Almost walking

Where did the summer go? We have settled in to our house in Portland, which is starting more and more to feel like home. We've had some good trips this summer -- to Montana, North Carolina, and Seattle to visit family and friends. Our little boy is growing every day and is very close to walking. He'll cruise around the coffee table, push chairs, and balance on his feet without holding on to anything. Any day now...

He loves bath time - especially in the claw foot tub with the elaborate chrome fixtures. He loves blueberries, and any kind of fruit (peaches, bananas, watermelon) and pizza crusts.

His main word is "Da" -- can be said once, or in a chain. A high-pitched "Da" tends to mean, "oh wow, look at that." For a while (the whole week we were in NC) he was blowing air through his lips making motorboat sounds, but that phase seems to have passed.

Today is the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We went for a run, did a finger painting for grandpa's birthday card, made oatmeal cookies, danced to Greg Brown and watched some US Open. While baking cookies, August played on the dishwasher (guaranteed to keep him occupied for a half hour). I used the last of the vanilla so I screwed the cap back on and gave it to A to play with. He loved it. A little while later I looked down and he had brown all over his face. The cap had come off and he'd been sucking on the bottle. Is there alcohol in vanilla? Oh well, there wasn't much in there, just the dregs. Now he smells like a cookie.