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 :).
Month: November 2008
Fab Five Finny!
Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in this house…
The Finnfatha is officially on the move! Our little guy didn’t settle for taking just a “first step.” (Nah, that weak sauce is for *babies*! ;-)) On Wednesday he let rip with a full five steps in a row, right in front of his newly arrived “Jeeps” (the G(rand)P(arent)s Liggett). While I wouldn’t say he’s walking, exactly, he’s flying around the house at high speed, one-handing it with whatever parent/grandparent happens to be in tow. Finnegan Nack is officially a Squirrel Rampant!
So far his movements have been too fleeting to be caught on flim, so in the meantime I’ve uploaded evidence of his other new passion: mass consumption of Cheerios. Here’s a small gallery (HTML) Margot snapped the other day as Finno helped me power through a bowl.
You Say Hello…
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!
Finny the Scootcher
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!
Mr. Dent
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!
Bubble Beard
Finn’s bath tonight turned out inadvertantly super-sudsy. I must’ve gotten distracted while I was squirting in the soap! Our boy quickly turned into a snowy, sudsy-bearded baby as he started picking up the bubbles and trying to eat them. Hilarity, of course, ensued. 🙂
[He’s the C. Everett Koop of babies! –J.]
Sunday in the Park with Clare
Last Sunday our pal Clare accompanied the three of us to the neighborhood park. In addition to helping squire Finno around, she put her pro photography skills to use, snapping some great shots. When we got home, she captured the Finnfatha enjoying a story with Mom (and wielding his hair brush like a mic). Here’s our gallery (HTML).
The Return of Smilin’ Finn
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.
Tiny Bubbles
We recently let our living room go the way of Lawrence Welk, blowing bubbles everywhere. Bubble Boy Finn seemed to approve. 🙂
Finnegan Nack, Male Model
I am
too darling for for my bib
too darling for for my bib
so darling in my crib…
Fashion icon Finn has been sporting all kinds of great duds lately. In our latest gallery (HTML), he starts out wearing a pair of shirts (one dinos, one lightning) given to Dad by a Web/clothing designer in San Francisco. He finishes up clad in the beautiful hand-knit sweater created by Great Aunt Judy.
Coming soon: Finn in an Argentine poncho. 🙂
We refer to our friend Maria as “Maria-upon-Hallmark” due to her employer (and to distinguish her from my boss Maria). As you might imagine, Maria (-upon-Hallmark) is a master card-sender, and she recently sent Finn a Candy Corn-infused greeting. I snapped a few frames of him opening it (HTML), while Margot captured him trying to feed it to me (one of his new tricks). A careful observer can see how much gnawing he’d done by that point. 🙂
Meanwhile Mom captured our flightless-but-cute buddy going on his very own March of the Penguin on Halloween:
Get Up, Stand Up…
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!
The Big Ocho
Today marks Der Finnster’s 8-month birthday. To celebrate (well, mostly coincidentally), he balanced on his feet unassisted for the first time! I had him up and tottering for a couple of seconds this morning, and this evening he was up for even longer. (I’d like to think it was for 8 seconds, a la bull riding. ;-))
In miscellaneous news, we’ve coined more Finn argot lately (building on the first installment from earlier in the year):
- Up up up, up up up…: Finn has lately discovered the concept of “Up,” and he’s waaaay into our fascinating light fixtures. Every morning when Margot gets him out of the crib, his eyes make a beeline for the lights (even when they’re off). I feel like this should all be in some book–Their Eyes Were Watching GE or something.
- ICAS: I’ve dubbed Finn’s little hooded PJ’s the “In-Crib Adventure Suit.”
- DipeCon: You know how the military has five DEFCON levels to denote the current security situation? We’ve implemented a “DipeCon” system to inform each other of… well, the condition of our friend’s pants. Probably enough said. (Call it “Threat Condition Brown.”)
- TEAR IT APART: This is what Finn will try to do with anything he can get into his clutches/mouth these days. He’s all about grabbing things (strings, leaves, napkins) and yanking them in opposite directions, ideally while holding them over his head. Where possible he lands some vicious blows with his 7 sharp teeth–great for ripping up little bits of rug while dad gets distracted. I keep imagining him saying, “Hey, that’s a great phone charger, Dad. Mind if I TEAR IT APART??”
- Toro Leg: Now that he’s found his feet, our buddy likes to paw at things (grass, fringe on carpet, etc.) before putting any weight on them.
P.S. We can now add another “ocho” to The Big Ocho. Another tooth, his 8th, just broke through. –Notorious M.O.M.