poor beast in by the tail. I imagine most cats would retaliate, but poor 19-year-old Stimpy is committed to his pacifist ways. He always has been very gentle with everyone, including babies who don't know any better than to poke his eyes or try to pull off his ears. Another favourite 'toy' is the bathtub plug. Baths are quite short these days, because he keeps pulling the plug, then playing with the drain. He'll put toys in it; yesterday he tried to stuff his toothbrush down there.

With all this new mobility comes much more dirt. Sprout is getting himself dusty & dirty every day now, requiring much more wiping & bathing than he used to. He's still a fairly tidy eater--though when he gets soba noodles stuck to his fingers, the best way to get them off seems to be to throw them on the floor--& doesn't get much food in his hair or on his clothes. Ears & eyebrows are fair game though.