Come see the boy!: September 2005

heading east

Having problems uploading pictures, so only one this time....we are just heading to Saskatchewan for the weekend- a friends wedding in Waskesiu, and NOLAN's FIRST BIRTHDAY on Sunday. Nice that he'll be able to see Oma and Opa and Aunty Sheila and Uncle Real and Will and Elise...

The picture is from my birthday in mid August, the last time we were home. He's bigger, toothier and curlier now so this is a good pic to compare short term changes...

Have to go, baby is getting ready for bed but is dangerously hyped up- squealing like a teakettle and shouting (in a cute baby voice) "Goddle goddle goddle....AAAaaaaaaaaaa!"

We are hoping for an early start in the am (right)- yikes. Nolan is not super happy about long car trips....

a night away

I had a night away at a meeting in Vancouver - Thursday night. The boys were fine but I was a mess- couldn't sleep, tired from a really busy day-late night-0400AM wake up for the flight....
I REALLY missed Nolan a lot, to the point that I was basically pulling out my Palmpilot to show near strangers pictures of him all day on Friday. Evening flight back, listened to the kids audio programming- included Robert Munsch reading "I'll Love You Forever"- what a tearjerker, and Ernie singing "Rubber Duckie"- it was great. Was looking for things to sing to Nolan- my repertoire of Chet Baker, old English Beat, Weezer, Sarah Harmer and so on is maybe not optimal baby material.

Nolan is quite the explorer lately (babyproofing the house is ongoing). Turn your back while doing the dishes and , well....

the best bedhead ever

Hi, I can't sleep although everyone else is. This is from yesterday morning- Nolan was in his babyjail while I got his breakfast, and I decided I had to document how crazy his hair is- although actually this isn't the maximum fuzzy pouffe that he can exhibit. Sometimes the back is all lovely curls, sometimes semi-felted fuzz, and sometimes a strangely backcombed looking, unreasonable mat. Evadnie (our nanny) is Jamaican and has an afro so I don't think she thinks of combing Nolan, so that's my job. I always worry it'll pull and hurt but he doesn't mind, he just always turns his head to see what I am doing, which makes things challenging. He looks quite blonde here but actually he can also look quite coppery. Nice hair.

Yesterday morning Nolan and I were hanging out on the bed and he crawled at high velocity right to the edge (I grabbed his ankles in case he felt like going farther- NO FEAR! the boy has NO FEAR!!!). He stopped though, and looked down (it's quite far to the floor), and looked at me, and said
"Uh oh"
which I found quite a reasonable statement. Then he said
"Utschkayatchka, djoov djoov djoov"
which I didn't understand, but I nodded anyway because he sounded so earnest about it. I think the Russian as a primary language classes must be finally paying off??? I tried running that through a translator program and it didn't recognize it either, actually.

Although I believe that he also has said "мама хорошего, утракак о завтраке" in the past.

my poor wee monkey has a cold

Poor sweet monkers has a stuffy nose and is a bit warm- stuffy babies can't nurse, so the whole bedtime experience is like wrestling a snorting hotheaded wee beastie that is annoyed and BITING. Sadly, I am feeling a bit viremic myself so can see this may be a tough couple of days and nights. Started last night with a hot restless baby that kept me up a lot, so woohoo. TGIF tomorrow and I hope I survive the weekend!

Mike has Nolan downstairs trying to tire him out while the Tylenol Cold for babies kicks in (I hope....Dosing Nolan for these things is difficult cause it says 11 mo- 1ml, but 24-25 lbs is his weight, which is 2 yrs and 2 ml, or some such....)

Crazy week at work, but the best part of each day is coming home to see what new amazing phyical feat Nolan has conquered...today it was pulling to stand by clinging by his palms to a glass pane in a door, like Spiderman. He is also big into "singing" with me lately, and has a very cute tuneful little voice (good pitch, too).

Must go try again to get him to sleep.
(I wonder how many ml of baby Tylenol Cold I'd need?)

Daddy n' me

Getting our Sunday caffeine hit at Starbucks on High Street

Nolan's favorite things

Hugs from Oma
Puppies, pool and sunshine

What else....

Grilled cheese sandwiches

Mommy's glasses

"Goodnight Moon" read by Daddy

a big green bouncy ball to roll on the floor

MUSIC!!!

Long naps in the stoller

pulling off his socks

hugs from Mommy when he's tired

nose biting!

rotini with cheese sauce

His "Baby Driver" steering wheel- to stand on, to reach the telephone on the counter

Heinz toddler beef stroganoff

Exploring

Waving bye -bye: sometimes with both hands!

"uh-oh...."

But I think the hugs from Oma and puppies, pool and sunshine are really up there!

Technical points AND FREE PHOTO OFFER!!!

