Crawling and More

Although Bryant still prefers the army crawl he officially started crawling tonight.

 

Apparently crawling gets him in the mood for lots of facial expressions...



Fish Face!

We were able to capture the squint face tonight!

 Bryant got so excited because Mocha came to sit with (or on) him

 

I jinxed us in the 8 month post saying we managed to avoid sickness for a month as Bryant has come down with a little cold, but a little runny nose won't keep this boy from smiling:)

 

8 Months

I know I probably say this every month, but I can't believe how fast time flies and how grown up my baby is getting.  Bryant is 8 months old and so full of fun.  The sickness bug that plagued us last month is long gone and this month was all fun...mostly.  Today Bryant tried his first meat (chicken) and he was not a big fan...

Daycare commented on how Bryant always has the funniest facial expressions, so I tried to capture a few to give everyone an idea of his little personality.  Right now, his favorite facial expression is sticking out his tongue.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to take a picture without Bryant sticking a toy in his mouth, but what I love about this picture more than anything are his baby blue eyes.  He gets so many comments on his eyes and I can see why! 



Sleepy baby

 His other favorite new facial expression is squinting, but I have yet to capture it on camera.

 

And now for the 8 month pictures...

 

We took Bryant to the Home Show here in Helena yesterday and he got himself a hard hat, so I present to you Bryant the Builder! 

 

 And of course, Bryant the Bobcat:)

Of all his facial expressions, his smile has to be my favorite.  You can see all the drool on his chin and everyone I talk to tries to convince me his teeth are on the way.  I'll believe it when I see it because he's been drooling like this for months!

 

He hasn't quite taking to crawling yet, but can easily transition from sitting to going to all fours and back to sitting.  He has started pulling himself up on objects, but not real frequently.  He seems extra attentive to his surroundings and will watch what everyone does.  He went to Music and Movement class at Exploration Works with Travis and he stays pretty expressionless, but watches all the other kids and babies.  Once you get him in his familiar settings though; he is all smiles!  So, on that note, happy 8th month birthday to our happy baby boy!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I don't think Bryant's sleep schedule has adjusted to daylight savings, so I didn't get these pictures posted yesterday, but here's our little man in green celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.

 

 

Bryant's army crawl is getting faster and faster and he is so close to actually crawling.  Nothing is off limits and everything becomes a fun obstacle course.  Today, he even crawled over to the stairs and pulled himself up to a standing position...how did he get so mobile so fast???

 

Stage 1 of his obstacle course - crawling under the table

 

Stage 1 complete!

Stage 2 - climbing into the laundry basket of toys...the hardest part is choosing...

  That other baby in the mirror has become very entertaining and likes to give a lot of high fives, while standing, of course. 

 

Looking stylish in dad's Bobcat hat and doing what he does best (pulling off his socks and eating them)



Do a Wheelie, Mocha

Not only does Bryant love giving Mocha treats, he loves watching her get treats. Oddly enough, Mocha is more than willing to participate to get a giggle out of Bryant:)

Trick or Treat!

I know Halloween has come and gone, but we are still trick and treating at the Handl house. Bryant has a new trick and he LOVES giving Mocha treats.  His newest trick is clapping!

 

And just look at that smile as he gives Mocha her treat!

 

In addition to trick or treating, here are a couple new pictures from the past couple of days:

 

His rocking horse is really fun, especially when you press its ear and it makes a galloping noise

 

He has more fun playing with his jumperoo from the outside rather than the inside.  Every day, he amazes me with how good his balance is getting.

 

He has also started rocking back and forth on all fours, but flattens out to army crawl when he wants to move somewhere.  Travis is betting that he'll be crawling in the next week...any takers???

No, No, No

I talked in a previous post how Bryant has started shaking his head as if he is saying "no". It has officially been captured on video and since he happily kept eating, I don't think he quite understands the concept of no. He apparently has started doing the same thing to his teachers at daycare throughout his day...what a silly boy!

Updated Pictures

I wanted to wait to take Bryant's 7 month pictures until he started feeling better, so I suppose these are more like 7 1/2 month pictures.

This one is actually from a little bit ago, but I just wanted to show that Bryant  is loving shoulder rides now

 I had a hard time choosing which ones I liked the best, so I apologize in advance for a lot of similar pictures!

Bryant was still a little tired after taking his nap and decided he needed to rest a bit more before taking off again.

 Now with Bryant getting more and more mobile, Mocha is having a harder time escaping his "torture"...if he isn't trying to eat Mocha's foot, he's grabbing at her collar.  Mocha has been so good with Bryant though.  The other day she was even giving Bryant kisses and it made him giggle.  I think once Bryant starts feeding Mocha his food and he understands how to do "gentle" pets, these two will be best of friends!

Out and About

Bryant was feeling a little better on Saturday, so we decided to venture to Bozeman for some fun.  We purchased a family pass to ExplorationWorks in Helena, which gives us access to over 250 nationwide science museums, so our first stop was the Museum of the Rockies.  Bryant got to see lots of dinosaurs

 

 And then went through a rainforest maze.

Bryant learned that if he were a frog, he could jump over 20 feet!

 I think his favorite part of the whole museum was going through the rope vines!

Swinging like a monkey

 After the museum, we headed to the girls Cat/Griz basketball game. 

As you can see, Bryant was a little upset that his team wasn't winning, but overall, he still had a really fun day!



Belated 7 Months

This past month has been a month of sickness for our household.  Bryant battled his ear infections and now has a viral infection.  I'm pretty sure he's had more days at home than at daycare.  We didn't want to let him have all the sickness fun, so Mocha got in on the action and had a tooth pulled and I spent the weekend in the hospital with what the doctors called a viral infection (aka they don't know).

 

So, we didn't have very many exciting adventures this month, but Bryant is still learning and growing every day.  He has now added pears and yellow squash to his food list and the only thing he is a little weary about are the blueberry puffs that we bought to keep him entertained at dinner time. 

 

He shakes his head as if to say "no" a lot, so we are thinking that is a fun habit he picked up at daycare.  He has also perfected the tongue snare drum and can keep himself entertained by spitting for quite some time.

 

He is getting better at his scoot and will actually stay on his hands and knees for a little bit.  Daycare says that no toy is out of Bryant's reach now, and that is definitely the way to get this boy a scootin'!

Here's hoping for a healthier next month in the Handl house!