Having my cake...and eating it too

Yesterday was my first birthday. I'm one now. Finally an age that's above zero. I had a lovely party yesterday complete with a birthday cake. This was my first chance to eat birthday cake, and I made the most of it smearing it all over my face, my clothes, and especially in my hair. I did discover one thing though---birthday cake is not all that good in your eyes. Everywhere else it's great. The usual suspects were rounded up to come to my party and, as a special treat, Mommy bought all of us pointy party hats to wear. They all looked funny with pointy hats on their head. Mommy also bought these streamer things that you blow through and they unroll. These I found to be incredibly scary as they turned everyone into hideous mutants. I made everyone stop using these horrible devices.

My best birthday gift was from my Uncle Jack. He got me a pony! Well, it's not a real pony, but a big plastic and fur covered pony. Much like a real pony, this one has motion-activated pony sounds. Unlike a real pony, my pony doesn't eat grass, only batteries. Now how to get a pony to California?

I also got lots of other good stuff. My Auntie Max and her friend Hugh got me a bunch of college-wear, but I'm not sure who to root for. Auntie Max got me a whole Penn State ensemble, whereas Hugh got me a couple of Notre Dame outfits. Up until now, the only college-wear I had was a Cal hat that my Daddy's friend from work got for me. Now I'm confused as to who to root for.

Back East

I've been back east for several days now. It's a while different world here. For one thing, it snowed and snowed on Christmas Day. I haven't seen snow like this (or indeed any snow at all) since I was in Lake Tahoe last spring. On the day after Christmas, I went outside to "play" in the snow. It was pretty scary at first. I didn't like how it felt on my feet or especially on my hands. Eventually, I got a bit more used to it and tolerated being outside as my Daddy built me a baby-sized snowman. One thing that's definitely true about snow---it's cold.

I've learned some new tricks since I've been back east. Perhaps the one that is most delightful to everyone is my ability to clap. While I was able to figure out how to take tw toys and bang them together in a clapping-like manner, until very recently I never clapped without stuff in my hands. Well, I figured out how to do it. I like to clap along when people sing or chant as well as when I do something really fun like play where's the baby. Clapping is good.

Colds and Flu

Oh no. I've just learned that tomorrow at 4AM (!) we have to leave the house to fly on an airplane. While I don't mind flyig at all (makes me sleepy), the last time I flew, I got a cold that had me taking two rounds of antibiotics and lasted until about 1.5 weeks ago. I do NOT want to get another cold again. I hate having the cold, and I hate taking the antibiotics. I'm scared that the sick people in the plane are going to give me their germs. Yikes!

Catch

I'm learning all sorts of new tricks these days---like playing catch with my Daddy. When he first started rolling balls towards me (some months ago), my reaction was to slap at them with my arm, sort of like a hockey puck. Since that time, I've gotten much better at picking stuff up and now I'm quite good at it. Now, when my Daddy rolls a ball to me, I stop it, pick it up, and here's the best part, I sort fling the ball back in his general direction. He seemed delighted at this turn of events. In fact, he's not really that choosy about the direction in which I fling the ball. I can fling it about anywhere and he's delighted.

Christmas in California

One of the best benefits of livingin California is that I get Christmas *twice* a year. Yesterday, I received a bunch of gifts for first Christmas. My biggest gifyt was my LeapPad Learning Table. This table is the perfect hieght for me (short) and has lots of interesting levers and buttons to press. Whenever I press one, a lady who lives in the table sings me a song. My favorite is the alphabet song. I like this one so much that I sway side to side during it---dancing to the music.

I got some other stuff too. One toy consists of a whole bunch of gears that spin around when I press a button. The two best parts about this toy are that the gears are the perfect size to pull off the toy and put in my mouth. (They're tasty too). The other great thing about this toy is that when the gear spin around, I can press down on them with my hand and stop them from spinning. The toy makes an interesting grinding noise when I do this.

Of course, the toy I like the best ends of costing the least. Mommy and Daddy got me "snap lock beads" which are made in a very tasty plastic. This toy costs about $3. Naturally, it is my favorite (second only to my $1.99 stacking rings).

Vocabulary

I'm learning a couple of new words. While I still most enjoy saying "Mama", which is useful for virtually all occasions, I've added two new semi-words to my repertoire. Whenever I play with my stuffed piggy, my Mommy or Daddy will always say the word "piggy", so I decided to try it too. It didn't quite come out as smoothly as I might have liked, more like "peeegeeegeee" but close enough to be recognizable by Mommy. The other thing that fascinates me is a rotating fiber-optic tree that's in the family room. I can just stand and stare at that tree for hours. Again, Mommy and Daddy always say "tree" when they see me looking at the tree, so I decided to try it myself. Again, it didn't come out quite right but my word was recognizable as tree.

Head-butting

I mentioned earlier that one of my Daddy's favorite games is to kind of nudge me onto my back by butting his head into me as I was crawling along. Well, last night as we were rough-housing, I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. As he was crawling towards me, I charged forward and butted into him. While I didn't quite manage to bounce him onto his back, he seeme delighted at the gesture. Eventually, I'll flip him over.

Chase the Baby

I used to not like having my diaper changed. All this fuss getting into and out of clothes was really annoying and unpleasant. Now I've found a way to make it fun---I initiate a game of chase the baby. Here's my strategy: I let them get me out of all my clothes so that I'm completely naked. Then I crawl away as fast as I can. As they try to catch me, there are shrieks of delight from them and from me at the fun of chasing a naked baby around the room. I find that I crawl faster at these times---I think because I'm more aerodynamic. They especially enjoy this game when my bottom is covered with Desitin and I randomly decide to sit and rest on the carpet while I wait for them to catch up.

Wheee! Chase the baby!

Teething

Seems like my difficulties are never over. Just as I have finished my round of antibiotics (I HATE them!), I have my fourth top tooth coming through and diriving me nuts in the process. I have several coping mechanisms for teething. First, I like to hit myself in the mouth over and over again. This distracts me from the specific pain with more general pain. Second, I like to crawl along the floor and drag my face along the ground. This has nearly the same effect as the first. Third, I like to whine. Happily, my Mommy gave me some nifty orajel (on my mouth not to play with) and this made me feel a lot better.

Some new tricks

Last night, I showed my Daddy some new tricks I learned. First, I got to go on a supervised visit to see my friend Licorice. She has a bright red plastic ball which is a lot of fun to play with. I pushed myself up to a stending position on the ball and looked down on my "domain" -- Licorice, her cage, the ball, and so on. Then I showed Daddy a trick. I lifted the ball up off the ground while still standing. I didn't really mean to do this, but I ended up standing on my own power for a little while.

My other trick was to play hide and seek. I crawled behind my ultrasaucer and hid behind one of its thick plastic posts. Then, as Daddy kneeled on the ground to peek in at me, I darted my head out from behind the post to surprise him. There he was peering back! This was tremendously funny. I laughed and laughed (in my unique way).

Piggy Back

Lately, one of my favorite companions is my big stuffed pig. While the piggy used to be bigger than me, I've grown faster than she has, so now I'm bigger. I like to wrestle with the piggy. One of my other favoriate things is to go for piggyback rides. These aren't the usual kind of piggyback rides you might think though. Instread, the piggy perches on MY back and we crawl around the room together. I keep looking over my shoulder to see if she's still there and sure enough she is.

Arizona

My Daddy went hiking in Arizona last week. He asked me to post the link to his pictures, so here it is.

In other news, I had my Christmas pictures taken by a professional photographer. Unlike our earlier attempts at this, for this session I (a) smiled and (b) was awake. My Mommy thinks the pictures turned out quite well and she ordered a bunch of wallets to give to you guys.

One of my least favorite things to do is take my antibiotics. They're cold and yucky. While the last time I had them, I didn't like them but couldn't figure out what to do about it, now I have a solution to this problem---I spit the yucky stuff out of my mouth. This way I don't have to ingest it. Ingenious huh? Mommy somehow hates this solution.

Update

I'm pretty much all better from my cold. In fact, my Mommy is so happy with my progress that she has reinstated my social calendar. Today, I am going to have a zillion wallet size xmas pictures taken of me. That way, all of you can carry a Christmas picture of me wherever you go.

This weekend, we went Christmas tree shopping. I learned an important fact during this trip---some Christmas tree needles are sharp. As we were browsing around amidst the Christmas trees, I would reach out from my stroller and try to grab each of the trees. Some of them were soft, buyt some were really sharp. Ouch. Happily, I persuaded my Mommy and Daddy to get a soft-needled tree, a Fraser Fir, which now adorns our sunken room. Mommy and Daddy put lots of lights and decorations on it, and I must admit it looks pretty. Still, I felt excluded, I wanted to help with the tree, but they wouldn't let me.

Wheels are a fascinating thing. In my younger days, I used to find wheels frustrating since when I tried to pull myself up on them, they rolled. Now I think the rolling part is interesting. While Mommy and Daddy were tree decorating, I contented myself with playing with my stroller wheels. Who nvented these things anyway?

Picture Time

My Daddy took these pictures of me posing with one of my favorite stuffed animals, a big floppy piggy. When I was first born, I was a little smaller than the piggy. Now I'm bigger and like to hug and play with my pig. These pictures were taken before my most recent illness (so I'm in a generally happier mood). You can see the photos here.

Another visit to the doctor

My lingering stuffy nose and cough worsened quite a bit around Thanksgiving, and I have been a pretty miserable little guy for the past few days. The coughing fits are the worst problem. I start coughing and cough harder and harder and can't stop. This scares me, and I wind up crying. I also wind up spitting up much of my most recent meal. Mommy took me to the doctor first thing this morning. The doctor says that I have sinusitis and has prescribed a new antibiotic along with a decongestant. Ever since my first dose of the decongestant, I have been very, very sleepy. Mommy is very sad because I have not been my usual happy self and don't even smile these days. We all look forward to my feeling better and getting back to my normal, happy self.

