8 months!!

Two thirds of the first year - done! Check! Four more months and we'll have a one year old! It's amazing! London has been a busy boy this month! He's figured out the whole crawling thing (although he "army crawls" for the most part and has yet to figure out that his knees are good for something) and gets around with significant speed. The baby gates are up and the days of laying him down on a blanket with a few toys to keep him happy are gone! He's into everything he can reach and if he can't reach it he wants it anyway. A little separation anxiety has started to kick in and we can't leave the room for more than 15 seconds before a little voice starts checking on us to see where we went. The breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus have expanded and finger foods are present at every meal. It's been a busy month to say the least!

In the last two and a half months he's eaten sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, green beans, peas, white potatoes, spinach, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, blueberries, bananas, avocado, carrots, cauliflower, watermelon, chicken, baby rice, baby oatmeal, and toast. I think that's it. I spent Monday afternoon in the kitchen cooking up some chicken meals and a lentil dish. We're moving into "meal" territory - not just a couple of cubes of fruits or veggies, but recipes that smell yummy and taste delicious (if you can get past the "pureed to a pulp" look and texture, which I did when I licked the spoon after filling my ice cube trays! Pretty darn tasty stuff!) The freezer is stocked. I'm hoping we have enough to get us through the puree phase.

So far there has been little that he doesn't like. Bananas were unpopular for a couple of weeks, but they're back on the "like" list, and spinach fell of the list and into the "dislike" column a couple of days ago. He tried chicken (cooked with onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, and chicken broth) for the first time yesterday. Judging by the way he inhaled his lunch both yesterday and again today, I think it's safe to say that chicken is a "like". Although, I told Pern today that if what emanated from London's diaper this afternoon was the result of chicken, there was a strong possibility that I will be raising him to be a vegetarian, at least until we're through the potty training phase. P. U.

Isn't he a doll?