Vivian at Four Months

Vivian had her four month check-up yesterday. Because our pediatrician moved offices across town, I am too lazy to make the trek twice in two weeks, and Vivian's appointment got scheduled with Theo's two year check-up. (More on that later.)

She did well, despite having another cold which started with a clear runny nose on Friday.She weighed in at 13 lbs 13 oz, which put her in the 41 percentile CDC (31st percentile on the WHO scale), and measured 26 inches (92nd percentile CDC, 89th WHO) with a head circumference of 16.54 inches (69th CDC and 76th WHO). She is not blowing raspberries of any kind that we've noticed, and despite rolling from her back to her belly consistently for a week while traveling, now that we're home she seems to get stuck on her belly again. That is not generally to her liking.

At four months, she was sleeping like a champ. She went to bed between 8 and 9 something almost every night, and slept 6-8 hours (and once even over 9) on her own in the bassinet with no interruptions for feedings. She finished the night with 4-6 hours in the bed with her mother, nursing on demand without fully waking either of us. Then she would get up for the day between 8:30 and 9. Traveling didn't seem to affect her too much, although she was not a big fan of the car travel as it forced her to go longer between feedings. She generally wears out after about 1 hour and 20 minutes of awake time, but could go 2 hours or so with encouragement, also known as entertainment. She naps in the sling, car seat, or the bassinet, and is fairly consistent about a longer afternoon nap in the bassinet starting just after her brother around 1:30. Most days she slept longer than him, and on one occasion she slept until well past 5 p.m. We had to cancel our afternoon plans as a result. She does sometimes stay awake for three hours before her big night sleep. Woe be anyone who got in the way of her rest.

She loves to eat, although she does not love to burp. Vivian guzzles her food and as a result generally has to burp (typically followed by an urp) after two to three minutes on one side. She will finish off that side, and either be full or repeat the process on the other side, with one side tending to suffice the earlier it is in the day. She prefers to eat every two hours or more often, and starts to cluster feed every hour or so before bedtime. Most of all, she likes to make sure milk is available on demand, regardless of how long it's been since the last feeding, and she likes to nuzzle up and also sleep on the breast using it as a pillow. When crying, she switches to a funny heh heh noise when presented with food before literally diving in with an open mouth. If her mouth weren't full, I swear she'd be sighing with satisfaction.

At four months she is beginning to reach for toys. On the airplane ride home at four months and two days, she started shoving things in her mouth. Usually that results in a few moments of gumming followed by some serious howls. I thought she might be teething since the mellow girl got so upset that whatever reached her mouth didn't satisfy her. But the doctor confirmed that there were no teeth coming in yet, which didn't really surprise me as Theo was six months before his first teeth appeared.

Vivian seems to love polka dots best, and she still adores anything with a face. Her favorites are a stuffed fox which is super soft from Jelly Kitten brand, a flat "Big Fat Chick" not-so-stuffed animal that is super soft and cuddly, and a knit block that has a bunny and polka dots. She still loves the blue hippo from Tiny Love that I clip to her play gym, possibly because its belly has polka dots. She seemed to be very fascinated by my new polka dot shirt as well, which is what clued me in to the dot preference.

She also likes to wear dresses, because she can pull them up and chew on them as well as fiddle them in her hands. We put her in the exersaucer when we returned, and although she hasn't figured out how to spin herself around she definitely enjoys standing and playing with the toys. She's generally happy on her back on the floor or bed, but doesn't get enough tummy or floor time. She also seems fine with the Johnny Jump Up, even if Theo runs by and she's just turning in circles.

She's well into her 6 month (at least in American sizes - the European sizes seem to be a more accurate fit based on age) pajamas, and getting close to outgrowing some of those in length. She also fits just fine into 6 month pants even though I thought they would be big on her. Some of that might be the excess bulk from the cloth diaper, but it seemed to hold true while traveling as well, when we used disposables. In other clothes, she can still fit reasonably well into 3-6 month stuff, but most of the 3 month items have now been retired. I did save a few dresses with wide necks that could be layered over long sleeve items since it doesn't really matter how long they are. Once they get shorter, they magically become a shirt or tunic, hence the versatility of girls' clothes.

Vivian is extremely ticklish on her collarbone and the usual ribs and inside of her thighs. She still likes a good foot rub, has no hair to speak of, and a generous amount of fat rolls in the thigh area. She now laughs just because I laugh at her, without the need for actual tickling, which is super cute. She also loves to be tossed into the air or even just lifted and lowered, a game known by the name elevator around these parts.


She showed no real preference when we met relatives and friends overseas, but over the past week has shown a distinct preference for mama. She's okay as long as I can be found, but did not do stellar when left with other caregivers. Part of that probably stems from the fact that we haven't even tried to give her a bottle for weeks due to traveling combined with laziness. Part of it is also that she is under the weather with a cough and another cold.

But overall she got an excellent report from the doctor. She refused to sit up when he tugged on her arms, instead locking her knees until he stood her up instead. She does love to stand, and she likes to be jiggled by tugging her arms. Theo loves to move her hands for her to dance or make the Wheels on the Bus motions, and she seems to like the kisses he demands of her.

Five months is just around the corner, and the time seems to be flying by faster than I can account for it. I hope to have some pictures posted soon. We took giraffe photos in Europe using a smaller substitute giraffe as well as with the actual animal once we returned.

Happy Three Months Vivian!

Vivian is three months old today! We took her giraffe photos tonight with the help of her big brother. Vivian is so mellow, the bright flashing lights don't phase her. She turns toward them to try and figure it out instead, which makes for great photos. She doesn't smile as much because she's too busy either talking or trying to stuff her dress into her mouth. She loved this dress almost as much as I loved dressing her in it! We picked out a new outfit for the special day, and she took to it (to her mouth that is) immediately. Thanks to Martha for picking something so spectacular, and we know the color scheme will make her cousin Xoey jealous. Vivian particularly seems to like the double layer to choose from, sometimes tasting only the top pinafore and sometimes picking up the entire dress.

Vivian continues to charm just about everyone she meets. She loves to talk. We don't play with toys that often, although she is beginning to show interest in them. She is ticklish now, and enjoys a good game of Duck Duck Goose for babies, where I move her closer and closer to me with each "duck" until I goose her. A round of the elevator song will also usually distract her from a bout of fussing. She cries, but not often and not loud, so when she has real tears I pay attention. She's generally fussing about food or sleep, which relate back to a very strong preference for boob. Last night she refused to take a bottle for the first time, although admittedly we hadn't tried in several weeks at least. She will suck on just about anything, including the face of her big round stuffed fox and a hard plastic soccer ball on one end of a baby rattle.

She definitely follows both Theo and Tetley with interest now, and she loves to stand. She gets mad when her legs give out and she sits down. She hates being put down, and will fuss for a minute or two until she adjusts then she continues to sit and take everything in. She lights up a thousand watts whenever anyone stops and makes eye contact.

