9 months - Lunch with Linden

Yesterday we were fortunate to have guests for lunch: Linden and Auntie Kristin. Not only did Linden show off his ability to eat without splattering banana on the wall, he also gave Augie a little lesson in standing with no hands. (And today, Augie showed off his student skills by standing for a full ten seconds on his own!)

Augie had his supreme commander's chair, but Linden was just as happy in his tie chair (that's Auntie Kristin rummaging through the fridge, in case you thought it was me):

For dessert, let's nibble some sea creatures:

Wait, I wanted that octopus!

Fine, I'll get ready to practice my squat-stand here and chew on a dolphin:

I'm sorry, do you mind if I just sort of stand right on top of you?

Man, that Linden guy just wore me out:

9 months - Family swim time

I somehow convinced James to knock off from work a bit early so that we could have family time at the pool. We haven't loved living in an apartment complex at the margins of town (understatement), but we've maximized the utility of the place by playing lots of tennis on the courts here (pre-baby) and swimming for much of the summers (the pool was a lifesaver when I was pregnant last year and it was too hot to even go for a walk). But really, we're only just beginning to discover the joys of having a pool now that we have a wee one around.

First, we get our gear on and stroll around poolside:

To make sure everyone has an opportunity to notice the guy who can pull off a hot pink shirt, we take our time strolling to the water:

But we gotta stop to see who's checking us out from behind:

He's too sexy for his hat:

Always test the waters before getting in:

But when you hit the water, man, you just gotta let go and have fun:

And everyone has to try a new Instagram effect now and then:

This is the last weekend for the pool, as Labor Day marks the end of summer. I'm glad summer's over, actually: it's always too hot to play outside, and even Augie gets a bit irascible in the heat. Autumn's coming, the most luscious time of the year, and I'm looking forward cuddling up with my boys, wearing plaid scarves, and lingering over bowls of lentil soup with red wine. What are you looking forward to? 

9 months - Augie at 9 months

Here's Augie now:

He weighs almost 21 pounds and measures 29.5 inches. He's still spiderman crawling, pulling to standing, and now he's mastered cruising, making laps around our living room furniture. He's babbling more and more, with ever more intonation. He claps his hands together, and along those lines, he loves to bang his egg shakers together, shake anything that rattles, and bang on his drum. He zerberts my tummy. He still loves to play hide & seek. When he gets really excited, he flaps his wings like crazy and even butt-jumps (from a sitting position, lifts himself off the ground as he flaps his arms). His pincer grip has been honed by eating cereal puffs. His favorite food at the moment is raw cucumber and roasted aubergine and courgette. When James comes home at the end of the day he crawls for the door to greet his Baba.

And a new breakthrough that makes Mama very, very happy: I can read to him now! He used to mangle books by chewing on them and refusing to let us read, but we found a couple books that he loves to look at (he starts butt jumping when he sees them!), which has allowed him to get used to sitting and looking at a story while I read it to him.

I'm having a tough time getting a good picture of him to mark 9 months; I tried today, but doing this solo just doesn't work. I have to distract Augie with the lens cap, which looks silly in his mouth, and then I have to set him down and run across the room (the room is only 7 feet wide) to get the blocks and the baby in the picture, and then he turns away from me to knock the blocks over.... I'm hoping to try again tomorrow with Baba's help.

9 months

I have no pictures for you today, and only a few words: Augie just made 9 months! Yippee! I'm trying to put together an Augie-at-9-months post for you tomorrow that shares what and how he's doing and has some sort of clever picture. Stay tuned!

Update: I just found this photo of Augie that I took back in Stockholm, a month or two ago. I mean to post it but never did, so I might as well today.

8.75 months - Cheeky little chap

A few pics from recent days of the little guy getting into things.

In the veggie box:

Grabbing a cold one from the fridge:

We just learned today that there's a kids room at the Princeton University library. Luckily, I happened to have dressed Augie to fit in: 

8.75+++ months - Esther and Augie

We were fortunate enough to have two sets of friends have babies around the same time we did last fall. Augie is the youngest of the pack, and Esther is the oldest (it's only a 3-baby pack, so superlatives don't really mean much). Being so far away from our families, it's been great having companionship on this parenthood trip.

Last Saturday we met up with Michelle, Adam, and baby Esther for playtime in the park. The kids ate sand and we drank cider - a perfect afternoon.

8.75 months - Friends in Brooklyn

We've done more socializing in the last three days than we've done in the last three months, which is why I've been neglectful of posting. Lucky for you, we don't plan on having any more fun for at least another few days, so I can spend some time catching up on photos, emails, and trips to the pool.

Today we went to Brooklyn, as friends of mine - a colleague from my last job and his family - are moving to Chicago soon. They had a gathering in Prospect Park, and many of my old work friends were there. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to take any pictures because I was consumed with talking to people and keeping an eye on Augie. James snapped a few, though.

Augie eating Deb's delicious bundt pan:

My first try at the double-baby hold, with Micah and Augie:

Obviously, they both loved it:

8.75 months - South Jersey

James was invited to give a talk down at an outpost of Rutgers University yesterday, and we joined him (hence my not posting). We spent the night there before coming back today. We're happily back at home, ready for weekend fun (including a trip to Brooklyn to see friends on Sunday).

Augie was the pre-dinner entertainment:

Can you see the 18 crabs in front of James and his friend/colleague Tal? Or the wee baby at James's left elbow?

Augie, all ready to drive us home. Just needs someone to help with the pedals:

Exploring the halls of the hotel:

8.75+ months - The veggie thief

Augie had his 9-month appointment with the pediatrician today (a week early). As expected, all's well in Augieland. He's 29.5 inches long and weighs 20lbs and 9oz - which means that he hasn't grown as steadily in the last two months, most likely due to how active he is.

And how active he is! My goodness, the boy never stops. Crawling, climbing, standing, jumping, drumming, kissing - it just never ends.

Today we got a box of produce from a local farm share. As I put it away, Augie tasted the wares.

 

 

8.75 months and more - Black and blond

It was a slow news day around here - no new pictures, nothing to report. So I thought some side-by-sides might be fun. What happened to his hair? I'd like to note that it didn't fall out - it just turned from black to blond. And his eyes!: he was born with blue eyes, and then they started turning brown; but they haven't finished changing, so the area around the iris is brown but the rest is still blue. Beautiful.

 

8.75 months - Mama time

Augie spends most of his time with me. As chance would have it, I spend most of my time with him. Not that either of us has any choice in the matter, our situation and finances being what they are, so thank goodness we absolutely adore each other and both enjoy giving and receiving slobbery kisses, full body hugs, and meack attacks.

However, that's also something that we're working on: giving Baba more alone time with baby and Mama more alone time with Mama. Two weeks ago was the first time I did something for and with myself (yoga class followed by a stop at the public library) while Baba took care of Augie. And I think all of us enjoyed it, and all of us learned something from it. We never meant for this to be the situation (that I spend every sleeping and waking moment with Augie), but it just sort of happened. We're finally realizing that it's better for all three of us if we do something about it.

Of course, the time away is fantastic for me, even if it's just an hour or two here and there. One of the best things about it is that I come home so happy to see him and hold him and meack attack him. But as "The Prophet" said, "Let there be spaces in your togetherness." I'm pretty sure Gibran wasn't talking about mother-son love, but still, he has a point.

I'm not sure if I do, so I'll get to the pictures now.