Toys, old & new

Benjamin has gotten even more active (it was inevitable), so we decided to buy him yet another contraption. This week we got a jumper/activity center in the hopes that it will give him a chance to be more active while being upright. He's still a little small for the seat, so the first time we sat him in there he was a bit unstable and probably a little scared. That first go-around didn't last long... ...but the next day I surrounded him with some padding, and he immediately took a liking to some of the baubles in front of him.
He really like it once he discovered he could put his feet on the ground and bounce around a bit. That toy sun in front of him is his new best friend. I don't know of many parents who have as many pieces of equipment for their baby as we do, but Benjamin's activity level is pretty demanding, and we'd lose our sanity if we didn't have some of this stuff.
Every time he is in his car seat, whether in the car or the stroller, he now grips onto the side with one hand. Here, he had fallen asleep in the car just before we got home, so I let him take a catnap before removing him.
Speaking of gripping (and toys)...Daddy is now a jungle gym.
Double fistin' it. These are still his toys of choice.

We had the pleasure of going to the pediatrician twice this week: once for some constipation issues, then two days later for his wellbaby checkup. For the first issue, he was prescribed a little bit of fruit juice to get things going. He's never had juice before, so he was pretty baffled - he acted like his tongue itself suddenly tasted funny, so he played around with his tongue and tried to look at it for a while. It took two feedings to get him to eat one ounce, but he accepted it pretty easily. I hope this is an indication of how well he'll take new foods. His checkup went fine, considering the shots he got at the end. At 20 weeks, he weighs 15 pounds 12 ounces and is 25-1/2 inches long. I thought for sure he'd be in a high percentile. The doc said he's pretty average, but she doesn't have to carry him around either.

It's getting hot around here already, but we had one breezy day recently that made being in the shade very pleasant. I carried Benjamin in the hip sling (still trying to convince him that he likes it) and walked around the backyard for a few minutes. He really liked it under the pecan tree, and he can finally be in the wind without acting like he's suffocating. I wish the weather here wasn't so extreme, it would be a lot easier to take him outside regularly.

At the commissary this week, a few employees saw Benjamin drooling & gnawing on his fingers, and they said he's teething. I said that he's only four months old, but they said it doesn't matter, he's definitely teething. And these ladies know babies. We will probably start introducing rice cereal soon. It seems like he's growing up so fast in just a few weeks...