Theo continues to be the sweetest big brother. He is still concerned about getting buzzed by the Blue Angels from the beginning of the month, so he puts his hands over his ears and constantly asks us to do so. On Monday he put his hands over Vivian's ears so she wouldn't be scared. (They never bothered her.) Also on Monday he moved her hands and arms through all the motions of wheels on the bus (his favorite song by far), and got piqued when she couldn't do the motion for "tickets please." It's incredibly cute and sweet to see him sharing his favorite things with her, even for just a minute or two, like his lovey, jez, and his milk cups. He also loves to give her hugs and kisses and receive kisses from her whenever she stands up on the floor. He really wants her to walk around when she stands up but I have a feeling that's several months off. :-)

Her longest sleep spell is a little over eight hours, and we're all quite happy with her sleep habits so far. She eats frequently, still around every 1.5 to 2 hours during her day, which runs from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. She is definitely an evening child, with her happiest and most alert period in the early evening or right before bed. Bedtime still ranges anywhere from 7 something to 10:30, although the range is getting narrower as the days go by and those times on either end are more and more infrequent.

She loves to eat, sleep, and hang out on the boob. She likes to check in frequently to make sure it's still there. I have no weight or height data again until her four month appointment, which coincides with Theo's two year appointment, so we will see if all her eating is paying off. But she does have some adorable fat wrinkles on her arms, neck, and thighs, and her belly definitely has a pooch to it. She is comfortably in 3 to 6 month clothes, and six month socks. In fact I need to bring up her box of six month clothes because I'm afraid she might outgrow some of the stuff before I get it cleaned and put away for use.

All in all she's a delightful baby and we're falling more in love each and every day. These are a sample of photos from today's shoot with her giraffe, and they are great representations of her personality.

Vivian at Two Months

I'm behind on Vivian's two month update. That's probably not surprising, but there are two contributing factors: 1) August has been incredibly busy here. We had Seafair activities the first weekend shortly after her official two month birthday on July 29th. Then guests visiting, followed by camping on the beach. And that brings us to this past weekend; 2) Vivian's two month doctor's appointment actually didn't happen until August 10th. Her pediatrician was on a three week vacation and that was the very first day he was back. I know because I called to try and get her seen earlier, the week after she turned two months, because she was eligible for the pertussis (aka whooping cough vaccine). And there's an epidemic of pertussis here, which has made me a bit more nervous than usual with a newborn, if such a thing is possible.



In any case, I didn't get to post on the 10th as planned because we were busy packing for camping on the 11th. And I spent all of last week recovering from said camping trip, not to mention three of us came down with a cold.

So here is the two month update, one day shy of twelve weeks old. Sigh.

Vivian had her two month appointment. She skipped the one month appointment because she did so well (ie gained lots of weight) at her two week visit. She weighed in at 11 lbs 5 oz, which put her in the 48th percentile (CDC - 36th for WHO), with a height of 23.50 (a two inch increase over last time) which falls into the 77th CDC percentile (73rd for WHO statistics), and a head circumference of 15.43 inches (48th and 63rd percentiles respectively). She got 6 vaccines. Luckily that was in four doses, and one of those was oral, so she only (only!) got three pokes in the thighs. She did not appreciate it. And unlike Theo, she refused to nurse through such an ordeal so she cried pretty much until we got back to the car.

She also spiked a bit of a fever (100.7) by that evening. She had a runny nose going into the appointment, but we're attributing the fever to the vaccines.

Vivian is still an absolute joy of a child. She's got such a personality shining through now. She cries because she's hungry or tired, which amount to the same thing - she'd like to be on the boob. She would spend all day on it, eating or using it as a pillow, if she had the option. As it is, between the hours of about 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., she eats roughly every hour and half. Two hours is a long time between feedings for her. She snacks for an average of five minutes a side, and nine minutes on one side is a long feeding for her. She almost always has to burp afterwards, and that's accompanied by spitting up. Once she spits up or poops, she's generally hungry again immediately. So we spend a lot of time eating and more time trying to catch the spit up. During the day she is much fussier about eating. I've tried to push her out a bit since her appointment to get her to eat in larger portions less frequently, and although her timing hasn't changed much, she seems a bit calmer during daytime feedings. At night she has zero issues feeding, burping, or spitting up. She still does all three, but with zero fussing.

And speaking of night, she rarely cries during that twelve hour period either. Once she goes to sleep, she's unlikely to make any sound until she gets up for the day. She is sleeping in one long chunk, which is at least four hours straight and generally (at this point at least) six hours long. She's made it almost eight hours once, but that wasn't really comfortable for either of us by the end of it. She wants to go to be between about 7:30 and 10:30 and it's completely obvious when it happens. She sleeps her long spell in her bassinet, swaddled. I started swaddling her against her wishes just for future use and she has adjusted. But in general, she's still so easygoing that she doesn't really care if she's swaddled or not. As long as she gets fed proper she's good to go, and once she's asleep you can pretty much drop her in and she won't wake up.

If she does stir, a pacifier fixes the problem and she shoves her head against the bassinet wall (strangely, against the cloth part against the actual wall, rather than facing out into the room like most infants) and goes back to sleep. She adores her soothie pacifier attached to a little stuffed from (thanks Paul, Jen, and Simon!), so much so that when I forgot to pack it for camping (it was still laying in her bassinet from overnight use) we stopped and bought a two pack of soothies at the store. Best decision ever! If a pacifier does not fix the problem, she has to burp, which almost always requires picking her up. Sometime she will burp, urp, and go right back to sleep with hardly a hiccup. Sometimes the burp is enough to keep her up until her next nap time.

Vivian spends the rest of the night in bed with me, nursing every hour or two. The length of time depends on how lazy I am (generally very lazy) and whether she nursed on one or both sides in the previous feeding. She pulls both arms out of her swaddle during the course of the rest of the night so that by morning she is only swaddled around the waist. She gets up fairly consistently between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. for the day. She can get up earlier but wants to go back to sleep shortly thereafter. She is definitely more a night owl, and the early evening hours are almost always her happiest. That might have something to do with the fact that two adults are home and she gets more attention then, but I think it's also part of her personality.

During the day she still naps frequently, rarely for more than forty minutes at a time. She manages to stay awake an hour and wants to be back asleep around 10 a.m. on a normal day, although she can go longer if things are interesting, also known as we are out and about. She still naps in the sling when we aren't home, and swaddled in the bassinet when we are. She will stay up two hours, maybe a bit longer, before she goes down for her longest stretch of sleep at night. Of course on Friday she took a 3.5 hour nap, and on Saturday she went to sleep for six hours starting at 3:45, so we definitely don't have a schedule per say. It's more of a general pattern.

Vivian remains very mellow and laid back. She does not like to be denied food but a pacifier can buy time if she's with someone else and say, Theo needs to be fed, or changed or put to sleep. She seems to prefer to be at home more than out and about, but goes along with whatever is happening. She does nurse and sleep best at home, but the sling is a close second.

