Micronaxx

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!