All I want for Christmas...

is my two front teeth. My top teeth (all four of them) are starting to break through and they're really annoying me. Yesterday, I spent much of the day whining because my teeth had me in pain. In fact, I couldn't even enjoy my usual playtime activities. I'd start dashing across the floor, decide I was in pain, in then plop down motionless on the carpet partially on my side. Very sad. One thing that seems to help, but my parents don't seem to like, is banging my face into the carpet repeatedly. For a few moments, this is soothing. I can't wait for this to be over.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's my first Thanksgiving. I'm watching the Macy's parade with Mommy this morning. It's tape delayed here in the west since it's on from 6-9am our time. Everyone seems bundled up and sort of cold in New York. In comparison, it's bright, sunny and 70 degrees here. Daddy plans to take me out for a walk later today as Mommy makes Thanksgiving food. She keeps talking about making a special "turkey delight" meal for me as well. After having pureed chicken baby food and retching from it, I look on this with a little trepidation.

My Mommy and Daddy keep stressing certain words, and I've found them to be useful in lots of situations. Whenever I'm stressed out or tired or hungry, I've found that saying "MaMaMa" works well. When I'm happily crawling around or playing, I like to say "DaDaDa".

Gatekeepers

A sad night. Daddy put up a gate blocking me from visiting my friend Licorice. Now I'm all alone with only my Mommy and Daddy in the family room, but no Licorice. This gate is a lot tougher to move than the Pack and Play blocking the entrance to the kitchen was. Whereas with that, I found that, thanks to the miracle of leverage, I could push it out of the way, this gate seems a tougher nut to crack. Still, I have hope. Mommy and Daddy seem to be able to do som subtle thing with the handle to make the gate open. I'm going to study them closely and try to figure this out. I'm quite smart at this type of thing, so it shouldn't take me long.

A World in Motion

One of my favorite activities is to visit my friend Licorice. She always seems very happy to see me, but my Mommy and Daddy don't like my visits. In fact, they've put up a series of roadblocks to try to keep me from visiting her. Fortunately, I'm very strong and very good at solving puzzles, so I've managed to figure out ways around the roadblocks to see my friend. While before, I used to just like to stand up on Licorice's cage and play with her big red ball, now I like to spin her world (her cage) from side to side. Since I like to be lifted up and spun around, I feel like I should share the joy. I'm not sure if she likes it. Mommy doesn't like it when I do this. Nor does she like it when I "pet" Licorice. Seems like I've ended up with a handful of fur too often for Mommy's liking.

Anyway, last night after repeated visits to Licorice, Mommy seemed to be very angry at me. She told me "No" in a loud and angry voice. I was scared for a bit, but we both calmed down soon. I suspect visits to Licorice will be harder in the future.

Little Mouse

I've posted some pictures taken of me in my little mouse jammies taken last night. These jammies are from my Mommy's pen friend, Andrea, in Wales. They say "Mummy loves me" on the front. Also included in this batch are pictures taken during my dinner. My Mommy and Daddy are now going with the "Gandhi" feeding strategy---passive, non-violence. Left to my own devices, dinner can be quite fun (and quite messy). You can see them here.

A Day at the Races

My crawling skills are getting incredibly well-honed. As I was dashing around last night, my Daddy had the idea that he and I would run crawling races. We raced from the kitchen to the end of the family room. He's a loit bigger than I am so his "strides" in crawling are longer than mine. But I make up for this by getting in many little strides to his one big stride. While we've played this game before, he seemed surprised that now I was able to keep up with him in crawling. I even won one of the races. Checkered flag...here I come.

Play the Drum

I think I've inherited my Mommy's musical prowess. Right now, my favorite toy is my Leapfrog Learning drum which I've gotten really good at playing. I love to hit my drum. Sometimes it plays music back at me, sometimes it just makes drum sounds, sometimes it says the letters of the alphabet back to me when I hit it. Regardless, it's really great to play. I think the best part is that after I've finished tapping on it a little bit, it applauds my efforts with cheers and music. I smile and laugh during this part.

When I first got it, it was hard for me to use for two reasons. First, it seems to automatically shut itself off after a while. Happily, there's a big switch on the side. If I jiggle the switch around (MYSELF!) I can get it to start up again! Second, it used to be hard for me to handle. The drum has a head, like most drums, but it's hard for me to figure out which side is the head. What I've found is that if I just hit ANY side hard enough, it will still play music. I like to play the drum in different rooms too, so sometimes I'll drag it around with me as I go from room to room. I love this toy!

Photo Extravaganza

My Daddy took some pictures with one of my favorite companions, my reflection. This guy always seems to appear whenever I stand near the patio door. I like to kiss him sometimes. He's always happy to see me. Handsome guy, I'd say. Anyway, you can see the pictures here (on Shutterfly) or here on Ofoto. (Mommy says that some people might be bunching orders on Ofoto so the pics are posted to both places.

Runner-up Halloween Costumes

A variety of costumes were tried on before I settled on being Tigger for Halloween. Daddy has posted some pictures taken in runner-up costumes. You can view them here.

I was very nearly a sheep except that I grew too much from the beginning to the end of October, so we returned the sheep outfit a week before Halloween. While Mommy and Daddy managed to get some nice photos of me in the Bee and Lion costumes, this was luck since I actually loathed wearing those two outfits. ( In fact, I hated two different lion outfits.) I'm glad that I got to try on several costumes and decided on Tigger. I was quite comfortable and happy all day in my roomy tiger stripes.

By the way, I've been practicing saying Da Da this weekend, and sometimes I even call my Daddy that way. Ma Ma is still my favorite word though and I find it works equally well for calling both my parents. I have them well trained.

MaMa

Sounds are a funny thing. I like to make them, but have never been very particular about the order or timing of them. Usually, I just make whatever sound I'm feeling at the time. But there's one exception. When I see my Mommy or Daddy after not having seen them for awhile, they seem to take great delight when I make the sound "Ma Ma". They always reward me with a big smile and a hug, which is good. It's interesting that the same sound seems to refer to each of them, confusing too. When they're both in the room I sometimes say "Ma Ma" and they seem uncertain as to whom I'm referring. Oh well, live and learn.

Walkers

Mommy tells me that infant "walkers" are no longer considered safe. Still, if I want to get around, I need something to hang on to. So I've come up with a solution: I pull myself up on the side of my Ultrasaucer and then push it around the room to wherever I want to go. Voila! Instant walker. Mommy somehow seems concerned when I do this.

This is the week of Discovery Toys. A Discovery Toys representative visited one of Mommy's mothers' groups today, and I got to delight in many fun developmental toys. Then I came home to find a package from my Auntie Max. What was inside? A neat Discovery-brand toy! I can chew it... I can bat it and make things go round... It is a lot of fun. Mommy tells me that she and I will be attending a Discovery Toy party on Saturday. I think that I'm going to be a very lucky boy come Christmas and my birthday in December!

Halloween Photos

I've posted many new photos of myself. Some are taken in my Halloween costume. The landscpaes are taken from the top of Mt. Diablo, the highest point (at ~3900') in the bay area. You can view them here. You can also view my album by visiting the photo albom section of my website and clicking the "Halloween" hyperlink.

Lounge Lizard or Card Shark?

Well, my rash is gradually healing. It doesn't hurt anymore and it is covering less area. I still get to splash in the water many times a day, however, since Mommy is still being very gentle during diaper changes and avoiding wipes for a bit longer. Unfortunately, my cough is worsening again, especially at night. Geez, if it's not one end it's the other!

We are very excited because my dresser and a small chest with a hutch are being delivered today. Now my socks, hats, etc. will live in drawers instead of in baskets and plastic boxes on the floor. Mommy and Daddy are very happy about this, but I'm kind of ambivalent. I really enjoy carrying around my socks and chewing on them. Now I'll have to figure out how to get them out of the drawer.

I had my music class yesterday. I love to bounce and rock to the music. I also got to bang on and shake some instruments again. This is always a lot of fun. I am a very good drummer, and the mommies have also dubbed me "The Mixmaster" due to my flair with the teacher's electronic keyboard. After class, Rowena (my teacher) puts her keyboard down and lets the babies play with it. I have always been enthusiastic about crawling over and pushing the keys, but a few weeks ago I discovered the keys that start pre-recorded melodies and beats playing. Now I go for those buttons almost immediately, and we all get to groove to my tunes. I am the only baby who does this, and some have said that I'm destined to be a lounge lizard. I think I'll be a DJ instead and play all the hot parties.

Mommy, Daddy and I attended a poker night at the home of Matt and Patti in Danville last night. I got to crawl around and bang on a big stock pot. I would have liked to chew on some poker chips, but no one would let me for some reason. Daddy kept saying, "Put a fork in me. I'm done," when he didn't like his cards and pulled out of a game. I don't know why he wants people to poke him with a fork, but next time he says it maybe Mommy will let me have a plastic fork for a few moments so I can make Daddy happy by poking him.

Nasty Rash

Yesterday, I developed a diaper rash. Not a minor pink tinge between my cheeks as appears every once and a while, a painful, raw rash that spread across my cheeks and into my groin area. It really hurt! It still does, unfortunately. This morning when I woke up, Mommy merely touched my behind with a wipe and little dots of blood sprang up on my tender skin. This upset Mommy very much as did the obvious pain I felt during the diaper change. She decided to clean me with running water instead of wipes until the rash improves and to let me roam au natural from the waist down to let air hit my skin. Mommy also read that sometimes babies get yeast diaper rashes when they are on antibiotics, and decided to see the doctor. We went this afternoon, and I do indeed have a yeast infection on my behind. A medical student got to look at my butt too to observe what a yeast rash looks like. Both doctor and medical student were nice, and I have been taken off my antibiotic (since my runny nose output is clear instead of its original disconcerting green and the antibiotic is responsible for the yeast running amok on my backside). I now have some lotrimin cream to apply to my rash twice a day. Mommy, Daddy and I can't wait for the healing to begin!

