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
It’s been too long since I’ve posted pix of our young friend! He’s been a busy boy…
Upon learning of the passing of rock pioneer Bo Diddley, Finn started playing the harmonica (seen here, at left). He also wrote a little song for the occasion, using Bo’s signature riff:
“Bo Diddley’s dead,
Bah DAH duh dah dunh…
Goin’ down in a hole.
Bah DAH duh dah dunh…
Nobody ever gonna see him;
Bah DAH duh dah dunh…
Might get eaten by a mole.
Bah DAH duh dah dunh…”
From there Finnster donned his old-timey prison stripes, with mom set to match in hers, and had some good times on the bed. Naturally all the downward-facing excitement resulted in a huge… well, let’s just say you can see the aftermath in this set, but thankfully not the event itself. You can also see our little guy starting to become aware of these fleshy little “feet” things hanging out somewhere south of his tummy. Without further ado, here are the shots. (HTML)
The three of us had a ball on Saturday visiting with our hilarious friend R. She brought a great little sampling of books (including some by Sandra Boynton, known for her greeting card illustrations) and confessed to having spent a couple of hours in the kids’ section at Borders, enjoying all the great stuff that’s out there. Regarding the ever-popular (and gnawing-resistant) “board books, ” she says, “I’m looking forward to being a major contributor to the Finn Library (hardcopy branch).” Here are some photos. (HTML)
“In a world gone mad… Can one young hero navigate the Terrycloth Frog all the way into his mouth??”
Suspenseful, isn’t it? 🙂 Tune in below to watch the Finnster try to put these new “hands” of his to practical use:
Two weeks ago now (man, time is flying!), Finn, Margot, and I were treated to an early Friday evening dinner with our friends Bruce, Mira, and their little daughter Anja. Looking for cute blog-fodder as always, I hovered around the proceedings with my camera. No word yet on whether Finn will be requesting a second serving of Mira’s bicep. 😉 Here are the pix. (HTML)
Our friend Peter Krogh and his wife Allison recently sent Finn a terrific sheepskin rug that our boy’s been enjoying. The Kroghs say their kids loved having such soft pads of their own, and it’s easy to see why. Peter is a pro photographer, so I tried not to stink up the picture-taking too much on this one. 😉 Here’s the gallery. (HTML)
Er, well, the small guy decided he wasn’t gonna play ball, at least when the camera was around, and now the flowers have departed. Even so, the resulting pair of images are kinda fun, I think. <:-P
