Julian is developing so fast right now, I can barely keep up.

We're in a major just-about-to-crawl phase right now. Julian can move in a 3-5 foot radius around wherever you set him down to play. He's not really crawling, it's more scooting around, but he definitely gets around. It's all very mysterious. One second you look at him and he's sitting playing with a toy. A minute later you look at him again and he's a few feet away, on his stomach this time. Look again and he's back where he started, sitting up. If you watch him continuously he doesn't seem to go anywhere, but if you just look at him in intervals he really gets around.

He's *really* good at climbing. Give him anything to pull himself up on and he will grab it and try to climb. He is also a big fan of yoga. His favorite pose is Pigeon, which he does at least twenty times a day, although he is also venturing into Downward Dog a bit these days.

Tuesday morning Julian peed in the toilet, then clapped his hands afterwards. When did he learn to clap his hands? He does it on cue now. If you say, "Clap your hands!" and do a few claps, he gets a big smile on his face and starts clapping his little hands together. He's sooooooo cute.

Little Man is also talking up a storm. He emits a steady stream of baby talk non-stop lately to all his friends and family, and you would really swear that he's holding a conversation most of the time. There aren't actual English words forming...but otherwise it's all there.

He has been saying "Dada" for several weeks. "Mama" just came along fairly recently, about 1-2 weeks ago. But there's no comprehension that these words actually refer to those people around the house, at least I don't *think* so anyway....

JULIAN: Mamamamama. Mama. Mama. Mamamamamamama.



MAMA: You said Mama! Yay! WHO is your mama??



JULIAN: Dada!

Uh, yeah ;-)

Last night Bugs came into the room and Julian looked at him, looked at us and said, "Daw daw daw daw". It was *very* close to "dog", and he was clearly looking at Bugs. It's just hard to tell. Is he really saying "dog", or is it just a coincidence? John was over and he totally thought that Julian said "dog", so it wasn't just parental pride making us hallucinate words coming out of J's mouth.

I'm inclined to believe that he was really trying to say "dog", because every time Bugs comes into the room I tell Julian, "Look! There's our DOG!" I mean, it's obvious. If he hasn't gotten that one by now, he must really be a baby or something. Duh! ;-)

I just came back from visiting Julian for lunch and he was having such a ball at school today. He has three little girls in his class besides him. Two of them are just a little bit older...both 8.5 months, and the third is almost a year old and walking. Julian was playing with a little girl named Laura, they were both grabbing at each other and toys and giggling, and Julian was really cracking up over something every now and then. Then the older girl Anna came over and tried to get in on the fun. She crawled over and plunked herself down next to Laura and Julian. Julian patted her and laughed, but she was tired and it made her cry. I guess she didn't want to be touched. Oh well. It's hard to be a tired baby.

Last week Julian did the same thing. We had playgroup at our house, and three other babies and their moms came over. Julian's friend Gabriella sat down next to him and grabbed his shirt, and he didn't take to that at ALL, he immediately started crying. it was really funny because he had his hair pulled and fell over on his face and all kinds of other stuff in the midst of the excitement...no problem! Didn't even faze him. But don't touch the shirt, man! Hands off! When you get to be a tired baby, it's the little things that count.

I switched Julian's classroom 3 weeks ago. He loved his teacher Leela, but she only works part-time and goes home every day at 3:30pm. I don't get there until 5:00, so that meant an hour and a half of being cared for by a non-Leela person right at the crankiest/clingiest time of the day. I would come and get him and he would be crying every afternoon, it was awful. Or else just bored, because the babies in that class are almost all younger than him.

I swtiched him to Madi's class, because he likes her, she likes him, and she's there full-time. Plus the babies are older, and his girlfriend Zoe is in that class as well. It was a little bit rough at first, but he quickly adjusted and now I think he is much happier. Leela still comes to visit him every day, so he's not missing anything. The only problem is that he is not napping. Leela would bust her butt to get him to sleep, but Madi doesn't try too hard. If he doesn't sleep after a little bit of trying, she just lets him play.

If I didn't come at lunch this would be a disaster, but now when I come at lunch I play with him a little bit, then I nurse him to sleep in the rocking chair and put him in his crib. It all works out. He still doesn't sleep very long, but at least he sleeps. Normally he naps at around 10:00am and again at 2:30pm, and sometimes a third nap at 5:30pm. Now he's getting his first nap at 12:30pm! Ugh. Then he passes out in the car on the way home, and lately he's been too wired to go to bed at 8:30pm, so it's kind of a pain-in-the-ass transition time lately.

I'm paying the price, of course. Lately I just go to bed with Julian around 9:30pm and I pass out with him. Good for *my* sleep schedule, but then I get no after-baby-hours time with Dan. I don't know, we'll figure out a solution eventually. It's hard, everything is changing all the time in BabyLand. Just as soon as you think you have an issue solved, it changes dramatically and you're back at square one. What I need to do is have Dan put Julian to sleep while I'm cooking dinner, but he's slacking in that department. He thinks he can't get him to sleep, but he does fine when he tries. And of course, more practice with Daddy putting Baby to sleep would be good for both of them.

Ooops, gotta run...I have an important meeting. More on that later!