Vivian loves to be held. She's not particular about who it is, and if she cries while held, she's either hungry or about to spit up. You can tell which based on how long it's been since her last meal. She has discovered her fists and likes to suck on them. She's fascinated with her feet now, especially when she's wearing socks or shoes.

We don't spend a lot of quality time playing or with tummy time, and it shows. She hates tummy time. And our idea of play is to lay her on the bed and chat. She loves to chat. She is content to hang out indefinitely but as soon as someone stops to talk to her she lights up and chatters back with pure joy. She has just started crying when she thinks she's been abandoned, which pretty much amounts to anytime you put her down in her swing. In all fairness, I usually only put her down because I need both hands to do something else. On her playmat, she loves her hippo best, possibly because Theo still has ownership of the monkey that lights up and plays music. She is also fascinated with the mirror. Just in the past week or so, although she doesn't grab at toys yet, she seems to have realized that her kicking and flailing makes something happen. She does both repeatedly for the reward of the jingles and crinkles that result.

Vivian can imitate noises very well, and has learned to shriek with joy and even has laughed just a few times when Theo has been laughing. She is extremely talented at imitating Michal when he and Theo are playing chase, and tends to make noise as they run past back and forth.

Vivian has no hair to speak of since it all fell out. It's a bit longer in back and there's just enough so that when you pet her head it's super soft and adorable. Her eyebrows and eyelashes are more noticeable, and her eyes are an indeterminate color that seems to range from gray to hazel depending on what color she is wearing and how much light is available. She's long limbed like Theo and is mostly in her 3-6 month clothes. Her newborn pants are all shorts now, and today for the first time I put her in 6 month leggings. She did not look ridiculous. They were loose but not absurdly long, which probably means she will outgrow her three month footed stuff in the next week or so if not sooner. The weather has been warm enough that she hasn't worn much long sleeved or long pant outfits. Generally it's sleeveless jumpers and dresses with bloomers.

For Vivian's two month update, I finally managed to post two galleries of photos from May (just a few newborn photos along with all Theo's from that month) and June. I'll try to get July up sooner but no promises.

Theo Photos December 2011

The last batch of backlogged photos of Theo. Pictures include watching the "snow" at the downtown mall, a few holiday sweater shots, and a bunch of miscellaneous ones of eating and outings.

More January Photos

I am catching up on posting months of backlogged photos. Here is a batch from last month, including a few additional pictures from our trip to Georgia.

Theo at Fifteen Months

Theo had his fifteen month check up today. Technically he's fifteen and half months now, but the older the child, the less they worry about seeing you right around the exact date. And we were traveling for his fifteen month birthday earlier in the month.

Theo weighed in at 24 pounds and 5 ounces, putting him in the 69th WHO percentile for weight. He's 33 inches tall, which puts him in the ninety-some-odd percentile no matter who you ask: 91 for CDC, and 94 for WHO statistics. His head circumference was 18.70 inches, or the 67th WHO percentile, although I'm not sure it was a perfect measurement. It's right on target with where he's always been head-wise, but he started screaming as soon as the nurse came in the room and closed the door. He was not thrilled about any of these measurements and repeatedly signed all done. He clearly remembers the blood draws for iron checks in October, November, and December, all done by the same nurse. He got two vaccines today, and a last iron check but that was after the doctor came to visit. He screamed again once the nurse came back, but that time she had needles in her hand and actually poked him.

I've been remiss in updating Theo's developments on the blog. He's hard to keep up with these days. He is definitely running everywhere. As soon as he let go of our fingers, he was running circles around the house. He still is. He loves to run laps around just about anything. Particular routes he favors include through his room, into the hall, and back around the fish tank, as well as around anyone sitting on the floor. It gets even better if he can chase the dog while he's at it.

Yesterday Theo started riding his tricycle. He can't reach the floor or the pedals from the seat yet, but he enjoys being pushed around, in laps of course. The dog is by far the best toy. Another favorite game is throwing things, like ducks in the bathroom, towards Daddy who tries to defend. It's a more even match of skills than you might imagine. Theo thinks it's hilarious and he has quite the wind up. Since he can chuck things with either hand, he will get tricky. You can see the wheels turning while he thinks about it. We played this game with the newly acquired rubber drill toy in the doctor's office today while we waited. Another recent favorite is to play in his crib - but only with an audience. He will ask to get back in his crib, chuck everything out, ask for more to get it back, and repeat the whole process with a lot of snuggling up to things in between evictions. Super fun to watch and it makes him giggle and laugh almost as much as the dog.

The little wooden pop up people are still one of his favorite toys, particularly to run around with in his mouth. He still loves his "music box", the Baby Einstein classical music player he got for the 2010 holidays. It does not get as much attention though. The biggest hits right now are things he knows he isn't supposed to have: phones and electronic gadgets in particular. He also loves bowls and spoons and cups and pretty much anything with a lid. His new shape sorter is very popular, and he's recently revived the robot blocks he got for his birthday because he can stack them one on top of another now (with a little assistance to steady the lower pieces). It's also hard to beat a ball because he loves throwing things, and of course nothing tops a book. Trucks, also a birthday gift, as well as Goodnight Gorilla, Five Silly Monkeys (birthday present), and Blue Hat Green Hat top the list of most favored reading material. But Theo really hasn't met many books he doesn't like.

Anything with a fish or an airplane is still the best thing ever. Buses are fun in real life, and bees are exciting when found in books (but nothing beats finding a book with airplanes, fish, or better yet, both). I have no idea how many books we read a day but it's definitely more than twenty, and probably less than fifty. He likes to flip through some (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, for example) to get to favorite pages that interest him (the food smorgasbord in that particular one), so it really depends on what you count as reading.

As for eating, if it's what we like to call an eating day, anything and everything except meat goes in and down. He can demolish a croissant bigger than his head in one sitting no problem. Or eat two slices of pizza (when I normally eat three). He likes macaroni and cheese a lot, and beans and blueberries are still very popular. Bananas has lost some of their appeal, and been downgraded to a like instead of love, but cheese is still near the top, particularly the round Babybel type.

On a non eating day very little tempts him. It's not unusual to have crackers and fruit or cheese for dinner on those days, and who knows what else. He loves to look in the pantry or the fridge and pick out his own food. He likes to spoon things from a bowl for himself, and pick items out of containers (box, bag, etc.) for himself rather than have someone else do the choosing. Some meals are only accomplished by providing alternate entertainment options, such as a tupperware to open and and close. And he would definitely graze all day without ever sitting down if we let him. He is not a huge fan of his seat, the bib, or the tray, but that's really more of a power play than an actual aversion. He just doesn't like to slow down, even for eating.

He still loves milk. Just showing him some is enough to go from all out crying to satisfied heh heh noises pretty much instantly. He will run to the fridge when he wants milk.

