Watcher at the Window

I was looking at some of J's little baby pictures (I know, he's still a baby; 10.5 months and 21 pounds of baby, but a baby) and realized with a bittersweet ache how much he's grown. Every day he becomes more like a toddler baby than an infant. One of his favorite activities is to stand in front of the window and look out. Of course, that involves C or me placing J in a standing position, but once there, he grasps the windowsill with his little chubby hands, stands up on his tippy toes, and strains to look out the window, since the windowsill is about level with his nose. He will spend as long doing this as we are willing to spot him for, until his legs get tired. He had never really showed any great interest in standing until fairly recently, so while most babies will stand with help from a few days/weeks old, J would not. He would tuck his legs up and just laugh. Occasionally he would indulge us by standing for about a second on both legs before tucking up his feet, but that was all we'd get. We never got him a jumperoo or anything (*gasp*) so he's got some strengthening to do of his legs.
When his legs get tired, he prefers to be held up to the window, where he can press his little palms against the glass, and rest his face on his hands, and just gaze out the window. I wish we had a windowseat, that would make this much easier on my arms. His keen interest in observation, and his stubborn desire to keep looking out the window at the tree and the grass and the cable box are just markers of his blooming personality. He's really turning into a little person, reflecting Mommy's desire to study the world and Daddy's stubborn insistence that he do things just so.