At his nine-month checkup, JT weighed 19.5 lbs and was 29 inches long. That is thirtieth percentile in weight and seventy-fifth in length. He continues to have Grandpa Cole’s metabolism!

He is on the move now more than ever. He gets stuck in his crib slats on a daily basis. This is how I find him, with all sorts of appendages reaching out at me.

We also started feeding him “table food” that he has already had in pureed form, per our pediatrician’s recommendation. Here JT has some mashed sweet potato and some peas on his tray. As you can see, he was not impressed. He eats veggie puffs and toasted Os off his tray, but apparently this was a completely different thing. What was funniest was that he wouldn’t touch the peas until Jim put them on a fork. Then JT wanted to hold the fork and get the peas in his mouth, and would eat them just fine. Jim pointed out that JT doesn’t see us eating peas with our fingers… so maybe he was just trying to be tidy. 🙂

And finally, he started to crawl forward. It happened while Jim and I were both at work, so Grandpa Keene, Grandma Keene, and Aunt Jennifer (who were all babysitting!) sent me a text message with the good news. After I got home, he crawled again, a little more each time. Today he has been going farther each time and is a professional at getting just a few crawls. He did make it all the way across the kitchen just a few hours ago! Poor Jim hasn’t seen it yet, but I did show him these videos before I posted them.

You can’t really see him crawling in Clip 1, but it’s so funny. He’s crawling straight toward me and his little head (or not-so-little, Mr. Ninetieth Percentile head size) is bobbing around.

I was desperate to get a good video clip and I used the remote as bait for Clip 2. Sure enough, he bought it. But he ended too far away and had to do one more push to get it. Already today he has pulled open one of my dresser drawers and emptied all the clothes onto the floor while I was vacuuming… and so it begins! 🙂

We had a wonderful day as a family, celebrating the risen savior, Jesus Christ. Here we are at the cross of flowers, a tradition at our church. The children bring flowers up to add to the cross, and this year JT got to add a daffodil from our front yard. He got several compliments on his handsome outfit; one woman even grabbed my arm and dragged me over to her family to show off “this adorable little boy.” How embarassing…

JT loved his Easter basket. It included new books, a Star Wars tshirt, some toys, and a new fork and spoon just for him to use. He also got Easter baskets from his grandparents (of course) and a beautiful wood cross from his Aunt Jennifer. What a lucky guy!

Picture of the week:

JT is so close to crawling that it’s getting quite funny. He crawls backward, actually, just not forward. But he moves from place to place with relative ease, and gets his hands on anything that he finds once he gets there. He even does a little yoga-ish movement like this:

When Jim and I were outside working this week, we had him on a blanket. As time wore on and we were tired of putting him back on the blanket (instead of letting him scoot over the edge and grab handfuls of rocks), we finally put him in a big box with a couple of his toys. JT thought that was pretty funny, and then everyone was happy.

Of course, he pulls up on things too… only if it’s close enough and enticing enough. Like a steering wheel, for instance!

This week at story time he didn’t want to put the book back in the basket. He was enthralled by the fuzzy hair on the cover. So we put it back, just for the practice, and then we checked it out. 🙂 I took a little video of him looking at the book. He knows just where to touch the book for the interesting textures.

There are three more posts this week… we were busy!

JT is turning into quite an excellent boater. He especially enjoys playing with the ropes. This week we had a seventy-degree day (woo-hoo!) and we spent all afternoon lounging in the boat.

The Skagens came and joined us for a boat ride, and so Jim and I could ski while they held JT. Aly and Cole enjoyed their boat rides very much!

Last Sunday, our friends the Shucks invited us to go with them to Pike’s Place Market and the Seattle waterfront. What a beautiful afternoon!

Yep, JT has now been alive outside as long as he was alive inside. This week we had some great weather. JT and Slider went with me on a run on a trail near our house. What do you think grabbed both of their attentions?

When we got home, JT spent some time on the deck while I ate lunch. He thought Slider was so funny when she went in her kennel to rest.

