Aging Postlette

The holidays are upon us. The tree is up and the lights are strung, and Max hates pine trees. Well, perhaps he hates all trees without bias. All I can tell you for sure is that if you get him within touching distance of our Christmas tree he will cry. Maybe the leaves are too sharp for tender little fingers and after touching it he's learned to fear the big sparkling porcupine. There's no telling.

... Okay, so that post was started on the 8th of December. We've marched past Christmas and it's on towards New Year's now. I'm sure there is lots to blog about, so I'll try to get to that. Meanwhile Max is slightly less upset about the tree in our house. Although we do take care to keep him out of arm's reach so that he can't touch it and start freaking out again. For now I'm going to bed.

A Boy and His Bouncer

Max has figured out how to get the bouncy chair really going now. In an effort to preserve videos of him being dorky, for posterity you know, I present the following.

He has no assistance from myself or his dad here. All that movement, even when it scares him, is his alone.

Tastes Like Fun

Max has almost a dozen Lamaze toys. Most were gifts from his Grandma Jean, heck she's given him 2 peacocks and 2 monkeys (the extras were sent back to her to do with what she will).

The really funny thing is that he's still a baby. I mean, he's no newborn, but he doesn't have mad play time skills or anything. Most of these toys have squeakers and stuff that he doesn't know how to manipulate yet, and if you do it for him it just scares him. The butterfly and peacock have crinkle wings that he loves to wrinkle up and stuff in his mouth. He also likes grabbing the moose by his big purple horns. Other than that he plays with all of the toys in one of two ways.

The first mode of play is to whack them with his hand, and try to get any dangling legs into his mouth if I hang them from the activity gym. The second mode is ... well, you can see for yourself.



I'm also curious if there are any children's organizations that will take donations of toys that are like new, but not new in boxes. He already has too much and Christmas is still headed toward us. If nothing else I know I can donate them to Goodwill, but if they can go directly to cheering up some kid in need that would make me even happier.

In Knitting News

Socktober Mystery Socks are completed. These were a lot of fun to knit, and the pattern repeat was easily memorized. It's hard to get large chunks of knitting time in nowadays, so having a pattern that I could start and stop really quickly was awesome. I love patterns like this that look so crazy complicated, and in reality it's pretty straight forward. I'm not saying that I'd make it someone's first knitting pattern, but maybe first sock pattern. It's that easy. Did I mention it's also beautiful?

Knit in Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock, Georgetown Colorway (152).

The pattern is by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops. I love it even more than the pattern she wrote last Socktober. I only just finished the 2008 pair a month ago. Between holidays, pregnancy, moving, and whatever else happened they sat on the needles a long time. Still they are pretty.

Knit in Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks, colorway 1518.The monster stirs, so I've got to run. Happy Friday!

4 Months Old

We took Max in for his four month checkup on Wednesday, and he's doing great. The doctor said he's still considered skinny (looks chubby to us) but that since he continues to gain length well, there is no reason to be concerned. He's pretty much stayed in the same percentiles since he regained his initial weight loss.

Weight: 14 lbs, 2 oz (25th percentile)
Length: 26 in (75th percentile)
Head: 42.3 cm (50th percentile)

The doctor encouraged us to try him on solid foods now. So we picked up the customary rice cereal and gave him his first nibbles yesterday. On the one had Max was quite excited to be able to put new things in his mouth. I mean, putting things in his mouth is his favorite past time at the moment.On the other hand, he wasn't sure why we were trying to poison him. Despite the cereal being mixed with 4 parts breast milk to 1 part cereal and certainly not resembling any solid that Jeff and I had ever seen before, Max knew something was off. Something had contaminated his milk, and he was unimpressed.The look he gave Jeff was awesome. He knew I was mean, I make him take naps all the time and won't let him wear roller blades. But why was Daddy letting this happen?Mostly he's a happy little guy. He continues to smile and laugh and is learning all sorts of new sounds. He's even starting to realize that maybe tummy time isn't as bad as he used to think.
Of course having some friends to keep you company always helps.

Henrietta Hen

Jeff and I really want to see Where the Wild Things Are. After hearing a piece on the movie on NPR we were even more itching to go. Several months ago we started to hatch a plan. Alamo Drafthouse is a nice theater, and they actually have "baby days". On Tuesdays at the South Lamar location or Tuesdays and Fridays at The Village, not only are you allowed to bring in a baby to the movie but they "keep the lights up a bit, and the sound down a bit".

The plan started as thinking we'd take Max to see this as his first movie. He wouldn't watch it or remember it, but it'd be cool for us. The more we thought about it, and the closer it came to the movie's release, the more it seemed like a good gathering thing to do with some of the other people at home with little ones. We could get a group together, take up a whole row with our wee ones. Who knows, maybe with the improved lighting/sound mix the toddlers might have fun and not get too freaked out.

Well, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It seems like every day I hear something more about the flu here in town. I'm not really easily scared and try not to buy into hype from the news, but of all the places in town to take Max a movie theater just seems like a bad idea. I mean, I know that they don't clean all that well between shows, because I was once covered in ketchup from a big mess that was left behind. So I can't justify the risk that I might be exposing Max to a flu bug just so that we can see this movie together on the big screen.

If it weren't flu season, or even if Max were just older, I know that we'd be there. For now I'll just add it to ye ole Netflix queue, and try to be the first to grab it when the DVD is available. Meanwhile, you can call me chicken.

The Fur Babies

The cats already fight over who gets to sleep in the stroller. Both the storage basket underneath and the seat are viable nap spots. Spooky likes to hop up into the high chair sometimes. It seems really uncomfortable. I think he does it because he likes to get up high and so far none of the other cats desire that spot. They all love playing and lounging on the activity mat. Bullet even stole one of the toys and covered it in so much cat hair that I let him keep it.

Today Cabbit discovered the bouncer. He just climbed on in as if deciding that it must be a cat chair after all. Who knows why that strange giggle/drool/scream creature sits in it, you can tell it was meant for a cat, can't you? I mean look how it cradles his fat just so.

I wonder who will be the first to brave the swing, and what will happen when I turn it on?