2004-12-18, 11:41 p.m.

Random observations of baby movement, on the advent of Leon's 9 month birthday.

When we put Leon in his super-cute new snowsuit, and get him all buttoned and zippered up, he can barely move. Lay him on the floor - to put your own coat on, for instance - and he just stays there, arms and legs sticking out, placidly looking up at us, as if to say "um, what am I supposed to be doing right now?" I tried to put the snowsuit clad boy in the carrier tonight, to take him out for a walk, and I couldn't even get it fastened because the suit is so bulky.

On the other hand, the naked baby in the bathtub is almost frighteningly mobile - tonight he actually stood up, one bath toy in each hand, trying to hold onto the tub edge at the same time. The boy has no sense of danger, of course. As an experiment, I put 'soothing eucalyptus' baby bubble bath stuff in his tub tonight, and he was fascinated. He kept dipping his face into the bubbles, trying to put them in his mouth, and coming up wearing a foamy goatee, which was mighty cute. He has also been trying to figure out what the drain-stopper lever is (telling him it's the drain-stopper lever doesn't seem to help - he wants to taste it), and in his efforts to examine it tonight, he slipped his hands down the sides of the tub and splashed them into the water, along with his chest, making great sloshes. Which he thought was the coolest thing since bubbles.

The other interesting motion he's performing is in his sleep. At bed time, I put Leon down logically, so that his body is aligned with the bed. When I check on him a few hours later, he is laying across the bed. And a few hours after that, he's headed in the opposite direction from where he started. Step right up, step right up folks, to see the incredible rotating baby. He's so darn charming, I can hardly stand it - I start to grin just thinking about it.