Our new puppy!

 We have recently found ourselves in possession of an adorable, playful puppy! Don't tell our landlord.

Actually, you can go ahead, because he probably knows. Our puppy is in fact human, and we've had him for 9 months now.

Over the past several months, I've given many animal nicknames to Joseph -- baby bird for how he would open his mouth for food; little frog for how he would stick his tongue out and kick his legs; little lamb for how he would hit his head on my chest when he wanted to eat; and baby bear for how he would growl.

But I think puppy is the most apt description yet. You name it, he does it.

Tip the trash can over? Check. Make messes on the furniture? Check. (This one could probably have been prevented had his diaper been attached better, but it's become basically impossible to hold him down long enough for a diaper change these days.)

Crawl up to Dad while he's eating breakfast, look at him with big brown eyes, and get a bite of his food? Check.

Bark at the squirrels? Check.

Chase after balls (or trains)? Check.

Try out new exciting teeth on flesh? Check. Ouch.

Yep, those teeth are definitely there.

Tear apart magazines? Check. Tear apart the house in general? Check.

Crawl around panting once he sees something desirable (forbidden) that Mom's left in a reachable location? Check. I know to be on my guard when I hear that happy pant now. Let out heartwrenching wails in the night when he realizes he's all alone? Check.

But he has other non-puppy tricks, too, like pulling himself up to standing on everything. (Except Mom's elastic skirt. That didn't hold him up so well. Luckily, he only pulled it down a few inches, and no one noticed.) When he's in standing position, he likes to bounce up and down, so we also call him Tigger. He claps, he listens to stories, he jabbers, he waits standing up in his crib for us to rescue him, and much, much more!

Despite all the repeated chasing and teething and babyproofing and realphabetizing the DVDs and continued not-entirely-restful nights, I think this has been my favorite month yet. After all, we get to enjoy sounds like this all the time.

Or like this:

Or, best of all, we get to play hide and seek now! Joseph absolutely loves it when I cover myself up with a blanket and he has to come crawl and discover me. Even better, though, is when he's the one hiding under the blanket and I have to go look for him. (fyi, this video didn't turn out as interesting as I wanted.)

Yep, I think we'll keep this puppy of ours. Even though he desperately needs a haircut.