Bobbing for Butt Feathers*

In addition to his sippy cup escapades, A has debuted a few other new "things" this past week that have been keeping us in stitches.

Although I recently moved Alex up a notch in his jumperoo, I'm afraid that third notch will be getting some use in the near future. When Grammy and Papa were here, we put the parrot and froggy that hover above his head in their lowest position, which means he could easily reach them with his hands. And what happens when Alex gets something in his hands? Into the mouth it goes. So we let him chew on the birdie's feathers a little before pushing it back into a higher position. Apparently parrot booty is a flavor Alex responds to (tastes like chicken), because he started jumping as high as his little legs could take him, his mouth wide open, attempting to snag a few butt feathers like a Venus fly trap. I tried to capture the moment with a few still shots, but you really had to be there...

In addition to the plethora of goofy faces he already had in his repertoire, A has added a few more. He has adopted this crazy silent laughing thing where his mouth hangs wide open and his face gets...well..."squinchy" is the best way to describe it. It seems as though wild, squealing laughter should be coming from his mouth, but instead, nothing. Which somehow makes it funnier than if he were actually laughing.

This video also has a couple examples, though a little less silent than usual.



Another new one is a kissy duck face that cracks me up every time. I think it derived from his attempts to blow raspberries and repeat the "ba-ba-ba's" that his daddy and I are constantly throwing his direction. He doesn't do it all the time, but when he does, we can't help but snicker.



In the last few days, Alex has started to recognize that rolling can get him places that he wants to be. He has yet to regain his original mastery of belly-to-back rolling, and instead, has opted for an entirely new (and much less graceful) method. This method requires him to overcome the obstacle of his weak-side arm, which is no easy task. (Notice the little hand peeking out from behind his back.)

Here's what happens if he fails to complete the roll as planned...

And here's what happens when he succeeds. Ahh, sweet victory. He successfully rolled to Banana Boy and to the end table, where he just laid on his belly and stared at the books for the longest time.

On another occasion, I laid him in the middle of the floor, stepped into the kitchen for a minute, and came back in to find...

Luckily I snatched it out of his mouth before any real damage was done. I don't think that twenty yards of curling ribbon would be much fun coming out the other end, if ya know what I mean...

I also bought him a RazBaby teether that he loves to chomp on. It's great because he's more into gumming things than just sucking on a paci, and this one is designed for all parts to be chewed on. Minutes of fun!

Yeah, he likes it...

Besides that, there are more faces...

Fun times with his mama...

Wrestling the camera from his mama...

Mini-pushups...

Tummy time...

Oh, and more faces...

*Sorry Grammy, "Bobbing for Booty Feathers" just didn't have the same ring to it...

Let It Snow, Friends We Know, Gotta Go

It snowed Saturday afternoon before we went to visit Santa - the perfect setting for such an occasion. It also inspired us to spend some time in the warm and cozy house, just hanging out and watching Alex make more of his silly faces.

Although just watching Alex is entertaining enough, Grammy and Papa also enjoyed playing with him. He loved on Grammy a bit and showed her how he could drink water from his sippy cup, then he laughed with (at) Papa and tried to grab Cinder's beard.

He also showed Grammy how he can stand up and his new rolling technique.

It was so great that they were able (willing) to come up and watch A so Tim and I could act like adults for a couple evenings. We put A to bed Friday night and got to go see a movie, which we haven't done in...well, at least five months. Sunday evening we went to our CG party, prepared to stay out all night and wreak some havoc before coming home and having to be responsible parents again.

The party was so much fun and it was definitely nice (for all attendees) to have a night of kid-free entertainment. However, most of the party-goers bailed early, mumbling something about having to relieve babysitters and get up early for work the next day or some such nonsense. Darn those responsible friends of ours. We overstayed our welcome with Bryan and Robin for a little while, reveling in rare adult conversation that didn't include any "ba-ba-ba's" or "da-da'da's". Ironically, the topic of said conversation was our children. It's funny how you spend all week as a s.a.h.m. wishing you could have just a moment of relief from your motherly duties, then the minute your child is not within sight, you miss him and want to hug him around the neck. That said, we were ready to get home and peek in on our little guy before heading to bed.

Grammy and Papa went home early Monday morning, which was slightly less depressing than usual considering we will be in Eldo on Thursday. But we shed a metaphorical tear to see them go, nonetheless.

Who's this guy and why should I care?

We had our kid-free community group Christmas party this weekend, so we were in dire need of a babysitter. We had finally decided just to put Alex in his crib with a bottle, a few clean diapers, and a cell phone, with instructions to "Call us if you need anything". For some reason, when we told Grammy our plans, she raced right up to Fayetteville and volunteered to babysit instead. So when she and Papa came up on Saturday afternoon, we decided to take Alex to the mall to see Santa and let him know what a good boy he has been this year.

