Leaps and Bounds

I don't know if all the new people and places is good for him, if he was just due for some developmental steps, or if the new environment has given him the chance to display skills he already had and hadn't had an outlet for. But, whatever the cause, Nicholas has gotten much more expressive and interactive in the past couple days. He is a child who knows what he wants and is coming up with ways to express it.

It has actually been such a dramatic jump that I'm not entirely convinced that all of these things are intentional. In fact, when he answered "Yeah" when I asked if he was ready for bed tonight, I was positive it was not intentional. But when he was fussy and I set him down and told him to walk where he wanted to go and he walked straight for the high chair, I think he actually may have been trying to tell me he was hungry. He certainly was excited to eat when I then fed him.

He has also started moving our hands to get them to do what he wants. So when he couldn't figure out how to open a cabinet, he grabbed my hand and put it on the handle. And when he was sitting and playing and wanted to walk over to something on the other side of the room, he grabbed my hands to pull himself up. And when he thought I was holding him back, he pulled my hands off of him. (In this last case it was counter-productive, because if I had actually let go of him he would have fallen, but he didn't get quite that far in the thought process.)

He has also been talking up a storm in the past couple days. He has a couple sets of sounds that really sound remarkably like real words and phrases, but we really aren't sure about intentionality. He says "hi" a lot all of the sudden. Is it just his syllable of the week or is he actually saying hi? Who knows. The other two phrases of the day seem like they have to be coincidence. When Joe asked "How are you?" it really sounded like Nicholas replicated it. But that seems way beyond his capability. And he has been saying a string of syllables that sound remarkably like "I get it." He then does usually reach for something, but he is constantly reaching for something, so I'm willing to chalk that up to coincidence as well. Even the proud mother I am, I seriously doubt these are actual words. Mostly I'm just excited that he is babbling a lot more, likely from being around lots of people constantly for a week.

Another new discovery in Nicholas-land is that whoever is holding him when he is looking in the mirror is in two places. He suddenly has started looking at us in the mirror and then turning to look at us in person. And looking back again. It is as though he has suddenly realized that Mommy (or Daddy) is both holding him and in front of him and is trying to figure it out.

He has also gotten much more active at looking around the person who is holding him to see the people and things beyond. And squirming out of your lap when he wants to be somewhere different.

You can also see it in the peas incidents Joe wrote about. Nicholas figured out he couldn't cry with his mouth open, so was whimpering with his mouth closed. But when he grabbed the spoon from me and had his hand over the scoop part he started crying with his mouth open, having put together the pieces that if he had the spoon I couldn't sneak peas in while he opened his mouth. I've been outsmarted by a 7-month old.

I haven't done a very good job of articulating the change because in many ways it is hard to put my finger on. But at moments during the past couple days it has been like I could see the baby being replaced by the little boy in front of my eyes. These developmental changes seem to come in such spurts.

Roadblock

Peas are apparently over the line.

Nicholas has been, until today, an excellent eater.  He's tried sweet potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and corn, pears, applesauce, peaches, bananas, and a combo of bananas, apples, and pears.  When first trying each food, he would often make a bit of a face at the new flavor.  But each time he finished the container, and by the second container seemed to thoroughly enjoy the new food, whatever it was.

After two meals we're not even halfway through the first container of peas.  Nicholas has decided that he does. not. like. peas.  The first bite he took energetically (how should he know what's coming until it gets there?), but then made a face that says, in any language, "ew, gross!!!"  He clamped his mouth shut.  Then he started crying, and I snuck a second spoonful into his mouth.  So he started turning his head to the side so I couldn't reach his mouth, and was whimpering (since he couldn't open his mouth).  We gave up after a few minutes and moved back to his usuals.

At dinner, we tried again, and by then he'd learned even more tricks.  Not only did he refuse to take the mouthful, not only did he turn his head.  Now he wanted to grab the spoon to play with—if I keep this away from Mommy, she can't put icky stuff on it!  You could practically hear the gears working.  Grandpa Dan suggested letting him put some on his fingers so he could acclimate himself that way, but that just made him more upset; that meant he couldn't even suck his thumb!

We're trying to look on the bright side.  In about six hours, he learned a plethora of new skills and ways to communicate, all based on peas.  Of course, he still won't eat them, and I'm not sure what will convince him to do so.

(And, frankly, the peas were actually not the greatest.  I licked some off the spoon when we switched him to sweet potatoes, and the peas had a strange aftertaste.  So I can sort of sympathize with the child.  But don't tell him that.)

Anybody have any tips for smoothing the transition to the greens, short of holding his mouth open?  That is, we're looking for solutions that don't involve Child Protective Services.

Mommy's Happy Place

We went up to Cincinnati yesterday to visit with my college friends, which, as always, made me really happy.

Nicholas had fun too. He doesn't have any cousins yet, so my college friends' kids sort of serve that role. We get together a couple times a year and the dynamic is pretty similar to what I remember with my cousins growing up. The girls who all lived together are like the siblings (sitting around chatting, reminiscing, with our own culture), the husbands are the in-laws (sitting around watching football and making small talk), and the kids bounce around between all the adults (who they are familiar with and comfortable around and yet see so rarely as to be exciting).

Anyway, Nicholas loved watching the "big kids" (Matthew, 4, and Emily, 2) run around and made friends with Audrey (11 months). Not to mention all the toys that Audrey has that he hasn't seen before. And a bunch of adults who love to play.

Here the kids are playing nicely:

From Louisville Dec 09

We tried to get a group picture, with only marginal success. First they were too distracted by toys:

From Louisville Dec 09

And then we made the mistake of putting the two littlest ones next to each other. Audrey grabbed ahold of Nicholas' collar and pulled him down onto her lap.

From Louisville Dec 09

The kids were stunned, but the adults couldn't stop laughing.

My Grown-Up Christmas List

There are various points when it becomes increasingly clear that we have officially entered parenthood, and that I am officially a father.

Getting a tie and a belt for Christmas definitely qualifies.

Now, to be honest, Sarah and Nicholas were trying to be sweet and helpful.  As those who know us know, in about two weeks we're headed to a conference where we'll both be interviewing for jobs, and they wanted me to have a fun new tie to wear.  Plus Sarah noticed that my dress belt wasn't looking its best anymore.