A Report on My First Halloween

I was Tigger for my first Halloween. Mommy bought my costume at Target and then made me a special, springy Tigger tail. I was very bouncy and made an impressive Tigger. I am especially bouncy when Mommy sings the Tigger theme song:"The wonderful thing about Tiggers- is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber! Their bottoms are made out of springs! They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the Only One!"

Mommy and I went to the John Muir Women's Health Center on Halloween so I could have my photo taken. (We'll only get one print from this photo session since the photographer was just doing this as a favor to the center to drum up business, but we took lots of other photos that we'll share with my fan club.) There were *many* babies at the center to have their photos taken. The most popular costume for babies seems to be a pumpkin. It was like hanging out in a whole pumpkin patch! Linus would have loved it! None of the babies seemed to be "The Great Pumpkin," however.

After the photo shoot, Mommy and I went to lunch with some other mommies and babies. An upscale supermarket had a display of pumpkins and haybales out front, so the mommies took the babies' pictures with pumpkins. I absolutely *hated* sitting in the hay, however, and I made this very clear to everyone by screwing up my face and crying. I think that some of the photos will show my happier side though. They have not yet been developed. The manager of the market thought the babies and the pumpkins were extremely cute and asked if he could take a photo of the mommies, babies and pumpkin patch for the store. I went along with this since it required me to sit on mommy's lap and not directly on the hay.

When we got home, Daddy was there, and I modeled my costume for him and we had another photo session. I was very happy to see him! We thought we'd briefly visit a few neighbors to show off my costume, but our neighborhood was crawling with what Mommy referred to as "marauding packs of Halloweeners"-- not badly behaved, just an amazing number of them traveling in big groups. We gave up on the visiting idea and just answered the door with me in costume. Many children commented that I looked very cute. For part of the time, I stood up behind the child gate (within view of the door) and pretended to be a tiger at the zoo. I liked Halloween! (Daddy will post some pictures to the Internet soon!)

Mount Diablo Yesterday but no Santa Cruz Today

Mount Diablo

Daddy, Mommy and I drive to Mount Diablo State Park on Sunday. It is not that far from my house, and we hoped to see tarantulas crossing the road since an article in the Contra Costa Times claimed that it is tarantula mating season. It seems that male tarantulas live alone in their burrows for 6-10 years and then set out wandering looking for a partner to mate with. If a the tarantula meets a female and survives the mating process (females are rather aggressive), the male just keeps wandering until he eventually is eaten by a predator, squished by a car, or dies of exposure. This is rather sad. The article also said that tarantulas are actually very delicate creatures (they can die as the result of a fall from 2 or 3 feet) and their bite is only as severe as a bee sting. All of this information made us long to see the hairy critters, but none could be found. A park employee said that the article was actually off by a month as to when tarantula mating season is. Oh well..

We did, however, get to see some great views from atop Mount Diablo (about 3850 feet high). We also got to experience some queasiness from the very twisty, steep roads. Even so, our stomachs settled and we later went to Chevy's (Fresh Mex) for dinner. Mommy and Daddy got to enjoy a relaxing meal as I took a nice, long nap.

To Santa Cruz or No?

Mommy and I were going to go to Santa Cruz today to visit her friend, Cheryl, and the baby living inside her tummy (due on November 10), but when Mommy called this morning, Cheryl said that her baby was showing signs that it might make it's appearance sooner rather than later. So we stayed home and Mommy talked with Cheryl about signs of labor and kept her occupied for a while so she didn't have to just pace around the apartment and wonder when things would pick up. The hospital told her that with her current symptoms, the baby could either come today or in several days, so we'll have to see when Baby Clara decides to be born!

Mommy and I just went to the market today and then came home to play. I especially enjoy carrying toys around with me while I crawl these days. Mommy and Daddy often find blocks and the rings from my stacker toy in various places around the house like a trail of breadcrumbs! I am also extremely surefooted and speedy when cruising around the furniture and the windowsills.

I had some baby applesauce today and ate more than the usual taste I usually do. This made Mommy very happy since I have been turning my nose up at just about all solid food again. However, shortly after eating the applesauce, I had a rather painful and puffy-looking rash appear on my behind (definitely not there before breakfast). This makes Mommy wonder if I am allergic to apples in greater-than-a-taste-size quantities or whether apples just lead to more irritating "output" than some other foods. An allergic reaction would be unusual since apples are not usually allergenic, but Mommy is going to lay off the apples for a few days and see whether the rash goes away.

In health news, I no longer have my coughing fits, just an occasional cough and a runny nose. My nasal output is now clear rather than the green shade that led mommy to take me to the doctor, so I'm gradually improving.

Healthwatch Update

My Mommy took me to the doctor yesterday to see about fixing my cold. I was definitely nervous about going back there since it seems every time we visit the doctor she gives me painful shots, and I end up feeling worse than when I went in. Anyway, she looked me over an weighed me. I now weight 22 pounds! I was too wriggly for them to check my height, but I think I'm still a little on the short side. Mommy said that in the first time in a while, people are starting to guess that I'm younger than I really am perhaps owing to my small (but powerful) stature. The doctor prescribed some cough medicine and some antibiotics and sent Mommy and me off to get them. We had to go to three drugstores before someone actually had the medicines we were after.

We got back around 2pm. I figured Mommy would want to start me on the medicines right away so I could get healthy sooner, but she decided to wait. Apparently, she read that the meds had to be given every 12 hours and she didn't want to get up at 2am. I don't see what's wrong with getting up then. In fact, 2am is one of the best times to jump around. Anyway, she waited until 8pm to give me meds. I didn't really like the taste of them though---reminded me too much of yucky baby food. Actually, I'm not as against baby food as I once was. It's sort of okay. The problem is that Mommy keeps ruining the best part of the activity: holding and chewing and banging the spoon. Just when I'm starting to get a good rhythm going banging my spoon, she takes it away to refill it with more food. I'll eat the food to humor her so I can get the spoon back (sometimes).

Monday Night Football

My grandmother Timek got me a new toy when I was back east, a small green textured football. Last night, perhaps inspired by Monday Night Football, which was on TV, my Daddy and I played football together. He would sort of roll the football around the room and then we would race to see who could get it first. Lots of times I got the football before he did. I also tackled him a couple of times (once for a huge loss of yardage). Footballs are funny---they don't roll like normal balls do. Insead they weave around crazily dodging this way and that. It's funny to watch a football roll. Mommy just sat on the couch and rolled her eyes as we "boys" wrestled around together. Wait---it's a fumble!!! Gotta go.

Weekend Walks

This weekend, I got to go on some endless walks with my Daddy. The weather right now is different than I ever remember it being. It's not as hot (only in the high 60s) and the leaves of the trees are turning colors. As I ride by in my storller, I like to reach out and grab the leaves and the bushes. Because of my cold, I find it much more comfortable to nap in the stroller than on my back. Somehow napping sitting up leads to a lot less coughing than lying down does. Anyway, we walked for about 10 miles each day. I don't think there's any more tread left on the wheels of my stroller.

Sleepless Nights

I hate this cough. It's driving me completely nuts. During the day when I'm up and about, it's not really a problem, but at night when I'm trying to sleep, it's a big pain. Tonight, Mommy got me up and took me to the bathroom to be "steamed" by the water vapor from the shower on the theory that this would fix me. That didn't turn out to be right. It just made me damp and still just as prone to coughing as before. It looks like next week I'll get to visit a doctor to figure out what is wrong with me.

Out in the Cold

While I've had little colds before, this is the worst cold I've had in my life. It's really hard to breathe with my nose all stuffy. Bottles just don't taste as good as they used to (plus it's really hard to coordinate sucking and breathing when your nose is stuffy). Finally, all these darn time changes (Mommy tells me there is ANOTHER one tonight) have me completely confused. I don't think Mommy and Daddy like this any better than I do. I was up around 2am last night and was stuffy and coughing. They came to get me and comfort me, but they didn't seem all that happy about it. Hopefully, I'll start feeling better soon.

Back west

Yesterday, I flew back to California with my Mommy. I was impressed that I am now more mobile than she is. She had to go everywhere in a wheelchair whereas I got to crawl along beside her (okay, it's not quite true, she carried me, but I COULD have crawled, I really could have). I hate being stuck in my carseat all that time on the plane. After the first leg of the flight, I let Mommy know I was tired of the carseat. I tried to tell her, but when that didn't work, I stiffened my body like a board and made it close to impossible for her to strap me in. I see other people walking up and down the aisles, and the arms of the seats look good to pull myself up on. I don't see why I can't wander around too. Grrr. I hate that there seems to be a different set of rules for me.

My Daddy was there to pick us up at the airport. He greabbed me and popped me into the carseat for the ride home. Boy, don't these people get the idea that I'm SICK of being in a carseat. At least this time the carseat was in a car instead of a plane. We drove home and I got reacquainted with all my toys. Later in the evening, daddy played a new game with me. As I was crawling around on the floor, he would nudge my side with his head, thereby flipping me over. I absolutely LOVE this game. I lauged and laughed.

Than I got tired and went to bed. It was a little before 10pm. It sure gets late early out west.

Tiptoes

When I'm outside in the backyard, I like to crawl over from the grass to the patio area. The patio is a neat, hard surface, very different from the grass. It's also where there are lots of good places to pull myself up. Anyway, I've discovered that crawling on my knees on the hard patio surface is no fun at all, so I've come up with a solution. When I'm on grass, I crwal as normal; however, when I come to the patio, I arch my whole body up so that I'm "crawling" on the tips of my fingers and the tips of my toes only. While this method is slower than the usual way, it does get me to my destination without as much discomfort as the usual crawling method. I love to innovate!

