Snippits

Yesterday CoCo went for a walk with Dexter and I, to the playground. Which, really, is news in and of itself. Believe me, it was FAR from her idea - she'd have rather stayed home and napped. When we got home, she did her usual "yay, we're finally home!" dash in to the house. And met... a closed baby gate at the top of the stairs. So instead of waiting the 1.7 seconds for me to open it, she slid between the banister railings. She was halfway through, and I was looking at her wondering how I'd get her butt un-stuck, because it certainly looked like she was going to be stuck. Then she wiggled a bit and she was free, and galloping around the house. All of which, of course, made Dexter very happy. Oh, how he shrieks with glee when CoCo runs around the house!

This child. Has, like, an OPINION and stuff. It kind of amazes me. I took him out of the swing at the playground yesterday, and he apparently wasn't done swinging because he cried. Like the WHOLE. WAY. HOME. He tried eighty bajillion times to grab CoCo's dog food bowl, and eighty bajillion times I told him he couldn't touch it. After the eighty bajillionth time he finally laid down on the floor and screamed. This one's gonna be a fun one when he's two!

Dexter spends the first half hour of most naps standing in the corner of his crib, playing with the window blinds and looking out the window. He eventually falls down, cries, falls asleep. And inevitably wakes up early and is off again - corner, blinds, must play. When you lay him down for a nap you can't even get out of the room before he's up and in the corner. Need duct tape, I think.

Since July, I have worked about 75 hours for work. Not exactly what I would call taxing. But 45 of those hours came in the last week, working for Maryland Million Day. It was fun for a week, being a working person again, and leaving the house without a baby to worry about. It was fun driving a golf cart around a pretty golf course, chatting with nice folks while they played golf. It was fun getting dressed up in a little black dress and some flip flops (my $20 Payless shoes finally died after 8 years of service, but I had flip flops in reserve) so I could wander around a fancy party and eat raw oysters. And it was even fun escorting people to the winner's circle to present trophies, and running around the grandstand of the race track doing whatever little tasks needed to be done. It was entertaining for a week. But... I am happy to be home. I am happy to be done. That whole going to work thing - it's a lot of work.

Fall has fallen in Maryland. I turned the heat on for the first time last night. I'm not sure if it actually kicked on, but I figured I'd better be safe. The baby slept in cute footie pj's for the first time in forever. I slept with socks on. And for morning walks, Dexter is seriously pissed off that I am making him wear mittens. Because, really, Mom, how am I supposed to grab and touch stuff during our walk when I have these THINGS on my hands?

Yesterday Dex and I went to the last Two Dollar Tuesday at Bomboy's. It's the last week they will be open on week days, and they are only open on weekends til the end of October. Maybe they will have a gigantic ice cream sale at the end of the month, and we can stock up enough to last us a while. Ah, who am I kidding. A pint of Bomboy's will last a day in this house, tops.

Dexter tried bread for the first time on Sunday. Actually, he really tried it on Thursday, when he grabbed my hamburger roll off my burger and shoved it in his mouth. But Sunday, first intentional time with bread. And while he LOVED it, it did not so much love him. He reverted to a spitting machine for about 24 hours, and he hasn't been spitting at all recently. So... I guess we wait a bit on the bread?

ME: (while eating a corn bread muffin that I made from scratch. Yes, read that again. I MADE CORN MUFFINS FROM SCRATCH. Am insane.) This muffin needs... something
JOHN: Like what kind of something?
ME: I don't know. That's why I'm not a chef.
JOHN: Oh, is that why?
ME: (flips John the bird and gives him a look of death, because, DUDE! You are eating dinner that I made! Steak! That... well, you made that. And sweet potato fries! That... hmmm, you made those, too. MUFFINS! I made the damn muffins!)

Eight months. Two thirds of a year. My how time flies. My, how huge this child is. And how fun. And how cute. Eight months. Happy birthday, Dex!

Dex practices his Hokie football skills. Which means all defense, baby. Offense, be damned!

Dex went hiking with his friends Kevin (left) and Jacob (middle, and who could quite possibly be Dexter's long lost brother)

Oh, Dexter didn't go hiking BY HIMSELF. No, no. Someone had to carry his ass.

Peek-a-boo!

Seemed Like Such a Good Idea at the Time...

These were all taken within a span of about 90 seconds. Dex is ON THE MOVE! Also, damn this underline crap. Where is the option to turn the underline OFF?

Hi, Mom! Let me come see you!

No, wait. Never mind, Mom. Found something cooler to do.

I am a gymnast! Must practice my splits!

You watching this, Mom? Check me out!

First you do this...

Then I think you can do this...

Ooops! Guess not! Can't do that after all. Damn. You saw that, Mom?

So Much To Say. So Little Time.

