Happy Halloween 2011!

Today was a big day for James! It was his first Halloween, his first day using the park (instead of just strolling by), and his first day as a monkey.

Happy Halloween!


27 weeks + 5 days


First time using the park swing


Monkeys love swinging!


Yay, Tiny Town park!

James's First Snow 2011

I was excited about James's first snow. I still remember when one of my friends from college saw his first snow our freshman year. He was from Florida and had just never seen fluffy white ice fall from the sky before. James was less impressed. I was surprised that this whole thing was happening in October. Snow! In October! Snowtoberfest!

This was a good opportunity to put the very warm blanket grandma knit to good use. It kept James warm and snuggly during his walk.

The boys are dressed warmly for their walk


I just went out for the photo op (27 weeks + 3 days)

Brooklyn Flea and Fort Greene 2011

While grandma babysat, Kevin and I took the opportunity to finally check out the Brooklyn Flea market. There was a lot of stuff! There were countless vendors under their own tents, and a bunch of food trucks.

View of all the tents with some historical building in the back.

In case you need animal heads for your home...

Kevin scopes out a very extensive jar collection.

You can see Kevin taking this picture behind me in the millions of mirrors.

We had lunch from the Porchetta food truck- yum.

Since the main Brooklyn Flea Market is in Fort Greene, we wanted to check out some other fun weekend stuff in Fort Greene so we went to the Farmers' Market in Fort Greene Park where we purchased the most delicious apples I have ever eaten.

Fort Greene Farmers' Market

So much deliciousness

The park is beautiful too so we took a walk around. We should bring James back to the playground when he's old enough to enjoy it.

 

Fort Greene Park

The tower in the park

Grandmothers Strike Again 2011

Have I mentioned that James's has the two best grandmothers a child could possible have? Oh, I have mentioned that? Well, here's more photo proof.

Nana and James (at 25 weeks + 3 days)

Grandma and James (at 26 weeks +3 days)

James is 6 Months Old 2011

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James's 6-month photo (26 weeks + 1 day)

Wow, I can't believe James is 6 months old already! What's most shocking about it is that he seems less and less like a baby and more like a toddler lately. He charms strangers, sits up for little stretches of time, tries to grab stuff he sees me or Kevin using, and eats baby food. He tries to grab the spoon to feed himself. Yesterday we got him a booster seat to eat his baby food in; even though it was pretty funny to feed him in his jumperoo, it wasn't an effective way to actually get food in his mouth. He also started working on crawling at 24 weeks. He does what Lukas described as a "military crawl," meaning he crawls forward on his belly instead of getting up on his knees. He likes to stand while we hold him, and a few days ago, he held the coffee table and held himself up while trying to steal our remote control.

Holding himself up with the table! (25 weeks)


Propped up standing (25 weeks + 4 days)

James shredding magazines, a new favorite activity

James had his 6-month doctor's appointment and he is now 28 inches tall and 19 pounds heavy. That means he's in the 90th percentile for height, and 50-75th percentile for weight. His head circumference is off the charts, though. I like to imagine this is because he's brainy. He's rocking the 9-month-old clothing.

At his 6-month doctor's appointment

We are getting really excited for James's first Halloween. It's possible that he has two Halloween costumes... he will be all dressed up with nowhere to go. Taking him trick-or-treating is a little silly still, and he doesn't have any baby parties to attend, so I guess we'll just be taking some photos here.

Which one of these pumpkins is my baby?


Found him! (26 weeks + 2 days)

Recent Visitors- October 2011

James enjoying Sunday football with the boys (24 weeks + 4 days)


He's not too focused on the football yet though


Sarah and Lukas over for brunch and football (25 weeks + 4 days)


Michele, here to visit her man (26 weeks + 5 days)

Diary of an Angry Pink Baby #4: Bronx Zoo 2011

Along with several packs of small schoolchildren and a surprisingly robust collection of Orthodox Jewish families, we went to the Bronx Zoo on Monday. Like all six-month babies who don't understand what hands are, let alone animals, James was desperate to go to the zoo. Considering his sterling history of going places, we were eager to oblige.

It costs $13 to park at the zoo. That made me an angry pink baby. James was actually pretty good, by which I mean asleep, when we arrived.

The first animals we saw were giraffes. James spends many hours a day salivating on a rubber giraffe that is indistinguishable from a dog toy, so we figured he'd be excited by the real thing. He was not. Nevertheless, I took him out of his stroller, so his mother could take thousands of photographs of him in front of the giraffes.

