Bobbing for Butt Feathers*

In addition to his sippy cup escapades, A has debuted a few other new "things" this past week that have been keeping us in stitches.

Although I recently moved Alex up a notch in his jumperoo, I'm afraid that third notch will be getting some use in the near future. When Grammy and Papa were here, we put the parrot and froggy that hover above his head in their lowest position, which means he could easily reach them with his hands. And what happens when Alex gets something in his hands? Into the mouth it goes. So we let him chew on the birdie's feathers a little before pushing it back into a higher position. Apparently parrot booty is a flavor Alex responds to (tastes like chicken), because he started jumping as high as his little legs could take him, his mouth wide open, attempting to snag a few butt feathers like a Venus fly trap. I tried to capture the moment with a few still shots, but you really had to be there...

In addition to the plethora of goofy faces he already had in his repertoire, A has added a few more. He has adopted this crazy silent laughing thing where his mouth hangs wide open and his face gets...well..."squinchy" is the best way to describe it. It seems as though wild, squealing laughter should be coming from his mouth, but instead, nothing. Which somehow makes it funnier than if he were actually laughing.

This video also has a couple examples, though a little less silent than usual.



Another new one is a kissy duck face that cracks me up every time. I think it derived from his attempts to blow raspberries and repeat the "ba-ba-ba's" that his daddy and I are constantly throwing his direction. He doesn't do it all the time, but when he does, we can't help but snicker.



In the last few days, Alex has started to recognize that rolling can get him places that he wants to be. He has yet to regain his original mastery of belly-to-back rolling, and instead, has opted for an entirely new (and much less graceful) method. This method requires him to overcome the obstacle of his weak-side arm, which is no easy task. (Notice the little hand peeking out from behind his back.)

Here's what happens if he fails to complete the roll as planned...

And here's what happens when he succeeds. Ahh, sweet victory. He successfully rolled to Banana Boy and to the end table, where he just laid on his belly and stared at the books for the longest time.

On another occasion, I laid him in the middle of the floor, stepped into the kitchen for a minute, and came back in to find...

Luckily I snatched it out of his mouth before any real damage was done. I don't think that twenty yards of curling ribbon would be much fun coming out the other end, if ya know what I mean...

I also bought him a RazBaby teether that he loves to chomp on. It's great because he's more into gumming things than just sucking on a paci, and this one is designed for all parts to be chewed on. Minutes of fun!

Yeah, he likes it...

Besides that, there are more faces...

Fun times with his mama...

Wrestling the camera from his mama...

Mini-pushups...

Tummy time...

Oh, and more faces...

*Sorry Grammy, "Bobbing for Booty Feathers" just didn't have the same ring to it...