i knew that today was going to be my last swim lesson (for this summer session, anyway) and i wanted to make the most of it.  daddy thought that i didn’t want to swim because i kept climbing out of the pool, but i was just practicing.  i swam to the wall, climbed out of the pool (which i was not able to do by myself at the beginning of summer), and then “dived” back in.  and then i did it again.  and again.  and again.  i think i did that about seven times.  i’m not really sure though because i can’t count that high.

but somehow, i managed to spend enough time in the water to demonstrate my excellent swimming skills and graduate from swim school!  i am an o-fish-al pollywog!  (it says so on my graduation ribbon )

my o-fish-al swim movie is below, but if you are interested in seeing my practice footage, you can see that here.

mommy, daddy, and koda do funny things sometimes.  and in order to fit in with my crazy family, i guess i have to do them, too. 

recently, mommy and daddy started making funny “buhwuhwuhwuhwuh” noises to make me laugh.  so i thought i’d try it to see if it makes them laugh, too.  and lemme tell you — it does.  every time.

and i often see koda getting treats after he gives high-5′s and waves.  so i practiced doing those things so i could get treats, too.  so how come i never get nuthin’ for high-5′s, and whenever i wave someone usually goes away?

everyone thinks koda is so smart because he teaches me so many things, but i have been trying to teach him to climb down the stairs BACKWARDS for months, and he just isn’t getting it. who’s the smart one now, huh?

i don’t care what mommy says, i am an excellent swimmer.  i’ve only had a few lessons so far, but i already know how to jump into the water and make “big arms” and “kick kicks”.   the weird thing is that i sink like a rock when i’m swimming.  i don’t think that’s supposed to happen.  you’d think that my neck rolls would keep me afloat, right?  but i love swimming and i look good doing it, and that’s what counts   daddy wanted to make a movie of me swimming during my lesson today, but since i’m already an expert, i didn’t need to practice much.  instead, i worked on safety skills like holding myself up on the wall (which i wasn’t able to do a month ago!) and “walking” by sliding my hands along the edge of the wall.

oh, and 2 new kids joined my class today!  and you know what’s weird?  in all our other “baby & me” classes (like at gymboree and the little gym) babies bring their mommies.  why does everyone bring their daddies to swim school?  i didn’t get that memo.

when daddy was making my crawling video, i wasn’t very cooperative.  instead of crawling around, i made frequent stops to stand up and bang on… well, everything.  i like to bang on the wall, my crib rails, laptop keyboards, cabinet doors, my high chair tray (remember my rice, rice, baby video?), etc.  i even bang on mommy’s collar bone while i’m nursing

here are the outtakes from my crawling video.  do you think i can be a drummer like my uncle jamie?

5.5 weeks ago, i learned how to crawl.  i wasn’t very fast at first, so it wasn’t an efficient means of getting around.  in fact, i almost gave up on crawling.  instead, i spent a lot of time pulling myself up to practice standing and walking.  i was determined to walk before i turned 8 months old.

but in the last month, i’ve somehow gotten really good at crawling.  i can crawl so fast now, that i have put my walking aspirations on hold.  i crawl all around the house (often pausing to stand up and inspect things as i pass them by), under and over koda, and even up the stairs.  mommy and daddy thought about kyden-proofing the house, but there is no way that they can prevent me from getting my little hands on everything — especially with all the gadgets and electronics around here!

a couple of weeks ago, daddy took some footage of me crawling/walking around grandma and grandpa’s house and even climbing up their stairs.  but he was too busy to make it into a movie, and now it’s old news.  so instead, here’s the short little clip that we made today

i’m planning on surfing in hawaii later this year, so there are a few things i need to do to prepare:

1)  learn to swim  (you know the saying “crawl before you walk”?  well, i say “swim before you surf”!)

2)  improve my balance so i can stand up without holding on to anything

3)  look cute in a rash guard

i heard that babies are born with a “dive reflex” — the natural instinct to open our eyes and hold our breath underwater.  aaand, until about 6 months of age, we move our arms and legs in a swimming motion when placed face down.  that means that babies less than 6 months old are natural swimmers!  well, i missed the window by a couple of weeks, but i figure… better late than never, right?

so, i went swimming with my buddy isaac today.  it was just like bathtime — i got to kick and splash and get mommy all wet.  the only differences were that there were lots of people in the bath with me and that i was wearing a rash guard instead of my birthday suit.

mommy dunked me in the water over and over again to test my dive reflex.  isaac’s mommy is nice, so she didn’t subject him to the chinese water torture.  so, my study ended up having a sample size of only 1, but it appears to prove that the dive reflex really does exist.  yup, i’m a natural swimmer.  it helps that i’ve mastered spitting because i was able to spit out the pool water that got into my mouth, rather than swallowing it.  check me out!