Last night I had a bath. I really love baths. I love to splash. I love the feeling of the warm water. I love to chase around my rubber ducky. Mommy set me in the bathroom in preparation for bathing and I immediately made a beeline for the tub. I then pulled myself up on the tub and was all set to dive in (I was planning a swan dive.) I was annoyed when Daddy prevented me from doing my graceful dive. Soon though, I was enjoying splashing about in the tub while Mommy and Daddy cleaned off the accumulated stuff from living the active baby life. This was great, and I wished it would never end. But then they took me out and started to towel me off. Perhaps they didn't hear me---I said I wished it would never end. Then Mommy started rubbing lotion all over me. I tried to jump up and signal to them that I was not finished having my bath. I DID NOT WANT IT TO END. Then Mommy started putting a new diaper on me. Why do they not get the message???? I'm not DONE with my bath. I do not WANT it to end. They are not listening to me.

I was very frustrated.

Day with Daddy

Another weekend day with Daddy. It's getting predictable now. We spend lots of time outside and in between we watch spoting events. Today's menu was the baseball playoffs. Frankly, I don't know how Daddy can watch so much of this. I fell asleep midway through the Yankees-Angels game. Daddy let me try a couple of new things. He gave me a sippy cup filled wit water. It was kind of neat drinking things other than formula---and drinking in new ways. He also gave me a bunch of Cheerios to try. The Cheerios were fun to play with, but I don't get the appeal of eating them.

Happy Birthday Mommy

Yesterday was my Mommy's birthday. She is 408 months old! To celebrate, we went out to one of her favoriate restaurants, Il Fornaio. While I was quite happy when we first got there, I got tired as the evening progressed and found it hard to get comfortable in my stroller. By the main course, I was pretty sick of being there. Eventually, Daddy had to take me for a walk in the stroller to improvemy spirits. Despite the fact that she had just turned 408 months old, Mommy did not seem to be having a real great time. Maybe she was tired too.

I got Mommy a card that had the characters from one of my favorite books on it. It said, "Guess How Much I Love You" on the front and then wished her a happy birthday inside. Birth being one of the biggest events in my life, I can see how it's important to celebrate. I also got Mommy a decorative photo album that I filled with all my favoriate pictures of me. That way, Mommy can quickly show everyone how cute I am---even when I'm not around to show them myself. Mommy seemed to really like this gift.

Movie Night

Last night I went to my first movie in a real movie theater! Now, mostly people don't like to watch movies with little guys like me. They don't seem to appreciate the incisive commentary I bring to a film. For instance, after last night's film, The Good Girl, got started, I felt that it was appropriate to comment on Jennifer Aniston's acting performance. My take: "ba-ba-ba-ba-eeeeeeep." Anyway, in this movie theater everyone appreciated my comments. That's because on Monday nights, this particular theater runs "baby night." The theater is filled with babies and their parents. MY Mommy heard about this from another Mommy in my Music and Movement class and decided to give it a shot.

Anyway, it was quite interesting to look around at the lights and the other babies. In fact, it was so interesting that I was not at all interested in eating. I hate it when I get so wrapped up in things that I forget to eat though. It makes me grouchy and irritable later in the evening.

A Very Busy Friday

Mommy and I went to my 9 month well-baby check up yesterday. I got off easy because I didn't need any shots! The doctor said my immunizations are up to date until I'm 12 months old. I only had a quick prick on my big toe so that the nurse could check my iron levels, which were just fine. Here are my current stats: weight- 20 lbs., 7 oz., length- 27 1/4 inches. Compared to other 9-month-old boys, I am 50th percentile for weight and 25th for length, so I have been steadily catching up. My head has done extremely well at growing... It's 75th percentile! I need lots of head to hold all of my intelligence and curiousity!

(Mommy and I were told that compared to boys born around my originally predicted due date, my length is around the 50th percentile, so I'm even bigger than I thought!)

In less ebullient medical news, as she was listening to my chest, the doctor asked if anyone had mentioned hearing a heart murmur before. Mommy and I were surprised and dismayed to hear that term. The doctor said that I probably didn't have it when I was younger since if I had it would have been caught during my 33-day hospital stay after I was born. She said that it is most likely an "innocent murmur," and that many children have these since the blood vessels in the heart are very small at my age. While we still don't like the term "heart murmur," we were comforted by her explanation.

Mommy and I also went to our second "Music Together" class yesterday. There are about 12 other babies and mommies in my class, ranging in age from 3 months to my age (the babies that is. I think the mommies are a few months older.) The mommies sing songs to us and pat out the beat on our bodies. They also dance with us and play musical instruments with us. My favorite is the big, communal drum where up to 4 babies can sit around it and bang. I march to the beat of my own drum, so sometimes I can get a little overstimulated when all of the mommies sing a high note together. When this happens, I get teary for a moment. Then again, maybe its just the heartfelt singing that makes me misty. I love music though. My mommy sings to me a lot and, at home, I rock and bounce to music. I started doing this at my class yesterday too, and the other mommies were impressed.

After class, all of the mommies and babies went to lunch at The Cantina in Walnut Creek. It was quite a production, as you can imagine, but all of the mommies were on their best behavior. We babies were very proud of them!

After we came home, I spent much of the evening standing around, which is my favorite thing to do. I like to stand up and lean on the couch or any other object that I can get some leverage on: people, boxes, toys, etc. While they tell me most babies "pull up," I just use my arms for balance and do most of the work with my strong legs pushing me up. I love the view from atop my feet!

Dinner Time

My Mommy and Daddy seem to have evolved a new routine around dinner. We all eat together as a family. Well, almost. First, Mommy and Daddy eat while I watch from my highchair, then I get to eat seated near the table while they watch. It's fascinating to watch how dextrous they are at eating. Also, I noticed that they seem to use things other than spoons when they eat---I wonder why? Anyway, this new arrangement seems to work for everybody. It used to be that I'd feel left out during dinner, but not any more.

Guinea Pig

I'm absolutely fascinated by Licorice, my pet guinea pig. Licorice lives in a cage over in the kitchen. With some effort, I can crawl over and visit her. I like to play with her big red exercise ball, pushing it and rolling it toward her. I also like to play with Licorice. Sometimes I pet her, sometimes I put my fingers in her mouth to see what that is like. Sometimes, I use her cage to pull myself upright, so I can get a better view. The frustrating thing is that every time I settle down to make friends with Licorice, my parents pull me away and force me to make the long trek back to her cage all over again. I've expressed my feeling that this is *not* what I want to do whenever they move me away, but apparently they haven't gotten the message yet.

Yet more pictures

While I've been really busy with crawling around and exploring so that I have not had time to add stuff to my weblog, my parents have been busy clicking away on their cameras. Here's the latest batch of photos. As you can see, I'm wearing my little engineer outfit. Check out the new pictures here or at my website.

Picture Time

My Daddy thought you might like to see some pictures of me crawling around in my backyard. Daddy always puts out a big blanket for me to crawl on. For a while, I was happy to stay on the blanket, but no more. I want to explore everywhere! As a special treat, Daddy finally figured out how to set the camera to take pictures at the highest possible resolution. This is great if you want to make giant poster-sized prints of me (and why wouldn't you). The downside is that Daddy always grouses about the ridiculous amount of time it takes to upload these photos. You can find the pictures here as well as on my website under the album "Aidan Crawling in the Backyard." Enjoy!

Here's another little tidbit for you. Daddy is transcribing the latest two hour video of me and my exploits. My grandmothers (and maybe some others) can expect this in the mail soon. Everyone else will have to bug them to see a copy.

Saturday in the park

Today is another day with Daddy. Mommy is going to again take time out for herself. I don't really mind, Daddy is fun n his own way and we always end up spending much more time outside wandering around than we do with Mommy. Yesterday, I learned a new way to eat---Asian soup bowl style. My Daddy was feeding me in the usual way last night, so I reached out to grab the bowl of oatmeal from his hands. I like to hang onto things. Pretty soon I thought it would be a good idea to suck on the rim of the bowl. Then Daddy had an insight: if he tipped the bowl back a little bit, I would be sucking on oatmeal instead of sucking on plastic. It tasted pretty good that way. He kept tipping and I kept inhaling. I ended up going through two bowls that way. Now, back to the reference earlier. Mommy thought this was a pretty goofy way for me to learn how to eat, but Daddy pointed out that by learning this style, I'll fit right in when we all go out as a family to a Japanese restaurant and I enjoy a bowl of miso soup. No spoons for soup in Japan.

Three squares

My eating habits are changing. Whereas I used to like to "graze" throughout the day, lately I've taken to eating (somewhat) more, but less often. There's so much to see and explore that it seems better to spend less time on eating (pleasant though that is) and more on exploring. So far, Mommy and Daddy are confused by this change. They keep setting me down to try to eat and fretting when I tell them, in no uncertain terms, that I'm not interested.

Don't Fence Me In

Grrrr. I discovered yesterday what all the mysterious noises were the night before. Mommy and Daddy have put up a fence in the house to make it more difficult for me to get to all the treasures. Just on the other side of the fence are such alluring items as shoes with delicious rubbery soles, FedEx boxes filled with objects in yummy shrink -wrapped plastic, and other such delights. Instead, I'm stuck in the family room. I have discovered some new and interesting things here though. Behind the big entertanment center is a whole surge protector full of wires. It's fun to yank at these. Also, I've found a new way to use my ultra-saucer: I climb underneath it an sit in the "bowl" that forms the base of the saucer. This is a nice cozy spot except for two problems. First, I keep forgetting that the saucer has a top and bumping my head on the "ceiling" of my little house. Second, though I can easily get in, I haven't figured out how to get out. My current solution when I want to leave is to cry inconsolably until someone helps me out.

