Week 34

Once again we had a fairly quiet week, but that allowed Matt to keep working on his crawling and standing. He's having a lot of fun exploring.

Matt is a very large baby, but when he's crawling he looks so small!

He figured out how to pull himself up to standing in his crib, which means between that and his urge to crawl every time he rolls over his naps and bedtimes take a lot more work.

Look at my new trick!

Although he looks like he wants out of baby jail, so far he's just interested in getting attention. Let's hope it stays that way!

The cat is coming to terms with the baby's increased mobility, but that doesn't mean she likes it. Matt has been picking up his crawling speed, but the cat is still able to run off before he can get to her. She isn't amused by his insistence on crawling up to her and shouting in his baby language at her, and she definitely doesn't appreciate his enthusiastic slapping.

Fortunately she can find some shelter behind the new wall keeping the baby from the fireplace and TV.

The two have been battling over boxes this week.

Here you can see how quickly he can scale the step between the family room and the rest of the house, too.

A truce - until he reached over to "pet" her

We didn't have many activities this week: a social for my moms' club at a local playground on Monday, a couple of walks on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then our events Thursday and Friday sadly had to be postponed, Thursday because of the weather and Friday because I wasn't feeling well. Saturday Matt and I went to two local farmers' markets to check out their offerings while Jon did some work on the deck. Sunday we stayed home while Jon did more work, this time on the baby gates. Matt's offer of help came in the form of standing at the back door, banging on the window.

Matt's newest foods are summer squashes, including zucchini (he found that yummy, which is good because we have a lot growing in the garden!), and rice (brown rice, rather than rice cereal). He's continuing to enjoy fresh fruit, too.

More fun with boxes

Helping me do laundry

Looking forward to being able to enjoy the refinished deck

Getting bolder with his crawling and climbing

Until next week!

Week 33

Compared to last week, this past week couldn't compare in excitement. Still, we had plenty going on. Matt continues to work on his crawling, kneeling, and standing.

We continue to work on baby-proofing. Matt is getting used to spending a little time in the pack n play and play yard, and we'll all be getting used to living with baby gates. 

The baby gates are necessary because Matt quickly managed to figure out how to scale the step between the sunken family room and the rest of the house. 

Here comes trouble!

The cat is not amused by the dramatic change to her quality of life, especially since the baby loves to go after the cat toys (payback, perhaps, for her trying to steal his?).

We managed to go for some outings last week, too. Monday we went to baby play group, our first one that was able to move outside for some fresh air. Tuesday we met a number of friends at a local state park for a hike organized by another moms' group. Afterwards we stayed for a picnic lunch and played on the playground. 

Fun on the swing and slide

Exhausted baby!

Wednesday we had a quiet day at home while Matt caught up on eating and sleeping; as you can see above, he needed it! Thursday my friend who watches Matt was sick, so instead of going into work I took us to meet my moms' club at a local playground for more swinging and sliding and then got my car inspected (not fun, but necessary). Friday we went for a walk at a different local park with a few other moms and their little ones, and then Saturday we stayed at home to do some things around the house, like figure out how to arrange the baby gates. Sunday we went to get our last plant CSA pick-up and stayed for a walk around the gardens.

On our walk

Playing with leaves in the tunnel

Just a couple of more photos:

Matt has now had turnips (his least favorite food so far), cherries (super yummy!), and apples (tasty!).

To end, a goofy baby

Week 32

We may not have had much planned last week, but it ended up being a busy one after all! Since last Monday, Matt has started
- taking 3 rather than 4 naps a day
- pulling himself to standing on his own
- feeding himself from large chunks of food (for example, a piece of watermelon)
- kneeling unsupported
- crawling (he was close, but now he's moving in all directions officially)
- transitioning from all fours to sitting and back again
- standing unsupported for a few seconds
- trying to begin cruising
- babbling, as in "ga ga ga", as you can hear in this video:

Believe it or not, most of that happened this past weekend!

And we actually did a few activities in there, too. This past week started off differently than originally planned, but it all worked out in the end. Monday we were supposed to stop by baby play group before going to see some friends and get Matt a booster shot, but both hosting babies needed to make their own doctor trips (everyone's OK, fortunately). So we ended up going for a walk with a friend from my moms' club, then getting Matt's shot, before seeing our friends and talking another stroll to enjoy the nice weather. Matt's friend is pulling up to stand very well; Matt ended up serving as a platform for him. Perhaps his buddy served as inspiration for Matt to try it himself the next day!

Tuesday we went for another walk with another friend with a baby. Her baby actually managed to catch a toad while we were walking! Matt was content to ride along in the hiking carrier.

Wednesday we had the day off, and then Thursday I went into work to do a program. Friday we were supposed to go to the zoo with some friends from my moms' club, but the rain forced us all to change our event to a play group. Matt decided to take a long nap instead, however, so we missed seeing our friends. Saturday we spent the day at home, which was good because Matt was ready to check off the milestones (perhaps the reason he was so sleepy on Friday...). Finally, Sunday we went to Matt's first baseball game in an event organized by my moms' club. We saw the local independent league team win it in the bottom of the ninth. Very exciting!

Checking out the grass outside the stadium

On the field

 

In the home team's clubhouse before the game

Checking out the batting cages

Baby goat at the petting zoo

Standoff with the baby pig at the petting zoo (if the animals look familiar, the petting zoo was run by the same place that was at the library a few months ago)

Game on!

Run scored

Watching the game

Kisses from KO, the kangaroo

Cool kid

Walk-off win!

Matt has enjoyed eating from his increasing variety of fruits and vegetables this week, adding bananas and plums. We didn't mean to wait so long with bananas; we were taking advantage of what's in season, and bananas kept getting bumped in favor of fresh fruit. The wait was worthwhile, though, as Matt loves bananas, especially mashed into his oatmeal.

A sweet potato and oatmeal mustache, and yummy peas smeared all over a happy baby face

Finally, a few more photos:

Goofy baby

Ripping through The Economist