But You Should Have Seen The Other Guy

The Chunky Monkey can move!  

We've known ever since he was in the womb that this little man wouldn't be satisfied to stay still, but his progress in terms of locomotion and velocity has been remarkable.  He started crawling a few days before last Halloween when he was seven months old.  By eight months old he started pulling himself up on objects.  This is actually pretty standard development for a baby, but when his sister was the same age, she was content to sit still.  The Princess was that baby that you could put down and know with reasonable certainty that she would remain where she was placed until you came back and moved her again.  So his normal development is remarkable to me.

When he started to pull himself to a standing position, he would only do so in the bathtub.  To this day his favorite bath-time game is Daddy wants you to sit down NOW!, though For the love of God, PLEASE stop drinking the bathwater! remains a close runner-up.

Mommy had to take that picture.  You can see Daddy's arm readied in case of a slippery grip.  

For a while he only wanted to stand while in the bathtub, but nothing lasts very long when they're that age.  All too soon he was pulling himself up on his toys, the furniture, and the legs of taller people.  Now he is letting go once he gets up there, enjoying a few seconds of unsupported standing glory before gravity returns him to his usual altitude.  Sometimes he meets a few obstacles on his way back down, which has given him the look of a prizefighter.

Although I have no idea where he learned that world weary stare,  I think its safe to say that this photograph was taken just prior to naptime. 

The silver lining in my son's self-inflicted facial contusions is that they all occur on the left side of his face.  If he is trying to catch himself with his left hand it may be that he is left-hand-dominant.  If that is the case his sinister condition will give him a leg up should he follow a career in professional baseball.  It's worth a shot anyway.

Soon he will be walking, running, climbing trees and chasing the dog.  I imagine I'll see several more bruises in the future, though I don't imagine they will work as much of a deterrent. At least I'll get my exercise trying to keep up.