Despite that, I've been having a chuckle the last few days noting that I got the most stereotypical Dad present ever, even if I do kind of like the idea.

Baby's First Christmas

From Louisville Dec 09

Nicholas had a very busy and exciting first Christmas. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow, but here is the condensed version.

We spent Christmas Eve at my dad's parents' house, where all but a handful of the over 75 family members were there. To give you some indication, Nicholas is one of 3 great-grandkids under the age of 1, out of a total of 18. So it gets a little crazy there at Christmas, but in the good way of a large close-knit family and decades-long traditions. In fact, there were some times when I looked at Nicholas and could see pictures of me and my brother in the same spots as babies.

After keeping Nicholas up 3 hours past his bedtime last night, we had a pretty mellow day today, hanging out with my mom's parents at their house. Nicholas was very interested in the toys Santa left in his stocking. He is also thrilled to be the only kid with 6 adults. At one point he insisted on walking to each person one-by-one. After he did that he then very deliberately walked back over to his toys. Actually, now that I think of it, he spent a lot of the day walking around exploring the house. My knees are pretty sore.

There are dozens of pictures in the gallery, but here is my favorite:

From Louisville Dec 09

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all have a wonderful day!

From Nicholas - Month 7

From Baptism Weekend

All the best,
Joe, Sarah, and Nicholas

Ah, vacation

We have arrived in Louisville, where we will be for the next week, celebrating Christmas and the 60th anniversaries of both of my sets of grandparents.

Nicholas didn't do as well with the 600-mile drive as he did in August, but with the exception of one 45-minute screaming jag he was pretty good.  But, man do carseats take up a lot of room.  Even in my parents' minivan, sitting next to his carseat for hours is extremely uncomfortable.

But here we are, safe and sound, and I can feel the stress and tension melting off of me in layers.  In case you hadn't guessed from my recent blog silence, I've been up to my eyeballs (or beyond) in work of late.  And although Joe and I both need to get some work done while we're here, the pace necessarily must relax.  In fact, we've declared the next three days work free.  Yay for Christmas!

From Nicholas - Month 7

Christmas Eve may not be until tomorrow, but Christmas started early for this very-loved little boy.  Since it didn't make sense to drag a lot of stuff to Louisville and back, we opened presents that had come by mail and exchanged presents with each other and my parents and brother ahead of time.  We actually let Nicholas start on Saturday as a way to occupy him during the snowstorm and have done a couple a day since then.  He is starting to get the hang of unwrapping (slowly but surely), although I think he sees the goal as pulling the paper off so he can put it in his mouth, rather than to discover what is underneath.  There are some more pictures of this, as well as a video of him enjoying one of his new toys, in the Gallery.  Thank you, aunts and uncles.

The other big event in Nicholas' life this past week was snow.  And lots of it.  I don't know what the official total was near us, but somewhere around 20 inches.  I really wanted to take a picture of Nicholas standing in it, with snow up to his shoulders but since he doesn't own snowpants or boots I decided that it wasn't a good idea.  So instead you are stuck with these:

From Nicholas - Month 7

From Nicholas - Month 7

Nicholas mostly just seemed baffled by the snow.  He really enjoyed looking out at it, but he seemed more confused than excited.  It makes sense, though.  Every time he starts to feel comfortable with the way the world looks and knows what to expect when he looks outside, the seasons go and change on him.  Suddenly everything is white and he has no understanding of why.  I think playing with the snow will have to wait until next year.

We seem to have left the snow behind in Maryland, so no white Christmas this year.  But the practical part of me is okay with that--we have a lot of driving around to do.  Yay Christmas!

Thoughts for a Snowy Afternoon

Every time I look out the window, the snow seems like it's really intense.  Then I look again an hour later, and it's even more intense.  This storm, apparently, is the real deal.  Forecasts call for somewhere in the range of 15-20" by the time we're done, which would make the top ten snowfalls in Baltimore history.  And it has me thinking about various things snow-related.  This year, snow has taken on a different valance, because we just don't know where we'll be living this time next year.  Our map of possible jobs is beginning to narrow as we move into interview season, but it still spans a rather broad geography. Some jobs are in particularly snowy areas of the country, such as Upstate New York, interior Pennsylvania, or Maine.  Others are in the Southeast, where there's little snow at all.  Because it's hard to gauge right now how interested in us any individual school is, that leaves us random factors to think about when considering where we might move.

Like whether it snows.

Snow is beautiful, and makes the Christmas tree and Christmas music seem all the more appropriate (though I only remember one time that it actually snowed on Christmas Day ... thank God Santa Claus decided to re-stock the game shelf that year!).  When I was in college, I loved it.  Our campus looked picturesque, there were hired staff who cleaned all the walks, and I didn't own a car that needed to be cleaned.  Now, from our window, we have a good view of much of the parking lot at our complex, and for a while this morning a whole bunch of kids were out playing.  I hope Nicholas gets to experience that, because when you're a kid (if you let yourself be one), snow is just plain fun.  Even just looking outside at the snow gets him excited, so I'm looking forward to the chance that next winter he'll get to go out and play.  (There's over a foot of snow on the ground here, and he can't walk, so if we went out to "play," it would involve mostly putting him in the snow and watching him slowly vanish).

But when I look outside, I can see across the parking lot as our cars slowly disappear, and remember that at some point they need to be cleaned off, and the areas around them shoveled out.  That makes me hope we get a garage if we live in the north, even though I don't relish the thought of having to shovel a front walk and a driveway.  We'll just have to make sure we train Nicholas (and Cashew and Macadamia) to be more helpful than my brothers and I were when we were kids.  And having our own house looks positively wonderful when I realized this morning that the person parked next to us was cleaning out the parking space by moving the snow in front of our tires rather than putting it on the grass just a few feet away.  It didn't seem malicious, just unthinking, but it still rankles, and it's not usually a problem you'd have in your driveway.

Besides, not having snow means we've probably landed somewhere with a miserably hot and humid summer.  And I'd probably take the snow, even though I might get outvoted one to one by Sarah.