Thwarted

There's a lot more frustration in my life than there was a few weeks ago. It seems that every time I go near anything interesting, my Mommy or Daddy take it away from me. Case in point, yesterday I went exploring and encountered many amusing things--a pile of FedEx boxes, my Daddy's shoes, a box containing a power drill and a hacksaw (among other treasures), some expensive china, lint, a piece of string, and an advertising circular. All of these were taken away from me almost as soon as I discovered them. I get very angry when the item I'm interested in gets taken away from me. Also, how come Mommy and Daddy have all these cool toys and all I have is Mr. Smiley?

Hunger Strike

One of the big problems with colds is that your nose gets stuffy. Now, for lots of other people, this is not too much of a problem, but since I get most of my food by sucking, it's a big problem. Not being able to breathe out of my nose makes the whole eating process a big chore for me and, as a consequence, I dont' want to do it too much. Yesterday, I only ate about 20oz, which is not a lot of food at all by my standards. My parents tried to give me solid food to make up for my difficulties, but I still find eating with a spoon incredibly tedious and annoying. After a hard day struggling with my cold, I did sleep peacefully through the night.

A Hard Day's Night

Last night was one of my unhappiest nights in a long while. After my Mommy and Daddy took me to the kidsfaire all during the day, I somehow ended up not wanting to eat very much. Now, when there's a lot of activity and I'm outside on a bright and sunny day, not eating is not unusual for me. Typically, though, I recover my appetite in the evening. Well, this particular evening, I still wasn't hungry. I've got a cold and the stuffiness and the little cough have me out of sorts, which may account for some of this.

In addition to not eating, I was not in the mood to go to bed. Eventually, I got t sleep but was up at 1am. By this time, I was hungry. I then went back to sleep, but I was up again at 4am, tired and irritable. My parents thought I was hungry again, but they were wrong. I was just feeling grumpy and miserable from the combination of my cold, my new teeth coming in, and generally being sleep deprived. I finally fell asleep in my swing at 5am.

This morning I'm in much better spirits. Oddly, my Daddy is at home taking care of me today. Mommy is taking what Daddy calls a "mental health day." It's hard to believe that there could be anything more fun than spending time with me and taking care of me 24/7, but apparently even Mommy needs a change every once in awhile. Hanging out with Daddy is lots of fun. He likes to bounce and toss me around much more than Mommy does. He also seems more willing to indulge my curiosity. Mommy says that he indulges my curiosity too much. She doesn't want to see anything happen to me, and she's more cautious than Daddy is. The other fun thing about Daddy is that he loves to take me outside to play. This morning I was exploring around outside and I discovered a nice rock. I was about to taste it to see what it was like, but Daddy took the rock away from me. I thought that was mean and cried a little. The backyard is a big place with lots of room to explore.

Attachments

I find myself more attached to people than ever before. When Mommy goes out of the room and leave me by myself, I feel lonely and want her to be with me. The best way to fix this problem, I've found, is to whine. Bottom line: whining works. It also gets me into exciting places that I might not otherwise visit. for instance, yesterday, Mommy was working in the kitchen. Now normally the kitchen is off limits. But it really seems like a paradise with all those great cabinets to open and shiny things like knives to suck on. Well, once again, whining works!

Well, I'm getting better at crawling all the time.
My Mommy has been busily securing all of the  entertainment unit sections
so that I don't pull them down. Scarily, this involves a lot of use of power
drills and screwdrivers, which I find incredibly frightening. I take refuge
in my own room until all the noises are over. My new teeth are also bothering
me a bit. I find a lot of comfort in chewing on a variety of cold toys that
Mommy keeps in the refrigerator. 

Evil Quilt

I had something really scary happen to me yesterday. As I was rolling around on the floor of the family room, I picked up the corner of a quilt my Mommy keeps on the floor for me to play on. In the course or rolling around and around, the quilt somehow decided to roll around with me. After a little time, the quilt had trapped me inside it and I couldn't get out. It was really scary and I cried very loudly so that someone would come and help me. Thanksfully, Mommy came to the rescue and managed to extract me from the mean old quilt. Bad quilt.

Wine Country Pictures

I've posted several new pictures to my photo album. There are from our trip to wine country. We visited the towns of Napa and Yountville as well as visiting the Mondavi and Domaine Chandon wineries. I got to enjoy tiny tastes of a lovely Mondavi zinfandel and a Chandon Rose Brut champagne. The champagne was especially good.

Anyway, you can find the photos by clicking here or visiting my homepage and clicking the Wine Country link in my photo albums section.

Wine Country

Today, the whole family is going up to wine country to taste some wines. Since all I've ever had was a little drop of champagne to celebrate my baptism, I'm really looking forward to it. Last night, I completely fooled by grandmother. While my parents were out at some fancy restaurant (why didn't they take me?) I was at home with her. As evening wore on, she tried and tried to get me to eat and I wouldn't eat. I was just not interested. When my parents came back home, she gave them the bad news---I had gone to bed and she had not managed to get me to eat. After conferring with Mommy for awhile, they came to a novel conclusion---I had not wanted to eat becuase I wasn't hungry. It turned out I had eaten a lot during the day andsimply didn't need much in the evening. Just to prove them right, I happily slept through the night without having any cravings for a midnight snack.

More toys

Lately, it seems that nearly every day is Christmas for me. Happily my Mommy and my Mommy's Mommy share the same taste as me for how to spend their days. I like to go to Gymboree, they like to go to Gymboree. I like to go to Baby Gap, they like to go to Baby Gap. I like getting lots of gifts and new outfits every day, they like to give me lots of outfits and gifts.

Yesterday, a big box and a little box from a place called Amazon.com arrived yesterday. The little box had only boring stuff in it (a wireless router for my Daddy), but the big box had lots more great stuff for me in it. I am now the proud owner of super-deluxe stacking cups---the kind that even make electronic noises when I successfully stack them. I think the box contained other goodies for me, but Mommy says I have to wait until I'm older to get them. I'll be older tomorrow, so maybe I'll get them then. My Daddy says that if you put together the number of toys and outfits I have, it exceeds the number of cells I have. Happily, I'm growing lots of new cells every day.

Labor Day Pictures

I've posted a bunch of new pictures of the rest of my family and me on Labor Day. They are here. I have not yet added the post to my photo album on my website though.

Photo Albums
By popular demand, I've reorganized the photo albums on my web site to provide links to all of the various albums. You can find this new organization here.

More Visitors

My grandmother Timek is here visiting me. We all went to get her at the airport on Sunday and she sat in back with me during the ride back. I immediately recognized her when she started to greet me with her trademark phrase: "And...the...dish ran away with the spoon." After she did this several times, I was giggling uncontrollably. She would also ask me the same question over and over again. "What? ...What? ...What?" each time more insistent. This is, if anything, even funnier than the dish running away with the spoon.

Yesterday, we celebrated Labor Day in the backyard. Since my Mommy was in labor in the process of my being born, this is one of the most important holidays for me. Since it was a hot day, Daddy filled up the pool and we all splashed around inside it. Then I got to hang around on a towel for the remainder of the afternoon. During dinner, I was in for a special treat---open air swinging. My Mommy got out my big swing and set it oon the patio so I could swing happily while everyone ate.

I've lately discovered the joys of my "Air Gym" a toy my Nain gave to me. When I first got it I was about three months old and it was really scary. Since that time, I've become braver and now I delight in it. It plays songs and has a ball inside a tube that goes round and round. I was so hypnotized by it that I fell asleep with my head on one of the buttons, so my parents did not realize that I had stopped "playing."

Yet More Pictures

I"ve added a few really nice photos of myself to my photo album. Because my Daddy read a review that said ofoto was better than shutterfly, the pictures are located there. The bad news is that this means if you want to see them, you'll have to sign up for an ofoto account. The good news is that if you decide to buy any pictures of me from them (and how could you resist), you'll get free shipping on your order. Enjoy!

Early to bed...

Having now been to a couple of Mom's group meetings, my Mommy is slowly coming to the realization that thenight-owl lifestyle to which I am accustomed is odd. Apparently, most other mommies at these groups try to get their kids to go to bed relatively early, some as early as 7 o'clock. That would be awful for me, since I'm at my peak energy level about that time. Anyway, Mommy made me go to bed at 10 o'clock last night, which is much earlier than my usual midnight time. At first, I was really annoyed about the whole thing and let Mommy and Daddy know my displeasure. Then, Mommy turned on my soothing symphony toy. It has lotsof neat lights and music and buttons to push. I especially like this toy when my room is dark. The lights really glow. Anyway, I played with this for a while and fially went to sleep.

Now, the flip side to the other mommies success in getting their babies to go to bed at 7 is that they complain their children don't sleep through the night. Gee, I wonder why.

Mobility

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole mobility thing. While I still don't have the coordination completely down for crawling, I can, with a combination of rolling and crablike skittering, make my way all around the family room. If my Mommy has left a piece of paper (ideally a newspaper) anywhere on the floor of the room, I can now almost always make my way to it for "processing'' (crumpling and eating).

Picture Time

Yesterday, my Daddy took some more pictures of me in my new house and yard. They can be found here. Enjoy!

Voracious Reader

My Mommy and Daddy sure do read a lot. Lately, when my Daddy is watching me in the living room, he oftn has open a big book about Lyndon Johnson. I'm totally fascinated by books, and I like to scoot over to where the book is so that I can "help" with reading. While Daddy seems to get a lot out of the book simply by staring at it and occasionally touching it to turn a page, he's missing the best part of a book--its crumpliness. The way I like to read a book is to touch the pages and try to grab them. When I succeed in getting a page, I like to try to crumple it up and put it in my mouth. Daddy says I'm a voracious reader.

Social Caterpillar?

