Back in September.

Skype Call with Grandma from Girl Thursday on Vimeo.

..when his hair was shorter. And the weather was warmer. Although, in fact, he's running around without a shirt right now.

This video is long, but at least the beginning is really cute. The Boy is quite animated here! I have not edited this yet.

Dancing in the Kitchen

There's actually a better video, but apparently I can't edit that sort of video file on my computer. Thus, I can't edit it down to a short enough thing for Flickr. Yet. But, here's the shorter dancing video from last month:

Cleaning the Kitchen

Here is Boy Friday, sweeper. It's quite difficult to do any sweeping in the kitchen while he's around because he wants to "help" with whatever it is that I'm using. Unless it's a scrub brush on the dishes. That just makes him scream and throw tantrums at my feet.

We're still having issues with sleep here, too (must be going around, as I hear BF's cousins are also dealing with this!). Hoping, hoping, hoping that at least the teething is ending soon. I think the last canine is still working it's way through - he even tried biting the wall a couple of days ago. No, I don't have video of that. It was weird. He then proceeded to bite the garbage can lid. Ew.



Friday is enjoying putting hats on - especially mommy and daddy's! Also - as seen here - we are having serious pacifier-attachment.



Isn't this a cute shot? Taken by daddy at dinner tonight. I think BF was eating a piece of eggroll. He always wants to try whatever we're having (not always good - he doesn't like spicy food. He also insists that he wants uncooked foods like oatmeal and garlic). Once when we were having salad, Friday didn't want the arugula, but he kept asking for it just to try and put it in my mouth. Mmmmm... yummy.

We have a few more videos that I'm going to try and post soon (but it takes time to convert them to an uploadable format).

Merry Christmas!

Here is Boy Friday on Christmas morning with his first gift (he opened it while I wasn't looking, and it's one of only two gifts he opened on his own!). I was trying to get him to say "donkey" (bawh-key), which he only started saying after I brought out the Christmas nativity (the fisher price Little People set). He also says "Jesus" now, too. Sounds a lot like "cheese." He also just started saying "daddy!" I know, late bloomer this one. We're chopped liver apparently - Chester, cheese, shoes, and cars are all more important that saying mommy or daddy.

So this week he started saying - donkey, daddy (dee), anya (aaah-eee), Jesus, and I think he's working on a word for train (choo). Not too interested in saying mommy or mama (although I've heard it a few times). Loves to say "mee" which means "meow" or cat. Every time he sees a cat he says "mee!" Oh, and he'll snort if you ask him what the pig says.



I think it's so funny that he enjoys putting hats on! This crazy-colored one that I knit a couple years ago looks so cute on him. And definitely cuter on him than on me.



Friday seems to be enjoying all of his gifts... except the couple that MOVE on their own (Let's Go Thomas, and Lightning McQueen shake-n-go car). Those make him cry. He has two little wooden trains (Percy and Victor from the Thomas wooden set) that he really likes, and he loves hearing his Tonka trucks talk. Ok, he's not aware that he's received clothes - I think I opened all of those for him. I'm not sure what he thinks of his new stuffed toys, but I have to say the striped lion is so fun and colorful (and even machine washable)! Both he and the gingerbread man have been hugged and sat upon.

It actually rained all of Christmas day - all of the snow was melted by late afternoon! Not that we'd had much yet anyway. Today, however, it snowed all day and we now have a few inches of light, powdery snow.

Dancing Boy

Now that he's been walking for a couple of weeks, Friday's on to more difficult moves - dancing! Well, and he's still up to his old tricks of moving and stacking cans of food. Still having trouble getting video of words - but he says Chester, cheese ("shuh"), ball (all things that start with "b" are "Buh"), and shoes ('shus'). He tried to say grapes and banana today, but wouldn't repeat them. The other day he wanted a soda can - I try to keep these out of his reach since he will likely THROW them. Not a good idea. I handed him the can just to see what he might do. He picked at the tab, then pretended to drink out of the correct location! So funny! Obviously he had seen me do it and wanted to try, too. No, he didn't want to drink it - just to imitate.

All four molars are at least partially erupted - so now we're up to 12 teeth.

What's Been Going On?

I know, I know - it's been a whole month since I last posted! Jenn has a new baby and she's posted more than I have. So what have we been up to? Emily came the day after my last post. We had lots of fun traipsing around Chicago - shopping in Wicker Park, visiting the Lincoln Park Zoo, and enjoying the flora at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The day she left, I came down with a minor cold. And now the little guy seems to have come down with a cold himself. In the last two weeks he's gotten two new teeth (molars), fallen and cut his lip twice, fallen hard on the back of his head at least three times, stopped breastfeeding (his idea), discovered that he can climb up steps (but not down), and started walking! Oh, and also stopped allowing me to put him to bed without a struggle. I've given up for now - and of course, he's having trouble sleeping while congested. Hopefully that won't last long. We're all getting tired quickly.

Will post photos soon, but here's a video from yesterday:

Today was a Difficult Day... but a Good Day

Let's see - yesterday was my sister's birthday, and today Matthew and Jennifer's son was born - Keegan Jon. Riley is a big sister now! She has no idea how her life just changed today. After a while, though, she won't remember what it was like to be the only one... but she still might want to hit him on the head with a bag of (was it pretzels? fritoes?).. something.