Parlor Tricks

One more video. Nicholas and I have been working on this little trick/routine/game for a while, and we finally are letting it out for public consumption.

From Nicholas - Month 7

It all started as a way to distract him when he was crying or yelling. He'd get so interested in what was causing the funny sound that he'd forget why he was upset in the first place. Now we just do it for fun. He likes to modulate his sound, which is especially fun to listen to. He'll start very soft and quiet, and then get loud and change the pitch.  And other people find it entertaining, which is really what we're looking for.

The Battle of the Sexes Begins

We went over to our friend Katie and Wes's house last night for some holiday cheer, latkes for the seventh night of Chanukah (Y. U. M. !), and to hang out with friends. And to see what sort of fun we could have taking videos of Nicholas and Alice (Katie and Wes's daughter) playing.

From Nicholas - Month 7

Can you say jackpot? (click above for hilarious video)

I'll also post one other photo (there are more in the galleries, Grandmas of the world!), since Sarah has been trying for months to get both babies to (a) look at the camera and (b) smile while doing so. We finally have success!

From Nicholas - Month 7

A Bullet Point Post

Over the last few days, I've had a number of two-line thoughts that seemed worthy of sharing (or that I'm narcissistic to think others would be interested in), but nothing for a full blog post.  So you get bullet points!

• We have now lost our coffee table from the living room, and it was high time.  Nicholas has gotten far too mobile, which means he either ends up under things, or runs the risk of banging his head against a hardwood table leg if we look away for thirty seconds.  So the coffee table is now in the Great Furniture Storage in the Sky, or as it's more commonly known, my in-laws' attic.
• Nicholas is going through a bit of a mommy phase.  He only wants Sarah.  And if he's with someone else and sees me, he'll be okay to come to me ... as long as I understand that I'm to take him to his mommy immediately.  One morning this week he woke up from his nap (Sarah was out working), and he raised his arm toward the bedroom when I got him out.  If he can't see her in the living room or kitchen, that's where he assumes she is, and I'm to take him there, like pronto.  It's a bit frustrating, especially for Sarah, but we also realize (most of the time) that it's a phase, and he'll move on to some other obsession in a few weeks or months.
• But, one unforeseen consequence—and one that Nicholas surely doesn't welcome—is that this phase has cured Sarah of a bit of her "new mommyness."  In other words, crying no longer automatically breaks her heart.
• Nicholas is so much like me, he even has the same scrunched-up shoulders!
• Nicholas is so little like me, he loves to play "flying baby!"
• That just means that I'm holding him high in the air and saying, "flying baby!"  It doesn't involve throwing of any kind, I assure you.  Because of that game (and a few others), he's starting to learn that when someone says "1 ... 2 ... 3!" something fun is usually about to happen to him.  Which reminds me also that it's interesting, and an absolute societal good that most adults seem to agree that "3" is the proper count on which to do things, like, say, pass off a baby.

That's about it for now.  Things are pretty crazy here at the moment, what with preparing for Christmas, conferences, the job market, and trying to feed and clothe ourselves.  But we're managing, and Nicholas is thriving, so we're doing okay.

A Future Minister of Silly Walks?

Until his balance improves and he gets a little more stable, watching Nicholas walk will remind me of this Monty Python sketch.  Enjoy!



Monty Python Ministry Of Silly Walks - The best video clips are right here

Salon Style ... Or Not

A mental image (since I don't usually have the camera out circa 7am) for your Friday morning:

Nicholas has taken to refusing to let us dry his hair after his bath, which has led to some pretty funny early-morning hairdos.  (Today it's a simply spike towards the front.)

Our Little Vampire

From Nicholas - Month 7

This picture reveals two important things:

1) both of his vampire teeth (I think they are technically called canines, but "vampire teeth" is much more fun) have now cut through the gum

2) he was a much happier baby today.

It has been a rough week and a half with all the shots and teething and rash, but today he finally seemed to be feeling like himself. And the rash is looking dramatically better. Not completely gone, but a big improvement. And he was in a good mood--smiley and agreeable most of the day. He very patiently helped me get some Christmas shopping done and we had a lot of good playtime (including a marathon rolling session, where he rolled to his left 7 or 8 times in succession and then when he reached the edge of the living room started rolling back and forth in place--the very end of this hilarity is on film in the gallery)

If it's not one thing . . .

There is never a dull moment here. This round of teething isn't necessarily done, but it seems to have hit a less painful phase, so he has been in a much better mood the past couple days. Unfortunately, almost immediately a rash appeared, first on his chest and now basically everywhere. The doctor didn't think it was a food allergy, but had us stop the squash that Nicholas had begun a couple days earlier just in case. It doesn't seem to be bothering him and he doesn't have a fever, so neither we nor the doctor are very concerned. However, it also doesn't seem to be getting any better on its own and so we may need to go in to the pediatrician's office sometime in the next couple days.

The positive side to all this is that the rash appeared on a Sunday night and it is still only Tuesday. It seems things like this always usually appear on Friday nights or on holidays or right before a trip--any time it is difficult to get to a doctor.

This boy has had more skin issues than I knew existed. Although I guess in terms of a set of health issues to have, skin issues are one of the better ones.

Happy St. Nick's Day

For those of you who don't know, St. Nicholas' feast day is December 6th. In some traditions (I think German and Dutch) St. Nick brought kids presents on his feast day each year. This is a tradition my family continued during my childhood. (No, we're not German or Dutch, but that is what happens when you live in enough different areas of the country over generations--you pick up things.) And, yes, Santa Claus still comes on Christmas.

And so today our little Nicholas experienced his first St. Nick's Day.

From Nicholas - Month 7

Growing up St. Nick used one of our socks rather than the larger stockings, but Nicholas' socks couldn't hold anything that wasn't a choking risk.

And what did St. Nick bring?

Some sippy cups since Nicholas is so interested in trying to drink out of our glasses.

From Nicholas - Month 7

And a few bibs because we can't do laundry quickly enough to keep up with his meals.

