Gardner's taking more and more steps by the day! I can't believe it when I see him release hold of something and toddle towards another landmark. Yesterday he walked about three feet from one item to the next....and then clapped when he reached it (hm....you think he's been hearing us cheer a lot lately?).

He is in a "copycat" phase. He and I sit and copy each other when he is in his highchair. Yesterday, Ken was able to catch it all on video camera as we did all sorts of funny motions, voices, and word games. He is such the entertainer.

Gardner had his first run-in with one of our cats this week. Ajala, our "moody one," doesn't like to be bothered at all, especially by little people. Gardner deviously laughed as he crawled towards her. Before I could stop the episode from occurring, he grabbed her tail and her claw lashed out. She got him on the nose, but he didn't cry. He sat back, stared wide-eyed at her, as if saying, "What was THAT for!?" and then crawled off, not phased a bit. He's a trooper. I don't think he'll be attempting that again.

Gardner is on his last week of formula AND bottles. In eight days, we'll switch over to whole milk and all sippy cups. What a transition....and what a decrease in our grocery bill, as well! I have also all but cut out jar foods except for ease of travel. He is content and happy to eat whatever we're eating....BBQ chicken was last night's menu, and the day before that, he ate bean enchiladas! (The kid LOVES Mexican food!)

Stay tuned for more updates....he's changing so quickly and learning so many new tricks, I can't write them all down fast enough!