Well, I got my first taste at socializing with other people my own age and it was a decidedly mixed experience. Thankfully, my Mommy brought along some of my best toys including my chime ball and, my all-time favorite, Mr. Smiley. The other children who were there liked my toys a lot. In fact, they liked them so much that they played with them. I discovered, at that moment, an important fact about toys. If other children are playing with your toys, it means YOU yourself cannot play with them. (I played with and tasted the other babies' toys too, though!) The other odd thing I discovered was that I was not the center of attention. Other Mommys seemed to want to pay more attention to their own babies than to me. This lack of attention left me not feeling like my usual smiling and laughing self. In fact, when my Daddy came home and my Mommy was discussing the outing, she said I was actually a bit shy in this group. Daddy, knowing my winning ways, was skeptical. I'll just have to get used to socializing with other babies.

Play Group

Today, I'm going to my first play group. My Mommy found this group, called the P-nuts, on the Internet and decided that it's time for me to work my considerable charms on people closer to my own age, rather than merely adults. Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting all the new people.

Bumps and Bruises

Yesterday was a hard day for me. See, in recent weeks, I've become much better at sitting up on my own. Still, sometimes I get too excited over a toy or a sound and I forget to keep my balance and topple over. Usually, this is no big deal. Mommy or Daddy puts me back in a sitting position and I get on with my day. Yesterday, though, was not so lucky. Three times yesterday, I had the bad fortune to topple in such a way that I banged my head on the coffee table. This really hurt! After witnessing this, Mommy quickly evicted the nasty old coffee table from the room. Hooray. Unfortunately, I discovered there are other hard things in the room--like the fireplace. Later in the day I toppled over and banged my head on that. Ouch! It's made of brick, so it's even harder than the coffee table. I tried to communicate to Mommy to kick the fireplace out of the room too, but she wouldn't listen to me.

Amazingly though, for all my falls yesterday, I don't have a single bruise.

It's been a busy weekend. Saturday was my Mommy and Daddy's wedding anniversary. They've been married for 11 years. This seems like an impossibly long time to me. Heck, I haven't even been on this Earth for 11 months. To celebrate, they went to a restaurant called Il Fornaio, which means the baker in Italian. It was a very nice place with linen tablecloths and such. I was sorely tempted by the tablecloth. It looked fun to grab and pull and eat. Still, I got a pretty good consolation prize---the waiter supplied my with a good helping of cloth napkins, which are also fun to grip and chew. Eventually the conversation became boring for me, and I went to sleep throughout much of the meal.

Earlier that afternoon, I got to spend some more outside time with my Daddy. Since it is so sunny here and my skin is sensitive, Daddy has to erect shady areas of various sorts. In this case, he found our beach umbrella and kind of rested it on the ground to form a shady sopt for me to play in. I like to play outside. I got to play outside again on Sunday.

My Daddy also decided to try to feed me solid food. Now, thus far, I really don't see much point in switching to this kind of food in lieu of the tried and true bottle. Still, Daddy did make it fun and he was nice enough to heat the little bowl of oatmeal up so it was palatable for me. While we ate inside on Saturday, we ate outside on Sunday and made a BIG MESS. That was fun.

I also got to go in my pool for the first time on Sunday. It's a bigger pool than the one in my Nain's yard. I love to kick and splash around.

Au Natural

Yesterday evening, I had a real treat. I got to lounge around in the backyard naked with my Daddy (who wasn't naked) and watch the sunset. Despite the fact that I'm a baby and am not the least bit embarassed about being naked anytime or anyplace, I get few opportunities to be wild and free. Well, our big backyard is perfect for this activity. The highlight was watching the big, bright moon as it came up.

Loneliness

My Mommy and Daddy are simply too busy right now, and they're not paying enough attention to me. At first, I thought the unpacking box thing was just a fad that would pass quickly. But here it is, almost two weeks later, and they still seem fascinated with unpacking those darn boxes. Sure, they bring me in the room to watch them unpack, but this is not the kind of high-quality, broadway-style entertainment to which I am accustomed. Even worse, they both spent last night reading the California driver's manual! How could they find this a better passtime than playing with me? It's inconceivable! My Mommy says that she needs to read the book so she can drive in California. Well, she can already drive, and quite well. I've seen it, I've been with her. I'll be glad when all this moving stuff is done and they have more time for me.

Bumps and bruises

I've noticed a key difference between our new house and all the places I've lived before this---the floors are hard. While my Mommy was working in the office, I was sitting on my play mat and playing with my Pooh dice (Daddy says they will help me earn a living as a gambler). Anyway, I sort of lost my balance and landed face first on the hardwood floor. Ouch. They don't call is HARDwood for nothing. My Mommy quickly came to the rescue and got me some ice to put on my face. The ice was actually really interesting in and of itself. It's cold, it comes in a swell washcloth, and the whole package is fun to chew on. Thankfully, while my face is a little red, I didn't get a big bruise. This is good because I always want to look my best for the ever-present camera.

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

On the theory that you're never too young to benefit from an education, my Mommy signed me up for my first class this past weekend. It seems that in September I'll be attending a music and movement for babies class. Supposedly, I'll be able to play Moonlight Sonata and dance all the latest Swing steps by the time the class is complete. (Or maybe not.) I was dancing to Sinatra with my Daddy this weekend. I think part of the class is simply to counteract the effects of dancing with him (since he dances like the Elaine Benes character on Seinfeld). Still trying to master the intricacies of solid food. My Mommy made me a thicker mixture of the rice cereal on the theory that since I didn't like the thinner version, there was nowhere to go but thicker. I ate a few mouthfuls just to please her, but I still prefer to eat the efficient way--via bottle.

Frustration

I've led a pretty stationary life as long as I can remember. Sure, I get to move around when Mommy or Daddy picks me up or when I'm in a car or a plane, but I want to move when I feel like moving. I have this idea that moving requires that I get up off the floor and propel myself, but I haven't exactly worked out the details. So far, my method is to push out with my arms and legs all at once. This lifts me way high up in the air, my body suspended above the ground. Now for the tricky part: Somehow, from this position I want to be able to move. I feel like I should be able to move, but it never seems to work. I've tried kicking outward with my legs while my arms remain in a locked position. No luck. I've tried reaching forward with my arms while my legs remain locked. This is even worse because it often results in my faceplanting in the carpet. I just can't seem to figure it out. It's frustrating!

Inchworm

I've learned a new trick, how to be an inchworm. To move forward (a little), I stand on the tips of my feet with my head and arms firmly planted on the ground. Then I push hard with my feet and voila! I move forward a tiny bit. Much like my backwards motion, this way of moving does suffer from the drawback that I cannot see where I am going (since my head is in the ground), but it sure is fun.

Lately I've also been enjoying the sound of my own voice. Yesterday afternoon I stood in my ultrasaucer occasionally looking up at the ceiling fan (these are endlessly fascinating) and had a shriek-fest. I was having a high old time with high pitched squeaks, gurgles, and lots of other sounds. My Mommy would occasionally come in to check that I was okay after hearing these sounds. I was more than okay, I was great!

Picture Time
I've posted a lot of new pictures to the net. This album contains pictures of me with my Mommy and Daddy's friends Kim and Doug along with their two kids Amanda and Harry. Harry and I are about the same age. This batch are all the other pictures my Mommy and Daddy took of me (using the digital camera) when I was back east.

It's been very busy around here these last several days, so I didn't have time to get my Daddy to help me with my weblog. Happily, things are starting to settle down. First, I've gotten to try several new things. First, I graduated to sleeping in my own room in my crib. No more sleeping in the same room as Mommy and Daddy in the pack and play. I'm a big boy and need my independence. Of course, they have a baby monitor on, so they keep close tabs on me even when I'm out of sight. Second, I had my first attempt at eating solid food. My Mommy put me in my highchair and fed me something called rice cereal. While biting on the spoon was interesting, I don't really know what to do with the stuff that's surrounding the spoon. My Mommy keeps asking me to eat the stuff surrounding the spoon, but it seems so inefficient compared to enjoying a nice bottle. So while I've found this eating stuff an amusing exercise, I"m still a bottle man. Another milestone---I rolled from my front to my back for the first time about three days ago. I might have been assisted by the close proximity of a box (boxes are everywhere!) to enable me to flip over, but still I did it. I have not managed to repeat the feat though. Well, that's about it. I'm enjoying the new house and the nice weather even if it is filled with boxes.

Maplewood

We went for a ride to visit my Mommy and Daddy's friends Ernie and Helen Marie and their son Connor. I got to ride through the worst thunderstorm I can ever remember. The rain was coming down so hard that it was making really loud rat a tat tatting on the top of the car and covered the back window with water. Happily, we eventually made it to their house. It was neat to meet Connor. He seemed quite interested in me. In fact, when he went to bed (he has an earlier bedtime than I do since I pretty much sleep when I want to ) instead of asking his Mommy for a story, he said to her "Tell me about Aidan." He wanted to know about me!

I got a couple of outfits from Ernie, Helen Marie, and Connor. One of these, which they say will help me to fit in at Berkeley, is a tie-dyed onesie sort of outfit. They also got me a cool ball with a bell in it. It's got holes so it's easy for me to grip. Even Connor liked it. In fact, he liked it so much he tried to take it away from me.

Earlier in the day, my Mommy took me to a company picnic for a company she used to work for. Everyone admired me and thought I was very cute. For me, the highlight was having my caricature done. The artist depicted me as a baseball player holding a bat. (Even though I've never held a bat or even stood under my own power.) Still, the face looks a lot like mine. I have to say that I'm a darn attractive little guy.

More Visitors

I got to meet some more new people last night. Mommy's friend Nicole came by to visit and to whisk Mommy off to dinner. Because she had a lingering cold (and a lot of ambivalence about little children), she didn't want to get too close to me. So I smiled at her across the room as she took several pictures of me. Eventually, she could not resist my considerable charms and ended up holding and talking to me.

