Things Mudpuppy can do

It's been quite a while since we had a Mudpuppy update; he's learning to do more every day. 

• This morning, Starling held him up to the mirror and asked, "Where's Matthew?" And he pointed at his image in the mirror and replied, quite distinctly, "There he is!" He wouldn't repeat it quite so well for me, although you can hear the general cadence and sound of what he's trying to say. He also likes trying to say "Alleluia." He'd been saying something like "ah-lay, ah-lay" when different people in the family picked up on it and started encouraging him to say alleluia. Now he says somethng like "ah-lay-ah." Much to everyone's amusement. He also says "da da da" and "ba ba ba" and "ma ma ma" -- he likes playing echo games with those sounds.
• He will wave bye-bye on cue, and sometimes he'll imitate the sound of the word.
• Yesterday, Bear says that he saw him take a step on his own, without holding onto anything. He is definitely in charge of cruising now -- he can navigate from the couch to the manger scene via the dining room table without any trouble. (He likes to eat the manger figurines and then throw them on the ground.) He has been cruising around the kitchen lately; he likes opening cabinets and taking everything out.
• He can eat a piece of bread and cut-up grapes on his own, but he still won't drink from his sippy cup -- he just bangs it around until there's a mess everywhere. He no longer takes breast milk during the day; he's been on whole milk from the store for a few weeks now.
• He is still the smilingest baby you ever saw. No kidding, the clerks at two grocery stores, the library, and Target all greet him with, "There's the smiley baby!" Literally -- I walk in, they see him, and that's what they say. He smiles at that, of course.

Here are some other things he can do:

Hang out with the sibs!

Happily make a huge mess

Collect money for the Salvation Army

Conk out for a three-hour nap, still in his coat. 'Nite, nite!