Mommy's little Klingon

Although Fin has vulcan ears (I prefer to think of them as ELF ears, thank you), he has been more of a Klingon (cling-on) lately. He wants mamma to hold him all the time. Playtime and discovery on the floor are okay, but usually ends with him clinging to my legs or pushing toys away and fussing until I pick him up.

I can't even put him to bed. I go through our routine - sometime after dinner we go upstairs, put his PJs and a fresh diaper on, sit on the gliding chair to read a book or sing, and then I put him in the crib. If I put him in lying down, he has a cow, so we put him in standing up (like in all the pictures) and he usually plays at the rail for a while or sits down, then passes out.

Well, now he immediately wimpers and clutches at me with his arms up ("up!") and cries if I walk away. Normally I have no problem with putting him to bed and him crying himself to sleep on occasion, as has happened, but this clinginess tugs at my heartstrings differently. So instead, I hold him for another 5-10 minutes so he feels secure, then hand him off to dad.

Mark puts him to bed standing at the rail as usual, but laughing, having fun, and happy. Then within 5 minutes he's passed out on his belly, usually with his butt in the air, and when I check on him I cover him up and move all his toys out of the way.

It's cute.

My "Wonder Weeks" book says it's just a phase, so we're going to try to get through it without losing our minds or our routines. However, he's too smart for us -- any sign that it's bedtime has become problematic: dimming the light, putting on PJs, playing on the bed, reading books... It all leads to major fussing. He even gets fussy if I take him upstairs during the day if he thinks he's going to be put to bed. It's nuts!

But it's cute. And I love his sweet innocence.

Little Joseph's B-day Party

Some of you may remember my stories of Little Joseph. While his mama, my "halfling" friend Lynn "Feistabillo," was pregnant with LJ, her family got in a car accident moving her to LA from Colorado and her dad died. The baby was okay, and was born Sep 24, 2005. Six months ago Lynn and I met at the Manhattan mall for lunch and a little baby shopping, it was fun.

Well now Joseph is 1, and today we went to his birthday party! W00t!

Remember, you can click the photos to see a bigger version.


Fin and Little Joseph play in the grass.


Isn't he a beauty!!! He's so adorable, has his father's eyes...


This little trekker played Klingon (cling-on) at first.


Fin makes first contact. LJ defends his territory.


LJ has some cake and eats it too.


Fin has no more manners than a 1-year-old. (hahahahah)


Lynn and LJ covered in blue...


Fin ducked under the table for some private eats.
"If I shove this up my nose, will it block the snot?"


Then went for a cruise and attempted to go straight up Robbie's wheelchair...


Then we came home for a much-needed bath.

There you go. Much fun!! Love & hugs to the Estabillos and Thellands!

By the way, Fin is taller.

8 months & counting...

So yesterday he turned 8 months. Today is cold is much better. Still one big snot booger stuck on his nose... wait, the whole thing is his nose!! :P He's really resisting going to sleep right now. The kid has our "night people" thing going, that's for sure.

Fin rocks out in the playpen.

I'm sending out the family email soon. Otherwise, I'm afraid it's been a boring week and I'm pretty exhausted, falling asleep before he does lately. Still he gets up at 6-6:30 and according to Isabel doesn't sleep much all day. I wish I had that kind of energy! I mean the kid is NON STOP. Sometimes I feel like that orangutan mother at the Toronto Zoo who was just letting the baby crawl all over her while she sat there patiently. I want him to learn things but he isn't really into books (except to eat them) and though he'll sit and play for a short while (10-30 min.) at one place, it's far far more exciting to explore now that he can crawl fast.

He's practically walking. He has no concept of the idea that he might fall, so he's fearless and lets go of things. Loves to hear himself talk. Loves to shake his head. Squeals "kitty" to the best of his ability whenever he sees a kitty. Loves to stand in his crib and push the buttons on the mobile to make all the sounds (something like 4 songs, 3 lullabys, 4 nature sounds, vibrating the rail on which he puts his teeth, and the mobile itself). I call it DJ-ing. He also finally the other day figured out how to sit up, so when he wakes in the middle of the night or the morning he is usually sitting up, or standing at the railing. He sometimes zones out and stares into space, esp. before sleeping, just after a bottle, or when he's really relaxed.

Well, that's about it. At 8 mo. he's pretty darn cute and friendly and we love him dearly!!!

Bunky's First Cold!

Bunky has the sniffles. I think he probably got it from the toy he just absolutely had to play with at the doctor's office on Monday. Or the park, or any number of other places. So he didn't sleep too well last night and he's kind of fussy when left alone, but he's doing all right. Mostly a runny nose and a little post-nasal drip cough, but nothing serious at all. He even eats fine and plays all day, but he did take more of a nap than usual, Isabel said. He's a trooper.

Today is his 8 month birthday, and the first day of Autumn, and I can't find my camera to take any new pictures. :(

More soon!!

Crikey, Steve, we'll sure miss ya!

