Baby K Gets a Big Boy Haircut and Bed

Baby K has had a good deal of company lately! Last weekend his daddy's parents came down and played with him, which he loved. Grandma W. built dozens of towers out of alphabet blocks, and Baby K knocked down every one with a squeal of glee. This weekend, my parents and sister are here, and I hope they've had fun, even though Baby K is cranky and apparently teething.

This morning I, Grammy, and Auntie A took Baby K to get a haircut. He had one back before his first birthday at my stylist, and has had a few trims at home since, but it was time for a "real" haircut. We went to a kids' salon in town, and though he started out driving a yellow Hummer while they worked on his hair, he quickly wanted to sit only in my lap. He was a little scared, and it probably didn't help that I cried a bit as the stylist snipped off inches of my baby's beautiful hair. He looks like a boy now instead of a baby, and it breaks my heart just a little to look at him.

Two mornings last week when I went into his nursery to get him up for the day, I found Baby K standing up in his crib with one leg hitched up on the rail, a sign he was trying to get out. So we searched for a decent used toddler bed and found one in the town where my parents live. Grammy picked it up and they brought it with them this weekend. It's sitting in Baby K's room now, to let him get used to seeing it there, before we put him in it for sleeping, which will likely happen in the next day or two. Daddy has been working to babyproof the nursery, which has included strapping the bookcase to the wall and putting in latches on dresser drawers-- Baby K is quite the climber and will scale anything if given the opportunity.

Baby K's First Beach Experience

Not counting the trip to Orange Beach when Baby K was almost 2 months old, he had never been to the beach. Now that the weather is a bit cooler-- mid-eighties for the high instead of the mid-nineties-- it seemed like the perfect time to take him. So we got together our beach things, including towels and sand toys, and headed to Gulf Shores this morning. Baby K got antsy about five minutes before we arrived, so our timing was perfect. His first feel of the sand on his toes did not go well; he cried a bit and tried to climb up my leg, actually. The waves were a bit frightening for him as well. Daddy, ever the engineer, dug a hole with a little seat for Baby K, and water slowly pooled into it, so Baby K could sit and play in the sand and water in his own small little area without feeling overwhelmed.

Later, Daddy took Baby K on a walk through the small tidal pool that was near our beach spot. Baby K loved that! He realized that the water was not scary, and he walked and crawled all through it. He studied some big boys (ages 3 and 5) who were playing and realized he could run (well, sort of) through the tide pool, which he did very gleefully. He learned that, at the beach, he could get as dirty and as wet as he wanted, and nobody got mad at him for it! :-)

Unfortunately, we left K's change of clothes at home (he had been playing with the bag they were in before we left, so we missed putting it in the car), so he had to wear just a diaper and one of Daddy's t-shirts home. He napped for about 30 minutes in the car and that was it, so he had an early bedtime this evening.

Slacker Mom Updates Blog!

I admit, I haven't been great about keeping this blog updated, but I promise to try to do better!

Baby K celebrated his first birthday in May. As you can tell from the second picture above, he really enjoyed his cake! He got plenty of presents and love from family and friends.

Baby K is now walking, though he does crawl occasionally when he's in a really big hurry. He's also saying a few words, mostly "heddo" (hello), "tank yoo," "dada," "bye bye," and "Eh-mo" (Elmo). He still won't say "mama," probably because he knows how badly I want him to! He makes the sign for "more," which is helpful at mealtimes, and we're working on the signs for "all done" and "milk" as well.

In the first picture above, Baby K is wearing his Batman jammies. Aunt A, my sister, took this pic a few weeks ago while Baby K and I were there for a week. We got to spend time with Grammy, Grandpa, Aunt A, Great-Grammy, and Great-Grandpa (my parents and my mom's parents). We also got to spend a day with Great-Granny, my dad's mom, who gave Baby K a football that he has loved playing with almost every day since.

We hope everyone is having a great summer!

He's everywhere!

Baby K is now ten months old and crawling like crazy. He's getting very adept at pulling himself up to a standing position, using anything he can to do so-- table legs, the side of the sofa, tall toys, even Mommy and Daddy's pants legs. I have no idea how something so small can have so much energy! It seems unfair that he is so energetic while his poor parents, who aren't even old yet, can't keep up with him.

He now has a total of five teeth. He's gotten three of those, all on the top, in the last two weeks. Poor Baby K-- and poor us, who have had to put up with him! We've really only had four bad days of teething. Unfortunately, he seems to have his father's low tolerance of pain (love you, dear!), so when he's teething he makes sure everyone knows it!

