As I watched my little man looking up, up, up the trunk of a tall cottonwood, it was striking how much he's changed in the past month or so. He explored the deeply furrowed bark with his little hands - using his index finger alone - making quiet noises and concentrating for a long time.

His vocalizations seem to be following a more speech-like pattern, almost like proto-sentences - but of course, without any words. Much fewer "ba-ba-ba-ba" or "da-da-da-da" these days... more a smattering of consonant sounds, "tss", the occasional upward sqeuak, long aaaaaaaaaaaas. Is he trying to express the thoughts in that little head of his? Is he trying to describe what he is seeing? Is it more abstract? I wonder just how far speech lags actual development of thought. Is he able to form complex, abstract opinions without a spoken language? To some extent I'm sure he's aping our speech patterns (we try to speak in complete sentences to him), but some of it may be endogenic.

Noah and Daddy and Sheida went for a walk on the Mize Loop at Kincaid Park this afternoon, and Mommy enjoyed the break for a couple of hours. It's another hot day (80s), so walking along the broad, grassy, shade-dappled ski trails was pleasant. We rested at a beautiful overlook, watching the jets on final approach over Cook Inlet with Denail, Foraker and Mt. Susitna in the background. Baby watched all the planes coming in and clapped for them with a big smile.

My favorite little behavior of his is when he's sitting with me, and I point something out to him while talking.. he'll watch for a little while, and then turn to me and make eye contact with a big smile. Almost like looking for approval or saying "did you see that, Daddy?" So fun.

At the start of vacation in mid-June he was barely crawling; today he's a speed demon on all fours. So amazing. Given a futon or step or leg to hold on to, he'll pull himself right up to standing pose from the floor. He can maitain himself standing using just one hand, and sometimes free-stands for a few seconds before baby goes boom! Of course, he smiles after the boom, unless he bumps his noggin. (Mostly, noggin bumping is caused by Mommy and Daddy).

More later. Baby is great. Deck is finally under repair! We gave up on the contractors and are doing it ourselves. With an extension to boot.