Author: The Notorious M.O.M.

We have happy news–we are expecting baby #2 in early July! We visited the doc last week for an ultrasound, which helped pinpoint exactly how far along I am. I’m now 8 and a half weeks along, and the estimated due date is July 7, 2009. So Finn’s got a sibling on the way, and we could not be happier!
Little Finno makes it easy to imagine another addition to our family–we love him so much and have such good times together, we can’t wait to have another kiddo to share in the fun. While my folks were here, my dad coined the phrase “El Segundo” for baby #2, so until we know our baby’s gender and start tossing around names, El Segundo it is :).

Every day with Finn brings new accomplishments. Just this morning, Finno started waving to us! John was waking him around the house, and when he saw me, I said “hi” and started waving, and Finn started waving back! It’s like a switch got flipped, because now he’s an unstoppable waver–waving hello at every opportunity. It’s a super cool new way of communicating!

In Douglas Adams’ Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, protagonist Arthur Dent finds out he can fly, but he can only stay aloft as long as he’s not thinking about flying. The minute he realizes he’s flying and starts thinking that it’s impossible, that he shouldn’t be able to fly, etc., he comes crashing back to earth.
We’ve been calling Finny “Mr. Dent” this week because he’s in a very similar situation when it comes to standing up unassisted. If he’s focused on manipulating a toy in his hands, or is paying attention to someone nearby, he effortlessly stands still on his own for up to a few minutes…but as soon as he realizes what’s going on, he starts to wobble and teeter, ultimately landing on his (well padded) bottom. Every day he stands longer and longer, and has attempted to take unassisted steps. We think he’s thisclose to walking on his own!

I’m happy to report that Smilin’ Finn Nack is back in town. He’s been working really hard at crawling this week, and he’s graduated from constant frustration and immobility to happy, excited attempts at crawling across the room. I got some rubber floor mats that snap together, because I thought it would help him get some traction–the wood floor is too slippery! Apparently that did the trick–Finn’s been much more willing to flip over on his tummy and start scooching and crawling towards his toys or us.
It’s terrific to see him smile and get excited as he inches closer and closer. He has made such incredible progress this week! One nice side benefit is that he’s been working so hard he just wears himself out and sleeps like the dead during naps and at night.

Our usual chuckling, happy-go-lucky Finn is on hiatus this week, replaced by serious, furrowed-brow working man Finn. He’s putting all of his energy into trying to crawl/walk. Yes, he’s trying to do both at the same time. Or maybe he’s really just trying to walk and we keep encouraging him to crawl. In any case, he’s none too happy about any of it. He has figured out how to push himself up (with a little boost from me, Dad, or the nanny) to standing, and therefore gets really angry if we refuse to play along and instead encourage him to try scooting on hands and knees.
In addition to working on physical skills, he’s mastered several new styles of what I call “advertisement crying.” This is the type of crying that isn’t really crying, it’s complaining, or trying to get your attention, or indicating that any further activity will be postponed until he gets a chance to boost himself up on you and then walk around. The histrionics are wearing us all a little thin, to be honest. Every day he gets a little closer to independent mobility, and every day he gets more frustrated that he’s not there yet. We know he’ll figure it out, we just wish he’d start crawling already!

Major physical developments today, folks! We put the little Mr. down for his nap this morning, and lo and behold, as we watched him on the monitor, he sat himself up and laid himself down three times! This is a big first for Finn. He has been working diligently to figure out how to get to sitting from lying down, and it usually entails grabbing one of our hands so he has something to pull against. Not anymore!
Next step (we hope): coordinating all the movements that result in crawling. He’s got all the individual pieces nailed, he just hasn’t pulled them all together into locomotion yet.

I’ve been adding more and more items to Finn’s diet, since he seems keenly interested in all things edible. He is always lunging for our food, and since that’s not really an option (tortilla chips anyone? How ’bout an apple or cup of hot tea?), I figure I can at least start offering some more advanced baby-friendly chow than he’s been eating. I’d be getting a little weary of pureed everything if I were him.
Yesterday he got to try some Yo Baby banana yogurt, as well as some Cheerios. I, of course, was trying to get Finn to pluck the Cheerios out of my hand with his fingers…practicing his fine motor skills and all. Yeah, well that lasted for about 2 Cheerios and then our boy just cut right to the chase. Leaned over and stuck his open mouth right on top of my palm, hoovering up the few remaining Cheerios with gusto. Take that, pincer grasp! It was absolutely hilarious.

