We’ve been enjoying the nice weather in the backyard with a little help from blankets made by Grandma Nack & Aunt Laura–the latter of which, shown here, features the Fighting Irish on one side and the Colorado Buffs on the other. Today Finn shows off his voracious chomping tendencies; hangs out with Dad; and goes “flying” on Mom’s knees in this gallery of more backyard fun (HTML).
One perk of having tagged Finnegan as our “Squirrel” is the availability of tons of great squirrel-themed gear. This week the small guy donned a great new onesie featuring a little tree-dwelling dude playing the skins. Check it out! (I take it as a good omen that he managed to get through the day without a single change of clothes. Many days he’s despoiled his duds even before his morning nap.)
We’ve also scored some super-jazzy Rock Squirrel memo pads, soon to be pressed into service as the Captain’s Log in which we record Finn’s eating/sleeping schedule.
Our amigo enjoys a little popping and locking with the Old Man. Can sessions of “Dance On My Chest*” be far behind? 🙂
*Formerly played with Uncle Ted, who at 6’4″ is just a bit too large for the game anymore.
We’re spending lots of time figuring out new ways to make Finn laugh. He seems to really enjoy funny noises, whistling, and being tickled on the belly. To that end, I have been giving him some “chicken”…which comes from a former colleague of mine who would ask you to hold out your hand, at which point he’d form his fingers into a “beak” and peck at your hand while saying “bok bok bok”. Since Finn can’t really offer me his hand very reliably, I give him chicken on his belly and his cheeks, which are guaranteed to elicit some big smiles and laughs.
Our Finn-o is starting to anticipate more and more, and this naturally leads to good fun making him wait for some “zerberts” on the belly, then delivering the goods! Today we got in some laughs in the back yard. Enjoy. 🙂
Knock knock!
Who’s there?
{scary-guy voice} GET IN MY MOUTH!!
😉
Follow up:
Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Get in my hands…
good, good…
{scary-guy voice} now GET IN MY MOUTH!!!
In short, getting stuff into his mouth is pretty much the singular punchline in the Finnster’s life these days. He reminds me of the goat speaking in an article on The Onion: “I bet you got a nice pant leg. Lemme chew a hole in it. I could chew it until you yanked it out of my mouth. If you don’t mind. I’m telling you, I could use a little something to chomp on…”
In addition to taking evening walks, Margot & I really enjoy reading Finn all sorts of books. (I calculated that we’ve read Goodnight Moon easily 120 times by now!*) In this video I attempt to enthrall our little reader with tales of aerospace adventure. 🙂
* Each time, just to keep things fresh/be weird, I try to make a new reference to the illustrator’s smoking habit–one “cured” by Photoshop! (Margot is an eye-rolling good sport.)
With all the nice weather we’ve been having, we thought it was high time to introduce the Finnster to grass & What Lies Beyond the Gazebo. With the help of a nice blanket made by his Grandma Nack, the three of us cooled out in the backyard. Here you can check out the gallery (HTML)–featuring a little squirrel-fishing!
Young Mr. Finn had a great time in Leadville with his grandparents (a.k.a. “GPs,” a.k.a. “Jeeps”). My mom brought In Grandma’s Arms, a book the two of them read together several times & that Margot’s mom read to Charlie. Here you can see a gallery (HTML) of some of the good times.
Q. “Hey, Finn, what are you up to these days?”
A. “Oh, about 2-foot-one…” 😉
Margot, Finnegan, and I had a terrific time this week in Leadville and Boulder, CO, and Finn proved himself a wonderful traveler. We’re glad to be back at sea level, breathing the thicker (albeit smoky) air and getting the small guy back into his familiar crib.
Among the highlights of the trip, we got to introduce Finn to his cousins Patrick (“The big guy”) and Charlie (“The ‘getting bigger/no longer the baby’ guy”). Here you can check out a gallery (HTML) of the three of them in action–but be warned, you may want to don protective eyewear before glimpsing such cuteness ;-).
Greetings from Leadville, CO! We arrived with Finn and Grandma Nack yesterday evening, after a fairly long day of air and car travel. Finn was a total hero: the takeoff and landing did not bother him one bit, and he only squawked a little bit in the car on the way up to Leadville as his ears adjusted to the high altitude. Leadville is at 10,200′ so we are taking it reeeeeally easy. The thin air makes for a low-energy, slightly headachey, and very dehydrated first couple of days, so Finn has been napping like a champion today in between meals :-).
We’re staying with Margot’s folks, who take up residence in the cool mountain air each summer. Margot’s sister Laura and her two boys are here, meeting their cousin Finn for the first time. The grandparents are thrilled to get some more quality time with Finn, especially now that he’s smiling and cooing a lot. They can’t get enough!
Given the (relatively) giant melon little kids have to cart around on top of their necks, they need plenty of exercise, and baby docs all seem to recommend plenty of “tummy time.” This weekend we got the squirrel going with some extra TT–all while perched on his dad’s tummy. Good time (and happily, no spit-ups!) ensued. 🙂 Here are some pix.
;-D
Now I feel like we should put one of those little Christian fish on the back of our car, except that the fish should have a big fluffy tail… like this:
File under “Morning Becomes Adorable” 😉
Answer: Asleep! (For now, anyway.) And even better, neither he nor I nor the house have caught on fire, fallen into the sea, or anything similarly disastrous.
Today marks a pretty big milestone: Margot had to fly to Seattle for work, and she’s no doubt in the air right now, nearing San Jose. The Squirrelmaster General and I have been kicking it bachelor-style since, oh, 4:40am, ably assisted during the day by Carol.
Tonight I took the small guy on an hour-long walk, bathed him on my own, and got him down to rest (albeit after some false starts and rookie moves by dad; those PJ’s are just *not* gonna go on properly). Who knew that the developmental milestones we’d be celebrating would be mine? 😉
Just when you thought it was safe to go near the play mat…
daaaah NUH, daaaah NUH, daaaah NUH…
We used to think that Finnegan was part whale, but now we know the truth: he’s actually a voracious Great White Shark! Make the mistake of venturing too near his maw, and you’ll soon feel like Roy Scheider in Jaws.
The kid’s devotion to getting anything & everything possible into his boca is impressive–and it’s *growing* :-). Behold what happened just after I tried to wipe away a little drool:
Cue the James Brown: “Papa’s got a brand new Bob! (Heeey!)”
Man, who woulda thought I’d get to the point of raving about a sweet, sweet new stroller?? And yet here we are. 🙂
Margot, knowing Finn’s & my shared penchant for long weekend walks, scored us a pretty terrific Father’s Day gift–namely a silky-smooth, fast-wheeling Bob stroller. Check it out!
She gave it a bit early (yesterday) so that we could enjoy a full weekend’s worth of rolling funder (oh jeez…). Behold!
Thanks again, Nut! ;-D
