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Carl in a Nutshell

I've been meaning to sit down for a moment and write about Carl for months.  But every time I think about it, I've been completely overwhelmed.  How can I put in words his charming personality, his burgeoning skills, and his diminishing babyhood?  And now we pay the price for my lack of vision: months unrecorded and a baby that has grown up behind my back.

In spite of this, I do want to remember these precious days.  I want to record some of my observations and hold them close (like I can no longer hold my squirming son).

Updates:
* Carl has been able to sit up on his own for about a month now.
* He has been using the pincer grasp for a little less than two months.
* He can also pass things between hands (and has been doing this for about 2 months as well).
* Because of this, he is a very adept self-feeder. (Or perhaps his desire to self-feed led to the acquisition of that skill?)
* Especially at the table, he looks for things he has dropped (demonstrating object permanence).
* Carl rolls over and over and over to get wherever he wants to go.  He doesn't scoot or crawl.
* He makes humanoid noises; "na na" and "da da" are the favorites.
* He also makes noise by banging things together, with apparent glee!

Observations:
* Carl sucks on his thumb while sleeping.
* He doesn't focus on nursing very well.  He wants to talk and look and smile and move!
* He smiles when Soren comes into the room (until toys he wants start moving further away).
* He gets cranky just before lunch and just after dinner; the only thing that will calm him is being walked.
* He enjoys being read to.
* He tolerates praying.
* Most of the time, Carl shows little inclination to move towards anything.  He is quite content to just sit.
* That said, he knows food when he sees it and will do anything in his power to reach it.
* Carl loves his baths; what baby doesn't?

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