Category: Miscellaneous

Finno is working *so* hard on talking these days, and is making new sounds all the time. Yesterday he picked up “Neh” for “Neigh” when we were looking at pictures of horses, and we could’ve sworn tonight we heard him say “Leo” when we put him to bed with his little lion-blankie-buddy we call Leo.
Probably the most fun verbal development by far was when Finn walked into the kitchen today, looked at Carol, and said “Nack!” while gesturing towards his high chair. We took this to mean “snack”, since that’s where he sits to eat his goldfish crackers, “(ba)nanas”, and the like :-). The boy does love his “nacks”.
[The funny thing is that for years my friends have laughed when they search for my name in the company directory and get back the hours for the company snack bar. Now Finny is getting in on that action. 🙂 –J.]

Mr. Finn’s been working awfully hard at saying words these past couple of weeks, and we’re happy to report that he’s starting to make some progress! Here is his current vocab list:

• Down!: where Finny looks longingly after he drops his food over the side of his chair.
• Yeah: in response to anything that sounds like a question. (Undoubtedly this will switch to “No” at some point all too soon!)
• Good-a-Good-a-Good-a-Good: not really associated with anything specific, but he sure likes to say it!
• Duck, Moo, Arf Arf Arf, and Roar!

[And hey, let’s not forget “Da Da!” He’s much more purposeful in saying it, and other day he greeted me with a simple and direct “Dad!!” How terrific is that? 🙂 –J.]

Ah, poor little Finno has come down with quite the intense cough and cold! His upper lip is doing a great recreation of a Slip n’ Slide—blech!
The two of us have been kicking it bachelor-style for a few days while Margot visits some pals in Seattle. I’m typing this after midnight, listening to the monitor and hoping the whole thing doesn’t become a full-blown case of the croup. At least Carol has had some experiences with that sort of badness & was able to set me up with some health info yesterday (e.g. if your child wakes up coughing and crying, run a hot shower for 15 minutes for the steam, then take him outside to the cold night air for 10 minutes).
We miss mama, but she’ll be back soon enough tomorrow evening. In the meantime, Finn had the freaky experience of hearing her on the phone; many quizzical looks followed. We went for a long walk this evening, and he was good as gold until *exactly* the maximally distant point, so I ended up carrying him the 1.5 miles home (and here I’d been complaining that I get no exercise ;-)).
Nearing home, Finn spied some balloons attached to a sign and lunged back at them. He was really fascinated, so we went inside and I splurged for a pair–$2.17 very well spent! Now in addition to learning about (and shouting) “Down!” (i.e. where he keeps dropping his dishes), he can learn about “Up!”

Finny is definitely a physical little boy! He’s so intrigued by mastering new skills, and so observant of adults as we go about our business. For instance, Finn wants to walk up the stairs big-guy style–just one foot in front of the other, hoisting himself up the stairs while standing the whole time…no crawling and belly-flopping for this guy! I think he sees us go up the stairs and thinks “I can do that, too!”. So John and I hold his hands and help lift him to the next step once he gets his foot planted.
He’s also decided to master clapping this week. Just out-of-the-blue started clapping all by himself! And he’s also mastered his “seafood casino” toy–which entails pushing a big purple button to get little spinners (covered with fish illustrations) rolling–something that takes quite a bit of coordination and has heretofore stymied our boy.
Probably the most fun thing he’s been doing is self-initiated peek-a-boo. Tonight he repeatedly positioned himself behind the door frame, slowly peeked around the edge so dad could get a look at him, then slowly edged back behind the wall again. Quite the little show!

This is our first Valentine’s Day with Finnegan, and we both agree that he really puts the L-O-V-E into the day. And speaking of first Valentine’s Days, our good friends Alex and Bryan Hughes welcomed their son Miles into the world this morning at 12:17a.m., making this V.D. the best one ever for the Hughes family :D. We are going to the hospital this afternoon to meet little Miles and bring some treats to Alex (who labored throughout the day yesterday, and into the night) and Bryan to celebrate.
So it’s a big, happy, love-filled, heartwarming day all around. Finn’s enjoying the cards and little gifts he’s received from Auntie Laura & Family, and both sets of grandparents. We (Mom and Dad, that is) have a dinner date tonight, so Carol will babysit her young Valentine while we go out. Much love to you and yours!
[Update: Here are some photos (one, two, and three) of darling little Miles. We had a great time visiting with the new fam yesterday & fortifying them with brownies. –J.]
[Update two: And Here’s me with Miles. 🙂

