This is Jonathan's favorite book. He will sit and let me read this to him over and over and over. I'm usually too slow in turning the page. The board book is nice in that once a page is turned, the next page tilts up just enough to separate itself from the rest of the book. Jonathan usually turns each page by himself. I'm amazed at how many times he can sit there and go through the book from beginning to end. Sometimes I leave him with a sea of books and he finds this one and flips through the pictures by himself.

I never knew how much he "understood" the book and the reading of it until one day, I decided to hide the book from him to encourage him to read the other books. At first he didn't seem to be bothered by not seeing the book. A day went by and nothing happened. Then I said to him, "Brown bear brown bear what do you see." He quit what he was doing and started looking through the pile of books. He picked through the pile and gave a frustrated cry. I secretly took the book out and put it far away from him but within his line of vision. The moment he spotted it, he smiled and charged for it. Another time he saw me put it behind my back. He crawled around me to get it.

His other favorites are "Goodnight Moon", "What Makes a Rainbow", and Dr. Seuss' ABC book. He is not into the "Touch and Feel" books. He is more interested in flipping through the pages. I will have to hide his favorite books so that he will start reading other books. Should get some new ones too.

Any suggestions?

Jonathan turned 9 months yesterday.

In the last few days I noticed a different scent when I kissed Jonathan's head. At first I couldn't figure out what it was. This morning it dawned on me that he has lost his new baby smell. He has "grown up".

It has been wonderful to see Jonathan sitting in the crib waiting to be picked up in the morning. It is also heart wrenching to see him sitting in the crib crying his heart out at bedtime. For some reason, since he learned to sit up, he has cried more at bedtime. Instead of rolling and pulling on the bumper, he sits up and cries. He looks at you with such pitiful eyes that you just want to pick him up and comfort him. Maybe this is just a phase he is going through.

Jonathan started creeping forward yesterday. He can do it very well today. He is smart and doesn't like to waste his energy. if his objective is too far away, he would not even bother to make the effort, but if it is within reasonable distance, he will begin to creep forward for it. Also it depends on what is the lure. If it is something he has not been allowed to handle before, i.e. Mama's cell phone, he will make a real effort to get it. The price I paid for seeing him creep is to have the cell phone thrown out of his hands after he got done chewing on it. I need to find an alternative desirable object for him. But first I need to begin safe proof the house.

And on 5/30/09 he began eating a banana on his own.

Jonathan said ba-ba clearly and consistently on 5/21/09. Today he was repeating "ba-ba" when I was changing his diaper. When Albert responded to his call and came up, Jonathan looked at him, smiled, sat up, went into my arms and said "ma ma", only once. It could be coincidental but we were delighted that he could say both ba ba and ma ma in our presence.

Last week I taught him to shake his head when he was full and didn't want anymore. He has done it several times truly indicating he is full. Of course he also shakes his head just for fun. Nodding is a little harder to teach, it seems.

On another note, off we go tomorrow to visit the Twin Cities. We look forward to visiting with old friends. Sorry that we'll miss quite a few who will be going to Mac's wedding.

Also going into Chapter 3 of "Shepherding a Child's Heart."

Jonathan put a piece the banana puff into his mouth with his right hand today. Only did it once, but a first. He had tried in the past but was not successful.

He didn't like the porridge I made but ate almost 4 oz of the Yobayby Yogurt, cold. He likes big people food. I've given him banana, sweet potatoes, bread, broccoli, Chinese greens, red bean paste, cake, fish. He hasn't rejected anything so far, except the porridge. Will have to make something more tasty for him.

What's baby's obsession with throwing things on the floor? He throws everything on the floor and watches while the object falls. Today at the changing table, I gave him a toy to play so that he wouldn't flip over during diaper change. It didn't work. He still flipped over with the toy. He held the toy over the edge of the changing table, was about to let go. I put my hands under the toy to catch it. He decided not to drop it and brought back in the table. Smart baby!

Time to finish charts.