Baby K knows what "no" means now; he just usually tends to ignore us when we say it! We try to limit when we use the word, keeping it only for situations where he could get hurt, such as when he tries to stand up in the bathtub or play with the cord to the lamp in his room. We're also using it at church now, to teach him that he needs to sit during the service. He can move while he sits, play with toys, look at books, etc. but he is not to stand up on the pew or turn around to flirt with the people behind us or get on the floor to crawl around. We started this last Sunday evening, and he spent most of the service in the nursery with Daddy or I, crying because we wouldn't let him down to play. It was a little tough, but we know that he understands us and is capable of doing it. We don't want him to be like other kids we've seen, who cry during church but stop as soon as Mommy or Daddy stand up to take them to the nursery, because they know they'll get to play there instead of having to be quiet in the auditorium.

In non-Baby K news, we've opened a store online to sell Daddy's photography! The website is http://www.wingfieldphotography.etsy.com/ and we'd love for you to visit (and buy something!). We've also started a myspace page, which you can view at http://www.myspace.com/wingfield_photography. If you have myspace, add us as your friend. If you don't have myspace, get an account and then add us as your friend. :-) And of course, we'd love for you to tell all your friends and family members and even complete strangers about our store!

Happy New Year!

Ok, so it's halfway through January, so it's not really the new year anymore. But we've been busy! We've had several playdates, storytimes at the library, and an illness or two to keep us occupied.

Among our food adventures... Baby K tried avocado for the second time (it'd been several months since the first try) and he enjoyed it much more this time around, as the photo above shows you. Before the meal was over, he had a Cheerio stuck to the avocado that was stuck on his tummy! In addition, he's had grits for the first time, and as a good Southern boy should, he enjoyed them. To my surprise, they didn't cause a reflux flare either, so they're now on the list of "good" foods. This morning he ate apricots and bananas mixed together, and so far no reflux flare, so apricots may be ok for him too.

The second photo was taken this morning. Daddy and Baby K had their first Kinderquatics class, offered by the city's parks and recreation department. According to Daddy, Baby K did well for the first half or so, then realized how cold the air was outside of the (indoor) pool, and cried the rest of the time. After they got home, Baby K had a bath and a snack, and then napped for a little over two hours!

Baby K is trying to talk to us. He can say "mamama," "babababa," "dadadada," "tatata," and "duhduhduh." Nothing has any meaning yet, but it's still exciting to hear him say it all. He's also trying very hard to crawl. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. If he does manage to get anywhere, it's by scooting on his belly, and he goes backwards. Inevitably, he winds up getting frustrated and angry because he's not going where and how he wants to, and he starts pitching a fit. This happens in the middle of the night as well, when it's significantly less cute than during the daytime.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

But it doesn't feel like Christmas here! Last Saturday evening the three of us went to Bellingrath Gardens to see the holiday lights, and we didn't even need coats! Before we went through the gardens, we stopped to see Santa Claus in the giftshop/cafe. He and Baby K were equally fascinated with each other, and his photo with Santa turned out wonderfully. (I don't think I can legally post it, though, due to copyright issues.)

Today our playgroup met at the mall. Some took pictures with Santa, and others of us rode the carousel. This was Baby K's first time to see a carousel, and he was fascinated. I parked his stroller right outside the fence of the carousel, and he immediately threw his arms out and started waving them up and down, giggling and grinning, and kicking his feet. The two photos above show him watching the carousel go around and around. I think he enjoyed watching it more than he enjoyed riding it! At least now I know a fun activity to do on a day when we're bored and just need to get out of the house-- we'll go watch the carousel!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby K celebrated his first Thanksgiving in Kentucky with his daddy's family. We had a nice time and enjoyed seeing all of our relatives. Baby K did surprisingly well on the nine-hour drive one-way. We did divide it into two legs, stopping to spend the night going up and coming back with my family, to make the drive easier on us all.

For Thanksgiving lunch Baby K gnawed on turkey, apple, and grapes using his mesh feeder. He has turned into quite the solid-food eater. He's had his first cold and is still suffering from nasal congestion, and as a result his formula consumption has dropped. This worried us at first, but our pediatrician reassured us it's normal, and sure enough, he's slowly increasing the amount of formula he drinks each day, while continuing to devour whatever solids we'll feed him. He enjoys carrots, apples and applesauce, grapes, peas, green beans, turkey, bananas, peaches, sweet potatoes, and squash. When he's really liking what we're feeding him, he'll lunge toward the spoon and chomp down on it with a "rarrrr" sound, like he's attacking it.