Theo still sleeps between 11 and 12 hours straight at night. We've managed to push his schedule back by half an hour to an hour, so we start the bedtime routine at 7:30 and he goes to sleep at 8 something. On a good day he also gets up at 8, which is awesome. But it has mostly eliminated the 7 a.m. waking up time, instead favoring 7:30 or 7:45. He is gung ho about two naps a day, but partly due to the later wake up time, they have moved much later in the day. His first nap usually starts between 10:30 and 11:00 (also known as three hours after he got up), and the second tends to start between 3:30 and 4:00 most days. He naps between 40 minutes and 1 hour 20 minutes, with one hour being the norm, and 40 minutes on the shorter and rarer end.

And Theo has a few words. He says mama clear as a bell, also will say grandma, and just this week added dada to the mix. He babbles often the rest of the time, and his favorite communication is pointing and grunting. He has enough signs that I don't know how many there are: more and all done are the two most frequent. He waves goodbye (as soon as someone puts on their jacket or shoes or picks up keys), can ask for milk (but usually runs to the fridge), uses airplane, ball, eat, water, banana, bath, toothbrush, and picked up the sign for dog (aka Tetley) in less than five minutes this week. I know I'm forgetting more that he signs, but perhaps I'll remember for next time.

As always, Theo is a happy child. He has definitely moved into the pitching fits phase, and he can go from happy to high pitch in less time than you can wiggle your finger. Mostly he just doesn't have the signs and words to communicate the very specific desires, and almost all tantrums can be ended by having him "show you" what he wants, which means he takes your finger and drags you to wherever he wants to go and points and grunts at things until you catch on. If the answer is still no, there might be another fit involved, but he can still be distracted by other desirable things (ie picking food out of the pantry, etc.). Theo hates sticky things, like say, stickers and band-aids, because they will not come off. He can sometimes handle stamps on his hands under the right circumstances. He adores music, particularly jazz, blues, and classical, but will take just about anything. He loves being thrown in the air or any other rough-housing, and rides on people's laps and legs and anything else that might bounce him up and down as vigorously as possible. Giggles are frequent. Tears less so. And he does love an audience.

Happy Birthday Theo!

The best birthday wishes for our big birthday boy! To celebrate, we got Theo five balloons - a red star, an orange star, a gold circle, a red happy birthday circle, and a first birthday circle with a red one on it. We tied them to his chair overnight and sure enough, he noticed them first thing this morning on his birthday. He loves them. His newest trick is blowing, and he blows every time he wants you to blow on the balloons and make them move. He also loves batting them and pulling them and anything else that will get an effect.

He learned how to blow so we would blow on the mobile attached to the ceiling light in his room. It's super cute. He did not manage to blow his candle out this morning, but he did really enjoy the birthday cream puff. After contemplating it for about sixty seconds, he stuck his face right into it, no hands necessary. Once he worked his way through the top to the cream (apparently there were two different types of cream in there), he started scooping it out with his hands and eating it. Super duper cute, and adorable and a classic first birthday shot. By the end of the "meal" he had a Santa beard and cream up to his elbows, with some on his forehead and behind his ears for good measure.

After the balloons but before breakfast we opened presents until Theo got tired of the game. He took a few rounds to catch on, amazingly not bothering any of the bags or boxes piled on the coffee table until encouraged. (He played with the balloons instead.) The biggest a.m. hit was the musical card from his grandparents, which plays Tigger's theme song. After that, he was finished with presents for the morning and we moved on to candles and cream puff.

In the middle of the day Theo attended story time where the entire group sang him a lovely rendition of happy birthday. He enjoyed it as usual, especially browsing board books at the end. He had peas and mango yogurt with croissant and grilled cheese for lunch before retiring a second time to recover for more fun.

Once he woke up, we took him the pumpkin farm. We went last year when he was just shy of two weeks old to the same place, and boy are the photos different this year! Instead of an infant we could lay anywhere we had a mobile 12 month old. He loved the mud and the wheelbarrow and every single pumpkin. He became especially attached to the miniature variety and had to be pulled away kicking and screaming. He recovered nicely as our next stop was a dinner buffet. We started dinner at 4:45. Theo normally eats dinner between 6 and 6:30. He ate from 4:45 until 6:00 p.m., consuming cantaloupe, red jello, edamame, peas, black beans, spaghetti, pizza, macaroni and cheese, pineapple, and whatever else he could con from someone's plate, or snag from the table. We left the restaurant with one very happy boy. Also one very round boy.

Once back at the house, we polished off the remaining gifts, and finished the day with the monthly giraffe photos. What a difference in a year!

Here's to our one year old boy!

Pea-Yew!

Theo had a smorgasbord for lunch today: sweet potato, banana, chicken, green peas, pasta, and great northern beans. He was wearing overalls and a green onesie. For the uninitiated, that means he had a shirt that snaps below his crotch, as well as the bib of the overalls to catch things. He also wore an actual bib, which admittedly does form a shelf to catch food, particularly when combined with overalls.

He pooped after all that food. No surprise there. But I was very surprised to find a pea (uneaten) in his diaper lying on his belly. How on earth did he get that one past the bib, overalls, and onesie?

I guess kids will always keep you guessing.

Theo at Eleven Months

Time flies when you're a growing boy. That's Theo eating a popsicle. We spent Theo's eleventh month birthday in Tennessee with family, and we all had a great trip. (More about that once we get the photos uploaded.) In the meantime, Theo has grown into his personality quite a bit. His favorite toys, by far, are his Baby Einstein music box, where he can push the button to get classical music, and his pinwheel. They are the first two things he must find in the morning and the last two things he is willing to part with. Generally he plays the music and leaves it sitting until the song goes off. He seems to know the repertoire well enough, too, that near the end of the song, he will drop whatever he is doing and scoot back in a hurry to hit the button for more music. Given the choice between a bin of toys, a bin of stuffed animals, and a bin of books, he goes for the books every single time. He can read a book over and over and over again and not grow tired of it, and then yank another one out or off the shelf and thrust it at you with a "uhhh." Which clearly means read. And he's a speed reader at flipping pages. He loves the Priddy books most consistently, it seems. The images are real and on bright backgrounds. He also loves "Swing" which has cool moving images, and he enjoys just about any touch and feel book.

His favorite thing to do is point at something and see who will get it or let him touch it. It's usually accompanied by a grunt, and sounds of satisfaction when he gets what he wants. He's learning that not everything goes his way, and is definitely throwing a few more fits. When he is really sad, he bends over so far he lays his forehead on the floor. He hates being changed or restrained in any way save for meals.

He's eating us out of house and home and growing like a weed. Anything with feet in it is of course already too small. But I haven't managed to get any 18 months sized pajamas yet. Instead his are getting a little extra stretch and he's busy wearing the bottoms thin from scooting - which is a problem we have with all pants, even if they do fit. He's hard on shoes these days, too. He likes walking around holding onto hands almost as much - if not more - than scooting, especially outside where he can destroy a pair of pants on rough surfaces in a matter of minutes. Indoors, he will happily stumble back and forth on his feet with no assistance - as long as someone is sitting on the floor. He often closes his eyes and falls forward since he knows someone will catch him. It's great to watch but nerve-wracking as well. And he's cruising like a champ, too, from furniture to people and back again. Nothing compares to the fun of walking in circles.

