Nick's Tenth Month

This is the official uncensored blog - nothing held back. So be prepared to be shocked (or bored) by what Nick might play with or chew: tub time seems popular for pictures, play time with toilet tissue, or just pushing an unopened pack of diapers around the room.

Nick got his first car this month, just a month after his first set of keys (refer to an old blog about the toy keys). A little young to be driving, you say? Well, he won't be driving it for another 16 years, but with a lifetime warranty on the powertrain, I intend to keep it alive for him to cruise around town. All his friends will probably be flying hovercrafts by then, and poor Nick will have a car that "still runs on gas! Ha!" There's gotta be something cool about having a car from the year you were born, though. I treasure having a car that's just a month older than Brandi (and I'm smart enough not to divulge the year of the car in this blog.)

Nick cut his first tooth this month, on the lower front - that's 16d if you're keeping score with the universal numbering system, and tooth P if you're a hotshot orthodontist who wants to sound sophisticated (I'm playing to my wife's peers here - the dentistry audience - so most of you are thinking, "dork," and the dental professionals are nodding.) He got 'O' (15d) a couple days later. We only had a few days of the high fever and wigging-out at night. What is it about cutting teeth that it only happens at night when you're trying to sleep?

He contracted his first illness when we had visitors this month - got the flu bug. So he's lost some chubbiness, and had his sleep schedule seriously disrupted (both by sickness and visitor activities). So this has put us on the 'no sleep for parents' track, waking up every hour screaming, or yelling for 3 or 4 hours straight every night for the past two weeks. For every jolly picture you see on this blog, there's one we've taken of a grumpy face that we're saving for another time (I'm not posting many grumpy pics until all of our friends have had their first child. Many of you held back the horror stories of parenting from us until it was too late, and we're part of the cult now - recruiting new parents with only stories of happiness.) Our friend Lisa told us once that we'd take grumpy pictures and just love and laugh at them - she was right.

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He's talking even more than videos lead on. He's always saying, 'ma-ma' or 'pa-pa', and not just into space, but he directs them when he wants something. I'm just thrilled his first words are something he heard from his mother and not me.

- Jason

Nick's Ninth Month

Wow, we're finally at the point where he's been around as long as it took to bake him. Once you have kids you can't remember life without kids.

Instead of a plain picture this month, here's a pic of Nick under the piano. He gave up the Nuk for a few months, but I think the impending cutting of teeth led him back to it. (That, and with the PC back in the shop... again... I don't have many pictures to post. Will get them added soon.)

Nick went from rolling to 'storming the beach' to crawling to standing to walking along the furniture in less than a month. We kinda expected a little more time in between stages to prepare for each one. With all the added range of motion, however, comes the collateral damage... to himself. He constantly looks like a bruised tomato with red spots and lumps all over. I swear he has no concept of how large his head is - runs into furniture and cabinets, lifts it under tables, and drops stuff like shampoo bottles on his own head. The re-arranging of furniture to dictate the preferred path has begun.

You'll see in the pictures along with his toybox (which was mine, a gift from my grandparents) there is a rocking horse that was made for me by my great-grandfather. Another hand-me-down but it seems to chew just fine for Nick. There's gotta be some domestic lead paint in that horse. I suppose he can only consume what's left from my gnawing days. He's already so strong he's tipped it over on top of himself more than he's actually rocked in it.

He had a great time at William Robinson's Second Birthday Party, where I witnessed firsthand my son being mobbed like a rockstar by crowds of adoring women (they were all 5 years old or under.) It was quite an entry. They were rubbing his bald head and kissing and hugging him, and he didn't even attempt to resist. My pride grows every day. He was ready to sweep Abigail, who is more than a year older than him, off her feet as he made his grand exit. Sweeping a woman off her feet is all the more of an accomplishment when you can't even walk by yourself (because of inexperience not inebriation, although I know some of you out there who have tried your moves while intoxicated, and it was rarely a pretty sight.)

He loves to tear through the house in exploration on all-fours, and has a familiar pattern. You can tell where he has been without seeing him there - it's like a bread-crumb trail. He tips over the Hemingray (there's a term you young people can Google), kisses himself in the full-length mirror leaving slobber marks, and then drags bedroom slippers (which are soggy when he's done munching them) across the room. Best munching of the month - the Goodyears on my car (which you know are clean and sanitary.) The boy loves women, cars and SportsCenter. And a good bottle now and then. He's just one of the guys.

- Jason

Nick's Eighth Month

It's been a tough month for blog postings, as my daily laptop is in the shop for a new power switch. Hey, it lasted almost 100 days from new before needing a repair, right? There's my plug for Gateway PC quality.

The little man is crawling like lightning, kneeling, and standing on his own now. He can pull himself up to his feet, only about two weeks after starting to crawl. I had to lower the crib to its lowest level because his mother fears the momentum from his big head will throw him overboard. Referencing the baby books, he's standing about 3 months sooner than I did, so according to his grandfather, that makes him a genius. He should be enrolled in medical school by 15. He crawls under the coffee table and gets stuck, proving that getting into a tight spot is easier than getting out.

At a visit to the doctor last week, he told Nick he wasn't getting enough calories, although he's right at the fiftieth percentile for weight and height. Brandi was concerned that we feed him all he will eat, so how do you get him to take in more calories? The next day, Nick increased his bottles from about 6-7 ounces to 9 ounces. I know the kid doesn't understand English all that well yet, so how did he know the doctor's orders? (Medical school at 13!)

