Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: We can explain. James has started crawling and doesn't want to be held in the baby carrier for more than 15 minutes or so, and we volunteer at ECHO once a week and he started getting bored and rowdy and there wasn't anyplace else to put him where he couldn't crawl around and eat thumbtacks and thumbtacks off the floor so .... this happened. All of the stuff is clean. Well, it WAS before we put him in there.

Lisa writes: As James gets bigger and more mobile (and more opinionated), it's harder to wrangle him on the nights we volunteer at ECHO. This was tonight's temporary solution until we can come up with something better.  

 

       

Lisa writes: That's a.m., folks, a.m.

Lisa writes: Pictures taken by my mom via Facetime.

Lisa writes: Tom took James to the park. We think this is the first time he'd been in a swing. He seemed to enjoy it.  

Lisa writes: James got bigger but the infant seat inconveniently stayed the same size, so it's into the "convertible" seat he goes!

Lisa writes: We spent MLK day celebrating James' new-found freedom -- crawling -- by baby-proofing the house. The stairs were the main thing. Like the Plexiglas action? This was the ONLY kind of gate that would work. (Thanks, Erin.) Had to -- temporarily -- remove the quarter-round. None of the instruction manuals mention this, by the way.) Zip ties and Velcro straps. Classy all the way!

Lisa writes: Is this technically an accomplishment? This morning he ate more in one sitting than he has ever eaten in his life. He downed 12 ounces of formula at once. This is the baby equivalent of one of those speed-eating contests, except not as gross.

Lisa writes: Red letter day for James! Crawled forward towards a toy for the first time. This turned on a little light in his brain and he proceeded to Army crawl laps around the living room. Held his own bottle at breakfast. He's been [it feels like] deliberately refusing to do it himself up until now. Pulled himself up from sitting to standing in the pew during Mass so he could stare and flirt with the ladies behind him.

Lisa writes: At ECHO, we get some donations that are outside the scope of things that we sort and shelve. For example, we sort clothes, shoes, towels, pots & pans. But if people donate other things that might still be useful for a client, we'll put them in a freebie section that clients can browse: games, decorative items, sewing fabric, and in this case, a hiking backpack. Tom and James have already gotten lots of use out of it. James likes it more than he's letting on in this picture.

Lisa writes: Sometimes I'm not around when photos get taken. This was one of those times. The hair. The tonsils.

3 months     6 months   9 months   Lisa write: I kind of think the baby in the last picture could eat the baby in the first picture. Reminds me of something I read on the internet: "My six month old daughter has tripled her weight since birth. If this trend continues, by the time she's 10 she'll weigh over 17 billion pounds. -- Bumbershot "

Lisa writes: He can scoot, but only backwards. Our living room furniture is raised a few pinches off the floor. This is what happens.

Lisa writes: Pic of Tom at the top of Blue Mountain, New York last summer. (Coloradans, it's 3750 feet high. Blue Bump, maybe.)

Lisa writes: A sweet older lady at Tom's church surprised us with the gift of this hand-knitted cardigan one Sunday. We took pictures to send her a thank you note. This is the shot where he's being perfect.   This is the shot where he's stealthily reaching back to snap off a piece of the tree.   And this is the shot where he's eating it. (Pine trees have vitamin C, by the way. True story.)

Lisa writes: Getting bigger all the time. He got a haircut the next day (which he did not enjoy). He sits in his highchair and eats 2-4 ounces of very sophisticated baby food at a time. I'm not kidding about the sophistication. Here are the actual flavors of baby food we have in the house at this very moment: Kale, spinach, and barley with basil (his favorite so far) Spinach, peas, and pear Quinoa and leek with chicken and tarragon Kale, sweet corn, and quinoa Zucchini and spinach with pasta marinara Beans and rice with sweet corn (has red peppers and cilantro in it) And we have some of the usual stuff: pureed peas, green beans, sweet potatoes. We have a little food mill and we grind up things that we're eating for him to try. He acts like he hates everything -- scrinching up his face and grimacing like he's being poisoned -- but most of the time he opens up his mouth for a second bite. He's also a big fan of Cheerios.

Lisa writes: Tom's sister and her family stayed the night with us on their way back up to Rhode Island from Florida. They were in Florida for three weeks for Christmas. They arrived back in Virginia in sub-freezing temperatures a few hours before the first snowfall of the season. I would not have blamed any of them if they'd turned around and gotten right back onto the plane to head back south.