He loves to take things in and out of containers. That's a popular activity, and we managed to entertain him on the airplane for at least an hour with that. He enjoys trying to feed himself with his spoon, dipping it in and out of the dish and pushing things around. He will often put finger food on the spoon, then take it off and put it in his mouth. I am determined to capture this on video.

He's eating about 6-8 ounces four times a day still. Eventually I am sure we will add another snack, but for now it's all we can do to keep him fed four times a day. His favorite seems to be beans of any kind, and avocado has finally fallen from the favored food. He likes complex combinations like banana oatmeal or papaya mango better than single items like plain yogurt or oatmeal or a single fruit or veggie. And anything that comes through a straw is highly prized. He still loves to drink from a cup with no lid, and that's good for a last resort when he gets tired of being fed and wants to do it himself. He still requires lots of entertainment while eating, mostly something to keep his hands occupied. And he's great at finger foods. His favorite seems to be any flavor of Babybel cheeses. Those top even goldfish, which are our go-to item for just about any problem.

Theo loves fish. He spends a lot of his time watching the three fish in our aquarium and has trouble dragging himself away. He loves dogs and cats and buses and airplanes, too, but I imagine it all pales compared to fish.

Theo is sleeping well still. He goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up between 7 and 8 most mornings. He generally has one feeding in the "middle" of the night, around 5 or 5:30 and goes back to sleep afterwards. For naps, they can still range from 30 minutes to about 1 hour 15 minutes, but the hour naps are much more common. He's exhausted by 9:30 most mornings and ready for nap number two at 1:30 or 2:00. He cuddles up with his flat hedgehog and has outgrown both sleep sacks - they have extra room at the corners where his feet have stretched them out. He still loves to sleep on his side or any position where he can get his legs at a ninety degree angle.

Theo makes lots of sounds and signs for "more" almost non-stop: more food, more toys, more music, more. He can say dada and mama and nana and almost anything else, but has yet to apply these sounds to one specific item. Instead he babbles happily away. His excited inhales are less frequent, but occasionally something still excites him. He also still shakes his head "no" when he's super excited. But now he does it so hard he has to grab onto something to while he's doing it.

We've got a month to go until his big day, which is hard to believe. Theo lacks for nothing, of course, but if you know someone who can't resist, he has a wish list at Amazon. It's just an updated baby registry which can be found under our last name.

In the meantime, we plan to continue watching our boy grow and learn and light up the world.

Theo at Ten Months

Theo turned ten months old Saturday. We took him camping on the beach to celebrate such a big milestone - double digits! He had a blast digging in the sand and trying to eat rocks. He also thought the scenery was pretty neat - worth kicking off a shoe for sure.

In other news, to celebrate on his own, Theo popped his first upper tooth through the gum. He has four on the bottom, and clearly felt the need to add to the set. He is putting all of his teeth to good use, since he eats almost everything now. We haven't tried nuts and he can't have honey until after a year of age, but he will eat almost everything else now. He still prefers his spoon-fed food to be fairly mushy, but finger foods come in all shapes, sizes, and consistencies. He will gobble as many goldfish as you can feed him currently, but I'm sure that will change. He also really enjoys eating whatever is on someone else's plate, although that's not always the best strategy as a lot of it gets dumped overboard. He sits down for meals four times a day, generally every 3 hours for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. He'll also freeload off anyone else eating at any time of the day, though. He still does not care for rice or rice products, or carrots. They make him vomit. He loves guacamole and yogurt and bananas and mangoes are still near the top of the list as well. Peas are fun to chase and eat, and macaroni and cheese and oatmeal are frequent meals as well. He nurses five to six times a day, which brings us to the sleeping portion of this update.

Theo is still sleeping nine to ten hours at a stretch at bedtime. He typically goes to sleep around 7:30 and wakes up about 7:00, with one nursing around 5:00 or 5:30 a.m. most nights. On a particularly plentiful eating day, however, he will sleep straight through that feeding until 6 or later. That's only happened a few times in the last ten days or so, but I imagine the trend will continue. He falls asleep either while nursing or directly after when taking a small (1 or 1.5 oz) bottle of breastmilk,but also can put himself to sleep if he doesn't pass out.

Theo has started walking around with only one hand for guidance. This leave his other hand open to get into things. In irregular surroundings (on slopes, on boats, etc.) he still prefers the two-hand method, but he's basically got his balance under control. He has taken a few independent steps going back and forth between me and the coffee table or bookshelf or me and Michal, but really he's putting one foot in front of the other and leaning in the direction he wants to go. He assumes we will catch him in theses case and so far he's been right. He will also take a few steps when he's holding onto a prized object of some sort, but he doesn't realize what he's doing. He's pulling himself up only on select items: people, the coffee table, the sofa in his room, and his bookshelf. He can get to his knees to pull things out of his toy bins no problem. His newest trick is to bend over while standing to pick something up. That way there's no need to sit down.

If he is sitting, he can scoot around without any issues. He travels far and wide to explore whatever captures his interest. He can do it outside or inside, over the hardwoods, tile, or rugs and carpet. It is definitely taking a toll on the seat of his pants, which are not quite up to the rigors of the butt scoot. He has scooted around so much that he has a sore spot on the outside of his right ankle from the constant rubbing. Band-aids are no match for the friction and socks generally mean he slips when he's standing or pulling up, which is more and more often these days.

His favorite toys are the plastic beads we bought on a whim at the store, probably because he's had teeth coming in more frequently. We bought two more of the exact same thing so we don't have to move them around as much (stroller, car, home, diaper bag, etc.). He also really loves his spatula, and still enjoys moving around the house and banging it on different things. He adores the dog's cage, particularly the water bowl inside. He likes to stick his hand in and splash around. He loves books, both pulling them off the shelf or out of the bin and flipping the pages. He also still loved both Rocket and Tetley. I would estimate that each of them lose at least one handful of hair a day, but neither one will move out of his reach, so they must not mind too much. Tetley's tags are particularly attractive, especially since he got a haircut recently.

And nothing tops a bath, particularly if there are ducks and a cup involved. He moves from one end of the tub and back over and over again scooting to his heart's content.

He hates getting into the stroller or car seat, or really anywhere he is constrained. But he recovers fairly quickly, and still loves to go out and about. He likes the fish at home or anywhere else he sees them, and knows to look for airplanes based on the noise they make. He's still terrified of sudden loud noises like the blender and vacuum but is becoming accustomed to them again. He enjoys live music shows quite a bit, and sits for longer at those than anything else.

