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.

New Toys, Grandma Judy and Grandpa Joel's Visit

We picked up a high chair and an "exersaucer" for William this weekend while Grandma Judy and Grandpa Joel were visiting. We all had a wonderful time!

It's awesome to watch him figure out all the little gadgets and spinnies. Of course he has more fun when someone is playing with him.



He's also working really hard at standing. Sometimes he uses his mouth to help his balance, and he often just collapses in a heap (don't worry we're here to catch him), but he's getting super strong!


And he had so much fun with Gradma and Grandpa this weekend. He tried his very hardest NOT to fall asleep. Ever.


Of course, he's just a baby, so he wasn't 100 percent effective.


And some video, because he's so cute in action: