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.