Big news today–Finn’s going to have a little brother! We had our 18-week ultrasound this afternoon, and got to see our little guy for the first time. We’re super-excited, of course, and can’t wait to meet him in July! Now comes the hard part–thinking of a name! It took us quite a while to come up with, and then settle on Finnegan, so we’ve got another big challenge on our hands.
Here are some shots of El Segundo (HTML), who looks perfect and healthy, and who’s currently weighing in at about 1/2 lb. He’s got a long way to go to catch up to his (ever-bigger) big brother, who just hit the 26.5 lb. mark.
[Oh man, it’s all too wonderful. 😀 I can’t believe that we can watch our little bambino just hanging out, doing the backstroke, hiccuping, and more. Man, and to think that a year ago our wild, romping, cackling Finnster was not too different! Excuse me while my heart just explodes…! <:-) --Dad]

Another weekend, another swim class for Mr. Finn. This week, no-holds barred head underwater dunking!
We’ve been making baby steps towards a full-face dunk each week, getting him used to splashing, then getting mouth and nose wet, and finally a few quick dunks underwater. He did great! To get the babies comfortable with the whole situation, the parents go underwater first then pop up and smile, and when it’s the babies’ turn, we sing a song, swish them back and forth (heads up, of course), then a quick blow of air on their faces and under they go. The breath on their face startles them a bit and they suck in their breath right before going under. There was only one instance where Finny swallowed some water and spit it right back out like a cherub from a baroque fountain. He seemed to enjoy himself even more this week than in the past, so we think swim class was definitely a good move.
The rest of the weekend was spent charming the guests at our friends’ baby shower, and then wrapping things up with tons of Dad-led horseplay and what John likes to call “inversion therapy” (flipping a chortling Finn upside down).

What a day for our little Finnster–and all of us–to be alive. 🙂 The small guy watched this morning’s proceedings with Margot and me, waving (rather randomly) at the crowds on TV.
Lately he’s been more and more vocal, saying “Ooh Ooh Ooh!” when we point out the monkey among his little jungle pals, and exclaiming “Oh!” pretty much constantly. We tried today to get him to say “BaMa,” figuring we could then get “Oh BaMa” from him–but it wasn’t to be. But hey, we’re still working on “MaMa,” and right now Finn calls both me and Margot “DaDa.” I now refer to her as “Lady DaDa.” 😉
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: Today Finn learned to high-five! He must have picked it up from us, as we were doing it constantly.

(sung to the tune of “Back In Black”)
I’m pleased to say that all three of us are back in fighting trim (or in Finn’s case, chattering/laughing trim)! Despite all the nastiness of Thursday and Friday, our little dude was a great patient, never becoming a pill or a pain–and this despite teething. Poor Margot got the worst of the bug, I think, still feeling bad until this morning, but she too is better.
Friends with kids tell us, “Get used to it,” and I’m sure they’re right. The irony here is that if we hadn’t been concerned about Finn’s ear (teething), we would’ve skipped the doctor visit and thus maybe the whole ordeal! Ah well; it certainly renews one’s appreciation for good health, and for a groovy kid who can roll with the punches.

I won’t go into great detail, but I will say we are currently struggling our way through our first Nack family Norovirus siege. I think Finny and I must’ve picked up a bug when we were at the doctor’s office the other day for his ears, because yesterday we awoke to find that Finn had thrown up in his crib (blaaaaargh) sometime in the night. We mopped him up and everything seemed fine, no further issues.
Until last night, that is. That’s when it got really ugly around here. Both John and I started feeling awful around 9:30pm, and from then on it was a race to either the bathroom or the kitchen sink. All. Night. Long. Thankfully John kept it together long enough to race to Walgreens and get Gatorade and Pepto Bismol. We got very little sleep and have felt awful all day long. Finn slept through the whole ordeal and seemed to be doing fine until about 3 p.m. today, when he barfed himself awake from his nap :(. We’ve spent the rest of the evening trying to keep him cleaned up and drinking Pedialyte (he could not be less interested). Right now he’s in bed, and fingers crossed, we’ll have an uneventful evening. But I’m not counting on it.
Yeesh. We’re looking forward to getting over this bug! I’m buying stock in Clorox and Tide.

