Thanksgiving

William and Dave and I took a trip to Grandma Judy and Grandpa Joel's for Thanksgiving. We were a little nervous about traveling with an infant for the first time, especially in light of potential full body scans or TSA gropings. But Will was wonderful! We left Reno at six am for a completely uneventful flight to Phoenix and had Thanksgiving dinner later that afternoon.


Grandma and Grandpa were DELIGHTED to see us (and mostly William). We all had an amazing dinner that Grandpa cooked. Will enjoyed gnawing on the turkey leg.


Grandma and Grandpa took Will to see Santa (I still have to scan in the photo) and Dave and I went to Sedona. While Will was giving Santa his Christmas list (tupperware, newspaper and electrical cords please) Dave and I were driving around trying to find Sedona's famous energy vortexes. I think we got close, but I'm not sure.


It was a lovely trip and everyone had an amazing time. It's good to know Will is a chill traveler.

HIYA! And a short trip

Will's really got the crawling thing down now. And he's standing propped and even cruising along on things. He earned a new nickname with this new found mobility: "Livingston The Explorer." Our baby proofing continues and adapts and changes as he does. We haven't found a baby gate long enough to block him from parts of the room so we've placed chairs and boxes in his way (a temporary solution, I know) and spend a lot of time with one eye on him, listening for his chatter. When it's quiet is when it's time to check on him.


Along with his mobility is a completely different energy level. As Alicia said to me about Danny (Will's cousin), "he never, ever stops." And really, Will doesn't unless he's napping. After a day of watching him I'm as tired as I was when he was waking up every three hours. He's pretty independent- can play and explore for extended periods, but we still play a LOT of peekaboo and crawling here and there and removing cords and other inappropriate things that he gets in his hot little hands.


This week he's a lot more open to new foods- soft solids. He's tried cottage cheese, eggs, mashed potatoes and broccoli, mac and cheese. He's having solids three times a day consistently now. He still drinks formula but the solids come first. He loves those little Gerber snacks- the yogurt drops and puffy things which are easy for him to pick up and stuff in his mouth.


We went to Donner State Memorial Park yesterday and it was a little chilly. We stuffed him into the jacket Ashley R and Emmett sent to him and stuck a little hat on his head. He looked adorable but was reminiscent of the baby brother from A Christmas Story.


I think Will enjoyed the outing as much as we did, although I think he missed the irony of such a beautiful little park made for camping and barbecue from a place where people were so hungry they resorted to cannibalism.


This week is Will's 9 month check up. We'll post stats as soon as we get them.

And a video of William not quite getting the purpose of the sippy cup. It is for drinking but shaking is way more fun.

How Baby Socks Are Made

Dave took William to Grandma Veronica and Grandpa John's on Saturday and I had 24 hours to roam the quiet and empty house. So I made a little animated short (research for my Foundation Arts class).

I call it: How Baby Socks Are Made.

Enjoy.

Mobile William

I edited a movie with some "special effects" to try and describe what it's like now that William is consistently crawling and pulling himself up. I removed the audio because it was just weird....

Happy Halloween!

Who knew having a kid could be so much dress up fun?

New Chapter

William has had a huge couple of couple weeks. Poor guy had a secondary ear infection last week and we had to dose him with a new kind of antibiotic. It's a delicious minty flavor that he likes, so it's easy to give it to him.


He's over his ear infection now and on to big big things! I put him down for a nap last weekend and a half hour later went in to see if he needed more bottle and found this:


He was pleased enough with himself, and steady enough for me to go back out to get the phone-camera and then back out again to get the real camera and snap a couple of pictures. He's pulled himself up a couple of times in his crib since then.

He's also started to crawl. He goes straight for cords, electrical outlets and the sharp knives we leave scattered around on the ground (just kidding, we only leave dull knives around). We've been baby-proofing like mad but I think we've entered a new phase. We call it the "chasing around phase."

And all of a sudden he's a million times more interested in the pets. He tracks Orange Kitty like a predator, digs his mitts into Cicero's fur as long as the cat will let him and actually plays with Tony. Rocky is a little nervous around him and prefers to remain neutral.

Video evidence of our little rambler and the new friendship between a dog and his boy.

Closed for Business

It's been a dramatic couple of weeks. At least in Babyland. Poor Will had a cold and diarrhea that got better, then worse and finally resulted in a spiking fever, visit to the doctor and diagnosis of ear infection. Exposure to germs is just pummeling him. So it was a trip to the pharmacy to get the pink stuff- Amoxicillin in delish bubble gum flavor and dosing twice a day. The antibiotics cleared up his ear infection pronto, but he's lost his appetite and can keep nothing in him. Poor guy has a butt as red as a baboon from all the pooping he's been doing.


Throughout it all, Will has been generally cheery. He's had a few days, or a few hours each day where he's a little fussy and a little clingy, wanting more snuggles and less exploration, but who can blame him.


Last night we shoved some yogurt down his gullet to see if that would help his tummy. Surprisingly it seems to have worked. The nurse said that yogurt was OK and that it would replace friendly gut flora that was knocked out by the antibiotics. Dave and I have been switching off night duty and last night was my night to stand sentry. I slept far worse than young Will did, waking several times to check on him, always on the ready waiting to heat up a bottle or do a diaper change, but Will slept peacefully until 4am. I hope he's on the mend and the yogurt did the trick.


He was the perkiest he's been in a couple of weeks this morning and we're both hoping that he gets his appetite back really soon. It's back to daycare next week so he can tackle more germs.