He's outgrown most of his nine month clothes and is hitting the limit even in some twelve month stuff, particularly if it's footed (like pajamas). Luckily most of his stuff is short sleeved even during the not very warm summer we're experiencing, and it's much harder to outgrow those items. A few nine month onesies will still fit with only a little extra showing at the neck. We will have to upgrade his sleep sacks in the near future even though they are labeled 6 to 12 months. He's just too long. On the other hand, he is just now getting into his 6 to 12 month shoes (size 3 I think). Before they had a little too much room in the toe and tripped him up when walking. Now he can manage in most of them with only a little spare wiggle room at the end. And he can be rough on shoes, especially outdoors when he sometimes drags his feet on the pavement.

With the exception of the crib, where we have never once found him sitting up, much less standing, he spends very little time lying down, on either his back and definitely not his stomach. He also has begun to hate diaper changes again because they require laying down for several minutes at a time. He has too much to see and do to put up with that inaction. He can handle steps up to about half his height. We have no idea where or how he learned to go over obstacles, but he swings one foot up and out until he can get his foot down and plows right along.

In sign language, he waves hi and even sometimes bye, but both are infrequent. He doesn't sign for changing as often, but that's probably because he hates the changing process so much more now. He does sign all done at the end of a diaper change. He has recently picked up the sign for more, and uses it to get more, mostly more goldfish. He is a huge pointer, and will point at whatever he wants these days. And once he sees something, he will not forget about it. It's harder and harder to distract him from his goal.

Overall Theo continues to delight and amaze us and we're looking forward, as always, to the next developments.

Family Photos from Atlanta and Cincinnati

We spent most of the last month on the east coast visiting family in Georgia and Ohio. All the photos of Theo on his adventures can now be seen online here and here. Keep in mind, however, that Xander (pictured here with Theo), who is 3 years old, had control of the camera and therefore the photos for a significant portion of the photos on my site.

Theo's June Photos

I finally got all the June photos uploaded. You can find the entire gallery here.

Theo's Nine Month Check-Up

Theo had a great visit to the doctor last week, mainly because the nine month check-up does not involve any vaccinations or other shots. He weighed in at 18 lbs and 14 oz, which puts him in the 36th percentile. In height, however, he rang in at 30 inches, which shoots him back up to the 97th percentile. That's three inches in three months! All that eating must be going to his legs. His head grew a bit, to 17.87 inches, which is not quite half an inch more than the six month measurement.

Theo at Nine Months

Boy, what a difference a month can make! Theo spent the majority of the last month traveling to see family, and he can home with an entirely new set of skills. Although he's been able to spin around in circles while sitting down for a while now, he can now intentionally scoot forward. He propels himself with his legs, kind of like a frog, so that both hands are free. In addition, two weeks and two days ago he learned how to walk. He still requires two adult hands to achieve this milestone, but now instead of standing, he wants people to tour him around various places. He knows how to turn and change directions, and it took him about three seconds to figure out that if he's facing you (which is typical when he pulls up on your fingers), then he needs to switch hands so that he is facing away. Otherwise his territory for roaming is limited. So he pulls up, lets go, switches hands, and takes off.

He went about four feet the first time he put one foot in front of the other, and he hasn't stopped since. I worried about the flight back since he likes to get around so much now, but he either understood that it was sitting only, or he wore himself out over the past three weeks moving around so much. Either way, it was one of the best flights we've had.

In other new skills, Theo drinks from a straw now. He has been drinking from a cup or glass for months. But previously, when given a straw, he would chew it or play with it rather than suck on it. One Varsity Frosted Orange fixed that. He mastered it in very short order, and drank a good portion of my Frosted Orange to boot. He also practiced on peach milkshakes from Chick Fil A, so I have a feeling he'll have very positive associations with straws for a while.

Just before Theo started walking around, he added a fourth meal of solids, between lunch and dinner. So he's eating solid food about every three hours now: breakfast between 8 and 9, lunch around 12, a snack in the afternoon (usually at three unless he's sleeping), and dinner closer to 6. He nurses about five or six times a day most days, for just shy of an hour total. He still has one feeding during the night at four or five, he nurses again when he gets up around 7, then before both naps, before bed, and usually once more during the afternoon sometime.

He's still a great sleeper, especially overnight. He did well with the transition to east coast time, and even better coming back to the west coast. He goes to sleep around 7:30 most nights, wakes up between four and five to nurse, goes right back to sleep, and sleeps in anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours. He's usually worn out again by 9:30 or 10:00, and naps can range from 30 minutes to about an hour and ten minutes. He's fairly consistent about taking two naps a day, unless we're out and about during one of them and it happens outside the house in the sling or the car. Then sometimes he'll catch an extra short nap to help make up the deficit. He's still a distinct side sleeper, and for whatever reason, loves to stick his feet through the bars of the crib. That usually means that a sleep sack is required. At least three times during our trip, he got his entire leg stuck between the bars when he wasn't wearing a sack. He also generally rotates so that he sleeps parallel to the short sides of the crib. He's way too tall for this, but must like something about it. Otherwise he will scoot to a short end and prop his legs up so that his butt is against the bottom and his legs are out to the side or top. He has really taken to the flat hedgehog and grabs onto it when put drowsy into the crib, rolls over on his side, and passes out.

Theo loves attention - the more the better. He still loves going out, but has definitely hit the mama preference phase. As long as he can't see me, he's entirely okay. But as soon as I pass within his sight, he expresses a preference for me. Part of this attachment may be the result of traveling and staying in various new places where he wasn't as familiar with the environment, but it's definitely continued now that we're home as well.

Theo gets a huge kick out of banging things, although he seems to understand that hard things bang better. Most soft items he rarely tests for this feature. My parents had some silver mixing bowls and those were extremely popular. He also enjoyed canisters with plastic lids during our trip. They not only made great noise, but they rolled well. And very few things beat a ball these days. Theo will play "catch" rolling or throwing the ball "back" to you in turns. It rarely goes one hundred percent at the person playing, but it's clear he's trying. Now that he can scoot around, he likes to toss the ball and scoot after it, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat until he runs into something more interesting.

He pulls up on fingers only so far, although he will lean on the right height stuff. The light bulb for pulling up on furniture and other inanimate objects has not gone off yet. He can stand on his own leaning against his toy baskets or bookshelf or the coffee table, and play with things, but hasn't really started cruising. He does know to sit down when he finds something good walking around, to free us his hands for exploring. The mechanics are not one hundred percent, but he plops and doesn't seem to be bothered by the inelegance of it.

He really enjoys feeding himself finger foods now, too. Generally during mealtimes he requires something to keep his hands busy, either a toy or food. He has discovered graham crackers, and animal crackers, and both are very popular.

He's outgrown quite a few clothes, so we stocked up again while traveling, both from gifts and clearance items. He's moved into a size three shoe, which is a bit big and impairs walking slightly. Luckily nothing really slows Theo down once he's on his feet. If there's an obstacle, he plows through, over, or both, generally without slowing down to even acknowledge it.

He loves funny noises from people, but loud noises like the vacuum or blender send him straight to crying now. If he thinks you're doing something entertaining, he will reward you with a giggle. A few repeats and he's laughing hysterically. He's definitely still ticklish and will laugh when you make the sign for tickle, even before you actually touch him. His belly button is a particularly good tickle spot now, but under his chin, arms, around his hips, and the bottoms of his feet are also popular tickle spots.