We now have official confirmation that Finno is an Advanced Super Baby(TM)! I took him to the pediatrician today, because I was worried he might have an ear infection. He’s been tugging on his left ear a lot, and sticking his finger way back into his mouth and chewing on it. All the nurses and Dr. S were shocked to see our man toddling around on his own at only 10 months. The doc said it was the earliest she’d seen a little boy walk! She was also pretty impressed with his pointing and waving skills.
In addition, turns out he doesn’t have an ear infection: he’s teething again, this time on his 1-year molars! The doc said he’s super early on molars as well as walking! And he’s doing even more proto-speaking, so we expect to be filling out college applications in the next month or so (KIDDING! Only kidding!).

I think we’ve mentioned that Finn’s starting to recognize words and phrases, and we’re having a lot of fun asking him to “kiss” his stuffed animals. For Finny, a “kiss” is really just leaning into the stuffed animal with mouth agape and pressing his face against it. It’s very sweet to watch, even though he hasn’t really mastered the pucker yet :).
He hasn’t really started saying words, although the one thing he will say, much to my chagrin, over and over, is “Dada!” or “da da DADADADA!!!” I ask him to say “Mama”, but he won’t really go for it…But even though Finn may not humor me by saying “Mama” very often (ok, *ever*), today he did something even better! We were playing around with his stuffed penguin, and after I asked him to kiss it, I said “Will Finny kiss Mommy?” And reader, he DID! Right on the cheek! Woohoo!!! He did it twice in a row (second time on my shoulder, not my face, but hey–beggars can’t be choosers, knowwhati’msaying?).
Pretty great stuff. It totally made my day! I am really looking forward to more Finny smooches.Oh, and maybe the best part is that when John asked Finny for a smooch, it was no dice ;-} (heh heh).

For the past several weeks, Finn has been less and less interested in, and more and more distracted while, nursing. It was starting to seem like he wasn’t getting very much to drink, and I was concerned that in addition, my supply was starting to dwindle due to his reduced demand. I have also heard that pregnancy can affect the amount of milk your body can produce, and that it can also change the flavor, so your nursing baby may not like the taste anymore.
So, since Finny seemed to be starting the weaning process, I decided that we might as well go all the way, and transition him to formula for the few remaining months prior to his first birthday, when we’ll transition him to plain ol’ milk.
I was worried that the weaning process would be difficult, painful, and depressing. Thankfully it has not really been any of those things. We took it slow, over about 3 weeks. It went remarkably well for both Finny and me, and I have only had a couple painful episodes. Finn took a few days to warm up to formula, but now he’s pretty darn excited when he sees the bottle coming his way. Oh, and neither of us seems very depressed at all :D.
In fact, I sort of feel emancipated, in a weird way. Being able to share bottle duty with John is great. Now I get to read the bedtime stories while John holds Finn and the bottle! Being able to wear whatever shirts I want, without having to consider how well they’ll accommodate nursing, is also pretty terrific. It’s also far less emotional to give Finn bottles (in a good way, as trying to nurse a distracted/uninterested baby was a total drag). I think my body will appreciate the break between babies, as I do plan to nurse #2 as long as possible when he or she arrives. Maybe now I’ll have a little more horsepower to give to the bun in the oven!

Our little cowpoke’s spurs have been jinglin’ and janglin’. This week has been all about walking, walking, and more walking. Carol (our nanny) and I have been doing Squirrel relays with Finn walking back and forth between us independently–up to 15 or 20 steps at a time!
He’s also been pushing his little walking Radio Flyer wagon around the dining room and kitchen. He lapped the kitchen several times this afternoon while I made cookies and tried to avoid getting traumatic ankle injuries from the wagon. The wagon is great because it gives Finno something stable to hang onto, but enables him to walk around on his own–a real blessing to our lower backs. This means fewer wipeouts as Finn toddles around the house–always a good thing.
He’ll be motoring around 100% independently any day now, so it’s a good thing we’ve got all the baby gates up in advance!
[Click the image above for a larger version. –J. (the Photoshopper-in-Chief) ] Update: Thanks to Mark Beckelman for a little P-shop assist.

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!

Finn is moving and grooving all over the house these days. He’s an avid scootcher, crawler, and cruising enthusiast. He’s mastered the ability to flip himself over from a sitting position to crawling mode, then he just takes off, scooting his way across the living/dining room. Once he reaches a parent, he’s all about grabbing on, hoisting his patoot up into the air, straightening his legs, and getting a little support to stand. Once he’s up, he’s off to the races–holding on one-handed to one of us, or cruising along the couch or coffee table. I think it’s officially time to get those baby gates up…independent locomotion can’t be far away!

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!