James got two bottom teeth!

On September 11th I saw two little teeth tops protruding from James's bottom gums.  Just the little ridges :)  He keeps making faces like he is sucking on something.
So, now we are ready for chewing some meat, and we haven't even had enough practice with cereal or vegetables!  Rice cereal went down well, very well, he licked half a cup clean, but avocado made him cringe and shiver with disgust, while peas made him no less than cry!

James moves around on the floor and tastes real food

Even though he doesn't lift up on all fours, James is now able to move about pretty fast.  He has been turning from belly to back and from back to belly for a while (couple of months?), but now he quickly finds his way off the play gym as he tries to reach toys.  He looks like a cat when he goes for toys within reach:  his eyes are focused, lips tight, and he snatches objects with a speed and determination, like a cat clawing at a toy.

Last month I let James get a taste of watermelon, and he liked it (it was refreshing on a hot summer night).  Then, while we were visiting baka in Delaware beginning of August, I let him have a bit of avocado--he gagged on that a little, but also ate a bit.  I took a break since then, which was almost a month ago, in order to establish a regular food introduction pattern when I was ready to begin--it's just difficult to begin when the baby grows so wonderfully on pure breast milk!  Not to mention the ease and cleanliness of breastfeeding....

James is reaching for his toes, drools and bites

2 days ago James started grabbing his feet for the first time.  He looks very focused and serious when he examines his feet and hands.  And his teeth are coming through so he wants to gnaw often, mostly on his fists, but also on my chin or finger.  And just today when I picked him up from the carseat, he drooled a mouthful of spit that literally poured down both of my legs that I needed a paper towel to dry it all off.

James's 18 lbs of chunkiness; end of school year

James weighs double his birth weight as of today, 18 lbs.  Yet, when a person holds him, he grabs around his or her shoulders/arms with his arms so tightly and stays close, so his weight doesn't put that much strain on the person.  Plus, if feels so cuddly to hold him like that, like a little koala.
Over the last few days he's been a bit crankier than usual.  His nose has been very stuffy and I've had to rinse it with salt water a few times, and I'm also suspecting that his teeth are moving up through the gums and it's now starting to hurt him.  He'd start fidgeting and crying out of the blue.  Even nursing wouldn't calm him down, in fact, it might even irritate him more.
His naps are shorter too.  When I take him to work in the mornings, he only gives me half an hour to an hour of work before he wakes up in the stroller, and that's it, I might as well immediately pack up and go home.

Sonja and Michael's last day of school was last Wednesday, and Nikolas's was today.
We stocked up on activity books to keep them busy, especially a lot of new ones for Nikolas.   He has been writing a lot and reading longer books.  He can easily write a page or two, without help.  His latest favorite books is Where the Sidewalk Ends (poems), and I've introduced him to Asterix comics, which he liked too.
He is now way past the books like 'I Spy', Dr Seuss, etc.
Addition and subtraction up to a hundred and even beyond for simple numbers is a breeze for him.  He understands the idea of multiplication, and now we are ready to work on analogies, logical sequences and such.  It should be a fun summer.  He's been into drawing too.  Lately I've noticed his drawings of houses with two stories, with stairs that he drew in the middle, and he's been expressing his wish to move into a 2-story house where his room would be upstairs.  I wish.  We are seriously running out of space here.

Sonja and Michael are doing simple addition and subtraction through 5, and some logical sequencing, comparisons, counting, etc.  They also like to draw and paint.  Sonja is still obsessed with dressing into her gazillion dresses.  Michael is as easy-going and relaxed about everything, as usual.  Very few things can  throw him out of his giggly and happy mood.

James's head support, reaching, grabbing objects, wears 6-12 months clothes

He can now hold his head upright, I noticed today that he didn't need my support.  A few days ago he started reaching for and grabbing objects that were interesting to him, especially the caterpillar toy that all the kids loved.  He weighs 17 lbs and wears clothes 6-9mo up to 12mo.
His personality is amazing:  he smiles (and giggles--those are the best!) when people talk to him, and those smiles he gives me are the warmest and the most communicative smiles I've ever seen on a baby's face: first thing in the morning, while he is nursing, while I'm strapping him into his car seat, while we walk through a store and he is in front of me in the cart, and of course, in the house when I hold him in my lap and talk to him--then he'll string together all the sounds that he can make and with varying intonation talk to me like he is describing something very important.

Daddy is finally getting his smiles from James too.  For some weird reason, the kid would cry when he saw daddy, but now anymore.

Nikolas's haircut turns into an earcut

James's 2-month doctor's appointment

At two months James weighs 16 lbs, which puts him at 98th-100th percentile in weight for his age.  He barely fits in his infant Graco carseat so we'll have to move him to the next carseat any day now.
He is getting a little fussier when it's time to sleep.  He cries more and wriggles, stuffs his fists in his mouth--the other day I thought that nursing him would calm his down, but he took so long to stop crying that he ate too much, and the moment I stuck a pacifier in his mouth instead of the boob, he threw up all over me and all over the couch!  It was pretty amazing to see the amount of milk that came out of his little belly!
He is still very patient during the day (crankiness hits around 9-10pm) and very happy when he is talked to.