The First Seven Weeks:  It's so hard to believe that it's been almost seven weeks since Nicolas entered our life and each day just gets better.  I'll try to run down how it's been up to this point.

We were in the hospital until Friday evening.  Frank did most of the diaper changes there, so I really didn't do much except feed Nicolas and hold him.  Frank didn't spend the night in the hospital, and since I couldn't get around very well Nicolas spent a lot of time in the nursery there so that they could tend to him and I could get some sleep.  The third night I finally felt able to get around a little better so I kept him in my room.  Of course, that was our worst night there, I had a hard time getting him to sleep and ended up walking with him and bouncing and rocking him until I got him to sleep.  I climbed into bed to catch some sleep myself and it wasn't very long before one of the nurses from the nursery came in to check on him.  Of course, she woke him up and he just screamed and didn't want to go back to sleep.  I had her take him to the nursery to console him so I could get some sleep myself.  We got a lot of compliments on Nicolas, how cute he is and such, and even how well behaved he was especially in the nursery with all of the other crying babies.  He seemed to like to sleep through that.  We knew we were blessed with a good baby from the very beginning.

We returned home Friday night and although I was a little nervous about it we did put Nicolas in his crib in his own room to sleep from that first night.  He looked so tiny in that crib but he slept pretty well there.  However, I kept feeding that first night and he just didn't seem satisfied.  We got desperate and broke out a bottle of formula which he took very well.

 That first week or two at home was the worst, as the lack of sleep really hit both of us hard.  It's so hard to get up several times a night at all hours.  Frank was great about offering to help and during the times when my incision was really bothering me and I just didn't feel good moving around he would bring Nicolas in to me so I could feed him.  He's been such a terrific father.  I don't know how I would have done it without him.

By the third week, I began to get used to the lack of sleep and it just becomes a routine to get up, get him out of the crib, feed him and put him back to bed.  There are times when I treasure those moments knowing that he's growing so big so fast and I won't be doing this for too much longer.

His first doctor's appointment was April 4th.  It was our first trip out together, and we handled it like pros according to woman at the front desk of the pediatrician's office.  Frank carried Nicolas in the front sling and we had a small diaper bag of essentials for him.  We got inside the office and they had us undress Nicolas to take his measurements.  He did great!  After that, the pediatrician looked him over and was really impressed at how good he was and how alert as well.  He was already beginning to track objects, and the pediatrician remarked that he would probably be a very intelligent baby, maybe even an engineer.  Of course, we just beamed.  He could also tell that he was a very low maintenance baby, and we agreed.  His weight was 7lbs 10 oz after dropping to 7lbs 4 ounces when we left the hospital that previous Friday, so he was sure his weight would be back to his birth weight of 7lbs 13.8 ounces at least by 2 weeks which is what they expect.

It took about 3 and a half weeks for his umbilical cord to fall off.  Until then, I would line his baby bathtub with a towel and wash him off with a washcloth.  That went pretty well most of the time.  Once the umbilical cord fell off, we gave him his first bath which went pretty well.  I've been bathing him every other day ever since and he just loves it.

We made several outings with Nicolas during those first weeks and he really took to his carrier and carset very well, usually sleeping.  By about the 4th week I finally felt comfortable enough to go out myself with him and I've been doing it ever since.  Sometimes it's just a quick outing to get diapers and sometimes we hit several stores in a day and he's done great.  I've made one attempt at the mall and that didn't go as well as I'd hoped.  I had him in his stroller, and he slept the whole time I was in the store.  However, after about an hour he began to stir and them I had to put him in his carrier, give him his pacifier and push the stroller.  I finally got out to the car, moved it to the end of the parking lot and fed him in the back seat to calm him down.  That was definitely our worst experience to date.

Nicolas still doesn't have any kind of schedule.  We usually try to get him to bed sometime between 9pm and 10pm which works out pretty well.  He usually does a lot of snacking towards the end of the evening, between 5pm and then, eating sometimes as often as every hour.  Usually I breastfeed him, but sometimes we do give him a bottle of formula or a bottle of breastmilk.  He will eat however we choose to feed him, which is just wonderful for us.  Usually the first time I put him to bed for the evening he sleeps 3.5 or 4 hours, at the most I think 4.5 hours after his last feeding.  After that, I'm usually up every 3 hours after that for feedings and usually anytime after 7am when he wakes up he wants to stay awake.  In the last week, those early morning hours are when he's very alert and loves to interact, so I spend lots of time talking to him and playing with him and every time he smiles and makes a few more baby noises which are just wonderful to see and I can't get enough of them.

