Leaps and bounds

James is establishing firm preferences for what he likes, such as grabbing with his toes instead of his hands. Last week he had his first true (multi-syllable) laugh, and his first thumb-sucking. Although he's been jamming his fist in his mouth almost since birth, he has figured out how to fit in just his thumb now. We don't want to encourage that, but it is pretty cute.

He's looking longer and positively chubby to our eyes. His last weigh-in was 8.5 pounds, and he's hopefully over 9 by now (the doctor will update us on that this coming Friday), but Peter and I both would swear he's bigger than that. Moving into the 3-month wardrobe!

James and I had a city outing last week: we stroller'd it up around midtown and headed to the baby store to get him a new toy (coupon about to expire!)  He hates being on his stomach, so he doesn't really work on the arm muscles, and hand coordination isn't his thing. He doesn't grab things yet, or even attempt to. He does love to watch things move though. Moving parts, flashing colors, music...anything that animates itself gets his attention. So, his new toy is a plastic piano that plays sounds and flashes colors when the keys are hit. This little kid that I thought hadn't developed hand coordination has been 'playing' his piano all morning. Granted, half of the keys he hits are by accident, but he has definitely figured out that he can intentionally hit the toy and make it play.