Just a few quick pics from lunch and dinner today, with Del chowing down on a Quiznos Sammie and some rice and chicken from Chipotle (a busy day of work, errands and a three-hour nap for you know who didn’t leave us a lot of time to cook at home). He’s becoming more and more self-sufficient at the table, so much so that at times now he doesn’t even want to eat something if we’re offering it to him, but if he can either pick it up by hand, or better yet, handle the spoon himself, then he’s happy to chow down.

We don’t have any photos or video of it (yet), but after getting lots of recent practice with his standing and balance (including the photo above, taken two weeks ago at Kevin and Jenn’s wedding rehearsal dinner), Del took his first steps this week! Only a couple, and they were pretty tentative, but he definitely stumbled around upright and was super excited about it.

We were over at our friends’ Alejandro and Maggie’s this past Wednesday evening (August 20th), and after dinner, Del was standing around, holding onto Dianne for balance. I was seated on the floor in front of him and after letting go of Dianne, and balancing for 2-3 seconds, he began to teeter forward a bit. Instead of sitting back down on his butt, or falling forward, he caught himself by taking a step, then proceeded to take 2-3 more before grabbing a hold of me for support.

Needless to say, everyone was very excited and erupted in cheers. We were in a bit of disbelief, while we knew the first steps were coming, it was still a big surprise to see them.

Over the past couple days, we’ve been working with Del a bit to practice walking during his playtime, and he’s had a few additional successful “walks”. He still prefers motoring around by crawling (which he’s gotten insanely fast at!), but we’re sure he’ll start transitioning to more walking as he gets more confidence and better balance.

As soon as we can capture some steps on video, we’ll be sure to get them posted here.

Del’s been busy recently, experiencing lots of different new flavors and food, so we figured we’d post some updated photos. The images above and below were taken at Kevin and Jenn’s rehearsal dinner, where Del figured out the wonderful world of dipping; dipping his bread in olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, and (especially!) dipping french fries in ketchup.

The last picture below, is Del enjoying one of his favorite appetizers, the crab rangoons at Djans Thai in Wallingford. He’s saving some of it on the side of his face for later!

We managed to get some great pics of Del being insanely excited playing with one of Dianne’s cans of Red Bull. A few more below…

Del and Brian, working together to figure out the new Star Wars Lego video game at the Apple Store in Bellevue Square. They didn’t have much luck with it…

As he’s getting a bit older, Del’s really starting to show an interest in books (beyond simply chewing on them, which he was a fan of since the beginning). He sat down with his Oma this weekend to look through a few books. Not sure why he’s using a hairbrush to turn the pages, but he’s getting the hang of it…

Just a couple more pics from Del in the kiddie pool at his grandparents house this past weekend…

We’re finally getting some true summer weather here in the Seattle area this weekend (88º-90º), and it’s not even the Fourth of July yet! That kind of heat gets to be pretty unbearable in our third floor condo (particularly with all its large, south facing windows - which are awesome in the winter but murder in the summer). So early this morning we piled The Boy, The Hounds and our stuff into the X5 and headed down to Lakewood for the weekend.

The hot weather also meant that Del would finally get a chance to try out the new kiddie pool that his Oma and Opa recently got him, and it did not disappoint! He spent about a half hour in it this afternoon, splashing around with Dianne and his Oma, while dad took pictures. As much as he even likes his baths, he had a blast here. We’re looking forward to getting at least one more good pool session in tomorrow before we have to head back to Seattle.

I had a hunch this would make a good “instant photo collage” - pics of Del from his grandparents’ refrigerator door. He’s still competing with a few Thurman the Dog pics and other assorted family members, but he’s slowly squeezing everyone else out!

In addition to the Fremont Solstice Parade, Sam’s birthday party, visiting his grandparents and eating an entire piece of ice cream cake, the highlight of Del’s weekend was definitely a visit from his amazing Aunt Becky, who came up for the weekend from Las Vegas to (belatedly) celebrate her 21st birthday.

Del definitely got a kick out of spending some great play time (and nap time!) with his aunt, and we had a blast having her visit as well. Becky, we can’t wait to see you again soon!