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!