From Nicholas - Month 7

He was pretty nonplussed by the whole thing. He was interested in the sippy cups, but mostly in trying to chew on the spout. We may need to wait and try again when he isn't teething. (There will be a day eventually when he goes more than 2 weeks without teething, right?)

Another Christmas Card Picture

From Nicholas - Month 7

Apparently all it took to start getting good Christmas card pictures was to order the cards. Oh well, at least we have the blog as a venue where we can share them with you.

Last night was the annual department holiday party and, as is our tradition, we took pictures in front of the Christmas tree beforehand. There was really no hope of getting Nicholas looking at the camera and smiling with the self timer, so we also took ones of each of us with him. (I then joked that it was Nicholas' turn to take one of the two of us. But since he would just try to eat the camera, we didn't try that.) The individual shots are in the gallery.

It's Snowing

From Nicholas - Month 7

Nicholas was fascinated by the snow he could see falling when he looked out the window, so we took him outside to look at it. He wasn't up for playing with it at all yet--he was too busy staring intently trying to figure out what in the world was going on.

Christmas Card Pics

If we hadn't already ordered our Christmas cards, I think we'd have a new front runner for the picture to put on them.

From Nicholas - Month 7

What picture did we choose, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait until it arrives at your door. You know, once we find the time to address them and get them in the mail.

That Makes More Sense

As readers of the blog know, little Nicholas has had a rough week, needle-wise.  He got his regular 6-month vaccinations on Monday, the H1N1 shot on Wednesday, and seasonal flu yesterday.  (Just typing that makes me feel a little cranky.)  Yesterday, and overnight, he's been very cranky and inconsolable relative to his normal self.  This had me mildly concerned that his body might be just a bit overwhelmed at the moment at the massive immune response we've asked of it.  Mommy has ranged from upset to apoplectic.

However, this morning while changing his diaper and getting him dressed, I happened to look inside his mouth at his upper gums.  Lo and behold, there's another tooth coming in, this time on top!  I put him down to wash my hands (as always), and then went over to tell Sarah.  Her response?  "Well now I'm glad he's in pain!"

Ahem.

Since then, I've discovered that he has two teeth coming in simultaneously on top, the ones just off center (which is odd, but apparently more-than-theoretically possible).  Plus, the center of his top gum looks pretty swollen, so I wouldn't be surprised if the center two teeth follow close behind.  So he's definitely double-teething, and possibly quadruple-teething.  No wonder he's been fussy.

It's also funny to note that the doctor on Monday had told us that by the time we saw him next (at the beginning of March for Nicholas's 9-month appointment), Nicholas might have "two to four more teeth."  I don't think he meant by the end of the week.

The Horse Says "Neigh"

Nicholas has recently taken an interest in one of his books that involves animal noises. His favorites are the cat and the horse. Almost without fail he will smile when I do those two, and occassionally he laughs out loud. Apparently Mommy is a funny horse.

Germbusters

We really didn't mean to turn this blog into one of those "Look how wonderful our child is!" blogs.

But today he was pretty impressive.

After his check-up on Monday, we looked around to see if any agencies or other entities had the H1N1 vaccine so that he could get the first dose.  (Apparently, for children under 10 years of age, they give a half-dose, followed by a booster half-dose at least 28 days later.  We obviously wanted to get him started so we could get the calendar moving on the second shot.)  As it turns out, the Baltimore County Department of Health was having a clinic today, by appointment, at their offices.  And since I'm on duty today, I got to take him.

I did not anticipate the crowds, which is my fault.  But Nicholas handled himself marvelously through the whole process.  He didn't notice that there was no parking (as long as we're moving, he can't really tell that we're just circling the parking lot, and circling, and circling ...).  The DOH did a good job, considering that this is probably a more massive public outreach than they're used to, and the fact that they had to reconceptualize all of their office space to do it.  There was a logjam at the door, because they weren't letting people upstairs to the offices unless they'd made an appointment.  Then there was a logjam in the elevator lobby upstairs because that's where they set up the paperwork.  Then we had to stand on line to wait to be admitted to the waiting area.

Notice how I haven't mentioned Nicholas's behavior once yet, because he was totally fine through all of this.  When I sat down to fill out the form, he tried to grab the form and the pen from me, but otherwise he was perfectly content.  He watched the older kids (meaning 2-5 years old) moving around.  Actually, now that I mention it, all of the kids were well-behaved.  Almost none were crying on the way out, after having gotten the shot.  The only one my part of the line noticed was one who only got upset when his father tried to put his jacket on.  These kids definitely earned their "I'm a Germ Buster!" stickers today.

Once in the waiting area, I finally got to sit down (by the way, he is getting heavy).  As an aside, they had an episode of Sesame Street on for the kids, and the only thing I noticed was how young Bob looked compared to seeing him on the Thanksgiving Day parade last week (he has his own website ... who knew?)  Turns out the episode was from 1985, which explains it.

Anyway, things moved pretty well.  They even handled our detour to get an OK from a physician pretty well.  Nicholas got flagged because of one of his shots from Monday, but it turns out that it's fine for the shot rather than the nasal spray.  He cried for about 30 seconds after the shot, and then was happy again, at least until I tried to put him in the car.  All told, it only took about 40 minutes, which is not bad considering how many people (and especially kids) they were moving through.  But it involved sitting and waiting patiently, which are not often traits associated with six-month-olds, so Nicholas has earned a gold star for the day, and the admiration of his father.

A Night of Firsts

Nicholas had a night full of firsts tonight. We started off with carrots. Yay for food with taste! He actually was a little skeptical at first, but polished off the entire container and, as you can see, was quite happy.

From Nicholas - Month 7

He then got cleaned up through two more firsts: his first solo bath and first time brushing his teeth. He was not a huge fan of being in the tub by himself and pulled himself up a couple times trying to get out and into my arms. But, he quite enjoyed the tooth brushing. I think it basically amounted to "Oh, cool, something fun in my mouth to chew on."

The other fun new thing in Nicholas' world is the Christmas tree. We've put it up and decorated it gradually over the past few days when we had a few minutes free here and there.

