Peter is pulling up and starting to experiment with cruising. This last weekend or so Matthew said Peter was starting to bend his knees and kind of attempt to take steps while being held. Well, today I was supporting Peter (he refused to sit down on the floor) a few (my) steps away from the piano bench. I could tell that's where he wanted to go and just to see what he'd do I encouraged him to go there while I held him up. He took several steps there and even managed to pivot his legs to turn away from the bench. It's crazy how fast he's moving (literally too!)

A couple of days ago Matthew said Peter was pulling up (or attempting to) on the rocking ottoman. He was successful on the side that didn't rock, but when he tried on the side that rocked it kept knocking him down. Matthew said he was yelling at the ottoman. It was kind of funny. Well, I began to notice him practicing on all the sides of the ottoman now. His determination has kicked in and he's mastered pulling up despite the rocking motion.

In the vocal department, he uses the 'm' sound when he wants me and just in the last couple of days started using 'dadada' around Matthew. Over the last couple weeks he's added 'p' sounds as well. I'll usually mimicking him when he starts up and say, "p,p, Peter". He'll smile and sometimes keep doing his 'p's and sometimes stopping. Tonight he was laying flat on the ground like in sit-up position and started reaching for my fitbit clip. I told him, "up". He smiled and recognized the command from Matthew having him do 'sit-ups'. Just to see what he'd do, I then told him "down." Sure enough he flopped down just as we have him do for sit-ups. We did this exercise a few times and then he started saying 'p' after we'd say 'up'. We think he got the vocal connection!

Today he moved the treasure box (whether on purpose or by accident I don't know) to under the piano. He was trying to get on top it while looking at the piano keyboard. I recognized him wanting to play the piano, so I moved to the piano bench and set him on my lap so he could play. He was quite happy with getting what he wanted :)

He also recognizes his food jars now. He was in the kitchen while I was gathering my lunch. I showed him his jar and asked him if he wanted to eat. He got a great big smile on his face and came out from under the table. When I fed him again later I started signing water, food, and more. We'll see how quickly he picks them up.

Peter is such a smart little boy! He amazes me with his intelligence and determination.

Oh yes, just another milestone tidbit - his second front bottom tooth has come in. It looks like one of his top canine teeth is working its way out now.