Theo still loves all the animals, whether they are his or not. In fact, his first assisted steps were to walk over to a friend's dog. He tries hard to be gentle with animals but gets so excited when he's close to them that he starts flapping and hitting them. He's also bad about grabbing onto fur or tags and not letting go. Luckily Tetley is fairly permissive of this behavior and Rocket doesn't let it get that far.

Theo's favorite activity by far is bath time, although a kiddie pool is just as good for splashing and chasing toys around. He can spend twenty or thirty minutes in either easy, and we usually extract him after that. He's graduated to the big bathtub, although he would probably still use the bath bucket. I just feel sorry for him with his toes up past his ears squeezed in there.

Overall, Theo remains a delight to watch and interact with. We look forward to more milestones and developments in the months to come.

Theo at Eight Months

Today Theo celebrated his eight-month birthday today. We took the usual photos (and more photos) with his giraffe before breakfast, having learned from experience that last thing before bedtime is not always the best time of day for sitting still and smiling. It turns out, before breakfast is also not the best time for smiles either. At eight months, Theo cares a whole lot more about a) breakfast and b) the camera than c) the giraffe. He tossed the poor giraffe aside repeatedly, whereas he normally plays with the ribbon and the antennae quite happily, and refused to settle for anything but the red camera, and could not otherwise be distracted by much.

A few flaps of cloth garnered us a token smile or two for posterity's sake, but those were nothing compared to the gales of laughter we normally get with such nonsense - such delight that Michal and I tend to be in tears from laughing with him. We discover random things at least once a week that Theo finds hilarious, including the word "woo", as seen on video.

In addition to this morning's photos, we served up some scrambled eggs for a birthday breakfast. The eggs made him smile, which is a good sign, but they also made him gag, as he didn't spend enough time chewing the tiny bits. I mixed the remainder in with his pear oatmeal (just what it sounds like - oatmeal with a cube of pear mixed in) and he had no objection to that concoction. All in all, it was probably Theo's most proper breakfast to date. In the past three days, he has also increased his food repertoire to include spaghetti, bread crusts, and toast, mostly in an effort to widen the finger food possibilities. He's mastered picking up o's, although he is still perfecting the release mechanism and timing. Each o no longer gets the brilliant smile of satisfaction and he will stockpile them in his mouth limited only by his attention span, which thankfully is still quite limited. (Look! The dog! The cat! A spoon! With food on it! Ahhhh....)

Theo eats three meals a day, with the biggest usually reserved for dinner, the last meal of the day around 5:30. Lunch happens at 12:30 or beware, and breakfast is a slightly more relaxed 8:30 time frame. Until yesterday, dinner held the record at eight cubes, but he polished off nine cubes at lunch to blow that record out of the water, especially since the last six cubes were fortified with rice cereal. Theo can't stand rice cereal - he still throws it and everything else he's eaten in the last half hour up if you try (and I tried the homemade version too just to be sure), but we've got to get rid of the box somehow. He demolished one cube of chicken, two of sweet potato, and six of nectarines with the added rice cereal to set the new record. As you can probably tell, we're moving on to proteins. He got chicken last week with no complaints from anyone but me. (If you want my opinion, the best dieting strategy is to puree all your food into mush and voila - no appetite.) He's been consuming a little less than a large container of cottage cheese per week since we introduced it a few weeks ago, although he does eat less of it in one sitting now. Yogurt is fully back in favor as we've determined it had nothing to do with the outbreak of eczema, but avocado is definitely still top tier, with yogurt and mango and now possibly nectarine coming in second. He likes oatmeal, and we've taken to adding butter to his foods for a few extra calories. Theo still sports two teeth in the lower middle with no signs of any others impending.

Theo nurses about six to seven times a day for a total of about an hour. His daytime feedings are much less intense as he is easily distracted (see above). His best feedings are right before or during a sleep cycle, and to some extent, I think he's made a connection (unintentional on our part) that nursing means we're about to put him down to sleep. Therefore, he resists during the day, or makes sure to pop on and off to combat any sleepiness that ensues. I have, after three months, stopped pumping after every daytime feeding, and we've stopped supplementing with pumped milk after every feeding. We do still offer some extra milk from the bottle at night, although he generally only takes an ounce or two at most. I pump before bed and most nights it comes out roughly even. At last measure over a week ago, he weighed in at 18 pounds and 2 ounces, so it's definitely not affecting his growth too noticeably.

Theo gets up at 7, which usually means he wakes up between 6:20 and 6:45 and lies in his crib talking or otherwise until we go fetch him at 7. By 7 p.m. he is fairly insistent about starting the nighttime routine, which consists of changing into pajamas, reading two books, getting bundled up for the night (more on this section in a moment), and nursing before being put down. He wakes up almost regularly at 4 a.m. for a feeding, although he can go as late as 5:30 a.m. occasionally. Now that the weather hits 60 degrees some days, and the house heats up from sunshine to over 70, we have managed to wean him to sleeping in a onesie, fleece pajamas, and his thicker "winter" sleep sack. Prior to that, we put him in the long-sleeved onsie, fleece pajamas, folded a blanket in half and wrapped it around his middle under his arms so that there were actually four extra layers on his belly, and velcroed that in place - all before putting him in the fleecy sleep sack. He still woke up with cold hands and ears some nights.

For whatever reason, Theo not only seems to be a side sleeper, but he also appears to prefer sleeping side to side in the crib. By this I mean that he shoves his feet through the bars and squashes his neck at a somewhat awkward angle so that he can fit in the shorter distance between the sides of the crib rather than the much more accommodating length of the crib. No matter which way we place him in the crib, he generally rotates 90 degrees to obtain this desired location by the time he's done resting.

Theo naps two to three times a day, depending on the length and timing of the naps. He is generally ready to pass out by 9:00 a.m. again, and the latest he's managed is 9:40. He sleeps anywhere from 25 minutes (a bad nap) to 1 hour and 20 minutes (a very good nap), but on most days is reliably up again by 10. His next nap can start as early as noon, but is more generally between 1:00 and 1:30, especially since lunch perks him up a bit. If he has a thirty minute nap (usually because we're out and about, so it happens in the sling, stroller, or car), he will generally head back down later in the afternoon for a third and final nap. Otherwise he's good to go for about four to four and half hours until 7:00 or bedtime, whichever he determines comes first.

Theo still loves the animals, with Rocket taking top spot simply because she is less available and attentive. Tetley is usually good for a laugh, too. As for toys, Theo loves things that don't belong to him, like water bottles, cups, spoons, paper, and cards. He has definitely learned object permanence and cries when things are removed before he finished with them. More importantly, it's much harder to distract him unless the new token is as "forbidden" as the removed item. In the actual toy department, Theo still enjoys his 0-ball, his Easter eggs, his bucket, his maraca, and his one giant plastic orange bead. He likes to listen to his jukebox music box.