Here are some videos of him being adorable.

One Two Punch

I don't have too many images this week. After Will caught a cold and generously shared it with us, he caught some kind of Martian Death Tummy Bug and shared it with me.

I have not been so barfy and sick in decades. It was hardcore. I knew Will had something when he projectile vomited all over Dave. Twice. In one evening. But I didn't expect to get knocked down so hard. That's life with babies, I suppose. Poop and puke. For everyone.

The good news is he and I have recovered nicely. Will's doing his baby thing, chatting and sort of scooching around (he's not quite yet mobile). Getting great at standing and prefers to be pulled up rather than use his own steam.

Also, he has a nubbin of a tooth! Finally! I'll definitely get some pics of it as it comes in. He's been great about it- not fussy or cranky at all. He's still his mellow, great self.

William, You Have Immunity

It was inevitable, Will caught his first cold. And then Dave and I caught it too.

Will acted great throughout, there were a couple of nights when he was a bit fussy and didn't want to go to bed. We dosed him with infant Tylenol and rocked him to sleep. And one day his daycare wouldn't take him because he had goopy eyes.


Poor thing! We took him to the doctor just to be sure it wasn't conjunctivitis (it wasn't). They weighed him and we found out he now weighs 24 pounds[EDIT: He's only 21 pounds- I misheard- oops!]! I'm not surprised, he loves to eat and can consume a lot of baby food when he's not busy spitting it out at Mom and Dad. He loves playing with finger foods too. Not eating them so much, but just mashing them around and dropping them on the floor to the delight of the dogs.


He's also discovered a new sleeping position: Classic Baby. Face mashed into the mattress, on his knees, butt in the air. I think it helped him sleep longer when he was stuffed up.

Let's See.... What Does THIS Taste Like?

I have been blogging for months that Will is teething and we have yet to see a tooth pop out. Still no teefs yet, but he's been drooling buckets and wants to gnaw on absolutely everything so we think eruption is imminent.


We've started bathing William in the sink. He can sit up and splash and it's easier for us to bathe him because we don't have to bend over quite so much. He seems to have a blast and it's a lot of fun watching him explore (and taste) his bath toys and the face cloth.





William started daycare last week. While I was excited for Will to be in a new environment (and to have a little more time to myself) I never anticipated how difficult it would be dropping him off. The daycare is clean and quiet and has an excellent ratio of babies to caregivers, not to mention one magical baby minder, Andrea, who is a baby whisperer. She's amazing. But as I prepared to leave Will to go to work all these thoughts raced through my mind: Will they pay enough attention to him? Feed him when he's hungry? Put him down when he's sleepy? What if he misses me? And I got all teary. Fortunately he was his happy go lucky self when I picked him up several hours later and it was easier to drop him off the next time.



Omi came to visit last week. She and Will had a wonderful time playing and chatting with each other. Will really took a shine to her.


And then Aunty Noelle visited this last weekend. Will flirted with her as well. I think our little guy is going to be a player!


Will has a ton of toys that light up and sing and roll and squeak. But he's a purist. He's drawn to newspaper (crunchy) and a wooden spoon (his little scepter). He holds onto the spoon and bangs it around, sticks it up his nose and of course, in his mouth.



And lastly, a short video of Will chatting up a storm.

Movin' and Groovin"

Will is interacting more and more with our pets. He loves to pet Cicero (and grab onto his hair with his Superbaby Grip) and there is even evidence to prove that he and Rocky acknowledge each other.


Will's reaching out for a lot of things too. If you have it in your hand, he needs it RIGHT NOW and will swing his entire body forward past the pitch of no return to get it. And then he puts it in his mouth.





We took Will to the little play ground at the park to see how he'd react to the slides. The video result is below. The anticipation greatly exceeded results. Plastic slides with lots of safety features and an adult-sized butt on a child-sized surface do not for a thrilling time make.




Wheeeeeeee! Kinda.





Oh and one last video of sleeping beauties.

Goofing Around With Technology (from 1999)

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Doing Stuff. Like Growing. And Stuff.

William turned six months on the 29th of July and had his six month checkup (and shots) on Tuesday.

Our boy is average! Well, actually, he's totally brilliant and handsome and above average in every way, but he now weighs in at 17.5 pounds and is 26 inches long, which means he's in the 50th percentile for weight and height. He did a lot of growing between the fourth and sixth months.


And wow is he busy. He does all sorts of stuff now. He leans and grabs towards things (the remote, your beer, sometimes a toy) and once he gets it he puts it right in his mouth. Many many more things in our house are sticky. And he pulls things towards him and pushes them away. He's able to pick things up and occasionally drops them. Overall he's chugging along with his development and totally on target.

A Few Home Movies

Here are a couple of videos I shot of William interacting with our pets and rolling over. Forgive the fuzziness, the automatic focus gets confused in low light and I'm no video Brassai.

Out and About

It's been in the high 90's down in Reno so Saturday we decided to go up to Lake Tahoe for a picnic. We packed up the dogs and all the accoutrements (and the baby!) and headed for the hills.



Will's been super busy trying to figure out this locomotion issue. He's still not so keen on rolling over but when he's on his back he tried desperately hard to sit up. I wish he could figure out that if he uses his arms he'll get upright a lot quicker.



There's a short loop off of the Tahoe Rim Trail that's great for picnicking. There is a lot of green up there a color missing from the valley at this time of year.



We forget how difficult it is to wrangle everyone into position for a picture. A short sequence:





And lastly, another video of Will being grabby.