On Saturday April 22nd Frank and I went on our first date since the baby.  His parents came over to babysit.  We went to dinner and a movie and were gone for about 4 hours.  It was nice, and I really didn't worry too much about the baby, but I still enjoyed getting back home to him.

On Friday May 5th he had his next doctor's appointment, technically his 1 month visit.  He weighed in at 10 lbs 4 ounces and 22.5 inches long.  That placed him in the 75th percentile for his age, which is great.  I told the pediatrician I'd been giving him formula and breastfeeding and he said I could just keep doing what I'm doing as he's doing great.  He also mentioned a shot to me that he recommended, and I wasn't prepared for any vaccinations for this visit.  He told me it was my option, I could certainly wait until his next visit when he gets his other vaccinations, but if I had this one done now he would be finished with the series earlier.  I decided to go ahead with it.  So, after he was checked out by the pediatrician, who again proclaimed he was doing great and Nicolas was just a very happy baby the whole time, the nurse came in for the vaccination.  One minute Nicolas was laying there as happy as can be, sucking on his pacifier.  Next thing I know, she sticks his leg with the needle and his face turns bright red, he screams and cries and even pouts with his bottom lip.  It just breaks my heart.  I spend a minute or so consoling him in the room before I put him in his carrier to leave, and by the time I get out of the room to the front desk he is fast asleep and sleeps during my errands for the next hour.

On Saturday May 13th my mother got to babysit him for the first time as well.  He was with her for about 4.5 hours and that's when I realized he must be in a growth spurt.  She said he ate every hour and a half or so and in the time I was gone he finished 8 ounces of formula, a record for him.  I fed him several times while I was there as well.  He's been that way ever since, eating every 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours but I've been doing most of his feedings to make sure I'm keeping up my supply for him.  He's had a few bottles of formula, but not too much.  I miss the 3 hour  sleep stretches at night, but I know it won't be too long before he gets back on that schedule so I'll just wait it out with him knowing he's just growing more and more.

July 20 - Almost 4 months old:  Nicolas continues to be an absolute joy and every day for us just gets better.  He has some setbacks every now and then, and he has had a few fussy times, but for the most part if he's fed and his diaper is clean he's a happy baby.  During the month of June he started grasping objects and smiling back at people and even laughing out loud.  These days, I could just sit for hours trying to make him laugh, it's so cute.  July has been a month of even more milestones.  He starting sleeping through the night around the 4th of July and started trying to pull himself forward whenever he was in a reclining position.  Last week, he learned how to roll over completely from his back to his front and that meant his sleeping patterns changed as well - he stopped sleeping through the night and began waking up again any time between 1:30am and 3:30am for a feeding.  He's definitely started teething, as is evident by the drool and the fact that he tries to chomp down on all kinds of things, including our fingers.  So the fact that he can no longer sleep really can't be helped.  He should be starting solid foods pretty soon, as he hits 4 months next week, and I think that will really help with his sleeping.  Other than that, we've spent a lot of time with him in restaurants and out and about and he just loves it.  We even put him in a backpack carrier that we had this week and went for a walk and that was so exciting for him he fell asleep before we returned home.  So, he continues to grow and and progress, can't wait for his next doctor's appointment, but I'm not looking forward to the shots again!

August 28th - 5 months old: About a week before his 4 month birthday I decided to try solid foods.  We started with the rice cereal, and the first time spoon feeding him was quite a challenge.  However, by the 2nd or 3rd time he really started to get the hang of it and was opening his mouth in anticipation of the food.  After about 2 weeks on rice cereal, we started the oatmeal cereal.  He wasn't too sure about that at first either, but by the 2nd or 3rd bite he was fine.  Not too long after that, we tried baby foods, beginning with fruits.  We've now gone through bananas, peaches, pears and applesauce and Nicolas is fine with all of them.  Today was his first try at veggies, beginning with carrots.  He doesn't seem too fond of them, but he ate about half a jar so we'll see how he does after that.

