No Longer a Baby, Not Yet a Racecar Driver

So, SA's thing for steering wheels is pretty cute, especially in the car section of Toys R Us.

Well, it's pretty cute until it's time to leave - then we get nice little tantrums. Arched back, wailing - I can only imagine what he'll be like when he's actually a terrible 2-year-old.

In any case, we finally figured it was time to give him a steering wheel of his very own. This should hold him 'til he's 16 or so, and agitating for a car, right?

We're learning all about the parks and playgrounds of Chicago - SA's favorites include water sprinklers. He loves to splash in the puddles initially, and edges closer and closer to the water. He often ends up walking right under the spray of water, and then is horrified to find that he's wet. I just hope that laughing at him when he's mad and crying won't scar him too badly psychologically.

His recent favorite food is Clementine oranges - last night, he wanted yet another orange for his before-bed snack. I actually found myself encouraging the poor kid to eat a cookie instead - his little system can't take much more citrus!

Other recent events:

• He has been feeding himself with a spoon a bit lately. I have to load the spoon first, but he can maneuver it into his mouth pretty well.
• He's finally walking around in real shoes - not sandals, and not the leather Robis. They're shown above, soaked.
• We've stopped using the stroller for short walks to the park and such - he prefers to be mobile, and it's a good opportunity to talk about things like holding hands and watching for cars when we cross the street.
• He's crawling up onto new things - the couch this morning. It's pretty funny seeing him slouch back with a sippy cup and watch the Teletubbies.
• The 13th and 14th teeth look to be coming in the next week or 2. These are canines - pointy and single-edged - so I don't anticipate nearly as much pain as we had with the molars.
• SA got his first salon haircut last week! I forgot to take the camera, but Anastasia had him up in a car, with a steering wheel, and some cartoon on TVs all over in an attempt to distract him. He still fought when she tried to cut the hair over his ears, though.