Later that same evening, one of my biggest fans, Ken Steiglitz, came to visit. Ken, who is a computer science professor at Princeton, has followed my weblog proetty much from when it first started. Despite the fact that I was not in one of my better moods, he seemed delighted to actually meet me. We all sat around watching the Yankees game together. I'm definitely getting better at sitting on furniture. When I was a littler guy, I would almost always lose my balance and flop over to my side when I tried to sit the way the big people do. The flopping still happens, but I can stay up for much linger (about 1.5 innings).

Beer and Pretzels

Whenever my Mommy or Daddy eat something, I get very curious about what they're up to. Since I mostly explore everything in my world by putting it in my mouth, I'm especially eager to see what things my parents put in their mouths. My Daddy got home late last night from a baseball game. As the 3 of us sat on the couch, he decided to have beer and pretzels. Well, the shininess of the can and the crinkliness of the pretzel bag were infinitely fascinating to me. I reached out and tried to grab both and eventually, Daddy let me hold each of these objects. Here are some photos of me with the pretzels.

Ultra Saucer

I love my ultra saucer. This is a new toy that I just got to start using when we all flew back east. While the super saucer has my activities to keep me interested including my favorite, a bendable bee on a long green stem, the best part of all is that I get to stand up in it---just like the big people do. Standing is about my favorite posture, and I like to encourage Mommy and Daddy to hold me up in a standing position whever possible. The only problem seems to be that since I keep growing and gaining weight, they get tired of holding me up after shorter and shorter time periods. The super saucer lets me stand a long time.

Last night, my Daddy had a song-fest. He sang me all sorts of different things including bits and pieces of most everything from side 2 of the Beatles' White Album. Mommy sometimes does not think that Daddy shows the best in taste or judgement when it comes to songs. She seemed particularly to disapprove of "Helter Skelter" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun." I'm not sure what any of these songs mean, but I love the attention and laughed uproariously during much of the songfest.

I also find kisses to be hilariously funny. Between songs, my Daddy would kiss my forehead repeatedly. I laughed and laughed at the funny feeling on my forehead.

Vancouver Photos

My Daddy has posted pictures of his recent trip to Vancouuver. They are here. It looks so pretty there, why didn't he take me along?

Sweet Home New Jersey

Mommy drove me back to New Jersey yesterday evening. While I always enjoy car rides, this one promised to be especially god because Mommy promised that I'd get to see Daddy again. He was at a conference in a place called Vancouver and was due to fly in on Sunday night. I had not seen him in a week, which is the longest time I've ever gone without seeing him in my life. I gave him a big smile when he came through the door and was really happy when he sang the Mr. Baby song and other songs to me. He seemed astonished at how much I had changed and grown in the week while he was away. I'm a lot stronger and more coordinated than the last time he saw me. I can bull my neck and hold my head up even when I'm almost in a horizontal position. I'm also very good at manipulating things with my hands.

I recently discovered my other foot. For awhile, I only liked to grip my left foot with my left arm while never gripping the right foot at all. Now, I've discovered the right foot too and will grip it in either hand. I've also discovered that when I get tired of sucking on my fingers, my toes are good to suck on as well.

Yesterday was my baptism followed by a big party in my honor. Despite the fact that I had to sit still in church for an extended period, I was on my best behavior. I didn't even flinch when they put the little bit of water on my head. In fact, the baptismal font sure did look like it would be fun to splash about in. I was equally sweet in letting the minister show me around to everyone in the congregation---this despite the fact that twice during the ceremony she screwed my name up and called me Adrian (grrr).

Following the service, we all rushed home to make final preparations for the big party. I supervised. We had two big tents and lots of tables and chairs. The caterer people came in with a whole bunch of food, but none of it was stuff that I could eat. For example, not one of the trays contained formula! Everyone seemed to have a good time and I got to meet lots of new people. They seemed to enjoy passing me around from person to person so that I was constantly enthralled by being held different people. I also got a whole bunch of loot including a couple of checks made out to me! While I was delighted at this, my Mommy and Daddy have to ponder how to cash these in that I can't really sign (or spell or say) my name.

The big highlight of the day came near the end. My Nain and one of my cousin's on my Mommy's side (there are so many of them!) were leaning over my play area to say goodbye to me. They both swore that in response to their goodbyes, I said goodbye right back to them. That would be my first word then---bye. Actually, my Mommy tells me that if, in fact, my "bye" counts as a word, then it's my second word. She herself has observed me say "hi" in response to being said hi to on some previous occasions.

It's been really busy for the past several days, so I have not had much chance to write. Let me catch you up on the lastest. On Saturday, June 28, we moved our stuff from Stanford to our new place in the east bay in Walnut Creek. It seems like a great place. I am especially lucky in that, for the moment, I have more furniture than either my Mommy or Daddy. The only piece of furniture they have there is a rocking chair that they had to disassemble to fit in the U-haul. I, on the other hand, have a crib, that our friends Rhona and Jeremy gave to us, my big swing, my little swing, and my bouncy seat. I can sit in any room of the house and sleep in a proper bed. My parents get to sit on the floor and sleep on an air mattress.

The next day, I got to go on another plane ride. Always I get the same worried looks on the faces of the passengers seated around me when I come aboard a plane. I try to reassure them by smiling sweetly and giggling a little. When we frist took off, I was up and ready to explore my world. Plane's are interesting what with all the lights and dials for air conditioning and all the people walking back and forth. I particularly caught the eye of one flight attendant who was from Hawaii. She kept stopping by to visit me and talk to me. Evenentually, she rounded up a whole bunch of pillows and blankets and made a soft cushiony chair on the tray table nearest the aisle so I could hang out there.

For much of the flight I slept though. Interestingly, at the end of the flight that other people around me wore big smiles instead of concerned expressions. Everyone said what a good baby I am. Of course, I already know this.

On arriving in the east, I immediately noticed one key difference---it's ungodly humid in the east. We landed a little past midnight and still it was 82 degrees and 82% humidity. Sitting in carseats and the like makes me sweat even under lesser humidity. I was a wet little guy in no time. We got a car a drove to my Mommy and Daddy's other place in New Jersey. It seems that for the month of July they are land barons owning places (and debt) on both coasts. The New Jersey house is very nice (and air conditioned too). Unfortunately, there was no good place for me to sleep when we got there. I slept on the floor and Mommy on the couch next to me.

We didn't stay in New Jersey long though. We were soon off to my ancestral homeland---what my parents refer to as "old country"---the Wyoming Valley. I got to meet lots of people there. Of course, I got to see both my grandmothers again as well as meeting numerous aunts and uncles. Best of all, I got to go swimming during a hot afternoon. Swimming is great on a hot, humid day. I also got to experience my first thunderstorm. Thunder is loud and a little bit scary.

Last night was the 4th of July so people set off lots of fireworks. These are too loud and scary for me, so I spent much of the evening inside. I did see some sparklers though. My Daddy wanted to let em hold a sparkler since I'm good at gripping things, but no one else thought that was a good idea at all.

Big

Well, I think it's official---I'm no longer a little guy. When my Daddy came home yesterday I overheard this exchange:

Mommy: I was at Stanford mall today with Mr. Baby. It's amazing how much he's changed.
Daddy: How so?
Mommy: While everyone still said how cute he is, no one thinks he's small anymore.
Daddy: He's big all right...like hauling around a sack of potatoes.
Mommy: Yeah. He's a stocky guy. The grandparents will never recognize him.

Charming the Ladies

Yesterday my Mommy and Daddy visited the offices of Chicago Title to sign myriad forms ensuring that they'll be in serious debt until they're well into their 60s. My job was the usual one of being cute and cuddly. As we sat in a glass walled conference room, I would flach my blue eyes and give a big smile to the people passing by. Eventually, there was a crowd of about 5 people cooing over me. I really like that. While the bank people were explaning each of the forms, I started to get bored, so I ended up getting the realtor and the broker for the escrow to pick me up and rock me gently. This was great so I gave them a big birght smile. The broker for the escrow liked to say "hi" to me. I'd laugh uproariously each time she said it.

Later that day, we did a walkthrough of out new house. It's a very nice house with lots of lovely hardwood floors for me to drive my little matchbox cars around when I'm older. Of course, since I'm not big on walking yet, I let my parents do most of the walking parts of the walkthrough while I did a "sit through" from the comfort of my infant carrier.

Rollover

I'm getting very good at rolling over and in fact I now prefer to be on my tummy rather than on my back. The secret, I've learned, is to hold your hands above you like a ballerina and then kind of spin sideways with hands above head. This works great! My Daddy played a fun game where he would place me on my back and I'd spin onto my tummy as fast as I could. Now, if I could only master spinning back the other way--from tummy to back.

Kawaii

I hope you liked the pictures from the trip. I actually developed a lot during the trip. Yesterday, my Mommy weighed me and found that I weigh 19 (!) pounds. I can now easily roll myself over and hold my head up for extended periods. I like to reach out and grab things---especially crumply things. One of my favorite "toys" was a plastic bag that my formula was contained in. The plastic makes and especially stasfiying crinkling sound when I reach out and grab it. Mommy won't let me play with my toy very much though.

I like to use both my hands and my feet for grabbing stuff. I will reach out and grip the hanging stuffed animals on my Gymini quite regularly.

I went and did a search on the Internet for other terms that Japanese women used to refer to me. Here they are:

Chibi - Japanese word referring to a person or thing's diminutive size...usually associated with cute things
Kawaii - Japanese word for cute and attractive
Kirei is the Japanese word for beautiful.

Kawaii was an especially popular term.

Pictures!
I've posted a whole bunch of pictures from my trip to Hawaii. They are at this site. I should warn you that there are a LOT of them (155) and they are pretty rough---minimal corrections for exposure, red eye, etc. Eventually, I'll post a select bunch of perfect ones to my own website. In the meantime, enjoy!