From Nicholas - Month 7

I am really glad he is 6 months old for December rather than 9 months old because if he could get over to the tree on his own, we'd be in trouble. As it is, he enjoys exploring it, but can only do so when we are standing right there to supervise. We put all the soft ornaments on the bottom, but I'm actually more worried about him getting a fake pine needle off and in his mouth than I am about him breaking ornaments.

6-month checkup

Nicholas went to the doctor this morning, and everything checked out fine. In what I am insisting on taking as good news, his growth has slowed down considerably, which means he should be okay in his infant carrier for awhile. He weighed in at 18 lbs 7 oz and 27 inches long. That puts him in the 75th percentile for both length and weight.

The really aggravating part of the visit was that he wasn't able to get the shots he actually needs. He got three vaccines for things he is unlikely to actually be exposed to, but there are no flu vaccines in sight. Babies aren't eligible to get flu vaccines until 6 months of age, but now that Nicholas is eligible, they don't have any left. Grrrr!

Our pediatrician is expecting to get in more seasonal vaccines soon, so we're supposed to call the office every few days until they arrive. And then hope that when it comes time for his second dose they haven't run out again. But they have no idea if or when they will get more H1N1 vaccines. And he needs two doses, so that means tracking down somewhere that has it in stock and is willing to give it to him and doing the whole thing twice. This is seeming like mission impossible. I was really hoping he'd have immunity by the time we began our Christmas and conference travels. It was also a key component to our plan to start part time daycare in January. So frustrating!

More snippets from the other room

Stop scratching the wall! Repeat after me: "I am not a cat."

Thanksgiving trip

As you probably gathered from the pictures in the last few posts, we went up to New York to spend Thanksgiving with Joe's family. Because of crazy work schedules, we ended up doing Thanksgiving on Wednesday, so we were there from Monday night to Thursday afternoon. A little weird, but it meant that all of the family could be together, which is the most important thing.

Nicholas was overwhelmed by the number of new people he met (and had trouble figuring out how to nap through noise for the first day or so), and so was a little extra cranky, but overall did a good job. We went into the city Tuesday morning and spent a couple hours with some friends of Joe's from high school and college. Wednesday morning we took him over to the boys' high school. Then that evening some family friends came by for a few hours. By Thursday afternoon when we stopped by a neighbor's house, he was very upset with us.

But he loved hanging out with his grandparents, uncles, and aunt. Now that he is old enough to enjoy silly antics and being tickled, having so many uncles is the best thing ever. There are a bunch of pictures from the trip in The Peanut Gallery, but here is one that captures the fun of being a little boy with a lot of uncles:

From Nicholas - Month 6

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I finally got a shot that gives you a pretty good view of his teeth:

From Nicholas - Month 6

We're now back home and have already jumped back into our normal routine. Joe has a big deadline (and with short notice) on Monday, so he will probably spend the next few days at the school library. I'm trying to figure out how to keep Nicholas occupied and take care of errands while avoiding the crowds, while simultaneously making Christmas presents, ordering Christmas cards, and you know, finishing my own dissertation. And so, yes, here I am blogging because it is much less intimidating.

Midyear Marvels

It's amazing to think that six months ago today, we were at the hospital with a baby we'd met less than twenty-four hours earlier.

It's even more amazing to compare that Nicholas with what he's become.  On the way home from New York, we stopped to take a break, switch drivers, and get a drink.  From the parking lot, we had a decent view of the highway, and Nicholas was fascinated.  So we stood and watched the cars go by (and the occasional truck).  He's gotten so grown up so fast, and sometimes it's just wonderful to watch.  Even when it's a little scary.

On another note, we hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We'll leave you with two photos, and a warning: sometimes the cuteness is so strong, it hurts!

From Nicholas - Month 6

From Nicholas - Month 6

6 month update

Nicholas' doctor's appointment is on Monday, so we'll post stats then, but for now, here is a summary of where Nicholas stands at 6 months.

In terms of tangible skills learned, this has been the month of gross motor development. He can now roll in any and all directions and is a proficient sitter and confident supported walker. Those first few hesitant steps I posted about a couple weeks ago have turned into walking marathons clear across the apartment. Joe and I spend a lot of time scooting around on the floor behind him. He, however, unlike a normal baby, seems to have no interest in scooting or crawling. We'll see if he ever does.

In the intangible category, he has started to seem more like a little boy than a baby. And I won't lie, it makes me sort of sad.

He has instituted a morning nap and shorter afternoon nap in place of his old habit of a marathon afternoon nap. In all honesty, this is not as convenient for us since it makes outings more difficult as well as harder to get a good chunk of schoolwork done during the day. But since walking across the apartment for him is roughly the equivalent of me running 3 miles, it makes sense that he is worn out by 10am.

Other than that, this was the month of getting his first two teeth, starting on solid foods, and exploring and interacting with the world in new ways. He is becoming an adventurous little boy who wants to take on the world and do it on his terms. And good luck to the person who tries to stand in his way. Sound like anyone else you know?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

From Nicholas - Month 6

First Day of School

From Nicholas - Month 6

We took Nicholas in to Uncle Patrick's high school today, which is the same high school Daddy and the other uncles also went to.  Nicholas was mostly wigged out by the loud teenagers, but the few teachers who were still around from Joe's day seemed to really enjoy meeting him and seeing all the brothers.

And, of course, we had to go hang out in the Latin room for awhile after school to give him an authentic experience.  Does he look ready for school?

From Nicholas - Month 6

Rising to the occasion

We have asked a lot of Nicholas in the past couple days--putting him in numerous situations that required a lot of patience and good behavior. Between dinner out Friday evening, shopping for suits for both me and Joe on Saturday morning, and church last night as a family, it has not been a baby-centered couple of days.

But he has been quite the trouper. Not perfect by any means (he melted down before the end of each of the first two activities), but tolerable. And, possibly most importantly, he let us accomplish what we needed to get done. He even made it all the way through mass without having to go up to the cry room. We had to do a little pacing in the back towards the end and I bought us the last few minutes by letting him walk around the back, but he made it most of the way through occupied by looking around and chewing on his board books.

