Future Reader

My heart thrilled yesterday when I was reading some books to Kaleb. For the first time he showed tons of excitement and interest in the books. He was babbling away, grabbing the pages, and keeping his hand on the corner, repositioning every time I turned the page. It was as though he had learned the procedure for reading a book and was so excited to show it off.
Other Kaleb favorites these days: sitting up, standing, looking at his toes, and sticking things in his mouth. Lately he has been so into sitting up. He is always trying to do it on his own, so he ends up doing a crunch, basically. He likes to take our hands and pull himself up, and then he takes in the world around him. His strength in just the past week has increased so much. He is better at holding his trunk steady, and his head is tons stronger too. During tummy time this morning he held his head up for quite awhile, and he didn’t cry at all!! He spotted the bumblebee on his bedding, and then he was content to gaze at that.
When Kaleb isn’t trying to sit up, he’s usually wanting to stand. Those little legs are powerful, thanks to so much marching! The desire to sit and stand seem to be born of his desire to see everything that is going on around him. He doesn’t want to miss anything!
Toes: they are fascinating things. When Kaleb sits up sometimes he spots these mysterious, interesting foot decorations and leans forward until he is folded in half. Keegan does a great impression of the folding as well as the intense look on his face. He is very serious about getting to those toes!
His ability to grab and bat at things gets better by the day. He doesn’t have to work hard to grab things anymore. If something is near him he will reach right out and snag it. And if it can go in his mouth it will. I never thought I would be so excited to see him shoving things in his mouth! Recent things he has taste-tested include: his links, the beetle’s wings in the Fuzzy Bee and Friends book, and his monkey rattle.
Big happenings coming up: rice cereal!!! We may try it for the first time tomorrow. I think he is ready because every time I eat my breakfast he stops what he is doing and watches. He seems so interested in what is in my bowl. He is going to be so surprised when he gets a bowl of his own!!
On a non-baby note, yesterday was our one year wedding anniversary. What a year! We have, in that time, created this beautiful child, but we have also created the foundation for a wonderful marriage. The challenges and experiences of this year have set the stage for the many more that are sure to come our way over time, and based on the way we handled these challenges, I am confident we can handle any. I am more proud than ever to have Keegan as my husband, and I consider myself lucky every day. And I still get butterflies when he walks in the door. How did I ever find someone so wonderful, so perfect for me? I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years bring!