Big news from Finnland, today, dear readers!
Finn’s been working on “talking”, by mimicking us, hooteling, and practicing different sounds. Carol, our babysitter, has been trying to get him familiar with “mama” and “dada” lately, and…drumroll please…Today while Carol and I were “talking” to him in the crib, he said “mama”! Twice! And very distinctly!
Now I realize that he may not associate that word with me, but I have to say, it was absolutely thrilling to hear it come out of his mouth. Now I’m obsessed with trying to coax him into saying it again!
[Man, I feel left out! I missed the alleged utterance (though I could hear something going on in the other room), but in any case, I now have to work on getting Finn into his “Dada-ist” phase! –J.]

Finn is discovering that he is a “me.” Over the past couple of weeks, in ways subtle and obvious, we’re seeing him realize that he has a self. He has gotten mad a couple times when we–or another child–have taken something out of his hands, either because it wasn’t a safe thing to chew on, or the other kid wanted her toy back. He furrows his brow and gets frustrated when he doesn’t get what he wants (“Gee, I wonder where he gets that trait?”, I asked, knowing that the answer was “from both parents!”).
He can’t talk yet, but we can tell that when he gets frustrated, he’s thinking “Hey! You’re taking that from ME! You’re walking away from ME!” We’re trying to encourage him to crawl during the few instances where he rolls onto his belly, and he just doesn’t want any part of it. “Hey! No fair! You’re not picking ME up off my stomach so I can practice walking! What gives?”
And tonight, for the first time in several weeks, he had a bedtime meltdown and got so absolutely Angry (note the capital “a”) when I would come in to check on/try to settle him but not pick him up out of the crib. I could see in his eyes he was angry, thinking “You’re leaving ME alone to cry in here! I don’t care if it’s bedtime! Don’t leave me alone!” I love the little bugger and we’ve had such uneventful, lovely bedtime experiences with Finn that we’re not used to him doing anything but rolling over and going to sleep. It killed me to see him so mad. Thank goodness he finally fell asleep…leaving us to wait for more “me” sightings tomorrow.

Finn is turning into one toothy fella! In the past week or so, several of his upper teeth have emerged–both his two front teeth and his two top incisors. I was so focused on waiting for them to appear that I totally missed the lower incisor that was coming in at the same time. Then when I caught a glimpse of his open maw (waiting for cereal and peas, no doubt), there it was, the Secret Tooth!
All those choppers, even though they’ve not fully dropped into position, are really changing the look of our little guy’s face. He looks more like a little boy and less like a little baby each day. We were out visiting with our neighbors this afternoon and our friend Karen absolutely could not resist doing the “Grandma cheek pinch” on our squirrel. Sorry Finno, but I think you’re doomed to a lifetime of people coming at you with fingers ready to pinch that adorable face!

Coming back from Seattle early yesterday was both great and awful. Great because I got to hightail it out of Seattle, with its accompanying bad mojo, and back to the lovin’ arms of my boys. Awful because in the melee of racing to the airport and getting to the gate to catch said earlier flight, I lost my cell phone and got pretty bummed about all the work chaos as I sat staring out the plane window.
I’ve been in a weird place today. I think I’m kind of grieving for all of the work I put into WaMu for the past 6 years, and my bad mood kind of rubbed off on Finn a little. I yelled at my new (sucky) cell phone and it really freaked him out. I apologized of course, cleared my head and showered him with cuddles, and we both moved on.
Finn’s got some new toys, and right now his current fave is the little birdhouse and stuffed birdies that our pal Clare gave him. It’s so cute–you can stick the little birds in through the roof, or through a door in the side, and the birdhouse is transparent so you can see the avian chums hanging out in there. Clare, who is an avid birder and vegetarian, may be slightly dismayed to know that Finn’s really got a taste for fowl! All four of them have been introduced to his gaping maw. I think he likes the quail the best. (Sorry Clare! But really, if something ends up in his mouth, it means he LOVES it!)