He's a mover and a shaker!!

Boy howdy! It has been way too long since I updated this blog!! Quentin is taking a nap so I thought I'd steal a few moments to work on this. We'll see how far I can get :) A lot has been going on since the last posting. From the moment we got Quentin home, we've heard the sage advice about treasuring every moment because they grow so fast. Let me tell you how wise and true that is! In the past month, Quentin has gotten faster than a race car with his special brand of pseudo-crawling! He is like greased lightning! In a blink he is across the room and before you have even figured out what happened, he's found something new to explore (i.e. put in his mouth!). He still hasn't gotten up on all fours and mastered the traditional crawl (the hands are the problem), but we don't think he'll ever do that. Why should he? He plenty fast enough scurrying around like a caterpillar! Besides out-running mommy and daddy with his improved mobility, Quentin has also taken to pulling himself up on anything and everything! He spends all day alternating between crawling feverishly across the floor (especially when there's a pair of yummy shoes in sight) and trying to pull himself to standing on anything semi-stationary. If I'm sitting on the floor playing with him, he's pulling up on me using my hair, my arms, my knees, etc. To grip. Ouch! He gets frustrated and annoyed if he can't get himself into the standing position or if I move him from a perilous position such as banging his hands (or head!) on the glass table in our living room. In addition to standing, he loves to "walk". He is still trying to figure out how to un-glue his feet from the floor when he's standing on his own, but if I hold on to him and walk with him, he's a high-steppin' fool, ready for his own baby marathon! There have been a few times where he lifts his feet and does this cross over step thing when he's standing on his own, but mostly he stays on one place, feet firmly rooted to the carpet. All the hard work and concentration required to learn to walk have made him forget how to "talk". I haven't heard a "da-da-da" or "mama" in weeks. In fact, the only vocal sounds he's making these days are raspberries and frustrated cries. He's become much more fussy in these recent weeks, but it's understandable given the frustration he must be feeling. The other big milestone we're at now is a mouthful of teeth, with new ones popping up every other day it seems! He currently has 5 teeth out and chomping (boy do they hurt!). I noticed a major increase in drool this week and suspected some more new teeth. Lo and behold, I was right! There are 2 more teeth erupting on the top-- so far just the edges are out-- and I see several white lump where more teeth are lurking below the surface. With all these teeth, we've started giving him some finger foods. Well, really just one-- "Veggie puffs". They are basically cereal puffs made with vegetables. They melt in his mouth, but he has been able to crunch them, between his teeth and seems to really love them. Right now I think it's more a plaything than food to him, but he's picked up on the concept of chewing pretty quickly. I'm anticipating that pureed baby food will be giving way to lumpier foods in the next month or so.
Schedule-wise, things are going so well. Quentin is down for the night between 8:45 and 9:00 every night. He takes two naps during the day and eats regularly about every 4-5 hours. This past week he's been waking up a few times at night, but we think that's due to the teething and that he'll be back to sleeping through the night soon.

Anyway, besides developmental milestones, Quentin has experienced quite a lot this month for someone so young. Sadly, we lost some loved ones this month. My great-grandma passed away as did my life-long friend's mother. We debated whether or not to take Quentin to the funerals, but ultimately decided it would be ok and he attended both in one week. He was very good with no fussing or crying. While attending great-grandma's funeral, Quentin got to meet my great aunt and uncle who are basically grandparents to me. Aunt Dororthy and Uncle Irvin loved him to pieces and Quentin was really comfortable with them. He also got to meet my Aunt Robin and spend some more time with my Uncle Adam and Aunt Fawn as well as my grandparents and many other extended family members. He did so well even though it surely had to be somewhat overwhelming seeing so many new faces at once. I'll post some pictures of these gatherings shortly. On his Grandma's birthday (March 5th), Quentin got his first haircut. It was really needed-- his hair was getting so long! He did really well with this and looked so cute when it was all done. Check out the pictures of this up above.
Also, this month we flew to San Francisco to spend a week with Brian's sister & fiance. Quentin was sooooo well-behaved on both flights! After our nightmare flight home from Taiwan, we were nervous about how he'd act going to California. But he was just great-- no tears, no freaking out. It was a huge relief. While in San Francisco, Quentin got to meet his great grandparents. He seemed to take to them right away and they were tickled pink to hold him. Quentin was also really happy to play with his Aunt Denise ("goo goo") and his soon-to-be Uncle Roman ("goo jong"). They were so good with him and elicited many big smiles and hearty laughs. The trip was really wonderful and we can't wait to go again in June when Denise and Roman get married. We've even picked out a cute little baby tuxedo for Quentin to wear to the wedding :)
Well, time is running out here so I'd better post my pictures and sign off. My little QT should be waking up from his nap shortly.