This past weekend, Nathaniel got to hang out with friend Anja while Anja's parents had a garage sale. The idea was for Kelli to supervise the children during the garage sale, but apparently Anja (who can walk and not satisfied to stay in one spot) was more interested in supervising the garage sale than being supervised.

Nathaniel will certainly follow Anja's example of getting into even more stuff than he does now once he can walk. For now, he continues to progress towards full bipedal locomotion, but still relies on crawling to get from point A to point B. He has taken as many as 3 steps unsupported, but those were really more of a stumble than a walk. He does well working his way along walls and the edges of furniture, and now occasionally stands up unsupported for a few seconds at a time. We'll post some pictures of walking once it happens.

Another developing skill: talking. Nathaniel has had some favorite syllables for some time. Sometimes we think he associates them with a particular concept, sometimes not. "Uh-oh" used to have no meaning whatsoever, but now seems to be connected to throwing things onto the floor, at least sometimes. "Ma-ma" is another one he's used for a while, and the rough translation at this point seems to be "Mother, please hand me that piece of food".