The little guy in our house was not interested in napping (despite overwhelming evidence of tiredness). Shrieking and yelling ensued [this was the difficult part of the day]. So, I gave up and went out (we got some puzzles because Friday has become interested in our foam books with lift-out pieces).

Oh, well, but earlier in the day the little dude was practicing his walking (with props still, of course).



Tomorrow - visitor from the west [Aunt Emily - which always reminds me of Mr. Mom.. so does vacuuming. i should watch that again. i bet the jokes are funnier when you've been a parent.]! And we should be having some nice weather this week - it's saying low 70's and sunny.

The Chase is On!

And that shirt he's not quite wearing says "Catch me if you can." Of course, I CAN catch him, but really, where is the fun in that?

New Uses for Plastic Containers...

Playing with our Red Bowl

Filed under "toys that aren't really toys" also perhaps "kitchen supplies."




Not quite sure how I changed that into a widescreen shot when I cropped the end. Oops! Sorry it's a bit tight.

For your viewing pleasure...

Here's some babbling...



And some laughing, snorting, and sniffing...

Scooting Around

I set Boy Friday down on the bed the other day - he really enjoys hanging out in new places. Here he is scooting around the bed like a pro! And he thinks its all pretty fun, too. Today he almost had some furniture in his mouth after I left him alone for a minute on the floor!

Laughter!

Perhaps he thinks the ceiling fan is amusing?

Good Morning, Little Dude.

Why Pay for Toys..?

when the little guy insists on chewing on his socks?

Can you believe he's EIGHT months old already? I keep thinking that he won't be a baby much longer...









Apparently it's supposed to snow tonight. What happened to spring? Currently it's just raining... but who knows what we'll wake up to tomorrow?

DST = Time Confusion

We have now been on Daylight Saving Time for a week. I am no longer used to springing forward, as I must have been as a kid (did I even notice then? I suspect I worried about when to change the time and being late for something. I don't think I knew it was supposed to be at 2 am. Plus, I was always late, so really, what was there to worry about?) It's rather strange to suddenly have the sun go down around 7 pm. I keep thinking it's only 5 or only 6, then realize it's 7 or 8! I'm not sure I like it. If it were mid-summer, I suppose that's ok - but when will the sun go down THEN? Nine? Yikes.

Ok, ANYWAY - we took advantage of the 70-degree weather and went for a short walk this evening (it was around 6 pm in these photos).





And here's what the Little Dude has been working on lately - putting food into his mouth and chewing! He still has just the two bottom teeth, but he's certainly getting the hang of the chewing. He was grabbing these faster than I could turn on the camera - so there is only one left already!

Playful Little Dude

This video is from a few days ago - he's playing with some toys (an aquarium that he keeps kicking), occasionally shrieking, and clenching his hands. One of the mothers at the meetup I went to on Friday wanted to know if he was asking for milk (since it looks like he's making the sign for milk) - but no, he doesn't know any signs! I think it often just means "gimme." 

When I was cleaning out some drawers the other day, I found this hat! It was too big when he first got it, but it fits just fine now.

Eventful Week!

Let's see... in the last couple of weeks Boy Friday has gotten a new crib, a new stroller, a new dresser/changing table, and even a new tooth! Phew! Not only that, but he's now tried bananas, apples, pears, peaches, sweet potatoes, and peas.  He enjoys all the fruit... but he's REALLY not sure about peas. Usually he'll take a few bites before refusing any more. Still working at it (but then, I think peas are kinda icky, so I won't be too disappointed if he hates them).

The new crib is great! The little dude keeps kicking the aquarium toy on and off, on and off, on and off... I don't have a photo of the crib, but I have a picture of the new stroller:

This stroller has huge wheels, and rides smoothly over all the bumps in the sidewalks around here. It hasn't been tested in snow, as we really haven't had much since we returned from Arizona. (Although I hear we might get a few inches tomorrow night...) The Little Dude isn't excited about getting bundled up like that... and riding forward instead of backward causes him to get more wind in his face. I suspect it will be more fun for him when the weather is a bit warmer.

Here's a short bath time video!

Tonight's Sleeping Baby Brought to You By...

... one twitchy calf muscle, two stiff arms, and forty minutes of patience. Please thank our sponsors: Crocs and Tylenol.

But he's still asleep (for now!). We've had two rough nights in a row here. Last night the little dude went to sleep for half an hour, then was up for the next FOUR. Bummer. No idea what was causing the problem. Today it could be pain from the shots, though. The doctor thinks some teeth will be showing up in the next few weeks - he says he will "almost guarantee it." Alrighty then.

The doctor also says we can start Boy Friday on some food - he says banana. Well, I don't have any banana in the house... so we went with rice cereal (aka white, sticky mush). Yum! No, I didn't want to taste it myself. 

Six Months Old!

Boy Friday is now SIX months old! Crazy. It's hard to believe it's been six months. Of course, it's also hard to believe it's only been about five months since I moved to Chicago.

However, I am currently in much warmer weather here in Arizona.  We've mostly just been hanging out "helping" with errands. Today Boy Friday, Aunt Emily, and I went on a little jaunt to see some desert. Friday's first Arizona hike! If you can call it a "hike."

I think he enjoyed it. We haven't done much nature-walking in Chicago.

We also visited my brother's family in their new house. The great-grandparents came by also to say hello to the little guy - who has gotten quite a bit bigger since they last saw him!  It appears that Boy Friday is really interested in his cousin's dogs....

Tomorrow we're off to visit more great-grandparents! Must get some sleep!