What a difference a month makes

February was a very big month for our boy Jack:

He is officially crawling all over the place!  It's been so exciting to see him learn new things and discover this wonderful world he lives in on his own.  He's been scooting around for a while, but only in a very slow awkward way.  Now, he has excellent form - left knee, left hand, right knee, right hand, smile and go.  A wonderful world of independant play has been opened up for Jack.  Until now, he could only play with the toys that we placed directly in front of him.  Now he crawls up to the toy he wants to play with and when he gets bored, he moves on to the next.  And then when he's bored with his toys, he moves on to the DVD cabinet and pulls out the ones that look interesting to him.  It's so fun to watch him explore. 

Not only can Jack crawl from place to place, but he can also pull himself up on whatever he comes across.  He especially likes to pull up on the coffee table, the recliner, his crib railing or Mommy and Daddy's legs.  When he smiles his little face up at me from my knees, I can't help but pick him right up.

More big news....Jack has cut his first tooth.  It's not fully tooth size yet, but it's there as cute as can be.  It's his bottom right right incisor, but we call it his hillbilly tooth.  That tooth has come in handy because Jack also started eating solid food with his hands this month.  He started off just picking things up with his fist.  He would bring the fist up to his mouth and open it.  Sometimes whatever was in his fist would go into his mouth, other times right onto his cheeks, other times right out the backside.  He has improving so quickly and his pincher grasp is getting better each day.  He especially like eating little cereal puffs, and knawing on mini-bagels and frozen waffles.  Oh and he also likes tacos. 

I debated about whether or not to blog about this.. but when your child is a prodigy, you've got to share it with the world.  My Jack is a pooping prodigy.  At eight months old, he can poop on a toilet.  No, he's not potty trained, but if I can tell he's needing to go and I sit him on his little baby frog toilet he knows just what to do.  Bryce and I were both there cheering him on the first time it happened.  We couldn't believe it and we also couldn't believe how proud of him we were.  In other bathroom news, Jack's new hangout while I'm getting ready for work is the bathroom sink.  He plays with my makeup brushes or the tube of toothpaste nearby.  I really like having a little bit of Mommy & Jack time before I go to work. 

Jack is still a little babbler.  He doesn't seem that much closer to making any words or understanding what they mean, but he does understand how to have a conversation of gibberish.  Oh, and he also talks to the cat after she meows.  It is very cute.