Holy crap this is getting fun

So yesterday we discovered D's ability to play peek-a-boo, and which it seems he'll do anytime I give him a blanket or anything to pull up over his face. I've also recently seen him bring his hands together to kinda clap, but when I clap myself and try to encourage him to clap again he stops. I've seen him get up on his hands and knees and start moving forward in a regular crawl, but he's pretty cautious about it and will plop back down to his belly quickly... though his "army crawl" is also getting more animated and forceful, and he seems to be using his legs and knees to propel him forward more than his arms as before. A couple days ago I bought D this little basketball hoop toy (you know, so he can grow up to be a baller like his Uncle Andrew), and he's put the little basketball through the hoop a couple times, seemingly on purpose. And today he also decided it's HILARIOUS when I go "bababababa." So much so, that it was the reason we managed to get through the post-bath dressing fiasco without tears. He even started "bababa"ing back at me. It was awesome.

OH, and he stood today. I've seen him let go while standing once or twice and manage to hover in the air for a second or 2 before falling. But tonight he was playing with a new set of toy keys I got him and I stood him up on his legs and was holding onto his waist, then just for kicks I let go... and he stayed standing for I swear a good 10 seconds. HOLY CRAP. The funny thing is he was so concentrated on his toy I'm not even sure he noticed. It was also cool watching him play with the keys, which come with a toy fob with buttons that make noise and he'd deliberately press the buttons over and over to hear the sound (though as cool as it was to watch, it was also a reminder as to why we haven't bought toys that make noise very often...).

The physical advances with the near crawling and standing are very cool, but even more so is this new interaction and games we're playing. It's like all of a sudden something's happened, and it does feel like he understands more, and interacts in a more direct way. Zach had a funny analogy for D's progression in his level of interaction over the past 9 months, saying it's like he's gone from chia-pet level to a regular (live animal) pet to now he's seeming more like a little person who understands and reacts. Hopefully that makes sense.

But yeah. I think we're getting to a really fun part here. =) It's all so crazy... as I was telling a friend the other day, I look at him sometimes when he's standing up and babbling and doing all these things he's doing now, and I'll think, "Just a little bit ago you were this tiny little thing that couldn't even hold up his own head!" And look at him now.

Oh, and today marks 11 years since Zach and I started officially dating. =P