Solid foods seemed to help with his sleeping through the night for a short time.  However, then he began to wake up at odd hours of the night again and we really suspected his gums were bothering him.  We were pretty sure he was getting his teeth, and sure enough by August 19th we could feel the little bumps of teeth about to break through.  Two days later, on August 21st I could feel and see the sharp little points of his 2 bottom front teeth.  I no longer like him to use my fingers as teething rings now!  For the next 2 nights or so he was still waking up, but I gave him a small dose of baby Tylenol and that seemed to help.  By the third night, he could go without it.  We thought that was the end of it for a while, but last night he was waking up again at odd hours so I suspect he's got some more teeth close behind these!

Other than that, he's still trying to attempt to crawl.  He can now roll over from his stomach to his back again, but doesn't really roll across the floor quickly yet.  He sits with support, but if you try to pull his hands while he's laying on his back, he goes right to a standing position instead of sitting.  I guess that's one way to strenghten the back and stomach muscles, but doesn't do as much for the arm strength he'll need to start crawling.

He did have his doctor's appointment on August 4th.  He's still growing pretty well, but I'm definitely not as happy with his new pediatrician that we had to choose because of insurance reasons.  I don't plan on continuing to use this pediatrician after the new year when we switch back to my health insurance for sure.

September 16th - Almost 6 months old: Well, I was incorrect above when I stated that he had his first 2 bottom teeth.  Turns out it was only one.  However, on Sunday September 10th his second center bottom tooth broke through, making him pretty miserable all day.  He's now fine now, but I don't think his next tooth is far behind.

Solid foods are going really well.  We've had luck with veggies such as carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans and peas.  I've tried some meat combinations, but he's still not too keen on those.  Well, he wasn't keen on the green veggies at first either, so we'll just wait a while and try again.

Other than that, it shouldn't be too long before he makes some attempts to crawl.  His feet are always in motion, and he loves to stand up, but when he's on his stomach he just kicks his feet and doesn't get the hand motions going that he needs.  Still, he manages to move all over the place just by rolling.  We usually find him in all kinds of positions in his crib, he seems to prefer sleeping on either his stomach or his side these days.

Nicolas will be six months old in just over a week.  We will have our first test run with his daycare provider on September 18th.  She'll keep him from morning to afternoon to see how things go.  I go back to work on September 25th, but I'll only be working 3 days a week for now so it shouldn't be too bad.  However, I probably won't see him in the morning and really by the time I pick him up until he goes to bed it's only about 4 hours or so, and thinking about that makes me a little sad.  I'm sure I'll be fine because I feel that he's in really good hands.

October 31st - 7 months old: Nicolas is just becoming more and more entertaining every day.  He's been in daycare for 3.5 days a week since September 25th and it's going really well.  There is one other child in daycare with him, a little girl who is 4 months older than him and he just loves to watch her.  It should be interesting once Nicolas really gets mobile.

Nicolas currently has his 2 bottom teeth completely in and 2 upper teeth, the ones on each side of his center teeth.  I think he's working on more, since he still has days during the week where he wakes up at night crying, usually only once a night, and a bottle usually puts him back to sleep.  He has his fussy days, but they are still very rare.  Most of the time he's a very happy baby, always laughing and smiling and we just love him to pieces.

As for mobility, Nicolas has just started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking, but he doesn't do it very often yet.  He usually prefers to just get on his hands and rotate 360 degrees on the floor and by rolling and rotating he can get just about anywhere.  He has managed to crawl backwards a few times as well.

On Friday, October 27th, he uttered his first word, which to my delight was Ma-Ma.  He's always made the 'mmm' sound, usually when he's eating.  Friday afternoon he started making the same sound and I started talking back to him with "Ma-Ma" and he repeated it quite a few times.  Now he says it quite often, but I have yet to capture it on video tape.  Yesterday in the car he started "Ba-Ba" as well, so I guess that will be his next sound.  It's wonderful to hear.

As for foods, he pretty much eats all of the stage one and two foods and we've even started giving him juice as well.  He's still not great with the sippy cup, but he's getting better at holding his own bottle, which he's been doing for about 2 weeks now.  Now, in the car when he starts fussing and I'm driving, I can hand him a bottle and he can keep himself content.  It's pretty nice, but we still have plenty of times where we cuddle him and feed him the bottle.  I tried his first stage 3 food yesterday, and that didn't go over well at all.  I'll try again in a few days, but for now we'll stick to cereal, stage 1 and 2 foods, and juice.

I still can't believe he's 7 months old already, and I know before I know it he will be a year.  Time really has flown by quite quickly.

