Likes: When mommy jumps with him, being tickled on his tummy, being worn facing outward
Dislikes: This week’s stomach bug! Yuck!
Undecided:  Snow

After nine months of getting ready and nine months out in the world, Johan is engaging with what’s around him in lots of new ways. He has honed his crawling skills and crawled the length of our narrow house to get to a parent or his other toys. This skill also enables him to expand on one of his favorite activities: feeling interesting surfaces! Now, in addition to the wall next to his crib, he can feel the mesh retractable baby gate by the storage area or the tile floor of the bathroom. It’s very exciting! He’s sitting up with confidence and can sometimes pull up to standing, which means he can retrieve some light toys from his toy bin on his own. In addition to the JCC music class, he also enjoys a free online music class from a Jewish school in New York.

This was also a month of good transition in our house: Daddy started a new job! We went for a hike nearby to have some quality family time before that, and Daddy wore Johan facing outward for the start of the hike. Johan enjoyed the new perspective so much, he giggled for what seemed like 5 minutes straight at the beginning of the hike. Forward facing hiking was more exciting than our other exciting foray in to nature this month; we took Johan to a park two blocks from our home to play in the snow after the season’s first snowfall, and he didn’t seem to enjoy that nearly as much as our hike. 

Mommy also has a new full time job of sorts since she is now the “primary parent” on duty most of the time during the week. Everyone is adjusting and getting used to the new routines. Now that Johan can crawl further distances, he can also knock on the door where Daddy’s working. But he’s going to be careful not to interrupt at inopportune times, and can’t wait to show off his singing cuddle bus to Daddy’s new coworkers!