River News: Month Seven

Dear Mr. Rivertonio,

Happy Seven Months!! You just keep getting cooler and cooler, my boy. This has been a pretty fantastic month with lots of change and growth (and only a few minor hiccups).

I've been anticipating this October for a very long time now. As far back as a year ago (when you were just starting to show on my belly) I started scouting out Halloween costumes for you; lamenting the fact that I would have to wait a whole 12 months to put you in one. So when October 1st rolled around, I was so excited it was finally time for me to break out the orange and black outfits (and you looked very very cute in them).




















We spent most of this month in Las Vegas for my 10 year high school reunion. You got to spend tons of time with family and friends, and you experienced a whole slew of new activities.

































You took your first hike (kind of a scary, off road experience) in the Red Rock Canyon. Your mommy and all of her high school friends had to scout out their old haunting ground--a huge rock off the trail at Ice Box Canyon--and it took some time to find. But we did get there, with no broken limbs, and had a great afternoon.











































You took your first swim in grandma Julie's hot tub and you just could not get enough. You splashed and floated and pawed back and forth between mom and dad or grandma and auntie Crystal.











































You went in that hot tub so many times I'm surprised you didn't come home as a little prune. I'm convinced you will be ready for swim lessons if I can ever get us organized enough to go. Now that you're too mobile to take to yoga, I will have to make it a priority.















We were in Vegas for a little longer than planned because you got sick and couldn't fly home. Your daddy had to head back to work, which made you very uncertain about your place in this world. Where's that guy, the one who's always around? He can just leave--what the hell? I better hang onto mommy if I want her to stick around, and oh, by the way, I'm not going to sleep without you either.

So you became a little clingy and needy. But you were going through a lot of change, so I understand. When you weren't hanging off of me, you would occasionally accept a grandparent as a replacement. You had a great time learning all kinds of fun new things from them. Grandpa Terry loved showing you how to pull Kleenex out of the box, and grandma Julie helped you with puzzles.






























You actually have moved leaps and bounds in the way you play. You now love this game where you crawl toward something (usually something I don't want you to touch, like a water glass or the VCR) and I pull you back by your ankles, then you crawl crawl crawl back and I pull pull pull. We do this over and over again, you giggling the whole time. After three or four times you'll crawl halfway to the object and look back to see if I'm going to get you. This sounds like an awfully simple game, but it's the first of it's kind, so I'm pretty excited about it.




















In addition to really getting the crawling thing down, you're working on climbing stairs too. Your manual dexterity is improving so much--you can pick up Cheerios and get most of them into your mouth. You move objects from hand to hand easily and cruise all over the place. This means you get into lots of trouble (or at least try), and I'm sounding more and more like Bill Cosby all the time (comeherecomeherecomehere).















You don't miss a beat, my little pirate, and I'm so glad I get to discover all of these new things with you.















I love you so much,
Mommy