Two Monkeys: Nicholas & Joshua Read

There's no question that Nicholas is a boy - he loves to climb. When we hold him now, he tries to climb up and over our shoulders. When we're at restaurants, he grabs onto the chairs like a koala bear. When he's on our couch, he loves it when he's facing the back part so that he can practice standing. He's a complete monkey and he's building abs of steel. He hates to be on his back and loves it when he can situp. He's not strong enough to sit up on his own yet, but I'm sure it's not too far off before he accomplishes that. He's also now weeks away from crawling. He's able to get onto all fours and he rocks back and forth. He's not quite sure how to move forward, and will whine in frustration after a few minutes of trying to do that. The bouncy chairs' days are now also limited. I found him last week with his head completely leaning over the chair to the ground in an attempt to break out of the chair.  I am sure that he'll soon

Nicholas is now showing all sorts of emotion and fear is one that is crept up today. My mom was playing with him in her garden and she showed him her statue of a deer. He was fine for a few minutes, but then he started freaking out. She brought him closer to it and he kept screaming. She wanted to see if he was afraid of other statues, so we showed him her sailor and a dog ... and both objects scared the living daylights out of him. I ' m praying tonight that he doesn't have any nightmares. He's also dispalying some stranger anxiety as well. The Lee family came to visit us over the weekend and Nicholas began to cry as they all tried to play with him. It took him about 10 minutes to gain composure. He stared at them for awhile before he was able to be comfortable around the family. After showering some days, I will put a towel around my wet hair. The other day, I put it on and when Nicholas saw me with my new look - he began to scream. I tried to talk to him so that he&#

Nicholas will be turning 5 months this week and he's beginning to master sitting up by himself. The changes I see are so quick and daily as we discover his new skills. His first attempts at sitting always had his head on the ground in some weird yoga position. I've discovered that toys in front of him will help prop him up and keep him interested enough to hold the position. He also now eagerly stares at Cam and I as we eat our food. He watches carefully as we cut up our dinner and bring it to our mouths. It's definitely a sign that he's pretty much ready for solids. I'm going to wait another two weeks before we start to introduce cereal. I'm so excited to watch him develop with his food. We had chicken heart for dinner this week and he didn't even flinch at the sight of it, so Cam and I are convinced that he'll like it too...hahah. The fun part will be seeing what he'll love and hate.