With the giraffes

Next we saw okapi. If a zebra mated with a not particularly potent horse, their spawn might look like an okapi. We saw elephants, which had the tired look that elephants that don't live in Africa or India or whatever have, and we saw a bunch of animals that looked like monkeys, though they all had crazy non-monkey names. James cared about none of these animals, and my wife photographed all of them.

With the Langurs

James would occasionally smile or get excited, but this never had anything to do with animals. Mostly, this had to do with Latin women, whom James enjoyed flirting with a great deal.

My favorite animals were the gorillas. You could get very close to them, and they would do wise and noble things, such as stare at grass and then eat it. I also enjoyed the polar bear that slept the entire time. Out of solidarity, or because he's a baby, James slept in front of the polar bear. The regular brown bear seemed nervous. It kept pacing around the rock like it had placed a bet it already regretted.

Napping with the polar bear

There's a monorail at the zoo! I didn't see that coming. It takes you on a totally random tour, featuring buffalo (or animals that look like buffalo), red pandas, and an extremely scary tiger. James loved the monorail because we let him eat a map the entire time. Probably, this was his favorite part of the zoo.

Eating zoo map on the monorail

Ericka's favorite part was the photo booth, as she'd left her camera at home, and this gave her an opportunity to commemorate the day. What's that? She brought her camera and took over 200 photos? Ericka's favorite part was the photo booth because she has a deep and incurable addiction. Thanks for the tickets, Teresa!

Megan, Ed, and Janice Visit 2011

Last weekend, Megan and Ed came to visit Christina and Dan and Manhattan and Ash and I invited ourselves to have dinner with everyone. Janice didn't want to be left out of the fun either, so she came too, and stayed with me. A lovely bonus for me and James (see last post).  It was great to see our friends from D.C. (really Maryland and Virginia), plus I got my first look and rub of Christina's belly.  It's a boy!  I thought it was a boy, but I didn't make my guess clear in writing anywhere.  I think mainly I was hoping James would have a little buddy close to his age to play with in New York.

Ed, Megan, me, Janice, Dan, Christina, and Ash at Henry's, Wall Street


Just the GW ladies

Mis amigas son amigas de James 2011

Just a little shout-out to some of my friends that have been amazing with James.  Ash has visited James at least four times already, but I've actually lost count and she's starting to give the grandmothers a run for their money. Recently, Ash volunteered herself to come over and watch James so that Kevin and I could go for date night. Just volunteered.  I didn't ask or even hint. She is just that awesome.

An old photo, because the last two times she saw James was close to his bedtime

Janice, who lives all the way in Virginia, recently came and visited James a third time.  Points for distance travelled and effort made.  She also helped me take care of him all day on Saturday before we went out for Girls' Night.  A full day of baby care is GOLD around here.

October 8th, James at 24 weeks + 3 days, Janice at 3 decades plus

Also, I got pregnant the same month we found out my father was sick, so the first few months of my pregnancy were the hardest.  I'm not even sure how many times Janice and Ash came to see me while my dad was sick, but I know it was when I most needed it. A lot of people expressed their sympathy of course, but there were few people who showed up and made it their problem too, and that's the sort of thing you can never repay.  One time they came armed with early Thanksgiving dinner which was perfect, because my mother and I were just eating at the hospital every day and night and had no real food at home. Ash even drove me back and forth to the hospital when my mother started staying overnight.  I never expected to have such wonderful friends. I like to think that inside my belly, baby James was also an early recipient of their love and kindness.

Honorable mentions to a whole bunch of other baby-loving people. Michele, who visits James every chance she gets and might be up to four visits herself.  We call her the "baby whisperer," because her coos make James squeal with delight and giggle. I'm pretty sure he has a crush on her.  If he could, James would say, "Age is just a number, mom."  Sarah T., who might have a crush on James. (Watch out, Lukas, James is a charmer.) Rachel, who visited and babysat James, and then claimed he was a perfect angel.  Jon and Briggs, who probably have seen James more than any of my girlfriends have by virtue of coming over to watch baseball or football. And obviously, everyone who has met the baby.  He's really speeding up now-- he's trying to crawl and stand, he expresses interest in favorite music and food. Pretty soon he'll be an official toddler.

Happy October 2011!

October 3rd, 23 weeks +5 days

Profile looks just like Kevin!