He also rose to the occasion when it came to dinner last night, as Joe mentioned in his last post. After two less than successful attempts and a downright refusal to eat last night, I was mentally composing a post asking for suggestions on how to get him to eat rice cereal. He loved the idea of eating, but wanted nothing to do with the cereal. But on our second try last night, right as we were about to give up, we decided to let him try to help and it was like magic. Suddenly he couldn't get enough, even on spoonfuls when Joe did it for him instead of having him help. Remind me in the future when we're having trouble getting him to cooperate that we need to empower him to do it. It is something I mentally know from classes and training for working with older kids (although I never expected it to apply to a 5-month old), but I tend to forget it in practice.

Keep Your Hands Off the Spoon!

From Nicholas - Month 6

Apparently the key to getting him to eat rice cereal was to let him do it himself.

Okay, not quite, but letting him help (and using formally mixed formula instead of just adding some formula powder to the water and rice cereal) seems to have made something click tonight when we tried again to feed him.  As Sarah noted, we should have known that control would be an issue with this child.  Now we just need to get the consistency of the rice cereal thick enough so that we can get him onto food with, you know, flavor and such.

More Meaningful Contrast

I realized after posting this picture

From Nicholas Meets More Relatives

the other day, that it is only mind-boggling if you've seen him in his carseat recently.

So, for contrast, here he is the other day:

From Nicholas - Month 6

The angles aren't comparable, but you can basically see that he now completely fills out the carseat in all directions. My big fear is that he is going to exceed the limits for the infant carrier before our January trip. Dealing with the convertible carseat in taxis and/or rental cars will just be so much more complicated.

Baby's First Meal

We both have a ton of work to do tonight, so I'll just leave you with these pictures of this evening's adventure.

From Nicholas - Month 6

From Nicholas - Month 6

He had mixed feelings about the whole thing. We'll see what he thinks tomorrow.

A Matched Set

Nicholas' second bottom tooth cut through the gum overnight last night, joining its twin above the surface. Ironically, last night he slept for the longest stretch he has in weeks (7 1/2 hours, instead of 4). This child baffles me.

And, yes, I know you are anxiously awaiting pictures of his toothy grin, but bottom teeth are hard to see until they are full height. Go smile in the mirror and you'll see what I mean.

Growth Spurt Dividends

I'm not sure if Nicholas gained any inches or pounds with this week's growth spurt, but he definitely got stronger and made some developmental leaps forward.

I think we can now officially say he can sit up on his own. He isn't 100% reliable not to lose his balance or throw himself backwards, so if you aren't going to sit behind him, you have to put a pillow there, but he can sit and play for long periods without any help and even reaches for toys in front and to the side of him without (usually) tipping over. I know, the description doesn't make it sound all that different, but watching him you can just see how much stronger and more stable he is.

From Nicholas - Month 6

Equally difficult to pinpoint, he started figuring out different ways to play with a bunch of different toys. Nothing super complicated, but it is like something clicked and he realized he could do more than just grab at them and try to shove them in his mouth. Although don't get me wrong, he still does a lot of that.

And, the most impressive of all, he has started taking steps! The first time he did it, I wasn't sure I'd seen correctly, and the second time I was certain it was just random coincidence, but he has now done it probably 8 or 10 times this week and is getting a little more confident with each try. He is nowhere near walking because he is very unsteady on his legs even when being supported, but again, something clicked this week and he realized he could pick up his feet and move them rather than lunging forward while acting as though his feet were stuck in cement.

This video is from tonight when he pieced together the most steps I've seen yet. There were a few steps before I could get the camera going. (As usual, click on the image below to play the clip.)

From Nicholas - Month 6

What I love most about this video is how excited he is. The first couple times I don't think he realized the implications either, but he seems to be understanding what he has discovered. And he is so excited! As much as it makes me sad that he is growing up so quickly, I can't help but celebrate with him as he learns and discovers new things.

Friends, Fall, and Fun

Between getting to spend some good time with friends and the most beautiful mid-November day I may have ever seen, we had a pretty good weekend. Somehow Nicholas' naptimes came and went without me getting much work done, but other than that, it was great.

Saturday morning we went down to my parents' church for the annual Christmas Craft Bazaar. Somehow we came home with more used books than Christmas crafts, but that sounds about right for us. And the real reason to go was to visit my parents, and see some of the crafts my mom has been working on.

Then pretty spur-of-the-moment some friends decided to throw a dinner party. We almost didn't go because our knee-jerk reaction is to assume we can't, but we were so glad we did. Nicholas had fun playing with everyone and then he went to bed in their pack n' play upstairs (one of the many perks to having friends with a child the same age) and Joe and I got some very much needed time alone with friends. Possibly the only benefit to Nicholas still waking up every 4 hours overnight is that I didn't feel guilty waking him up at 10:30 to go home--it was just his first nighttime feeding. Anyway, it was so good for us to get the chance to hang out and just catch up with friends. I hadn't really realized how much I missed that.

And today? Well today was just beautiful. Church takes up most of Sunday morning these days (I go at 9, Joe brings Nicholas to me for the last 10 minutes while he goes to warm up with the choir, and then he sings at the 10:30 mass--so one of us is at church from 8:45 until noon). But this afternoon we just couldn't stay inside. I mean, really, how many 70-degree and sunny days do you get in mid-November? After the three of us took a long walk, Nicholas and I hung out on a blanket in the shade behind our apartment for a little while enjoying the weather. Okay, I tried to take pictures while Nicholas was on a mission to get the leaves and dirt all around the blanket.

There are lots of pictures of the weekend in The Peanut Gallery, but here are my two favorites:

Trying to get Nicholas and Alice to pose for a picture together. (I swear sometime before we all move this summer, we will get one good picture of the two of them. Although with everything going on in this picture, I may actually like it more than if both babies were looking at the camera.)

From Nicholas - Month 6

Playing with Daddy:

From Nicholas - Month 6

The Departure of the Body Snatchers

I swear growth spurts are like the invasion of the body snatchers around here. I look at Nicholas and wonder if the little boy we know and love is still in there somewhere. I wonder if this is what it feels like when your kids hit puberty. Except then it lasts longer than 3 days.