November 21st - almost 8 months old: Nicolas just seems to be growing up so fast (I know, I keep saying that!).  Last week, November 14th, he finally began to "crawl" and now really knows that he can get to things if he wants to get to them.  Right now, he's doing the "army" crawl, pulling himself with his arms but not quite getting the feet to help him.  He gets up on all fours quite frequently and rocks, and sometimes manages to move his knees forward, but usually it's just enough to propel him a few inches and he pulls himself the rest of the way.  He seems really anxious to stand, he loves to stand next to the couch while we spot him and just hold on.  He also likes to use one of us to push himself up on his knees and last night tried to get a little further up but ended up falling over.  He just got over a nasty cold/virus which he had from about November 8th thru the 12th.  He started out running a fever, was extremely fussy for several days, and on Sunday the 12th started refusing food and took few bottles.  I ended up sleeping on the floor of his room Wednesday and Thursday night.  I had him at the pediatrician on Friday to rule out an ear infection because he had tugged on his ears and was so fussy.  By Sunday we had him at the emergency room where the told us what to look for as far as dehydration if he continued to refuse bottles.  Luckily by Monday he was fine again.

A full night's sleep is still not a guarantee for us.  This week, he's been up about once a night just about every night, but he's not really hungry because he takes very little bottle.  We never rush into the room when he wakes up, we wait for him to cry himself back to sleep but it hasn't happened yet.  So, we go in and rock him and soon he's back to sleep.  I think it's a combination of learning new skills and teething.  We've been carefully watching his two top center teeth because the left one is clearly ready to break through.  Little did we know, when I looked at him on Sunday he had another bottom tooth, for a total of three now.  It was the one to the right of his center bottom teeth.  Now his top center left is also through and for all we know he's working on the matches for each of those teeth right now.  Poor baby just can't catch a break!  By Christmas he'll probably have around 8 teeth and will just be ready to turn 9 months old!

Of course, with these new milestones he has now been talking less and less, I haven't heard a sign of Ma-Ma in a while.  He's too busy with everything else, which I've read is to be expected.  I think right now he's concentrating really hard on how he can get that crawl thing down and maybe even pulling up and walking.  We'll probably have to drop the crib mattress once more to it's lowest level this weekend just to be safe.  He's already trying to climb the couch when we let him stand there and hold on to it.

Other than that, eating habits are pretty much the same.  I did let him have some saltines last night, which he's good at biting but then not too many of the pieces he gets into his mouth are actually swallowed or even stay in his mouth.  I've bought Cheerios and tried them once but he didn't seem interested.  I don't think he's too far away now though.  Thanksgiving this week should be interesting, I'm planning on trying to give him as much of that meal as I can to see how he does.  Now that's he's mastered holding the bottle, to the point that many times he just holds it with one hand now, I need to work on the sippy cup a little more.  I think he'll be okay with that as well.

I expect by my next update I'll be talking about how I can't keep track of this mobile little boy!

December 17th - almost 9 months old - Nicolas has now become quite an expert at pulling himself up on things. He does try to cruise on the furniture but mostly enjoys finding a pair of legs to use to pull himself up, then he just holds on until you take his hands and walk with him. Crawling now is simply a means to get to something else to use to pull himself up. He is now an expert at eating Cheerios, and I've tried bits of other food as well, such as apples and chicken and he's enjoying those as well. He still gets jar baby food and bottles of formula as his main source of nutrition, but is now getting to a point where he will refuse certain foods at times. Biting right now is a big concern.

January 2nd - 9 months old - Nicolas is now an expert at getting around but (thankfully) is still not walking.  He is pretty good about eating several kinds of table foods and sometimes prefers to feed himself rather than let us feed him, although we haven't let him try the spoon yet.  He also has no problem drinking out of the sip cup on his own.

Other than that, he celebrated his first Christmas which went very well.  He's also had another trip to the emergency room where he received his first x-ray, not exactly a fun experience.  He was diagnosed with slight pneumonia and another ear infection and is on his second antibiotic in his short 9 months of life.  He attended his first wedding which was that of his aunt Maria (also his godmother) where he did pretty well despite his illness.  He's still quite a babbler and talks a little more every day.

January 3rd, 2001 - 9 Months old: Well, that army crawl I mentioned above lasted about 1 week.  By Thanksgiving, he was moving around on hands and knees like a pro and 1 week later he was pulling up on things.  He was very shaky at first, he'd pull himself up on the couch and fall over, but it didn't take long before he became much steadier on his feet.  On Thanksgiving he managed to get a few cheerios in his mouth, and a week later he had mastered that skill as well.  Luckily we had already lowered his mattress, as once he began to get a little steadier on his feet he started pulling himself up in the crib.

