Among Junior's new vocalizations are a new noise, a sort of anticipatory two-tone hum, that he seems to make mostly when he looks up at something and it gets him interested. Or it's something he wants. When we hang his favorite bug toy out of reach, the legs squirm and the arms grasp as he does his home. When he was in his sling, walking around the neighborhood with Daddy this morning, he made the sound after turning his head up to see a noisy magpie. I think this might be the start of "I want", a declarative request by baby, and not just an expression of joy or unhappiness. He's managed to use his legs to push himself nearly off the back of his swing, which is fun, because the farther back the center of gravity moves, the farther forward the swing sits, until his legs are pointing upward and his back is parallel to the floor.

Daddy's still falling asleep early and waking up at 5 for some reason, which is great for getting in early and getting work done at the library. It's also nice becase it's easier to make time for our time together in the morning before Mommy wakes up.

On Saturday (up at 5 again, but Junior got to sleep in), we went to Fur Rondy and watched a dogsled race, snow sculptures, a carnival and... Daddy's favorite... model trains! Mommy carried him in his new backpack-carrier from where he got a great view of all the action. His head is higher than ours! The barking dog teams definitely held his attention as they were roped up and prepared for the race. He also craned his neck to watch the ferris wheel at the carnival. The snow sculptures were a little too late in the trip, and it was fussy time. Sadly, he slept through the entire model railroad display. Oh well. While he was bundled up well, his cheeks got pretty chilly and rosy, and Daddy carried him back to the car on his warm chest as he fussed and cried and eventually fell asleep.

One of our favorite new behaviors is when Noah grabs his own feet! He's been noticing his toes for a little while now, but just last week, he grasped and caught his wee feet for the first time! Very fun. He also made is first real laugh this week, on Thursday, when playing ball outside with Doggie. We held baby at Sheida level and tossed the ball for her. His shrieks of delight included a few "ha ha ha" sounds. How fun! Laughung boy.

He's still small though and his life still centers around sleeping, eating and being clean. Mommy takes good care of baby.

Take care.