This whole working thing is for the birds. I mean, I've worked an entire, like, 20 HOURS already this week. And it's only Wednesday! Unacceptable. It's severely cutting in to my play with crawling baby time. And also my napping time. And my internet surfing time. And my laundry time. I'd say it's cutting in to my clean the house time but, really, who am I kidding?

So this baby is RIDICULOUS. Crawling. With purpose. Pulling himself up on anything and everything. Squealing with delight at anything that strikes his fancy. Shoving peas in to his mouth with reckless abandon. PEAS! The kid eats PEAS! And PEARS! Gross! Whose kid is this?

However, since I am tired right now, and have a one-year-old birthday party to attend tomorrow, for which I will surely need any and all of my energy, I am going to cop out and show you all the Dexter growth via photos. Which, really, is the only reason you come here, anyway. Right?

I do have video of the mobile child, I just haven't had time to upload it. And edit it with my cool new fancy editing software. Next week. I'll get to it next week.

So this is what Dex is up to. Crawling. High-stepping with his arms. Shuffling his legs along. And making these inexplicable faces...
Thwarted by dog bed
Blah. PEAS! Mom thinks all peas should just be discretely fed to dogs.
Mom made me try on this funny hat. Verdict? I hate its guts.
Holy S, Grandma. Look at all the clothes I have...
Grandma and Mom went shopping at the Wee-Cycle and brought back ALL THIS COOL STUFF! (Mom is most excited about the sooper-dooper cheap winter coats and snow suit she found!)
I got a new cute little table! That I can pull myself up on!
Also got one of these thingies that you usually only find in doctor's offices. Which, Mom is thinking, might be a mistake. Because NOW what will we play with at the doctor's office, when this toy is old hat?
We went swinging in the park. LOVE THIS. Also - this is the ONLY decent shot of Dex with no fingers in his mouth. Most looked like this:
Mmmmm. Tasty fingers...
Poor CoCo. She isn't safe on the floor any more.
All this crawling will tire a boy out. Also. Holy Jesus. Look at how big this child is! Remember this?

Caught on Film Part 2

OK, one more round of photos for today. It's been an exciting one!

Eating Cheerios and pieces of banana for the first time. I'm not sure why his eyes are bugging out of his head. He liked the Cheerios. Which is good, because they come in a HUGE box, and I am not a big fan of them. He also managed to self-feed a good two Cheerios or so. It's hard work getting those tiny suckers in your mouth...
Caught red-handed
What, Mama? You mean I am supposed to be SLEEPING? When I can do all this cool stuff? No way!
Just before he broke down in to hysterical crying. He's a tired pup, this one. Lack of sleeping and tons of standing will do that to a boy. He, unfortunately, doesn't know what's best for him, as I think he's working on his standing skills AGAIN in the crib, as I type.

Caught on Film

I posted too soon this afternoon. Here's a shot of Dexter on his knees (he hasn't made it back up to his feet yet, that I am aware of) during his afternoon nap. Which was an hour shorter, because Dex was in this position for about an hour. Trying to figure out how to get down, I'd imagine. One would think he'd look down and think "wow, that's a really long way down. What should I do?" What Dexter did was cry. But I'm not going to rescue his butt. He can work it out. He's fine. Currently asleep. All that kneeling tired the boy out! :-)
Sorry about photo quality. This was through the crack in the door, and his room was dark.

UP

The past two days Dexter has been working hard at going from this position:

To this position:

He's pretty well got it down now. Going the other way is still kind of a challenge, but he falls on his face, brushes himself off, and goes right back to the business at hand - figuring out how to MOVE.

He is really piss-poor at figuring out, however, how to fix this problem:
Basically he just lies there like a turtle on his back, waving his arms and legs around and lifting his head off the ground. It hasn't helped him sit up yet, but he still keeps trying like mad.

I must admit I am a little slow, because if never quite occurred to me that now he'd be sitting up in his crib. Which makes playing while he's supposed to be sleeping all that much more fun and entertaining.

And it REALLY never occurred to me that Dex would use his crib rails to pull himself up. But when I walked in this morning I looked, did a bit of a double take, might have muttered a "Holy Shit" under my breath, and went back out to the hall to yell down to John - "Honey, you really need to come up here."

And John walked in to see that same sight I saw - the baby, STANDING, in the corner of his crib. Just chillin. Dude. How'd you DO that?

I watched Dexter through the crack in the bedroom door this morning during the first part of his nap. Watched him sit up. Lean over and grab the side of the crib. Scoot his butt closer. Grab the top rail with both hands. Pull himself up to his knees. Smash his face on the rail. Cry. Focus. Pull himself up again. Fall down. Roll over to a new place in the crib. Sit up. Pull up to his knees. Get a foot under him. Try to stand. Fall down again. Land on his belly. Put his head down on the mattress. And... fall asleep.