He thought she was even funnier later on that evening. I had to keep checking to see if he was crying or laughing. He gets that from me!

Sometimes when we’re singing at church, JT will put one hand in the air. He started doing it when he was younger, and we would joke that those were his “Praise Jesus arms.” The other day, Jim was playing the guitar while waiting for me to finish something on the computer. JT was on the floor and he started singing along. This clip is a longer than the usual ones, but we had to finish the song. 🙂

After family singalong was over, there was a big wrestling match on the floor – even Slider wanted in on the action, of course.

JT isn’t crawling, but he certainly gets into things anyway. He rolls, scoots, pushes, twists, and ooches his way to whatever he wants. He is fascinated by drawers. I put his toy duck in the drawer in my nightstand for him to get out, and this is what happened:

JT and I have an ongoing battle over socks. He likes to take them off. I want him to leave them on. Somedays I win; others I lose… and then this is what he looks like by the time we get home. (Tired from fighting with Mommy over the socks, no doubt.)

We all love hanging around in bed in our underwear. (It’s okay, you can admit it. It’s fun!) Since I can’t leave JT on his changing table even to put a diaper away anymore, he spends a little time in his crib while I get clothes out or whatever. Here he is in one of his (many) goofy moods. I just can’t believe his eyes are still that blue.

We got to celebrate Cole Skagen’s first birthday on Saturday. JT loved his party hat. Here he is watching Cole eat his cake. Sadly, JT didn’t get any cake. But I did!

Okay, so we used to send Slider to the groomer to get a full bath, dry, brush out, nail trim, and ear clean every six weeks. Then we had a baby, and we started slacking. I still trim her toenails every other week, but you can forget the rest. In November we discovered that our pet supply store has a free u-wash, complete with soap, supplies, towels, and a dryer. We thought, we should do this!

It’s been five months, and Slider finally got a bath at the u-wash today! She rolled in something at my parents’ house this weekend and had really gotten stinky (our favorite line around the house is, “Slider, you stink” from Top Gun).

Slider is a very tolerant bather, although I suspect she does not enjoy it. In the summer we hose her down in the backyard and she stands there staring at us with a pathetic wimper until we tell her she can shake off and run around. Here she is getting scrubbed clean. For those of you who want more JT pictures, scroll down. This posting is dedicated to Slider!

I love having a birthday. This birthday was extra special (or so I kept telling everyone) because I turned 29 on the 29th. That’s a golden birthday, in case you were wondering. I got several emails, phone calls, and wall writings, and that made me feel very special.

Friday night Jim and I had a nice date night, Saturday I got a massage and spent some time reading in a coffee shop (ahhhh…), and Sunday was the big family celebration.

Here I am opening JT’s card (notice “mom” written on the front) at home Sunday afternoon.

JT helped me show off my new Harley denim jacket from Jim.

Jim’s family joined us at my parents’ house later on. I had joked last week that maybe everyone should get me 29 presents… and my mother-in-law did! She even numbered them and I opened them in order. Many of the gifts had a 1980 theme – movies, CDs, books, and more from the year I was born. One of the presents was a coin purse filled with 29 cents. And yes, you guessed it, all the coins were from 1980!

My sister-in-law brought me 29 tulips…

…and my mom made the most unbelieveable Reese’s cake ever: chocolate cake, creamy whipped peanut butter filling, chocolate frosting, and a ton of peanut butter cups!

JT is getting so close to crawling. He leans forward on his hands and knees now. Here Grandpa Keene is helping him crawl by modeling how to do it.

Last Sunday, we had the wonderful opportunity to have JT dedicated at our church. It’s really more of a dedication of parenting: a commitment to give JT every chance to see and hear God and His love through us. All of JT’s grandparents and his Aunt Jennifer were all there as well.

After the service, JT got to munch on some special bread made just for him by Grandma Cole. It was his first experience with wheat. He’s been having little toast cubes with his breakfast ever since, and he loves picking them up and chewing on them.

Later on in the week, JT ate his toast in his high-chair. I got some prime footage, of course: