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.

Seattle to Portland Bike Ride

This past weekend I rode in the Seattle to Portland bike ride for the third time. So far I've ridden it once every five years, and that's a good timeframe -- it's not so often that you're bored, but it's often enough to know you're still in okay shape. The ride consists of 204 miles and most people, including myself, do it in two days. I passed two guys doing it on skateboards and one on a unicycle along the way. The STP is generally pretty "easy" in that there aren't a lot of hills (the second day is definitely hillier though, and US-30 into Portland is a pretty unpleasant stretch as it's a major highway with lots of traffic) and I generally latched onto pacelines going about 20mph when I could. The first day was definitely easier in terms of finding a paceline to join since there are more people on the road (both the two day and one day riders) and everyone starts from Seattle in a 3-hour window. The second day, folks start whenever (though I suspect it's roughly the same 3-hour window of 5:30am to 8:30am) but the one-day riders (25% of the 10,000 riders) are no longer on the road, and since there are many different places to stop for the night, not everyone is starting from the same point (most folks seem to stop in Centralia and Chehalis, but I spent the night in Winlock; Napavine, Kelso, Castle Rock, and Vader all have folks overnight as well) so the group is both smaller and much more spread out on the second day, making it harder to find a group that's going the speed I want. The second day's hills also make it more challenging since I not only have to find a group that's going the speed I want on the flats, but a group that also goes the same speed I want to go downhill and (generally) a speed I can keep up with going up hill. Needless to say I think about a third of the second day I was on my own, while on the first day I hardly ever was on my own.

Ultimately I finished in 12 hours of riding (plus rests) with an average speed of 16.7mpg and a maximum speed of 39.6mph (hooray for drafting downhill!). The total odometer for the trip says I biked 215.60 miles.

You can see my GPS track below, and check out the captioned photos I took along the way.

STP 2011

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Bellevue, Washington

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.

Seattle to Portland Bike Ride

While Sarah and Theo are still in Atlanta, I've returned to Seattle and am riding in the Seattle to Portland bike ride Saturday and Sunday. It's a 204 mile, two-day event. I've done it twice before -- with Sarah 5 years ago, and also 10 years ago. I seem to have this every-five-year thing going on, which is about right -- it's often enough to know I can still do it, but not so often that training takes up every year. You might have seen some of my STP training rides posted on the blog via Everytrail in the past few weeks; it's now time for the real thing. Starting tomorrow at 5:15am pacific time, you can track my location in real time below (to conserve my phone's battery, this will update only every 5 minutes).

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.

IMDb: What Do I Do?

I'm pretty confident pretty much no one knows exactly what my team does, so I had some time to kill and took a giant screenshot of the IMDb title page for The Hangover II and highlighted the components which my team (which consists of me and 3-4 other folks) works on. Where I've highlighted an entire component, we're rendering that component and likely own the pages and functionality it links to. Where I've highlighted just a link, we own the page that it links to. Click through for a full-size image.

Twin Falls Hike

On Memorial Day Weekend (that's last weekend) we took Theo for his first-ever hike in a brand new backpack carrier. It is a pretty easy hike -- 2.4 miles round trip with 500 feet of elevation gain -- but about the right length for Theo. He took a short nap but otherwise seemed to have a great time. Have a look at all the photos, or check out the GPS track below:


If you prefer a more detailed view, see the hike on Everytrail.

And finally, here's the carrier we bought:

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.

More Photos from Mexico

As promised in Sarah's post a week ago, I've uploaded more photos and videos (of Theo in the pool in particular!) from our extended weekend trip to Cabo, Mexico. You can see them all here and don't forget about Sarah's photos as well.

Theo's First Cheerios!

Theo got started eating oatmeal this week, which made him eligible to eat Cheerios. We had previously given him some rice cereal which he could pick up and put in his mouth, but he never quite got the concept of releasing, so it always came back out of his mouth. With Cheerios however, Theo soon discovered that he could let go and eat the O. He had a great time eating maybe 6 of them, and he'll be getting more for sure.

While I have your attention, I'll note that the Rhododendron has started blooming in our front yard; it's been a pretty cool spring so it's quite late -- last year it went off in February.

As usual, click the images above for a gallery of more photos.

Michal's Wishlist

Just in case you needed a link.

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.

Entertainment

Entertainment

Theo in His Exersaucer

Theo in his new Exersaucer. He's beginning to get the idea to put his feet down, but he still moves himself around the circle by pulling with his arms. He has a blast though, so it's hard to complain. This video features one of his first times playing in it.

Conversations with Theo

Michal has taught Theo to shake his head. That might not sound remarkable, but it's really entertaining. Theo will shake his head back and forth rapidly now, especially when he's trying to communicate with Michal. He does it sometimes during the day as well, but the frequency definitely picks up when Michal comes home. I caught the two of them having a head shaking conversation on video.