As for the teeth, well just as I predicted he had 8 of them by Christmas.  It seems it got the last 3 in the weeks right around Thanksgiving.  It's amazing to see all of these teeth in his mouth!

The sippy cup also wasn't an issue at all.  He can drink out of that quite easily now also.  As for other foods, I've tried pieces of meat and green beans, as well as pieces of cheese and he seems to like all of them.  Once he started eating cheerios, it wasn't long before he was at the mall with me and trying french fries, which he really enjoyed.  Jar baby food and formula is still his main source of nutrition, but he does get plenty of juice and finger foods when I get the chance to let him try them.  Santa even put some animal crackers in his stocking for Christmas and he's tried a few of those without a problem, even though they are incredibly messy to let him eat by himself.

As I expected, now that he's mobile he's into everything.  He loves to hold your hands and try to walk and he seems quite steady at it that you would think he really doesn't need to even be holding on, but he hasn't attempted it on his own yet which is just fine with me.  He's quite good at cruising along the furniture and he's usually on his feet every chance he gets.  I expect in another month he'll try to take his first steps.

Other than that, he's just babbling away now, not that we can recognize anything he says.  Usually it's ba-ba or ma-ma or ga-ga or ya-ya and just plain AAAH! He enjoys using that one a lot, so much that we just repeat it back to him.

As for sleeping, he's pretty much sleeping from 8am to 6:30am now which is nice, though we'd love for him to sleep in longer.  He has had days of being up in the middle of the night, but mostly due to the colds and ear infections he's had in the last month.  Combined with the slight pneumonia he also acquired a few days after Christmas, his health just hasn't been the best.  Our only consolation is that perhaps his immunity is building up so this is just something we'll have to deal with for now.  He's now been to the emergency room twice and the pediatrician at least once a month and that doesn't include the well child visits.  In just over a week he'll return to his old pediatrician, the one he had as a newborn, for his 9-month checkup and vaccinations.  I'm excited about returning to the old pediatrician, but not excited about the shots.  I'm sure we'll get through it just fine.

January 16th - 9.5 Months Old - Nicolas had his 9-month well-child visit on Jan. 11th. It was GREAT to return to his original pediatrician after having to switch in July for insurance reasons. He measured in at almost 18 pounds (17lbs 14 oz) and 28 inches long. No, he's not a giant by any means, but neither are his parents! Overall he's doing great and we've been given the okay to start feeding him from our plate more and more and try to have him weaned from the bottle by age 1, which I don't think will be problem since he doesn't seem really attached to his bottle and drinks just as well out of the sippy cup. He is still enjoying being up on his feet and usually just uses the wall or furniture with one hand for support. He stands VERY briefly sometimes, but I'm sure it won't be long before he tries to take steps on his own. We went to the zoo on Sat. Jan. 13th and all he wanted to do was get on his feet and walk on the new terrain. He babbles all the time now, and although he has all kinds of sounds (gack, hard K, ma, ba) the one we haven't heard to our surprise is da. Maybe that will be next.

January 29th - 10 Months Old - Nicolas continues to perfect his walking skills with our help. He also continues to pick up new bumps and bruises on a daily basis. It seems that the minute
one bruise has healed, one or two more take it's place. This past weekend he managed
to fall backwards on his butt, landing on a wooden block and leaving a bruise on the
back of his thigh. He also took a few more face-first dives. One was into the kitchen
window sill, while I was standing right over him, and he manged to replace the 2
bruises he had on his forehead with one big bruise. He also seems to have a bad habit
of falling and biting his lip, and this weekend was no exception as he fell into the
coffee table and bit his lip pretty hard, leaving it to bleed for several minutes. Poor
baby! I can only imagine how many more bruises he will get once he starts walking on
his own!

Last weekend Nicolas discovered how to climb stairs, so of course we're putting up
more baby gates now. However, this weekend I noticed that although he can't walk
yet, he figured out how to put his hands in the gate and pick his feet up off the ground!
That's right, he's trying to CLIMB the gate already!