Now, don't get me wrong--Nicholas is never an easy-going, low-maintenance baby. (I'd probably wonder if he'd been switched at birth if he was.) But he is a generally happy baby and, at the very least, a baby you can make happy pretty easily if you're willing to do things his way. But for a few days earlier this week there was just no pleasing him. And the shrieking and screeching were driving me up a wall.

But that mutant child has gone away now, hopefully not to return for a few months. Good riddance. Our sweet Nicholas is back in his place. And he is probably confused why he has been getting so many extra hugs today. I'm just so glad to have him back.

Christmastime is Here—Already!?!

Sarah needed to get some work done at the house this morning, so Nicholas and I took a ride to a big mall about a 25-minute ride away so that she could do that, and because it made my life much easier in the mall.  At our local mall, I can do two to three laps of each of its four levels in about an hour.  That's a lot of repetition and elevators to keep from getting bored.  At the giant mall, I did two laps of its entire single level in an hour, which was much nicer.

And as the post title indicates, Christmas season is already alive and well in retail; the music piped over the loudspeakers, the decorations, it's all there.  We had a good time, and even got to see some snow!  (They had a snow machine in one part of the mall).  We had stopped to rest for a minute because I was carrying Nicholas and pushing the stroller, and were looking at a Christmas tree made entirely of Legos.  When the snow machine started we were already walking away, but I turned back so he could see it, and he loved looking at it (it was just bubbles).  When he first saw "snow," a big grin came across his face, and he was transfixed for several minutes before we moved on.

... At which point Nicholas met Santa Claus!  He was completely nonplussed (Nicholas; Santa was very pleasant).  He mostly seemed confused as to why someone would dress like that, but I explained that in a few years Santa would be a very important person in his life.  Still no reaction.  Maybe next year.

Now, I also had a few other comments about the mall, since one can only discuss so much with a five-month-old, however smart he may be:

• This mall has a brand-new Lego store, which I wandered into because it was bright and fun, and I figured Nicholas would enjoy looking around.  Social comment?  The only shoppers in the store were all male, including one other father with a toddler son.  Go figure.
• Speaking of Legos, it looks like it's going to be difficult to get Nicholas just a set of Legos (as opposed to a set to build a castle/military base/fire station/spaceship) unless we buy used.  Oh well.
• From the Back-to-Retail-School Department: the kiosk workers are annoying generally, but the guy who approached me (while carrying Nicholas and pushing the stroller) by saying, "Sir, gimme your glasses for a minute" gets a special prize for stupidity.
• Nicholas likes going fast in the stroller, which discovery mid-walk I used to great effect around kiosks that seemed like they might target me.  We paced nice and slowly past the women's face cream and battery-operated cigarette stands.  Everything else got a "here we go!" and a giggly baby blur.
• I feel really bad for people who work in retail at this mall.  I used to think it was crazy that stores insisted on opening at 5am on the Friday after Thanksgiving for sales.  This mall is opening at 11 on Thanksgiving night!  How cruel by the corporate honchos who made the decision that a bunch of poor workers have to watch their families go to bed after Thanksgiving dinner while they head out the door to work.
• Of course, given what most families are like these days, the workers will probably just get a ride to the mall with their addled consumerist relatives looking for a steal on a Lego spaceship set.
• Honestly, the Christmas theme was pretty half-assed.  The stores are totally not ready to go yet, which made the random Christmas music and scattered decorations in the mall seem totally out of place.  And Santa already in place two weeks before Thanksgiving just seems early to me.  At some point we'll hit a limit, right?  Or are we eventually going to start having Santa hang out at the mall starting the week after Easter?

That's about it.  Now I'll go back to hoping he'll take his full nap, and trying to sneak in some work in the meantime.

Cranky Baby

Update: Joe remembered that there is a 6-month growth spurt, so our new theory is that since Nicholas got each of his other growth spurts 1-2 weeks early, his current behavior is the result of being extra hungry. So I'll try to feed him extra times tomorrow and see what happens. This is one of those times when I wish he could talk. If he had said "Mommy, I'm hungry," rather than just shrieking all day, we all would have been happier.

Original Post:
Nicholas has been very cranky, whiny, and needy the past couple days. He basically has been acting tired all day but not sleeping enough to fix it, including waking up an hour earlier than usual in the morning already cranky and tired. Fun fun. But otherwise he seems physically fine--no fever, no cough or congestion, normal diapers, etc.

I'm wondering if the second bottom tooth is trying to make its way through and bugging him. He did really well with the first one, but I guess there is no reason why the pain would be identical for each.

At any rate, he's tired and cranky and dealing with a tired, cranky baby is exhausting, so I am now worn out and a little cranky. And so while he is down for a nap I think I will go take a nap myself. I have so much work to do, but I have the feeling I'll need some energy reserves for when he wakes up, which I'm guessing will be before he is fully rested.

But as long as it is just teething, I'll happily deal with a few days of cranky baby. And the housework may just have to fall a little further behind so he can have the constant contact he seems to need right now. In the grand scheme of things, small potatoes.

Our Little Monkey

One of the side benefits of playdates is that we get the chance to learn from watching other parents play (either with Nicholas or their own kids). Here is one I got from Katie last week (click on the picture to watch the video):

From Nicholas - Month 6

Think the little monkey is having fun?

Joe and Nick's Excellent Adventure

We're back from New York, and if you couldn't tell by the post's title, things went off without a hitch.  We had a great visit with Grandma Alice, Grandpa Richard, Uncle Patrick, and Great-Grandma Claire (plus a few neighbors who were itching to meet the Most Popular Little Boy in the World).  We spent most of the time at the house just hanging out and playing, but Nicholas seemed to enjoy himself immensely.

Here he is, for example, demonstrating to Grandpa Richard how to properly eat your fingers to soothe teething pains:

From Nicholas - Month 6

And he's gotten really good about letting anyone feed him (Grandma's not just anyone, but still):

From Nicholas - Month 6

[N.B.: More photos in the Peanut Gallery, as always.]