We weren't sure how he'd react, so we were prepared for pretty much anything. His attitude when we sat him on Santa's lap could best be described as "complete disinterest". I don't think he even noticed whose lap he was sitting on, and if he did, the bushy white hair and suit of red left no impression. Of course, it didn't help that this particular Santa was a bit antisocial. Not in a serial killer kind of way, but more in a he didn't say two words kind of way. He didn't even ask what Alex wanted for Christmas, or whether he had been naughty or nice! Bad Santa! He was adorable though, and he did attempt to tickle Alex in an effort to coax a smile out of him for the picture. In the end, we were satisfied with his sweet, if stoic, expression.

He seemed satisfied with it, as well, so it was all good.

We did a little Christmas shopping, Alex rode this little rhino that was hanging out in the menswear department at Dillard's, and we headed home.

Waterboy

As you may have noticed, it's been forever and a day since I've blogged. I guess the havoc of the holiday season will do that to you. Although I haven't taken the time to blog, I have nonetheless taken about a thousand pictures of Alex's every move over the last week or so. So many, in fact, that my computer has thrown a hissy and is now informing me that I am lacking enough disk space to add any more pics to my already abundant collection of image files. 24.1 gigs worth, to be exact. Instead of pulling an all-nighter to compose a decent post that describes the entire week past, I will break it down into more manageable chunks and leave you shivering in anticipation for the next installment.

This week's events have included a new "first", so that seems like a good place to start. I've been using a plastic cup to pour water on Alex during bath time, and he has taken to snatching the cup out of my hand so that he can play with it. As of late, he has taken quite an interest in watching Timothy and I eat and drink, so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that he knew exactly what to do with a cup that has water in it - drink out of it, of course! Despite some occasional choking and sputtering episodes, he does pretty well with small sips. So I thought, what the hey, let's try out the sippy cup.

It's really not all that different from what he's used to. I mean, it's pretty much a bottle with handles, what with the lid and the nipply spout thing that sticks out of the top. The one we have is designed for the transition from bottle to cup, so it even requires some sucking action to get the water out. So really, I think the water was more of a surprise than the odd bottle-like thing he was drinking it out of. He examined it for a second, grabbed the handles, and like everything else he can get his mitts on, stuck it in his mouth.

As with his bottle, his biggest challenge is holding the dern thing at an angle so that the liquid actually comes out. For now, though, he is content just to hang onto it and play with the spout, delighting in the rare instance that water actually makes it from the cup to his mouth.

Before They Were Stars: Alexander Lloyd Evans

We are really banking on Alex inheriting Timothy's musical talents as opposed to my lack thereof. He is fascinated by Timothy playing the guitar and singing, and he even smiles when I sing (despite the fact that my singing typically elicits tears as opposed to smiles. What a good boy to humor his mother). With the Christmas season in full swing, I take every opportunity to play, hum, sing, and dance to Christmas music, which Alex seems to enjoy. He is particularly fond of Feliz Navidad - perhaps it's time to start scheduling Spanish lessons - and anything by Bing Crosby, Perry Como, or Sinatra. He seems to respond to the manly crooning - I guess that's why he likes when I sing to him...

Anyhoo, we are definitely hoping he will be musically inclined, and with his daddy, Uncle Nick, and Goddaddy Seth in the picture, it may be inevitable. Heck, he's already got his very own guitar that's just waiting to be played. For now, though, it seems that his instrument of choice may be of the percussive variety. For example, hand clapping and finger snapping render him wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He has yet to discover that beating his own hand against things will create the pleasant banging sound he likes so much, but he loves to play the "air drum machine" with a little help from his daddy.



I can handle a quarter scale guitar and the tolerable quarter scale noises that it will make as he learns how to play. It's the sound of a quarter scale drum kit that I dread...

On the Five

Boy oh boy, Alex is five whole months old today. My how time flies.

First, some statistics...

Size: Our scale is on the fritz, so I have no idea how much he weighs right now. He is finally starting to fit into some of his 3-6 pants, but in general, they are way too generous in the posterior region but lack in length. What can I say? My kid's got no junk in his trunk. However, he is regularly wearing 12 month sleepers, which fit like a glove. He still wears size two shoes, but has been in size three diapers for several weeks now. I'm expecting him to move up a shoe size any day now, which is depressing because that means he won't fit into his favorite kicks anymore. I guess if we find a shoe we like, we just need to buy it in every size instead of every color...