Other than that, we continue to let Nicolas try more table foods and he's doing pretty
well. Of course, he tends to shove tons of food in his mouth at once, eventually
swallowing it but sometimes gagging on it instead. He's still going through some
seperation anxiety, but seems to be getting much better now. I can't believe in less than
2 months he'll be one year old!

February 8th - 10 Months and 1 Week - Nicolas has learned 2 new gestures in the last week and he just loves to practice them. He loves to hold both of his hands over his head, "So Big!" and to clap his hands together. Maybe he'll concentrate on those and not worry so much about walking. He's been standing a little more on his own recently, but still hasn't taken those critical first steps. Plenty of time for that!

February 19th - 10.5 months old - Nicolas continues to amaze us with his new skills. He now raises his hands above his head in jubilation, claps his hands together, and opens and closes one hand in a hello/goodbye motion. He also enjoys "dancing" to music. He is now climbing the stairs every chance he gets, and I think he's trying to set a record on stair climbing, he moves so fast! He is still not walking on his own yet, but does stand for longer periods at times and has taken 2 or 3 steps on his own. For the most part, he still loves to walk with our help, but now will do it even if you are only holding one of his hands, so he's got pretty good balance. He gets more and more real food everyday, to the point that whenever one of us has something to eat he has to taste it and will plant himself right in front of you until he gets some.

February 23 - Almost 11 Months Old - Nicolas has taken his first steps!  I still can't believe it, but on Monday Feb. 19th Frank called to say that Nicolas took 2 or 3 steps towards him.  I didn't get to see it, so I wasn't sure what to think.  That evening he was walking quite well as long as he was holding ONE of our hands, so I could tell his balance was pretty good. On Tuesday, February 20th I stayed home with Nicolas and Frank came home breifly that morning to pick something up.  While we were in the basement, he was holding Nicolas' hands and let go and Nicolas took 5 steps before falling.  I was in shock!  Later in the day I was sitting on the couch in our family room and Nicolas was standing next to me holding on to the couch.  Before I knew it, he let go and cruised across the room to the sliding glass doors, a good 6 or 7 steps.  Of course, ever since then he hasn't taken more than one or two steps without us holding his hands.  He's still fine as long as we hold onto at least one of his hands, but now when we let go he will just sit down instead of continuing on his own.  So,WE know he can do it, it's just a matter of when he'll figure it out.

March 6th - 11 Months Old - Well, ever since taking his first steps two weeks ago Nicolas has really been hesitant to do any walking on his own. He still prefers walking while holding one of our hands - that is, until this past weekend. Last week Frank and I sat on the floor a few feet apart from each other and let Nicolas try walking back and forth to us. He loved it! On Saturday March 3rd we took him to his first Gymboree class and within the safety of the huge playmats he was walking all over the place like a pro. He loved all of the tunnels there to crawl through and especially loved the closing of the session when we sang songs and they blew bubbles. He loved chasing and watching the bubbles! Anyway, Nicolas still prefers to crawl most places, but if he's standing somewhere and I hold out my arms for him to walk to me, he    does it without hesitation. It's so amazing! He does take off and walk to places on his own every now and then, I'm sure it won't be long before it's his preferred method of travel. He will be one year old in less than a month and I still can't believe it.

April 9, 2001 - 1 Year Old - Nicolas is officially a toddler.  He's been getting around quite well on his own for several weeks now.  He had his 1 year doctor's visit on April 6, 2001 and his stats were 29 1/4 inches long and 19 lbs. 9 ounces.  He got 3 shots, which he handled okay, with a lot or crying of course.  He continues to entertain us with his wonderful personality!  He is a real talker lately, and is always  babbling about something.  Of course, we only understand ma-ma and da-da.  He loves to try to talk to other kids, everywhere we go.  His latest favorite thing is to try to climb just about anything he can and to push just about any object around, from pushing the remote across the floor to pushing the carts in the stores instead of riding in them.  He's working on his throwing skills also, usually with toy blocks.  It's amazing to watch him concentrate on his new skills.  He has mastered one of his toys which involves putting blocks into a little Pooh honeypot.  It was difficult at first for him to get the blocks in, he's just open the latch and put them inside without using the square hole, but now he takes them out, closes the lid and puts them in the opening without a problem.  This weekend to our amusement he was dancing a lot.  He also learned how to kick a big ball, which was quite amusing for him.  He now loves to dance, and talk, and he's trying more each day to run.  We just purchased a new digital video camera which takes high-quality digital still photos also, and we plan to get plenty of use out of it.