This is going to be an interesting couple of weeks. Because right now the boy doesn't know how to gracefully sit back down after he's in a vertical position. Right now he's riding a train with a one way ticket to UP.

What? Who is standing up when he's supposed to be sleeping? Surely you're not implying it's ME. I would never do that. You must have me confused with another baby...

PS - Want to REALLY have your finger bitten off? Stick it in Dexter's mouth. Not only does he have some huge and wicked sharp bottom two teeth, but has also gotten a tooth in up top - on the right hand side, one over from the middle. Is that called an eye tooth? I dunno. I DO know that it is slowly and surely poking its way out of his gums. And its next-door neighbor is not far behind.

Eat Mor Chikin

On Saturday night while we were watching the Hokies really suck ass, playing the Alabama Crimson Tide, we saw a Chik-fil-a commercial that said that if you wore your team logo to the store on Monday, you'd get a free chicken sandwich. WELL. I like chicken sandwiches, and I love free. So Dex and I dressed up in our Hokie best and wandered over there (along with about a million other Harford County residents) on Monday to get us some free chicken.

And since Dex was wearing his Hokie jersey, too, he got a free sandwich, too. Which he decided to give to his dad. I thought that was really quite generous of him because 1) his dad was not present and 2) his dad was not wearing his Hokie shirt. BOOO, Dad. Good thing Dexter likes you! :-)

I like chikin...

Oh, damn, I'll have to lick the beaters

I am pretty sure I have never made a cake before. Because is requires getting out my mixer, which I usually have to look at for a while before I use it, to remember how it works. So that's just way too much work. And I am positive I have never made frosting before, because why make it when it comes in those handy, convenient cans that taste yummy when eaten with a spoon?

But we have friends coming over for dessert tonight, and I needed something to go with delicious pints of Bomboy's ice cream, so I took a stab at cake making. Don't get all excited - it's just a Dunkan Hines mix. And this frosting. But. OMG. I haven't had the cake yet, but the batter was delish. And the frosting? TO DIE FOR. And as there's nobody else here right now (ok, Dex and CoCo are here, but they are both sleeping and chocolate is bad for dogs. And babies) I suppose I shall have to make the ultimate sacrifice and lick the beaters all by myself.

No worries, sweetie. There's leftover frosting (I know - I didn't think such a thing existed. I must have done something wrong) in the fridge. You can mix it in with your ice cream tonight. Or just use a spoon.

Want to see ten trillion pictures?

Go here:

Ten Trillion Pictures Link

A selection of photos from vacation. And, really, it's just a SELECTION. Of 225 photos. Out of the, oh, 984 photos taken.

Want to know how to get a good picture? Buy a nice camera. Or, steal one from your dad for so long that he finally gives up hope of ever getting it back and just goes out and buys himself another one. Take ten trillion photos, on the automatic setting. Every now and then play with the manual setting before remembering that it is WAY too much work. Spend lots of hours looking at all those photos. Pick out the one decent one from the bunch. Cherish it.

Pardon me, is that poop you are feeding my son?

John walked in to the kitchen this morning to find this scene:

And, quite understandably, said "OMG, WHAT are you feeding him?"

No, it's not poop. Just avocado. Kind of the same thing, really. I tried some - not my favorite thing without some tomato and other yummy stuff in there to make it guacamole. But Dexter liked it well enough. There was at least no coughing and gagging when he ate it, like with the sweet potatoes. And, hey - you'll never know he's eaten it, when you change his diaper. It'll blend right in! :-)

More poop, please, Mama!

Sweet (Potato) Seven

I can't believe my little boy is seven months old. On his way toward being one year old. With teeth. And working on crawling. In his crib. While he's supposed to be napping. :-(

Today at lactation group he weighed 18 pounds, half an ounce. Up a pound since our last visit, which was a month ago. So all is well. We may have to forgo lactation group from now on, though. Way too much distraction going on there. Bummer - Mom will miss her social hour!

Playing in his pool on the last hot day of August. Glad we finally got to swim - we didn't get in the lake at all in NY. Too cold!

Check out my teeth! Dex has lumps on his top gums for some more teeth, too. Who knows when they will actually come in.

On Sunday after our trip to Bomboys (you know, because we survived a week of eating too much, we should go celebrate with ICE CREAM!) we switched Dexter's car seat to his big boy seat. He seems to like it just fine.

First day of trying something other than cereal. Sweet potato. I am guessing by the coughing and gagging he does after each bite that it's not really his favorite thing in the world... However, as John will attest from his diaper change, some sweet potato actually DID get swallowed.

Why thanks, Dex. I DO rule. Glad you noticed! ;-)