Gametes In Love

Man, this has been one busy month! S2’s developmental milestone calendar has been quite busy. Monkey learned to crawl, pull up, figured out how to go over stairs, is taking a step or two while holding himself up AND sprouted a tooth. He’s even starting to let go and is testing his balance. It’s really felt like every other week he’s gone for some new feat. Trouble, I tell you. Trouble, all around.

His crawling, is fast! He’s a determined little bugger too, and has figured out how to go around his obstacles. If I stand in the way between him and the objects he shouldn’t be playing with, he swerves in a different direction. He cackles too when he sees that you’re after him and picks up speed, ‘cuz of course, chasing him away from digging his hands in the cat’s water bowl is clearly a game.

Trying to contain him is hard too. With G, our step up from the living room into the hallway was a very effective deterrent for quite a while. I could close the kitchen door, and know that he wasn’t going anywhere. Not so w/ S2. He figured out how to traverse the step within days of crawling. We’re trying to keep the kitchen & dining room doors closed, but when G sees that his brother wants to get in there, he’s happy to oblige and opens the door for him. A bit too helpful, he is. His reasoning was sound: S2 wanted to get in. How do you explain that that’s exactly what we were trying to avoid? Child-proofing with a toddler around is certainly going to be interesting. I want G to be able to have access to the house, because he (for the most part) knows what’s OK and what isn’t. S2 doesn’t.

S2 is also manipulating his go-go gadget arms skills. The little stinker has already figured out that if he raises himself on his tippy-toes he gets an extra inch or two of reach. Really, Kid, you are too smart for us!

He has proven that he’s able to do an 8hr stretch of sleep, yet is un-interested in sleeping past 4am. ARG!

Lastly, I should note how much this kid loves to eat. He’s so indiscriminate to food, it’s kind of awesome. And man, can he put it away. The other day, he ate a size 2 jar of baby-food, several handfuls of Puffs AND an adult size fillet of fish (from fish and chips), batter removed. Yeah. He loves him some fish, and apparently he went nuts for spaghetti at school today too. I’m pretty sure by the time he’s 1, he’ll comfortably transition to daycare’s hot lunch program. I’m about to move him up to size 3 foods, but it’s really a formality since he seems to do fine with grown up food cut fine.

Weight: 19lb 11oz

Height: 28″, but it’s not an accurate measurement, because he won’t sit still long enough for me to measure him.

Favorite activity: pulling up to stand on… stuff

Favorite food: puffs. Be ready to be attacked at the mere sound of the word

Favorite toy: music table

Number of teeth: 1 (with another one around the corner)

Naughtiest moment: 1) pulling on the plumbing lines of the toilet; 2) chasing after Neko

Important milestones: Crawl; Pulling up Stand; First tooth

It’s a little known fact to most of you that S has over 1300 skydives. Yep, “What for you jump out of a perfectly good airplane for?”, skydives (and that’s where the term Whuffo for a non-skydiver comes from). He introduced me to the sport 9 years ago, and although I haven’t made a skydive in over 3 years, I have a little over 200 jumps myself. In addition to our time in the air, S and I each have several hours of indoor wind-tunnel flight time.

And now that G has reached the ripe ole’ age of 10 months, given the extensive training the high winds in our town have put him through, as well as the “fly training” S and G do at home, we decided it was high time he made his first flight. We fitted G with a tight pair of sunglasses, attempted to fit him with the smallest helmet iFly had onsite and off we went.

He did awesome!!!

He sucked up his little face, raised his head and embraced the wind. He opened up his arms wide and just relaxed in S’ arms. Of course, S never let go, and his flight lasted all of a minute, but he was a perfect little flier. We had to pause in the middle to get rid of the helmet since it wasn’t staying on, and he was a sport through the whole thing. Not a cry, not a fuss, not a peep.

Given that he was denied his morning nap for this adventure I’m really impressed with how well he handled himself. I’m looking forward to going again.

So… anyone know where I can get a mini-helmet for a 17 1/2″ head?