(i already look good in my rash guard, so now i just gotta work on standing up by myself.  i’ll be surfing in no time!)

for almost a week now, i’ve been sleeping in my crib in my own room for part of the night.  from about 8pm until about 4am, with one feeding in there, i sleep all by myself.  when i wake up to eat around 4am, mommy brings me to her bed and i stay with her and daddy until morning.  so, that’s about 8 hours a night that i’m in my crib.  that’s 8 hours a night that i am surrounded by animals!  yup, my crib bedding and mobile have a zoo animal theme.  mommy made some matching artwork that hangs on my walls, and auntie barbara got me some stuffed zoo animals that sit on the shelves that daddy installed.  there are animals all around me   (look, the zoo animals are even hanging out with me on the header of my blog!)

so when matthew invited me to go with him to check out the newly remodeled happy hollow park & zoo, i was so excited.  i thought that i was going to get to pet real life lions with purple manes, turquoise zebras with orange noses, and giraffes with green horns — just like the animals in my room, right?  wrong.  instead, there were a bunch of animals that had fur like koda, big ears like koda, but smelled yuckier than koda.  mommy and daddy said they were goats, sheep, ponies, and zebus.  i never heard of a zebu before, but he looked sort of like those animals that say “moo”.  matthew had fun petting them, and i had fun petting/grabbing at matthew.  i wasn’t all that interested in the animals, and the feeling was mutual.  mommy and daddy said we should go back in a few months when i’m bigger.  then, i’ll be big enough for some of the rides, and maybe then, i’ll like the animals.  we’ll see.  in the meantime, i’m perfectly happy just hanging out with koda

i’ve heard that there are ways for babies to tell their parents that they are ready for solids:

• at least 4 months old: check!
• doubled birth weight (or at least 15 lbs):  check!  i think i’m at ~17 lbs.
• head control:  check!  i can do tummy time all day long.
• sitting well when supported:  check!  sure, i can sit, but i’d much rather stand.
• chewing motions:  check!  this is same as smacking my lips, right?
• growing appetite:  check!  i am always hungry.
• curiosity about grown-up food:  check!  i am constantly lunging and grabbing at mommy’s froyo and daddy’s steak.

i’ve been trying to tell mommy and daddy for almost two months now that I WANT REAL FOOD!  i got really excited last night when i got to sit down with a bowl and spoon — i thought i was finally going to get a real meal.  but it turned out to be rice cereal mush

it seems that koda liked it, though.

i know you’re waiting to read about my findings from the “if you’re happy and you know it” study, but my analysis is not yet complete.  don’t worry.  it’s coming soon.

in the meantime, lemme tell you about st. patrick’s day.  apparently, this is a day where you have to wear green, otherwise you get pinched.  that’s a strange tradition if you ask me.  luckily, auntie barbara (who is in town visiting me this week) brought me a special st. patrick’s day shirt.  mommy washed and dried my shirt late last night so that it would be all clean and ready for me to wear today.  so this morning, when daddy got me all dressed, you would think that he would dress me in my special shirt, right?  wrong!  he picked out a blue outfit for me. no green. blue. he wanted me to get pinched!

see, i have been pinching daddy really hard lately, and he was trying to get revenge.  (he even tweeted about it, so i have proof!)  he thinks that i have been angry with him, but that’s not the case at all.  i’ve just been practicing my pinching skills in preparation for this strange holiday.  if you wanna see what happens when i’m really angry, check out what i did to the inhabitants of exersaucerland!

a couple of weeks ago, i learned how to roll over by myself.  so daddy pulled out the video camera to record this exciting feat.  he waited… and waited… and waited… but i was too busy checking out my awesome new play area to roll.  daddy ultimately captured 600MB of me doing nothing.  he still doesn’t believe that i can roll over.

this video was recorded last week, but daddy finally had time to edit it last night.  i am a movie star!