The summer continues

On to June!  I think Thomas' personality really started to blossom around this time.  He started clapping, waving bye-bye, and became such a ham in front of the camera, strangers, really anyone and everyone.  Trips to the mexican restaurant in Abbeville were as much to get dinner as they were to amuse Thomas.  The waiters love him there and typically spend the meal doing all of the entertaining for us - what a relief!  From carrying him back to watch the busy kitchen, to tickling, to whistling from across the restaurant...I'm telling you, they really like him!  Speaking of eating, Thomas has finally adjusted to eating baby foods and does pretty well with just about everything except for the green vegetables (who can blame him?).  He's also feeding himself finger foods like cheerios, fresh fruits (banana, blueberries, peach, strawberry, etc), teddy grahams, and goldfish.  Of those finger foods, teddy grahams, blueberries, and goldfish weigh in as heavy favorites.

In addition to all of that, Thomas has really started babbling seriously.  He now says most frequently ba-ba, da-da, and ma-ma, with the occassional ya-ya and other indistinguishable sounds thrown in.  The funniest thing is that Thomas doesn't just talk, he really gets into it with facial expressions and the craziest hand motions as if he is fully engaged in a conversation that everyone understands.  It's hilarious.  Yet another funny phase this month - Thomas collects anything that will move, dog bowls, strollers, laundry detergent, high chair, toys, etc and pushes them around the house until he hits a stopping point.  I guess this is the natural progression from pushing cars around, moving on to bigger items! 

And one last first, Thomas went swimming in a pool for the first time!  He absolutely loved it, floating around in his bumble bee, playing with water soaker balls, and watching college age students wander the area (it's surprising how early on boys are attracted to girls...or maybe it's just the bright bathing suits and smiles?).  Regardless, he really had a good time.  I see swimming lessons in his future!

Saving cheerios for later!

Trying to catch a wave

A phase - collecting everything that moves and pushing it through the house

And finally July.  What a busy month!  Thomas turned 11 months old, wow!  I've been thinking about his upcoming 1 year birthday for months now but still cannot believe that it's almost here.  He's truly not a baby anymore.  Oh well, to update you all on July happenings...

To kick off the month, we celebrated July 4 at the lake with the family.  Thomas was in bed every night before fireworks but we still enjoyed spending the days on the water.  We were even able to take Thomas for his first boat ride on Grandpap's boat.  Chip bought him a great little life jacket perfect for such boating!

Check out that hair!  He's a wild man!

The bumblebee float

On July 11, Thomas hit yet another milestone - his first tooth!  I got a good look at it while he was laying upside-down in my lap playing - his lower right incisor.  His second tooth came through about a week later, the lower left incisor.  Needless to say, I am still trying to get a good picture of these teeth!  The funny thing about this is that now Trey and I can truly say, and believe, that some of Thomas' crankiness is due to teething (we've only been making that comment since he was 4 months old!).  

We spent the last week in July in the white mountains of New Hampshire.  Aunt Elaine and Uncle Larry have a beautiful house in Lincoln and let the whole Gorney crew crash it for a week.  More details and pictures to come!