10 months old!

Our little baby is all grown up! Happy to report that Archer has taken his first steps! He did it last night and was very excited about it! He's been taking 2-3 steps on his own this past month, but then he seems to realize that he's walking, and gets a little scared and will sit back down. Last night, he was cruising around the house really fast, and then all of a sudden took about 5 steps on his own to get to Bill! He loved it!

But, Archer also has a bout of baby acne (you can't really tell from the pictures, I guess it's not that bad) and ringworm! Don't worry, he's no longer contagious! Ugh! Growing pains...

Ok a REAL 9-month-old update...

We were a bit lazy(read: sleep-deprived) on updating Archer's development on his 9-month-old post. So, we're doing it now. Here is what Archer's been up to: * He's crawling all over the place. * He's pulling up, standing unassisted and cruises a bit, while holding onto furniture. * He enjoys babbling and can say: dada, mama, baba, ng-ng-ng (it's an "ing" sort of sound. not sure where he picked that up), and gay-gay-gay (not sure where he picked that up either, but he IS a San Francisco baby, right! haha!). * He enjoys "reading" and being read too. Pointing at things in books and turning the pages. His favorite books are: Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon, Pajama Time, Charlie Harper's alphabet book and Happy Baby Words. We will read between 5-10 books before bedtime some nights because he loves it so much. * He enjoys pointing at everything, can give you a high five and we are working on clapping. * He discovered how to pick his nose...and eat whatever he finds! ewww! That habit must be broken! * He hates napping and hates sleeping through the night, much to our dismay. * He has developed a bit of stranger anxiety, but overall enjoys meeting new people. * He enjoys getting into everything! Our house is now "child-proofed"! By the way, "child-proof" also means "adult-proof". I can't get to anything under our kitchen or bathroom sinks. * He has begun to be able to play alone/self-directed play, which has been nice for us. This allows us to do some chores around the house and get other things done, like this blog post. * He now has 7 teeth: 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom. * He has developed a wide palate. His latest meals include: potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, zucchini, haricot vert, leeks, cheese, tofu, egg yolk, olive oil, pasta, nectarines, plums and blueberries. We still try to buy organic as much as possible and try to get whatever is in season at the farmer's market. We are trying to introduce him to as many flavors(tangy, sour, tart, etc.) as possible now, because this kid has got to eat kimchi soon! * He's great at self-feeding and enjoys his cereal O's. He often likes to grab the spoon and try to feed himself, which makes for a nice mess! * He's really begun to take notice when we hear planes go by. Must be a Pauley thing! That's Archer at 9 months. Thanks for reading all of that! This is as much an update for family and friends, as it is a record for us to remember his first year! :) This is a rare photo of Archer napping. He's got a nightlight under him and one of his toys. He fights sleeping and will try to stand, crawl, play, do anything until he passes out.

Standing!

Here is Archer standing after pulling himself up. He sure does loves his independence!

Pulling up

One thing we forgot to document on the blog while on vacation was that Archer began pulling himself up to a standing position. He also "cruises" a little, holding onto something, takes a couple steps and then falls down. He also can stand unassisted for a couple seconds. All these things occurred the week we were in Hawaii! There must be something in the air/water there!
Things change so quickly, week to week for him. What's really neat is that the pediatrician thought he would only be rolling over at 8 months since he's a big baby. But Archer's well on his way to walking already!

Snaggletooth

Not his tooth. Just a bit of food caught on the inside of his lip. But it looks funny...

Note from Caroline: The bit of food caught on the inside of his lip is an apple "O", organic and low in sugar, of course! Archer has graduated to finger foods. He's quite good at feeding himself!

We now have a crawler!

Archer has now started to crawl forward! I guess it's time to childproof...

Monday night...

Dinnertime and two upper teeth...

P.S. Note from Caroline: Still bald! Dude! Where's the hair?!

Doing the wave

Archer has started to wave. It's not consistent yet but he does it enough now to where we know he's being intentional about it.

Note from me, Caroline: The top picture he is waving at me. The bottom picture he is waving at Bill. He likes to wave at Penny. He will randomly wave while playing. He also likes to wave at inanimate objects, like the stroller or the bed or his toys. Well, I guess practice makes progress!

Sitting up!

He seems very happy about being able to sit up unassisted!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

Stong-baby Archer! Six months old and this is how he "plays" with his playmat: In other news, Archer started rolling over a couple weeks ago and now he's rolling like a pro!

First week of "solids"

He enjoys it very much!

First high chair

Lately, Archer has been very vocal about wanting to sit at the table with us. So we got this high chair for him. It wasn't our first choice. We wanted to get him the Stokke one, but his large thighs didn't fit the leg holes! So we had to go with this one from Chicco! It's nice, doesn't take up that much space, is portable, and of course, has generous leg holes!

Big leap forward!

All of a sudden yesterday Archer started to interact and play with toys!

Baby's first christmas and 3 months old!!

Baby Archer's first Christmas! Waiting for his Grandpa Pauley to take his photo... And sportin' a Baby Bjorn and a knit cap that his great-grandma made for him! Archer is also 3 months old today. Some of his mad skillz at this point are: * babbling and 'talking' * smiling * laughing * getting used to using the bottle * standing with some help * mostly sleeping through the night * doesn't much like tummy time * griping onto objects * great neck control, and can use a forward facing carrier Archer is nearing 26 inches and nearing 20 pounds now! As the pediatrician predicted, Archer's off the charts. He wears 6-12 month old clothing. None of his socks fit him anymore. None of the bibs we have fit around his neck. He's our BIG baby boy!! :)

Talking... kinda sorta:

At 6 weeks Archer started making a pretty convincing effort at talking--so far he's said "hi" "hello" and "ooooghaa". Pretty sure that last word isn't a word, but ++A for effort! He seems to have several periods throughout the day that he wants to interact by making and copying sounds. Here he is conversing with his Great Grandmother.