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.

More than 8.5 months - Little swinger

Another gorgeous late summer day meant another trip to the swings this afternoon. He's our little adventure baby, and he seems to love doing just about anything - especially new physical experiences. He's really taken to swimming (and by "swimming", I mean being carried around in the water by one of us), he climbs everything he can, he loves to drum. We have quite a challenge in front of us, keeping up with that one.

8.5 ++ months - Rutgers

Augie and I drove up to Rutgers today to meet up with a friend. While we waited for Alison, Augie played.

He drummed:

He climbed (yeah, seriously, he did this all by himself, from the ground):

 He and Alison played with the doggies (Sasha and Samba):

For those of you who are as amazed as I am and want a closer look (let me remind you that I didn't help him at all; I just watched, in awe, as he climbed from the ground to the top of the stroller):

8.5 and more months - Augie after eating

Augie eating is a messy endeavor. Whether we're spoon-feeding him purees or he's feeding himself chunks of something, invariably we have food everywhere. Mostly, though, all over Augie.

Two breakfasts ago:

Tonight after dinner:

8.5 months or so - Princeton Public Library

We try to catch story time at the Princeton Public Library as much as we can, though it doesn't always happen. We made it today - but story time is on hiatus until mid-September. Luckily, we found some other babies to hang out with.

One of the things I love about living in this area is that when we go to any of the local libraries for story time, Augie is usually one of the only white kids there. There's usually a beautiful mix of Asian, Indian, African-American, and Eastern European kids with their parents or grandparents. It's so wonderful to see, and something we're really going to miss when we move to Stockholm.

Back to today. The older kids didn't appreciate the way Augie played with the toys - they complained (rightfully so) that he was eating the train (look at those eyebrows!):

Augie really wanted Madeline's pacifier - he kept trying to take it from her, and succeeded once. He's like that - if he sees a toy he wants, he takes it, whether or not someone is playing with it (someone is usually playing with it). But to his credit, if someone takes a toy from him, he usually doesn't fuss.

Neither of these kids is Augie, but the picture was too cute:

Young reader? you might be wondering.

Nope: book eater. 

I might have had a better time chatting with the other moms than Augie had eating books, trains, and other babies' pacifiers; we'll definitely be back, story time or not.

8.5ish months - Eating with his feet

Augie loves eggplant and zucchini - or should I say aubergine and courgette? Because we can't be counted on to always make an Augie-friendly dinner for ourselves, about once a week James roasts some veggies so we'll have baby-friendly food on hand. He cannot get enough of this stuff. He used to just suck the flesh out of the rind, but now he's taken to biting off whole chunks, rind and all, and chewing, chewing, chewing. He'll work on a skin, then stick it out, then get it caught in the back of his mouth, then bring it to the front of his mouth again and push it out before sucking it up like a spaghetti noodle. He has fun.

And then there are days when he uses his feet: