Stop, You're Making Me Bust My Stitches

Sunday night we were at volleyball when a friend who had recently had jaw reconstruction surgery shuffled in carrying a teddy bear and "Get Well Soon" balloon. He had come to visit. With Gauge.

Gauge eyed up this brightly coloured, floating orb, keeping it in his sight while visiting and volleyball went on around him. Then his dad got the brilliant idea to start kicking and head-butting it into the air. Well... if that wasn't just the best idea ever, Gauge thought. He giggled and laughed so loud that everyone on the court could hear him above the volleyball noises.

Finally our friend says between laughs,  "Stop, you're making me bust my stitches."

At the end of the evening, he gave Gauge the balloon to bring home. Such a thoughtful kid!

Learning is ADORABLE

Sure babies are cute, but when they are learning things for the first time ever, they are down right adorable. You can just see their minds working, processing, figuring out, trying, failing, and trying again until it is just perfect. I think we can all learn from the tenacity of infants to try, try again when "it" doesn't work the first time.
Gauge has learned so much in the last few weeks that it amazes me. I wish I could capture it all on film or video and keep it for eternity on my computer rather than in my memory. But I think he would develop a complex if I constantly had a camera on him, as that is what would be required.

He talks all the time, trying out new sounds and mouth movements. The beginnings of speech. Every once in a while he even scares himself with the sounds that he's making.
He's started to roll front to back. But only when he's in a good mood, and only when he has no clothes on. He seems to think that clothes will only impede his perfection of this new skill. He also sticks his tongue when he's concentrating which I love.

He's also figured out how to move himself. When he practices rolling, he moves. Even on the floor playing, he's learned how to rotate his body 180 degrees to reach a far away toy.
He's learning that things have dimensions. Yesterday he spent 20 minutes trying to pick up, then eat the frog on my shirt. He finally gave up, hopefully figuring out that it is only 2-dimensional and can't be picked up or eaten. I was left with a big wet spot.
Food fascinates him. He's always trying to grab our food, wanting a piece of whatever it is that we put in our mouths. Guess it's soon time to start solids.