Along the theme of munching everything in site, he's got a habit now of chewing on noses, particularly mine. I think it's his way of giving an affectionate kiss, since his bald white head gets kissed nearly 100 times a day, he's repaying the gesture. This includes a complete stranger at the furniture store today (a little girl about 10 years old asked if she could, and he didn't seem to mind. I'm not going to withhold the experience of an older women from my son.)

He has moved up to a larger car seat now that he tips 20 pounds, and the baby swing has been retired. He hasn't been in the swing for a month anyway - he perferred standing in front of it and pushing it to riding in it. The car seat has an exciting new warning label to read, and is mounted stationary in the Jeep, since he has outgrown the portable seat. His favorite new toy is a set of toy car keys; the keychain beeps like a car alarm, and sounds like a remote starter, among other noises. It's an excellent selection for a little boy - the car starter sounds like a throaty 60's musclecar with dualies and glasspacks. (Everyone reading this blog under the age of 40 just went, huh??) He also has outgrown the baby tub, and sits up in the utility sink for a tubby. Sometimes I feel I treat him like a pet dog, throwing him anything at all as a toy - egg cartons, empty containers, hair brushes... it's all in the name of exploration. At the end of a hard work day, we share a frosty mug - he gets to lick the cold outside, and I get to enjoy what's on the inside.

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New videos this time, and I finally have pictures posted here, all from the past two months. Enjoy!

- Jason

Nick's Seventh Month

This was a big month of firsts. He's finally eating from the highchair. The highchair you'll see in the video is in its third call of duty. It served for his father, and grandfather, since 1941. He also manages to clock his mother with the camera when she gets a little too close. Shortly after we discovered his first "favorite food" in peaches, we stumbled upon his first "not-so-much" food: green beans. Can't say I blame him from the consistency of those beans.

The big one this month is certainly the graduation from rolling-log technique to crawling. Brandi called me one afternoon this week to say, "I think he crawled, but you'll have to see for yourself." It looks a little more like "storming the beach," really, as he shuffles his hips and drags himself forward. But he can make up good distances, and nothing is out of reach. We've now baby-proofed the TV room. Anything at knee-level and lower is fair game. The biggest motivation to crawl is the telephone - something about its beeping intrigues him. He's dialed a couple of you chewing on "redial". And he giggles when he hears, "Sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed..."

He enjoys playing peek-a-boo with his mom. Makes him giggle almost as much as the black cat puppet on Baby Einstein. Haven't figured that one out yet - doesn't seem funny to me (I prefer the sunburnt Zebras in Baby Monet), but to each his own.

- Jason

Nick's Sixth Month

One of the sweetest sounds is Brandi singing Nick to sleep at night. A few weeks ago I was rocking him to sleep and he was just staring at me, when Brandi reminded me I had to sing something. All I could think of was "Enter Sandman," by Metallica. Not exactly a lullably, but it worked.

Another round of vaccinations for the little man, and barely a peep. He gave the nurse a piece of his mind, but no crying. I'm starting to think he might even be tougher than I am.

He will be crawling by the next blog. He's figured out how to get his knees under him. When he got up on all fours for the first time and lifted his head, you could read in his face, "Whoa, what did I just do!" He's already mobile via the rolling technique. Brandi left him alone in the TV room last week, and she returned to him throwing a little chew-fest on the DVDs. He had several out on the floor, and was sizing one up for taste. By the way, "The Little Mermaid" has a nice flavor. (Hey there gutter-people, none of that. This is a family blog!)

For those of you benchmarking your kids against mine (come on, we all do it!) Nick is 26 inches, and just shy of 18 pounds at 6 months. The next round of clothes have arrived, courtesy of his cousin Seth, who left alot of wear on his 6-12 month wardrobe.

New videos at right. He's got a true laugh now, which he can't hold back when his mom makes her uber-happy face. (I can't seem to get it down. The only other person who can do it is his Grandba.) I've watched the video of him laughing at Brandi more than any video to date. The smile of a child brings joy like no other. So true. He's also got the arms moving now, but not yet under control. He's swinging them most of the time, and they are like little weapons, so watch out. If he grabs something heavy or hard, steer clear.

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We're heavy into Rice and Peaches now (not together - yuck!) as the solid food is settling well with him. It's getting harder to eat in front of him as he stares at every bite you take like you're chowing down a juicy steak while he's relegated to lousy mo, and he knows what you've got is better. ("Mo" is our word for his formula, another hand-me-down from Seth, who couldn't pronounce Milk when he first started talking.) You can tell from some of the pictures he does "baby bird mouth" where he props open the target and follows the food in the air until it lands between the gums. If you sneak him a little grape jelly on your finger, you've made a friend.

He spent the weekend catching up with his Grandmoose and Grandba in town from Atlanta. Of course, that included a trip to Cabela's to rummage through the hunting gear. We picked the perfect day - every hunting nut in the midwest was there for a tent (the size of a football field) sale. So, dressed in his camouflage, we wandered for over 4 hours looking at the animals, while munching on a venison brat (me, not Nick.) He was amazingly entertained for hours and never complained being out and about that long. Something about all those guns and fishing tackle soothed him.

It's late, and I'm tired, so off to never-never land!
- Jason