CRAWLING!!!!

Mark is CRAWLING!!! Can you believe this? I still can not. He just turned 16 months on Monday. And he finally started crawling on his own and totally enjoying it TODAY!!! It's so funny because he usually starts of scooting on his behind, then switches to a crawl, and finishes with a bunny hop-style crawl. I have to get it on video.

This past month was just full of achievements for him. He's got some new teeth. How many I can't tell. There are 2 new in the front, on the bottom. And I think he's got at least one big molar, maybe even two. But we can't confirm because we can't see them and we're smart enough to know not to stick our fingers in his mouth to check the gums. He's been a champion eater too and finally got over the magic 20lbs mark. I think he's about 21lbs now.

He knows lots of body-parts and can point to them when asked - nose, eyes, ears, butt, wee-wee, arm, leg. He says a few words, all in Russian - cheese, booby, this, give, cookie (well, he tries hard with this one), papa, baba. He also started saying "moo" for a cow (when he sees a picture of one). He knows lots of objects and points to them if you ask him - lights, fans, cars, our cat, dogs, refrigerator, windows, flashlight, door, ball, stairs, etc. Most he knows in both Russian and English. He plays a lot of different games - loves throwing balls, doodling on a MagnetDoodle board, taking things in and out of containers, playing with stackers, pushing things across the room, doing gardening, digging sand in the sandbox, sliding down the slides (the bigger - the better, as long as Mommy is with him). A couple of days ago he learned how to put together one of the puzzles (a Melissa&Doug puzzle with geometric shapes).

He is a huge flirt - smiles, waves bye-bye, blows kisses. Even though he's still a Momma's boy, he is a lot more social and likes other babies. And most nights he gets to sleep through the entire night! Now we just have to work on his waking-up time - he always wakes up at 6am and that's too early for me.

Mark already feeds himself with spoon and fork, but when he gets tired and frustrated (which happens very quickly), he uses his hands. Anyway, his table manners are lacking and he always makes a HUGE mess.