Eating: He is generally eating about six or seven ounces of formula per feeding, either five or six times a day. I've been kind of lazy about the whole rice cereal thing, usually only doing it a couple of days a week. He has taken to eating so well that I haven't felt much pressure to make him "practice", although it would probably help his digestive system adapt better if I made him do it more often. He is a great eater in the sense that he hardly thrusts at all, so he doesn't make much of a mess. And I've been making it pretty thick, like the consistency of...grits? He doesn't seem to love it, but mostly, I think, because it takes more effort to eat than it does to suck formula out of a bottle. I guess I'm not the only lazy one...

Sleeping: I never thought the day would arrive, but I really don't have much to complain about in the sleep department. His wake up time in the morning is the only real frustration in that it is completely inconsistent, but that could be because his bedtimes are pretty inconsistent, falling anywhere between seven and eight o'clock. He naps once in the morning and at least twice in the afternoon, sometimes a third time if he needs a "pre-bedtime" nap. He's usually a long napper, snoozing for 1.5 to 2 hours on average, and I've found that if I keep him awake and entertained for a full two hours between naps, he'll go right down without much of a fuss.

Physical/cognitive milestones: I don't know that he's achieved any distinct milestones this month, per se. It's been more of an evolution of the things he's already able to do. He is much more in control of his body, and thus, is somewhat more mobile than he used to be. I can't exactly pinpoint how he gets around - it's some combination of rolling, wiggling, and flopping. Not that he's traveling cross-country or anything. He justs never seems to end up where he started out. He spends a lot of time flailing around on his belly, and occasionally does some variation of the "mini-pushup". I still lay him on his back when I put him in bed, which is pretty much a moot effort since he immediately rolls onto his side or belly and falls asleep.

He has pretty strong legs and can stand on them for extended periods of time. If we give him something to hang on to, he can stand on his own. Although he doesn't realize that he needs his hands and inevitably ends up moving them, causing him to flop to the ground ever so ungracefully.

He is also a much better jumper than he used to be and is mad about his jumperoo. Mad, I tell you! I moved it up to the second level last week, but he still acts like he's gonna jump out of the thing. And he continuously bumps his head on the parrot's "butt feathers" in the process (hey Grammy, blame Timothy for that one. I'm just quoting). He is finally getting the hang of the Johnny Jump Up, which requires considerably more effort to operate than the jumperoo. Now, instead of just hanging around and spinning in circles, he manages to hop and get a little bit of air under his feet. As much as a two foot tall white boy can manage, anyway...



His personality is in full bloom and we can't get enough of it. For one thing, he is quite the blabbermouth. All day long, blah blah blah blah, in his jumperoo, blah blah blah blah, when he goes to sleep, blah blah, when he wakes up, blah, blah, blah. He holds entire conversations with us, although we currently speak different languages.



If we become unavailable to chat or have failed to keep his interest, his conversation often resumes with the various components of his jumperoo. Yup, he spends a lot of his time talking to rainbows, parrots, and sunshine. How very psychedelic of him...



He is highly expressive, which makes him so much fun to observe. Kind of like a monkey.

His latest hobby, aside from the constant (attempted) production of raspberries, is whining. In the last couple of days, he has taken to scrunching his face as if he is pained and whining like a big 'ole sissy baby. The whining usually begins and ends with a giggle, so we're pretty sure he just likes the sound of it. Besides, what on earth could this kid possibly have to whine about?



The only time he doesn't do these crazy things is when other people are around. I guess he tries to be on his best behavior when we have guests or when we are out in public because he definitely becomes a more reserved version of himself. I think that's why I take so many pictures and videos of everything he does - proof!

Speaking of pictures, I have taken approximately eleven thousand pictures of Alex at this point, and he's starting to get sick of it. "Enough with the paparazzi," he says. "You need to respect my privacy."

Come on Alex, with fodder like this, how can I resist?

Long story short, he is better than the best baby we could have ever wished for. He is non-stop entertainment and every day gets better than the one before. Can it go up from here? I can't wait to find out!!

Going, Going, Gone...

Poor Alex, his hair is disappearing quicker than a box of Krispy Kremes at a Weight Watcher's convention. I think it looks a bit like Timothy's face when he is trying to grow a beard - luscious and full in some places, scarce and balding in others. Nonetheless, he still doesn't have enough on the sides to attempt a comb-over. It really was pitiful there for a couple of days - Timothy spent so much time teasing him that I started making him wear hats. In the house. 24-7. Okay, not really. But a lot more often than usual. Luckily he looks good in hats and has lots of them.

Anyway, we are hopeful that his loss reached its pinnacle yesterday because when he woke up this morning, Tim and I both thought that it seemed to have thickened overnight. I don't think I switched his shampoo for mine, which guarantees 50% more body (or my money back), but with results like that...So I took pictures today to memorialize how bad it really got, assuming it will only go up (and out) from here.