It's time to update some of Fin's information, like his registries. After all, Christmas is coming... hahah. He's too young for Legos (though I'm not!) and too old for some of the stuff on the registries I already have, so I guess I'd better find some things I know he'll like.

Tonight we all watched the memorial service for Steve Irwin on Animal Planet. Steve was the kind of guy on TV that you could really feel like you knew, because he was so genuine and natural, and so passionate (and a little bit crazy). Being lovers of wildlife, we have been looking forward to Fin seeing and being inspired by Croc Hunter and being sucked in to Steve's incredible magnetic personality. We had hoped some day to go to Australia Zoo and see Steve doing a live demo, and Fin recognizing and being wowed by his (our) big hero. Steve will be missed, and the crocs are crying. But not too hard - they still have Bob and Bindy Sue :)

Meanwhile, here's our little beauty! Crikey he's big!

Priceless!

Umbrella stroller: $19.99
Team Canada hockey jersey: $29.95
Full tank of gasoline: $52.62
Finding the goldmine at the company BBQ: Priceless

Fin and his new friend Nathan hang out at Mark's company BBQ. Mark took him in to work because the monthly BBQs are usually a family affair, and nobody believed that Mark had a kid. So he wanted to show Fin off...

Note the size difference between Nathan and Fintan. Half his age, fully his size...

"A Canadian's two favorite things: ice and beer!!!"

"Do you think they'd mind if I had one?"

"Corona?!? Where's the MOLSON!!?!??!?!"

"Forget this! I'm going to find some REAL beer!"

Standing Tall

My child has never known a world without terrorism, amber alerts (I subscribe to their text messaging system, and I got one today about a 5mo girl kidnapped), and working moms.

Still, we're standing tall. With 5 teeth and a brutish build, we're ready to kick everyone's butts, from terrorists to kidnappers to bosses with way too much type A on their hands.

Here's to us, and to facing the world in a whole new way!

:)

No pictures just chit-chat!

So I was reviewing some of the early blog posts. They don't sound as negative as I remember them. They are so interesting. Especially on my birthday - Mar 30 - when I thought I was over the hormones. WRONG. I think they stopped being hugely influential a couple weeks ago. I've stopped having zombie fear obsession and I've stopped crying every day on my way home from work (thinking horrible thoughts) and I'm just sort of enjoying him now. I'm still not adapting to being a mom AND a strong, independent career woman. I still want to be multitasking. But I have just sort of succumbed to the will of his emerging demands.

At 7.5 months, here is where we're at:

• 4 teeth (two top, two bottom)
• uses pincer to grasp cheerios
• gets them into his mouth
• pulls himself up to standing from sitting
• cruises cautiously (walking while holding on to things, esp. holding on to the sides of the crib)
• can't quite go from lying down to sitting up yet
• crawls mostly on his belly
• says baba, dada, kiki, mumum, rara, and growls a lot (we don't really think he's saying anything in particular, just practicing the sounds, sorry Rara)
  
• definitely has a mind of his own
• lies on his belly and buries his face in his hands to fake-cry
• resists going to bed
• plays nicely by himself
• screeches in short bursts when excited about something he sees (like daddy's shoe laces or the wire hanging out from the TV receiver)
• talks to you, his dolls, the cats, etc.
• orients objects in his hands
• dances to music while sitting (Thomas the Tank Engine theme, other book-songs, music from his activity center, etc.)
• pushes buttons
• is generally very happy / good-natured
• loves his car-seat
• loves going out
• loves the kitties (it's unbelievable how much they excite him even though they won't give him the time of day)
• sleeps mostly on his belly
• uses the pacifier on his own terms
• imitates zombies (see videos)
• makes other parents jealous of his hair
  

Fin the actor...

Mom posted my two audition videos. You have just got to check them out on the video link to the right. --->

Hi, I'm the warden at the Cute Town Prison. It's a tough job being cute but somebody's got to do it.

Careful... the inmates are a little creepy.

Someone decided I need a new lightsaber. This one works better. Now I can take on that crazy little green muppet -- Kermit D. Frog!

Amazing new toy! Three in One!

Hi, my name is Bunky and I got a new toy. I got it in Michigan. I sort of appropriated it from my cousin Tate. It's a magic ball that spins and makes neat light patterns. It's also a magic lantern of sorts when you turn it upside down. When the genie popped out, I wished for more toys.

*POOF!*

Look, it's also a bong! Bongs taste really good, like airplane windows and Mommy's shoestrings. Mommy says she's never smoked pot but she once found a bong in her dorm bathroom in college. Maybe this can also double as a scorpion bowl.

This is the most amazing lightsaber I've ever seen! I like it better than Darth's. Now I can cut my way out of the crib and playpen and high chair and so on. And just think how cool I will be when I'm at the park! If I don't like a kid, I can cut the chain on his swing or carve a hole in the slide before he gets to the bottom. w00t!

Dad says Mom is a bad influence on me because I'm all innocent and sweet and "only a Californian would immediately think of it as a bong" he says. Little does Dad know that Mom is turning me to the Dark Side.

P.S. Mom put up some new videos.