That's the free photo above- it's from about 71/2 months of age- he was VERY EXCITED about getting to hold and eat a rice cake after having pureed baby mush only from 4-5 months on. Now he's a bit more jaded and it takes a bit more culinary excitement than a rice cake to get that look....

So, two issues:

1) Yes, aren't those black and whites and pics of Javier and Nolan nice? Javier's mommy Andrea took them and send them after she scanned them (she has a "real" camera and knows how to use it!)

2) I just changed the set up so there are no restrictions on leaving comments. I haven't got around to entering families/friends emails into the restriction list and I haven't told any weirdos the address, so I don't expect any unsolicited comments of significance. If I am wrong I'll switch back! Please do comment if you like a pic or whatever- I'll be sure to tell Nolan, and by the time he's Will or Elise's age he may like to see what people said when he was a baby. I could also use some feedback to help me gauge the "likeability" of what I am doing with this.

Yes, I am awake at a ridiculous hour. Thought I might as well do something with all of that unharnessed alertness so got up to blog. Today may be a long day!

he's just big boned?

So, we took Nolan in for his 11 month weigh in at Public Health (not officially required but we always have bets on how big he is and they have the most accurate measuring devices!)
He is a pretty solid little person- 90th %ile height and 88%ile weight, not correcting for prematurity. Being big is natural, looking at his non small parents- but people keep mistaking him for a older child who can't walk or talk yet! Oh well, whatever. I yam who I yam, as Popeye used to say. Popeye said quite a few not very brilliant things, though, didn't he?

Nolan's favorite food now, BTW, is grilled cheese sandwiches (old cheddar on flax bread with omega three margarine, to be specific, I cut it into finger food sized cubes) which he just hoovers down. I usually make him a baby version of what we are having (like Mexican/cheese sauce pasta, but his version has no shredded beef, jalapenos, chilis, tomatoes and cumin) and it's so DARN cute to have him at the table with us, with him concentrating on eating. Very deliberate pincer grip- ambidexterous still, but maybe favoring the right a tad. He also tends to rub his food on his head. I'm sure that is why his hair is in such great moisturized condition.

GTG- it is time to put him to bed (he was just "reading" Goodnight Moon back to Mike- he babbles in a slow, measured singsong and turns pages back and forth- VERY sweet.)

A few words about words

Hope this doesn't portend future tendencies to drop things- Nolan's first word (in the sense of using it repeatedly and with meaning and intent) is "Uh Oh"!
He says it when something slips from his wee grabby paws by accident, when he slowly and deliberately drops items from his highchair (good fun to watch the parents pick things up), and even when I pick things up and hand them back to him and he is PREPARING to drop them. Handy phrase. He says all sorts of other complex things but I think he hasn't put together any meanings or names yet. He has said Dada and Mama for quite a long time but it's random, alas.

Tonight in the tub he was pulling his slippery little body up to stand in the tub, holding on to the spout-strong! Also interested in switching the water to shower while it is running- this didn't turn out so well though. He was also getting TOTALLY ENRAGED when toys floated away from him in the tub. Now that he is the Master of All He Surveys, and the Great Explorer Baby, having things get away from him is just TOO MUCH. Especially his BELOVED, precious (my preshusssssssss...) baby wash bottle- he clutches it and sucks on the spout (yuk). Other new things- when he is mad he throws his body backwards, straight and rigid as a board.... not a great idea in the tub either. Terrible twos being forshadowed a bit here.

Got to go- I hear wee critter stirring. He hates waking up alone.

things will never be the same again

Above: Nolan showing us how he feels about climbing

Below: Nolan Explores the Stairs

Big. Trouble.

Although I am delighted that Nolan is doing the stuff babies around his age (and sometimes earlier- but he WAS a month early himself) should do, this is the end of an era.
The "put him down and he will entertain himself IN THAT SPOT for a while" era. Started- age 0, finished - 10 1/2 - 11 months. A good time, I have to say while looking back from my vantage point a week later.
Now, he crawls with his R leg (knee down) but walks with his L leg (foot down) - a surprisingly efficient crab walk (but looks a bit schizoid), and pulls up on EVERYTHING whether stable ot not. He is pretty excited about the stairs- we'll be getting that gate installed now I guess!!! And will be getting out the babyproofing items, and putting away anything remotely valuable (sentimentally or monetarily)....

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Memory Lane #5 - Cousins are good

Nolan has two cousins, Will and Elise, who live about 5h away and just love him to bits. It is very cute to see them together because they are kids wise in the ways of babies, and are very understanding if he's tired or crying. When Nolan was REALLY little, the always imaginative Elise devised a series of games involving her playing at being Baby Nolan, or her as a Princess, costarring Prince Nolan, and so on.....Will on the other hand is a keen observer who watches VERY carefully, then announces "I think he's hungry." Or, "I think he need his diaper changed", and so on. He is very accurate, too.

The pictures above are from their first visit when Nolan was a wee baby. Now he's a bit harder for them to hold!