Keiki

I'm just back from my first vacation ever. I got to go to Hawaii (jealous, aren't you?) We spent many days on the white sand beaches there. While the sun was hot, I didn't get burned (or even tan) since I was snug in my little tent and shaded from the sun's rays. My Daddy would build the tent for me wherever we would go---even under difficult conditions when the tradewinds were blowing fiercely. One of the best things about the trip was that I got to use my not inconsiderable charms on all the people around me. As people would walk by, I would flash them my smile, crinkle up my nose, and stare at them with my blue eyes. Naturally, they were immediately taken with me. I got to meet a lot of people on the beach this way.

Hawaii is a land of many Japanese people. They seem to especially love me---perhaps because my big blue eyes cause me to resemble Japanese anime characters. Often, they would stop me as we were strolling down the street, touch my feet or my cheeks, and say adoringly in a high-pitched voice, "keiki," which is the Hawaiian word for baby.

We took a lot of pictures, which I'll post up to my website soon. Yawn. I'm tired from taking the redeye into California this AM. More on my first vacation tomorrow.

Packing

We're deep in the throes of last minute packing. My Mommy is worried that thegentle luggage handlers at the airport will destroy my main stroller, so I'm going to get to ride around in an umbrella stroller instead---just like the big boys ride in. I got to ride around the living room last night and this was really fun. It's a lot easier to look out and see the world around you where you're not horizontal.

I'm up early this morning. Usually, I like to sleep in until around 10 or so, but there was so much going on, and I'm so looking forward to the trip that here it is only 8:30 and already I'm enjoying my breakfast. Before that, I was playing with some of my toys. I made my froggy make noise on a number of occasions, much to my delight. Right now, I like toys with fairly narrow parts to grip. Some of my toys have wide gripping areas, and I find it hard to grasp these. My stffed Eeyore, with a thin plastic gripping ring, is another of my favorites.

Yesterday, my Mommy took me on a drive to Concord, which is near Walnut Creek, to look at bathroom tiles and tubs at a place there. Now, normally I really enjoy car rides though they doo make me quite sleepy. By the end of this trip though, I was pretty sick of being in the car. The trip was TOO LONG. Next time I go on a long car ride, I definitely want someone in the back to keep me company.

Well, that's it. I'll talk to you again on the 19th.

Aloha

I'm going on my first real vacation with my parents, and it looks like it will be a good one. We're all going to Hawaii for 10(!) days. While this is good new for me, it's not so good for you guys because there will be no blog entries while I am gone, so I'm afraid this is the last one for a while. Since I have such sensitive skin, I'm not planning on working on my tan while in Hawaii. Instead, my parents have borrowed a small tent from a neighbor. During the sunny parts of the day, I will get to relax in the shade and comfort of my own little tent; thereby avoiding the sun's harmful rays. My Mommy also picked up a small plastic storage box that will serve both as a place to store my stuff on the trip over and back and as a tiny Aidan-sized swimming pool for me to splash about in while I sit on the beach. So I think we've got it all planned.

Yesterday, I had a fun treat. My Mommy took me into the bathroom and let me look into the big mirror there. Inside the mirror was another baby. He smiled and laughed when he saw me as did I. Then she turned me a little to the side. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of *another* baby near the medicine cabinet. He smiled at me and gave me a big laugh. I looked from side to side at all three of us babies. We all seem to like standing, we're all strikingly handsome, and we're all very friendly. I wonder how Mommy and Daddy find the time to give me all the attention when there are these other two charming little guys to look after.

Social Butterfly

I love people--I mean all people, everyone around me. I like to smile at them, laugh loudly as they smile back, and make noises at them when they talk to me. My Mommy, whose sort of shy, finds herself meeting all sorts of people thanks to me. People stop and look at me and I like to wave and greet them. Sometimes, I get distracted by all the neat people and things there are to see. When my Mommy takes me out of the house and tries to feed me, it takes forever because of all the distractions from the people around me. In fact, sometimes I get a little too wrapped up in this and forget to eat for a long time (of course, then I'm really unhappy because I'm hungry.)

It's great to be a social butterfly!

Left-handed compliment?

My Daddy and my Uncle Dave are surprisingly interested in the hand with which I do things. Well, I like to keep them guessing. So far, I'm fairly ambidextrous. If a toy is to my right, I'll reach out with my right hand to snag it up. If it's to me left, I'll use the left. Truth be told, picking things up is pretty hard so I often like to use both hands. While rolling myself over, I tend to pin my right shoulder on the ground and have the left above the ground. In greeting and reaching out to others, I'll use either hand.

So, to answer the big question of what handedness am I, it's going to remain a secret a bit longer.

Rollin', rollin' rollin'

I did it. I finally did it! ...but no one saw me. I managed to roll completely over yesterday. I had been lying on my back on a quilt in the middle of the floor. I've taken to rolling onto my side in that position, but it's hard to figure out what to do with your shoulder and elbow to turn completely over. Well, somehow I figured it out. I was on my side when Mommy left to do something in the kitchen and when she returned I was all the way over on my tummy! Hooray for me. Of course, once I was on my tummy, I wasn't happy about it and insisted on eating then and there rather than repeating the trick for Mommy.

So there it is. I've learned to roll over, but no one's actually witnessed me doing it. Sigh.

More Milestones

I hit some more developmental milestones over the weekend. Since it had been a while since I've been in my big swing, Mommy decided to put me in it on Sunday morning. She also wanted to make sure that I was not bored, so on the little tray at the front of the swing, she placed my stuffed Eeyore rattle. When she next came into the room, she was astonished to find that I had picked up the stuffed Eeyore from the tray and was playing with it. This reaching out and taking things that are not simply placed in my hands is a new thing for me. I've been trying my new skill out on lots of objects---the hanging squeeze toys in my gymini, the plastic stars and mirrors on my swing and in my bouncy seat, I'll even reach out and grab my Daddy's hand as he's giving me a bottle. Grabbing things is great! These hands sure are useful.

I also had an almost milestone yesterday. While I was lying on my back on the ground, I got interested in what my Mommy was doing on the couch to my right, so I leaned over to see. In fact, I leaned over so far that I nearly turned over.

Locomotion

Yesterday I did an amazing thing. My Mommy set me in the center of a quilt she keeps on the floor for me to lie on. At the corner of the quilt, some 2-3 feet distant were two of my toys---a stuffed bunny with a rattle in it and a froggy that makes froggy noises when you open his mouth. MY Mommy made them make noise so I'd know where they are. Now for the amazing part---I slowly wriggled my way from the center of the quilt to a point where I could reach out and grab the toys. I'm quite proud of this achievement.

Now I don't move like the rest of the world does. My method of moving involves thrashing about with my hands in legs in the general direction I wish to go. In doing this, my head ends up on the ground. Then, I lift my head up again and repeat the process. It's not the most efficient way to get around, but it at least lets me move a bit in the direction I want to go. I was exhausted by the time I was able to reach out and touch my toys. I could barely keep my head up. But, still I was happy and making lots of noises. I got where I wanted to go ALL BY MYSELF!

The Joke's on Them

Lately, my Daddy has taken to trying to get me to laugh by pulling my face close to his and going "hee hee hee" in a high pitched voice. Often, this will cause me to smile and laugh myself. I laugh---my big open mouthed laugh where I sometimes struggle to get enough air into my lungs to keep it up---he laughs, "hee hee hee." He seems to think that I don't get the fact that we're together laughing at nothing. What he doesn't get is that while he thinks he's playing with me with his laughing, it's actually the reverse. It is funny to see the way my little laugh in response to him can get him to do the same silly thing over and over. That's the joke---and it's on him.

Over the weekend, I got to see some new people. My cousin Molly and her friend Ed came all the way from the east coast just to visit me. (Well, not quite, they also stopped by San Francisco for a couple of days en route to visiting me.) They were lots of fun holding me and playing with me. In fact, I got to sit at the dinner table on Ed's lap while everyone (except me) was having dinner. I don't usually get to do that. They do professional photography, so naturally they brought along a camera. In this case, a super-deluxe zoom camera that my Daddy was salivating over. They took lots of pictures of me, which, once they burn a CD, I'll post to my site.

Pictures

A couple of weeks ago, my Mommy did a dramatic photo shoot of me in various christening outfits. She posted them to shutterfly.com to get prints made (we only had the digitial camera because Mommy's batteries died on her cameras). The fancy christening gown with beribboned bonnet was Mommy's when she was a baby. The jacket with the white cap was Daddy's when he was a baby, and the white cotton number with embroidered collar was my Uncle Dave's. Anyway, here's the first batch of shots:

my christening outfit photos

It was a hot day yesterday, so I spent much of the afternoon in maximum coolness and comfort, wearing only a diaper. Toward evening, my Daddy came home while my Mommy went out and did errands. We sat together on the porch as the sun slowly descended in the sky. Mommy insisted I wear clothes while I was outside. As we were sitting, we watched Zippy the hummingbird busy himself by hurrying back and forth between the hummingbird feeder on the porch and some nearby trees. Later in the evening, Mommy got out a footprint that was made of me when I was only a few weeks old. We were both astonished at how much bigger my feet have gotten in that time. My blonde hair continues to grow in rapidly--especially in the front. I'm not sure you'll be able to see it in pictures, but I suspect that in not too long a time, you'll think of me as a whole new (and even cuter) little guy.

Master Aidan-sen

I went with Mommy and Daddy to a Japanese restaurant for lunch (well, they had lunch, I watched). While we were there, the waitress, who was fascinatingly dressed in a mauve kimono kept on remarking about how cute and wonderful I was. She suggested I would make a great child model. After lunch, Mommy had to send some faxes, so she and I came in to Daddy's office. While there, pretty much the entire first floor staff spent a good 15 minutes fawning over me. Said one woman, with my looks I'll rule the world some day. I hope so!