Crawling and Eating: A Day in the Life of Declan

Declan is very busy these days. Since he started army-crawling in April and real crawling in early June, he has been unstoppable. He's now "cruising," taking steps around the coffee table or alongside the bathtub. Just yesterday, we saw him stand unassisted. Of course, he can't really do much on his own, because he always has his devoted sister "helping" him.

Some of his favorite destinations are the cats' food and water bowls (for water fun), the bathroom (to walk along the tub), the dishwasher (to stand up and, if possible, get in the dishwasher!). Mommy's favorite: he crawls up three stairs or so in about 20 seconds. Somehow, we have a feeling our lives will get a lot harder when he starts walking.

He has also eschewed all pureed baby foods for a long time, since he loves to feed himself. His favorite food—by far—is grapes. In fact, he seems to like all fruits. With only two teeth and two more emerging, he has to gum his toast, but he manages to do OK. He's a much more interested eater than Maeve was at this age—just one more way that they're different kids.

—posted by T