Progress report!

Riley is progressing so fast! Every day I'm amazed by something new.

The day before yesterday, I noticed that he was doing something with his hands that was like a wave. So I've been waving at him and saying 'Hi Riley!' and when people leave, we wave and say 'Bye bye!' He's been mimicing us, so when we wave, he kinda waves. It's not perfected yet, but you can tell what it is, and it's on purpose. I just assumed it was a mimic and nothing else, that he didn't know what it meant. But today, we were petting the kitty, and when she walked away I said 'Bye bye kitty!' And without having to lead him, Riley waved bye bye to her! It was pretty amazing. I think he does actually associate the wave with 'bye bye' and he's only been doing it for two days!

He's also army crawling at a pretty good speed. Today, he chased Angel around the coffee table lol.

He went out to eat today with Grandma and Grandpa Leonard and I. For the first time, we put him in a high chair. I figured he'd get tired of sitting up in a short while and I'd end up holding him. But he sat in his high chair the whole time! He was great. He was watching everyone as they walked by, and looked over at the kitchen when they got noisy. There was a toddler a few booths down in a high chair, Riley spent a lot of time looking over at him. The toddler definitely knew Riley was there lol he'd look over and giggle from time to time.

Riley and I went shopping for the first time by ourselves yesterday. It went really well. It was hard to carry him, the car seat and the bags of stuff I got, but we made it. The cashier couldn't believe he was only 8 months old. I guess I don't see enough babies, because I think when people are wowd and amazed by his size it's a little of an over exaggeration. I know he's a little big, but it's not like he's obese. I like to think he's healthy, and people don't see enough healthy babies.

I watch him in his jumper and it's funny. There is a bird and a banana hanging from the tops, and when he first started using it he couldn't reach them even when he stretched. Now he's grabbing them and chewing on them lol.

The jumper is definitely helping him learn to put weight on his legs. He didn't even try a couple weeks ago, but now that he's getting daily jumper time he's supporting himself on his legs for several seconds at a time. I think in another couple of weeks, he'll be able to support himself on his legs while holding onto something, and not having us hold onto him.

We tried finger foods today. I got little yogurt and fruit puff things. They're little puffy things about the size of a dime. He reached for them right away, and he can pick them up with two fingers. He didn't seem interested in putting them in his mouth, which is weird, because that's right where everything else goes when he picks it up. He just studied them. We got him to eat one and he didn't look happy about it. I don't think he likes how they taste. He did pick one up and put it in his mouth on his own, but still didn't seem to like it. I tried one, and it's not a bad taste, but it's a weird texture. It's not what he's used to. They're thick and creamy, like a mousse. I'm going to get the puffed rice cheerios for babies and try those. He likes rice cakes and I think they'll have a similar texture.

Going to a family reunion tomorrow. Excited for everyone to see him again, we haven't seen most of them since January and he's changed so much.