Happy Boy!

                         This is what he does now to occupy himself while I am getting reading in the morning.

                                                                      Fun at the park

                                                          Such a big boy feeding himself

                                                  Not such a fan of wearing shoes at the park

Fall Is In the Air

I love fall.  It is my favorite time of year.  I love the crispness in the air, the taste of pumpkin lattes, and of course the fashion (this girl loves her scarves and boots!).  This time last year we were getting into the final stretch of baby mode and now a year later, I'm anxious to have Mateus experience his first fall season.  I'm anticipating later posts with pictures of a trip to the pumpkin patch and his first Halloween.  For now, here are a few pictures from September so far...

                                                              His new set of wheels

                                                      First Penn State football season

          Swinging while the weather is still nice (he was very distracted by the big kids playing nearby)

 Practicing his standing on the playground  (This face is saying "Really Mom- are you sure I can't put my mouth on this metal bar???")

                                                               This is how we swing

                             "I'll have what they're having"- first dinner where we all ate the same thing!

Family Fun

Another great weekend spent in Susquehanna with the family.  We love coming back to visit and a wonderful wedding celebration was icing on the cake!  Mateus was fortunate to spend some quality time with Aunt Beth and Uncle Terry as well as have his second visit to the lake.  He enjoyed spending time with cousin Nathan despite the hair pulling and some difficulty with sharing :-)  Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

                               This photo captures the "Sharing" and then immediately "taking back"

                            With Nathan on the move, this is the closest we could get the boys together

                                                           Playing with Grandpa

                                                            Hangin' with Aunt Lauren

Mateus at 10 months....

Mateus has hit the double digits!  At 10 months:
 He is sporting quite the head of hair (that seems to have more of a mind of its own these days)
Does not like to sit and play for long periods of time and instead much prefers walking (assisted)
STILL is not crawling but just recently has figured out to scoot in a circle to get what he wants
Is obsessed with the bubble wand and does quite the "little wizard" impersonation
Is very attracted to everyone's hair and  has no qualms about reaching out and grabbing it (including his "girl friend's" at daycare :-)
Learned to clap and does so often
Drinks from a straw
Continues to strengthen his pincher grasp by reaching for anything that is put in front of him (even the piece of cat hair stuck in the carpet)
Expanded his table food repertoire and will let you know in a loud voice when he is not yet done with his meal.
Thinks that 6:30 (or earlier) is an acceptable time to wake-up EVERY day (hasn't quite learned that weekend should be sleep in time...I would love a 7:30 wake-up one of these days.....)
Continues to show his personality through smiles and vocalizations...melts our hearts everyday :-)

Cabin in the woods and other experiences at 9 months....

  Mateus has been enjoying his last few weeks of summer.  We had a little getaway two weeks ago when we spent a long weekend in Berkely Springs, West Virginia.  5 families and 6 kids in a cabin tucked away.  We had a blast as we were with some of my best friends and their families.  It was fun to have all the kids together and the grown ups enjoyed lots of good food and conversation.  Here are a few pics from the weekend...

                                                        Hangin' with Daddy at the beach

                                                            Checking out the water

                                                  Wasn't so sure about sitting in the sand

                                                     This is how he enjoyed the water best

                                                                 Playing with the girls

                                                                Lazy, rainy Sunday

                                                       First Grahm Cracker-yum!

The weekend was a learning opportunity for me as I have been so hesitant (and nervous) about giving Mateus finger food.  First I was giving him miniscule pieces and only 1 at a time, and only things that were basically the consistency of mush.  After watching some of the other kids close to Mateus's age eat a wider variety and bigger pieces, I put my fears aside and boy has he been enjoying himself!  He has discovered his love of cheese, grahm crackers, kiwi, and chicken noodle soup.

                                                            Chicken Noodle Soup
This month he also had his 9 month check-up.  He's weighing in at 18 1/2 lbs and got a thumbs up from the doctor (even though he is still not crawling).  Mateus's favorite part of the visit was playing with the white paper on the table.

                                     He loved the sound of the paper when he kicked it with his legs.
                                    And a few more photos from the month.........

Mateus at 9 months.....

Mateus is 9 months old!  He had a great week getting to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Tingley.  He had his first trip to Kennywood as well as his first dinner at a winery (why not expand his horizons early?)  This past week we have really seen an increased interest in standing...maybe that is an understatement- all this kid wants to do is stand. And when he does he gets a big grin on his face like he can see the world better.  It's making morning play time a bit more challenging (or maybe just less relaxing on my part as I no longer can finish a cup of coffee between 7 and 8 am).  We may have a mover on our hands yet.... :-)

Where Did July Go?

Somewhere between trying to survive the heat and participating in day to day life, July has flown by!  So what has Mateus been up to....He is now loving trips to North Park to swing on the swing-

But was not all that excited about going down the slide (although we still managed to capture a smile at the end)

If I haven't commented before, Mateus does NOT like the heat so our outside time has been few and far between when that major heat wave set in.  We still managed to stay entertained indoors as Mateus's toy collection seems to keep growing!  We've been working on "moving" as Mateus still has not made any attempts to crawl.  I'm trying so hard to be patient but the overachiever in me is very aware of the timeline for this next milestone.  He just taught himself to roll onto his stomach (yay!) mostly to retrieve books or cell phones- his 2 preferred motivators at this point.  Here are a few snapshots from the past few weeks:

                                     Yay for yogurt!  (Did I mention this kids loves his food?)

                                                                   Laundry helper

                                                            Standing with Daddy
Just today Mateus had his first trip to the zoo.  He was more interested in people watching than looking at the animals.  We were fortunate to have a nice visit from one of my dearest friends Sue and her family.  Mateus enjoyed meeting more new friends.

The excitement finally got to be too much for him and he gave into sleep (3 hours past his nap time! :-)