Theo has a distinct preference for smooth jazz and possibly classical music. We learned this taste in music by trial and error when he fussed in the car with Michal's music playing. Once we changed the stations off the rap and techno, we didn't hear a peep out of him the rest of the trip even though he was still very wide awake.

As for movement, Theo can and will pull on just about anything horizontal. Instead of crawling or rolling to get to things, he has learned to pull on the blanket. Since he's almost always sitting on one (a side benefit of not rolling off), objects on the blanket come to him. He still hates tummy time, but will lean, roll 95% of the way onto his belly, and hover and stretch to get to desirable objects. He stands extremely well, especially if there is anything to lean against or hold onto, so it's only a matter of time before he's truly mobile. He has no concept of self-preservation, and squirms and throws his weight around when you're holding him now in an attempt to acquire whatever has grabbed his attention - the faucet, pots, things in the refrigerator, etc.

Overall, Theo remains an extremely happy easy-going boy with a few distinct eating and musical preferences. He still loves to go out and about and has only a bit of anxiety when we leave his sight at home or worse, when we hand him off to someone else but he can still see us.

Happy eight months Theo!

Theo and Friends

We took Theo to the park on Sunday to enjoy the fabulously warm (ie 70-degree) weekend weather that is long overdue this year. We threw all three boys into Theo's little red wagon and took some photos before he made his friend cry. Then we calmed his friend down and did it all over again, including the making him cry part. I would feel worse about it if the photos weren't so darn cute. In order from left to right are Theo, Colin, and Leo. Guess who's about to cry? If only Theo didn't seem so pleased with himself...

May Photos

Theo had lots of fun adventures in May, including the previously posted photos from our trip to Mexico, and sprouting his first two teeth. See the entire lot of photos here.

Sunday with Theo

Sunday we took Theo to see the Nick Cave exhibit at the Seattle Art Musuem. If you have a chance to see this exhibit, we all highly recommend it. Even Theo was totally enthralled. I don't really care or know much about art but this stuff was fun and fascinating for all ages.

In the afternoon we took Theo on his first hike to Twin Falls. He seemed to like the hike but did not see much of the falls, as you will see in the last photo.

Theo in Mexico

We took Theo on his second plane ride, and our first big family vacation, to Cabo, Mexico for the wedding of John and Becca. Theo was already an international traveler with our drive to Whistler back in February, but this time around he got the stamps in his passport to prove it. See more photos here.

Theo did well on three out of four flights. (There were no direct flights from Seattle to Cabo at this time of year. In the future, I don't think we'll be visiting places that require an additional stop.) The second flight on our way down, he popped his second tooth through. He might have been okay at that, too, but our seats were switched to the row in front of the only screaming child (around age 3 years, believe it or not), who woke Theo up after only 15-20 minutes of napping on that flight. Since we left the house at 6 a.m., at least an hour before Theo's normal wake up time, we started the day - and the trip - short on sleep.

Despite all that, Theo managed the travel and the associated changes extremely well. He stuck to his normal eating schedule like glue. He was a little more flexible with sleeping, although that is generally true at home as well.

The infinity swimming pool provided the biggest highlight of the trip. Of course, since my camera isn't waterproof, I have no photos of that part. But the video camera did well in recording every moment of that. Theo floated around in our borrowed inflatable complete with shade canopy. He also enjoyed playing with his toys, especially his duck, while being held. It turns out that holding Theo takes much less effort when you're in the water. He spent some time floating as well. We even dunked him once since he kept trying to dip his face in the water. Theo did not appreciate the dunking. At all.

On Saturday we also took Theo to the beach to let him explore the sand. It took him longer to get around to sampling it than I would have thought. Because of the heat and the presence of ants in the sand, we didn't hang out there long, but it was quite entertaining to everyone involved. Theo was a hit with everyone, joining us for the first part of the rehearsal dinner as well as the beginning of the wedding and reception. He actually cried at the wedding itself, but I can't say I blame him. It was downright hot, with no shade, on the beach in the sand - very pretty, but not Seattle baby friendly. It turns out that lounging around in a resort all day is quite baby friendly, though, so we all managed to have a great time despite the heat.

Theo's best souvenir is the second tooth he now sports. More photos and videos to come as they get uploaded.

Theo at Seven Months

Theo turned seven months old on Friday. We took him to Mexico to celebrate. Actually, we visited Cabo for a wedding, but the trip happened to fall on Theo's seven month birth date on Friday the 13th. We did celebrate by taking him in his first swimming pool that afternoon, and even giving him some non-homemade guacamole for the first time ever. He liked the pool and loved the guacamole, as usual. We missed his monthly photo shoot due to our travel plans, so his seven month photos (which start on photo 148) were actually taken on the 16th instead of the 13th.

Theo, at seven months, has his first two teeth. Neither one is very far along, but both were definitely visible outside the gum line by seven months. He blows raspberries, sometimes for fun and sometimes because he's mad. You can tell he's excited when he makes his usual inhaling noise, but also when he shakes his head back and forth rapidly. He's definitely a charmer, whether it's a stranger or someone he knows, and he prefers to have all the attention of everyone in sight. Going out never fails to entertain him, but he has discovered a preference for mama, especially if she's in sight and particularly if he is hungry or tired.

He still sits like a champ, but has discovered he can reach things by leaning. Theo has no sense of self preservation whatsoever. He can grab objects outside his immediate area by supporting himself with one hand and picking things up with the other. He will also roll three quarters of the way over to acquire things, but if it requires the complete roll to his belly he'd rather complain about it and wait for someone to move it closer. He has also developed the pincer grasp recently, exploring smaller things with his thumb and index finger. He loves to rub any tags he can find this way. He has been thrilled with a host of new things to excite giggles, and you never know what will enthrall him. He still loves anything that's not actually meant to be a toy, especially if he sees us using it. Balls are especially exciting, and that pretty much applies to anything that rolls, from Easter eggs to cars. We celebrated not only his first Easter this month but also my first mother's day. He seemed to enjoy both occasions.

Theo sleeps fairly well during the night, still going to sleep by 7:30 each night and not waking up until somewhere between 4 and 5:20 a.m. He has gotten much better about "sleeping in" and will let us rest until around 7:15 or 7:30 a.m. these days. He spends a lot more time moving around in the crib, sometimes rotating up to 180 degrees. He eats three meals of solid food a day, and is nursing six times a day most days. His favorite solid food is still, by far, avocado, although he does seem to like the mangoes as well. He eats everything else (sweet potato, squash, yogurt, pears, and bananas) with about the same enthusiasm. He drinks water from his sippy cup with some meals. In Mexico, he drank about half a bottle of water from a regular plastic cup. It was hot down there! He also drank water from his red bucket, even though we had just poured it in there for him to play. He picked it up with both hands and tilted it like a pro, and we had to refill it several times before he drank enough.

At his last weigh in almost two weeks ago, he tipped the scales at 17.5 lbs. Theo continues to grow and delight us every day in new and amazing ways.