S and I did some flying too, which felt awesome. I haven’t gone since I got pregnant with G — for liability purposes you can’t fly while knocked up, and since he was born it’s just been hard to find the time. I think we’re both going to be good and sore this week from the work-out. Another parting gift I got from today was an obscene amount of tangles in my hair. I had tied it in a braid, but forgot to tuck the braid in my helmet, so off the bottom-rubber band went and on came the tangles. I spent over an hour seriously contemplating calling a professional hairstylist while I worked out the knots. Let this be a lesson to you — while out in 140mph wind, tie and keep your hair under wraps.
I also almost flashed all the other fliers, as the zipper of my suit came undone and my shirt was starting to pick up wind. Sadly, it wouldn’t be the first time 🙁 I’ll spare you this part of the video, though.

Many thanks to Ben, our instructor, and Matt, our tunnel driver. And our great friend Bradstyle for waking up early to hang out and fly with us this morning. Oh, also, if you live in the California Bay Area: iFly SF Bay in Union City — you gotta go check it out! Keep in mind, though, that G’s flight was a personal exception: the youngest you can be to fly is 3 years of age.

Anyway, here are some pics. Video’s at the bottom.

“Alright, I’m ready to go. Are we doing this thing or what?”

Woo hoo (Part I)

Woo hoo (Part II)

“Who you callin’ Goggle-face?”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttGIlK06oxE]

Dear G,

Finding you sitting-up in your crib playing with the videocam is not what I had in mind when I put you down for a nap this afternoon. Naptime is for lying down flat as a board, closing your eyes and taking a snooze. Sitting up and rattling the crib isn’t fitting to that definition.

Please also tell me how you manage to immediately awaken even though I put you down half asleep… twice!

Sincerely,

Your “tired-of-battling-you-at-naptime” mom

G has sprouted two more teeth over the last few days. We now have all incisors in place. He’s pretty shy about his mouth and really doesn’t like me sticking my fingers in there. Therefore photos are a ways away, so I guess you’ll have to take my word for it.

His top lateral incisors are also doing the puffy thing on the gum-line, so there’s a change in a few weeks we might have those poking out as well.

Although I’m glad he’s handling all this teeth baking so well, I’m approaching each feeding session with trepidation. He’s known to chomp, which was unpleasant with just 2 bottom teeth. Additionally, in moments of distraction he twists his head to the side, but forgets to let go. All this equals “Ow!”. Now with two matching top teeth I’m, honestly, a little scared of him.

With his new-found chompers, G is now enjoying cheese, cut into little bits. He’s also tasted watermelon, pita bread, and umn… gyro meat. Yeah, I went a little lax the other day and decided to share my lunch with him. He enjoyed it! Down to the Avgolemano soup. That’s right — my boy’s first “official meal” was Greek food. Not quite Bulgarian, but it’s not like we have a plethera of Bulgarian fast-food places around us. Eh, at least Greek is close enough to his ethnic origin 🙂

In other news, Neko hasn’t had any accidents (or purposeful displays of disobedience) in 4 days. Yeah!

Here’s something to bring a smile to your face — at least it makes ME smile.

It’s G laughing.

Would you believe that in 2 months we’ll be celebrating G being a year old? This still boggles my mind — I swear that he can’t be any older than 4 months of age. Where did the time go? None-the-less, here we are.

This past month has been relatively uneventful. We’re preparing for a lot, but not much has officially happened.

G chatters a ton now. Over the last 2 weeks he’s become a lot more vocal. He has a very expressive grunt when he wants something. Actually it’s more like a straining grunt — if you didn’t know him better you’d think he was hosting a party in his pants. But no, that’s just my man telling you he wants something. And mercy on your soul if you take something away from him. Whether it’s an actual toy he can play with, or any other object of interest, if he’s not done with it, you’ll hear about it.

His personality is certainly coming out more. He’s stuborn, and knows what he wants. He’s serious and doesn’t give smiles away lightly, especially to strangers.  When he does smile though, his whole face lights up and you can’t help but smile back at him.

He’s reaching out now when he knows he’s about to be picked up. Kinda handy really.

He’s also teething again. I feel his top incisors awaiting liberation from the gum line. He’s taking it like a champ though with minimal fussiness, but lots of chewing on stuff.

Motility wise, he’s still some ways away from crawling, pulling himself up, or taking any steps. There are days that I wish he’d jump over these milestones, and others that I enjoy not having to chase a 2’3″ rug-rat around the house.

His coordination is improving, but he’s yet to consistently get food up to his mouth. He has a pincer grasp, but he reserves it for special occasions — he’s more of a fist grabber.

With all this “prep” work, I have a feeling that next month will be one to keep up with.

Stay tuned!