Week 51

Last week we went to a couple of relatively new places in addition to our usual haunts, trying to keep ourselves entertained during a very rainy period. Monday we went to an open gym at a local summer camp, then we gave the literacy play group one last try. Matt did his first craft.

Three guesses who was responsible for the stickers and pipe cleaner and who was responsible for the "deconstruction" and "sculptural elements."

Tuesday we went to the Y play space, and Wednesday we went to library story time. That night we had a massive rainstorm with lightning, thunder, and strong winds; luckily Matt slept through the whole thing. Thursday we went to the other play space, where the theme was superheroes.

Friday we tried the local children's museum again (we went last winter, when Matt was very little). Matt is just about old enough to enjoy it and its offerings; this will definitely be a place we spend a lot of time during bad weather over the next few years.

In the dinosaur room

Going to the moon. Be right back.

Ahoy, mateys!

Not yet into fire trucks

Of course, what's even more fun than a children's museum is a cabinet full of pots and pans at home.

Friday afternoon we went to play group. Saturday we had a birthday party for one of Matt's friends. It was a costume party, and Matt was able to wear his new costume from his grandma.

Sunday we had a quiet day at home while Matt recovered from his busy week and what seems to be a cold (as well as perhaps some more molars on their way). That gave Matt plenty of time to get to know his new play kitchen that we got as a hand me down (we couldn't beat the price of free, and -what's almost better - it came pre-assembled).

Checking the oven and preparing some coffee

Matt is walking more and more; he now walks more than he crawls. And he's still working on making friends with the cat.

Playing string

Practicing his pats

Finally, this photo is technically from this week, but Jon has been working on it for a while, so I want to share a photo of the renovated Cozy Coupe, now repainted as the Batmobile.

Gotta go. Gotham needs me!

Week 50

Let's start with my favorite photo from the week: Matt and Jon going for a Sunday drive on a fall morning.

After the holiday on Monday, last week was more of our usual: the play space at the Y on Tuesday, a walk with other moms and our library story time on Wednesday, the other play space on Thursday (where Matt was the oldest baby and enjoyed showing off), and a quiet day Friday. The weekend was busy with chores getting ready for the freezing temperatures on Sunday night, but late Saturday we got away for a little gathering celebrating the completed basement renovation of one of Matt's buddies. We joked that maybe we'll start Saturday play groups, especially when a sports game is on for the dads.

Matt bouncing on the trampoline at Thursday's play space

Matt has really stepped up his walking this week, starting at library story time on Wednesday. He still crawls a good deal, but he's definitely moving towards walking as his primary form of locomotion. He also started holding the toy phone near his ear and sort of babbling into it on command. He now will place the rings on his stacking toy.

He is becoming more and more interested in his shape sorting toys, too. He's also expressing definite opinions, like which book he wants to read (the more factual the better right now, and he also is a big fan of books with cutouts) or which kind of fruit he wants to eat. He's a sharp-eyed observer of what's going on, and if someone does something he finds interesting he'll try to do it himself.

Matt has figured out the cat likes to play with balls and strings, so he has been chasing her around with those in an effort to play with her. (He has also tried stacking cups, wooden train pieces, plastic dinosaurs, and measuring spoons, with much less luck.) She continues to be wary of his intentions, and we can't blame her since Matt is a bit enthusiastic. But she's starting to soften. Here is Matt crawling quickly (he can really move) to give the cat (who's on the stairs) a ball, which she batted around a bit:

And here he is holding a string for her:

I'll finish with a few more shots from the week:

+ =

The inevitable

A hungry little guy

Taste testing the homemade ice cream

Skipping right to the fun by sitting directly in the toy bin

And two final shots of the happy driver

Week 49

We kept busy last week, although it wasn't as busy as the previous week.

Monday we tried our literacy playgroup again. The leader seems to have learned her lesson in that she skipped the Play Doh activity, but she's still struggling with this age group. That afternoon we hosted our own play group. I guess I need to stop calling it "baby" play group when Matt is among the youngest! We got our money's worth out of our Cozy Coupe purchase; that was definitely the hit of the afternoon for all invited. (The car is in the process of getting a facelift. More to come...)

Tuesday we went to the Y play space in the morning.

You may notice a theme this week: spoons. For whatever reason, Matt was especially interested in playing with and carrying around spoons.

That afternoon we met up with a friend and her baby at a local farm with a pumpkin patch. Pumpkin patches make for excellent fall photo shoots!

Wednesday we went to library story time in the morning, then headed over to BU for the second half of a study we did several months ago.

Thursday we went to the play space we've been attending, where we ran into friends. Matt had a good time crawling under the parachute during the circle time activity. Unfortunately my attempt to snap a photo of him pointing (something he does more and more often now) while underneath it didn't quite come out.