For this trip I had worried most about two parts: Nicholas being separated from Mommy, and sleeping in a strange place.  Now, he'd already done one overnight mommy-separation successfully way back in August, so I wasn't too surprised about his handling that part with aplomb.  And for the most part, even at home he doesn't get too clingy with Sarah, or notice that she's not around, or mind eating a bottle.  Unless of course, if she walks by when I'm in charge, and then all hell breaks loose.  But with Sarah safely ensconced in Tennessee, that last was an unlikely occurrence.

As for sleep, the last time we traveled with him (at the end of August), he had a lot of trouble adjusting to the new sleep patterns, being in a different bed, and so on.  So we tried to prepare him a little bit by having him take a few naps in the last week in his pack n' play in our bedroom—a different location, a different bed.  And boy did it pay dividends.  Plus it helped that he decided to be incredibly agreeable.  We arrived at about 11pm on Thursday night, and I set him down—still in his car seat—on the floor in "his" bedroom (it's currently a shrine to Uncle Brian) and went to quickly warm up some milk.  He sat very patiently, and beamed a huge (mostly) toothless grin when I came to get him.  I fed him, and he went out easily and quickly for five hours. [Ed. note: Yes!]  The first night, I had to share a room with him, since Sarah's parents had also come up, and took the other bedroom.  This caused a problem when I fed him at 4am, because I apparently got back to the room too quickly, that is, before he'd gone back to sleep.  In our efforts to adjust him to a new bed, we forgot to adjust him to the idea of sharing a room, which he hasn't done (except for our Louisville trip) since he was about four weeks old.  He screamed for nearly an hour, and I finally got him to sleep by picking him up to comfort him, putting him back in the crib, and then stepping outside and sitting by the door to wait for him to fall asleep.

Needless to say, I switched bedrooms the second night.

Other than that one little hitch, he was fantastic.  He slept the same amount as he usually does, ate with the same frequency, and threw in at least one five-hour stretch each night.  In other words, Sarah was envious.  Even more importantly, this trip gives us added confidence that he'll be good for our upcoming travel extravaganza, involving another trip to New York, a Christmas jaunt to Louisville, and an early January trip to San Diego.

Where the Boys Are (And Mommy Isn't)

So, Sarah took off this morning for a brief vacation to visit Stacy, her best friend and Nicholas's godmother, at her new home in Nashville, Tennessee.  That means Nicholas and I are on our own until Saturday afternoon.  He's doing fine so far—a little cranky this morning, but that seemed attributable more to the fact that we had to get him up early, so his sleep and eating schedule were a little off.  But since lunch he's been fine.

Well, except for during lunch when he grabbed the bottle to eat, but got the nipple and squirted himself with milk.

Anyway, because I figured Nicholas wouldn't be confused enough, he and I are driving up to New York tonight for him to get a little visit in with his grandparents et al. there.  Sarah's parents are driving up with me, as they've planned their own getaway to New York for this weekend, so I'll have company on the way up.  And Grandma Alice and Grandpa Richard apparently already have all sorts of stuff set up for him (read: I don't have to pack the portable crib!), and we'll see how he does.  Should be fun ... or horribly sleep-deprived for both of us!

In other words, look for the post on Saturday or Sunday to see how things turned out.

Flashbacks

Every once in awhile a picture will flash across my screensaver that stuns me, so I figured I'd share:

From Nicholas Meets More Relatives

At the time he seemed huge to us, but now it is hard to believe he was ever so tiny.

Conservatory and Playdate

In our constant quest for new free or cheap outings, Nicholas and I decided to check out the Conservatory in the park near school. It was okay, although pretty small. I doubt we'll go back.

But we still had a really good morning, mostly because we met up with Katie and Alice. I called Katie because they live near the park and it turned out she and Alice were in that very park running. So they extended their run while they waited for us (yes, Katie is amazing--I get winded pushing the stroller up a hill . . . walking) and we took the kids in together and then went back to their house to play.

The babies seemed mildly interested in the plants, but really liked the little pond with bright orange fish and a waterfall. I thought Nicholas was going to try to climb in to get a fish!

From Nicholas - Month 6

Back at the house they mostly just sat and played with separate toys, but towards the end they began to interact a little. This mostly consisted of Alice reaching out to grab Nicholas' hand or touch his head, but it is more than they have interacted in the past. They are growing up so quickly!

From Nicholas - Month 6

Happy Birthday from Prince Nicholas

Today was my mom's birthday, so we went out to lunch with my parents and Uncle Andrew.

From Nicholas - Month 6

But first we went to baby storytime at the public library. Today's theme was princes and princesses, so each of the kids got a crown to wear and the librarian called them all Prince x and Princess x. As usual, Nicholas loved the music and watching the other kids, but got really antsy during stories. He does well at home, but when the book is that far away, he doesn't seem to be able to focus on it. He thought the crown was pretty cool--when he could grab at it. Ironically, the only way I could keep him from grabbing it was to put it on his head.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Kathleen, from Prince Nicholas.

From Nicholas - Month 6

Happy Halloween

Nicholas may not be able to eat candy yet, but that's no reason not to get dressed up and go out. And, even better, to get dressed up in two different costumes and go down to see Grandma and Grandpa and visit friends and neighbors. But I know what you're really waiting for, so

here is Nicholas the horsey:

From Nicholas--Month 6

and Nicholas the baseball player:

From Nicholas--Month 6

We had all the elements for the baseball outfit around the house as everyday items. Shocking, I know.

Harpers Ferry

From Nicholas--Month 6

This afternoon we took an outing to Harpers Ferry, WV (best known as the site of John Brown's raid in 1859). It was great to get out and actually go somewhere all together. And the sun even came out for a couple of hours, making for beautiful scenery.

Nicholas spent the first half hour or so most interested in chewing on the Baby Bjorn.

From Nicholas--Month 6

But after a little bit something clicked in and he was much more energized. We made the steep trek up to Jefferson's Rock, which is where Jefferson supposedly sat and wrote about the gorgeous view in 1787. This was Nicholas' first Thomas Jefferson landmark, so of course we took a picture with him and Daddy there:

From Nicholas--Month 6

I honestly think his favorite part was watching a group of motorcycles drive away, but I didn't take any pictures of that. So here are some of the pictures I did take.

From Nicholas--Month 6

From Nicholas--Month 6

From Nicholas--Month 6