Friday my moms' club went for a walk along the nature path around a cranberry bog (before heading over to Trader Joe's). We saw turtles, geese, ducks, and a chipmunk as well as some fall foliage.

Matt with a couple of his buddies, looking over the cranberry bog

Saturday and Sunday were quiet days at home for us as we caught up on some projects around the house. We confirmed Matt has been working on his own project: molars. We finally glimpsed the upper two first year molars, bringing Matt to a total of ten teeth. We're all ready for the molars to finish coming in, especially since they seem to be making it hard for Matt to sleep well.

Here are a few more photos from the week:

Will I indeed regret getting him a musical instrument set with its own drum? Stay tuned...

Matt has been busy getting used to wearing layers now that the cool days and nights of autumn are definitely here.

Me, messy?

Matt is taking more steps independently. He'll take up to about a dozen by himself. He's starting to walk on his own initiative and to something other than just us, although he still prefers crawling to travel any real distance. Here he is walking this past Monday:

As you can see, it's still a work in progress.

Week 48

Whew! What a busy week! I tried to wear out the baby but ended up wearing myself out instead.

Monday we went to a birthday party, then attended the literacy playgroup at the library. The party was fun, but the literacy play group was not so much. The leader did not seem prepared for the age range advertised, 1 to 2 1/2 year olds. She wanted us to pick up every single toy our child put in his or her mouth (she needed a much bigger bucket with a teething 11 month old in attendance!); she expected the little ones to sit still for about 15 minutes of reading, singing, and rhymes; she brought out apple shampoo-flavored Play Doh (here's a tip: no matter how many times you tell them not to, kids will put Play Doh in their mouth, so don't make it smell even more like food with something they really shouldn't eat!); and she wanted them to color self-portraits. Needless to say Matt had his own idea about what he should be doing, and I couldn't blame him.

Tuesday we went to the play space at the Y with other members of our moms' club before heading over to watch one of Matt's buddies while his mom went to an appointment.

Matt with his "birthday buddies": one is one day older, and the other is one day younger than he is.

That afternoon we met up with another friend and her baby to try out an indoor playground. It seems like a good option for the upcoming cold winter days.

Are you sure that's all this toy does?

"Eating" a piece of pizza

Being cute and snuggly with the giant stuffed puppy dog

Seeing all of his walking buddies must have inspired Matt to try out his first steps that evening. (He hasn't yet progressed beyond a step or two on his own; he still prefers crawling and hanging on to something as he walks.)

Wednesday I had a meeting in the morning for my moms' club board. The Y very kindly agreed to watch our kids for us in the child watch room, so we got a lot done in a record amount of time while the kids had fun. Matt wasn't sure he wanted to leave when I went to pick him up because he had three attendants fawning over him. How could I compete with that? Later that morning we went to library story time with our usual children's librarian, who's better at not only choosing age appropriate materials but also working with that age's activity level. The natives were extra restless that morning, and she kindly let them roam around and try out the touch and feel pages.

Thursday we went to another play space, which was very busy. Matt's favorite part may have been chewing on the finger puppet during the circle time.

Yum, a tasty lion...

That afternoon we went to our town's community center for a little animal show by a local father who rescues exotic pets. Since Matt is currently obsessed with his touch and feel books, he had a great time petting the animals. He got to touch a chinchilla (which he called a "kitty" - not a bad guess), blue-tongued skink, small tortoise, hedgehog (the spines felt very different than what he expected!), hissing cockroach, degu (resulting in me saying something perhaps never said before, "You can't hit the degu with your teething ring"), and corn snake.

The chinchilla and hedgehog

Friday we just met up with some friends at the Y play space again for a little bit in the morning.

Saturday we went to a local farm, the one with one of Matt's favorite playgrounds. We checked out the pumpkins, both harvested and in the field, said Hi to the farm animals, and did a little playing.

Petting a goat

The old billy goat stuck his tongue out at us.

Riding the bouncy motorcycle, sea creature, and toucan

Crawling through the sandbox

Afterwards we went out for a late lunch / early dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Hopefully they let us back after Matt's mess!

Sunday we needed a quiet day at home.

Playing while wearing a onesie to support the home team

Here are a few more photos from the week:

Hanging out with his current favorite buddy, Winnie the Pooh

Just standing around

Getting tickled by dinosaur tails

Eating one of his favorite meals, pasta with chunky tomato sauce (Matt loves tomatoes!)

Happy 11-month Birthday, Matt!

Today Matt is 11 months old. To celebrate, we went to a farm that had, among other things, a pumpkin patch.

We have a walker!

Tonight Matt took his first steps. After about half a dozen tries, I managed to get one set of steps on video:

And he's off!