Macadam...

is walking!

I will try to post a video we took last night later today. He's been walking while holding shoes, bottles, or books but last night he finally went for a freedom walk and then 20 more and it appears there's no turning back now:).

For the love of squash

We've been enjoying the fruits of Friendship Farm's labor, and the butternut squash has become among one of Macadam's favorites. He'll eat it, but he especially loves playing with it.

Nine months

Where to begin? There's a lot going on with Macadam these days. While his growth in regard to weight and height have leveled off in the last couple of months, he's a ball of change and fun. He's moved from a slow commando crawl to a stomach scoot that has a pretty high rpm rate. You can just see the furniture begin to topple, Buster's tail being pulled, random non-clean objects entering the mouth, and many other fun activities that come with a newly mobile, and determined, baby.

Our doctor's appointment last week went well. Mac is weighing in at 18 lbs 11 oz and is 29 inches long. He remains high in the height charts and lower in the weight. As he's getting older his preferences, albeit he can't tell you exactly what those are yet, are becoming more and more vocal. We're still working on a way to balance letting him test his voice and not lose our ear drums over the high pitched squeals. Thankfully, he has plenty of cute noises in his arsenal. Speaking of noises, he's been saying bye-bye here and there. We'll have to get it on tape here soon. He's also clapping, waving, giving high fives and signing "more." We're not planning on doing a great deal of signs with him but we're hoping the ones we do use will be effective in helping him communicate better before he's able to do so verbally.

His teeth are on fire, and probably none too comfortable for him either. He's got a new one on top with two more coming in right now. It's so crazy to see what appear to be huge teeth sitting in his little mouth. He's also learning how to use them which for an innocent bystander (a friendly holder; your finger) can be quite a surprise. In fact, today it was my toe when it was in the way of him playing with Buster's chew toy (gross!). It almost broke skin!

A little visual evidence of what he's up to...I hope to get a video of the scooting here soon!

Mexico is for babies

We've shared with most that our trip to Mexico for Pat and Megan's wedding was beyond expectations. We're not ones for resort travel usually but it was a pleasant surprise to be treated graciously each day, be served drinks on the beach, wake up to the Caribbean Sea, take walks in the sand and watch Macadam basically grow by leaps and bounds socially while we were there. The wedding was a huge success and being able to spend a few days with friends and their families is a rare treat.

I think the saying, "it takes a village," really rang true while we were on our trip. For four days Macadam was surrounded by a very loving and doting group of people. He's not deprived of attention by any means at home but to be constantly surrounded by a big group of people that pay attention, well, our little man couldn't get enough of it. By the time we were back on the plane, he was not sure why fellow passengers weren't loving on him. I wish I had video of him trying to get the attention, it was so cute. His flirting has hit a whole new level of shamelessness as well.

The resort was super family friendly and even had a room that was sponsored by Fisher-Price, I don't think he knew what to do with so much plastic and loud toys (or maybe that was us). We were able to use a floatie and Mac enjoyed the water so much, both in the pool and the ocean. He even fell asleep when he was in the floatie in the ocean. Something about the waves lulling him to sleep. The beach cabanas were perfect cribs and allowed us to enjoy the sun, read and relax while he took naps. Hard to ask for more!

There are a ton of photos so there's a slideshow below.

And a video of wave skepticism and eating sand:)

Eight months

By the time we were back in Seattle from SF, Macadam was eight months old. He's full of fun antics these days.

Probably the biggest change is that he's getting cause and effect down. In addition to waving, Macadam likes to raise his arms above his head because he's learned he gets tickled. It seems he can't get enough. He does it when you're changing him, feeding him or driving in the car. His giggles are infectious and are simple to ignite. Never thought opening a produce bag at the grocery store was hilarious? Guess again - the kid laughed for five minutes over me trying to get one open.

His mobility is progressing more and more. In order to get himself around, he rolls with ease and is scooting on his stomach. He loves to sit at the window and play with his toys and watch the world outside, in particular the birds, squirrels, and cars. He also is trying to influence situations by showing his discontent when you don't let him play with something or don't feed him solid foods fast enough. After exercising some patient strategies, those little outbursts are fewer and farther in between but I think it's just a taste of what's to come as he becomes his own person and tries to communicate.

It's his curiosity about everything that is really fun to watch right now. He peers a lot - around corners, the top of his car seat or sides of the stroller, over the edge of the bed, around your shoulder. He'll do anything to see what's going on or who's around. The downside of the curiosity is that if he gets what he seeks, it goes in his mouth, be it a napkin, grass, dirt, your face or hair...yeah that's right, yum. Speaking of food, I believe he and Buster have formed an alliance. Macadam's recent discovery that dropping food leads to the dog running into the kitchen and eating it, well, it makes meals interesting. Combine that with his desire to drink out of a cup and you have quite a lovely mess. Luckily, our dog isn't too picky.

As for teeth, he has two nice strong chompers on the bottom with the top two on their way in as well. One day they'll be right next to the skin, ready to break through and the next they've receded a little. Thankfully, these two don't seem to be bothering him as much as the first. In addition to teeth, his hair is also coming in more than ever but since it's mostly blond, he looks bald with the exception of some brown fringe on the nape.

Bubbles

It's amazing how much fun one dollar can provide for a little one. We also forgot just how marvelous bubbles can be until we watch Macadam giggle and try to catch them.

Hard-hitting journalism

Macadam and I are no Frost-Nixon but I did bring him out of his shell in these two clips (sorry, they were both so cute I couldn't edit the post for just one). Turn up the volume and enjoy some pretty sweet coos.

Mmmmm, mmmm good

After seeing that Macadam pantomimes our mouths while watching us eat, along with other indicators, we decided to slowly introduce solids into his diet every couple of days. So far, it's just rice cereal and after finally understanding what was on the spoon, Macadam is all about it.

Stomping his feet

Macadam seems to like slamming his feet while he's lying down or reclining in his chair. If he's in his crib you can hear a distinct thump...thump...thump before he is officially awake or officially asleep. He's also a lot more talkative these days. The following video holds no commentary (those will most certainly follow) but hopefully you can get a sense of what he's up to these days.

Tummy time and hairlines

As he's become stronger, Macadam's tolerance for tummy time is much greater. He'll actually even smile while he's propped up on his arms and he's rolled over, although he's still trying to figure out how that worked.

He's also losing his hair in the way only babies can, any which way but gracefully:). He's got a sweet skull mullet, or rather, a skullet going these days. He looks like a little blond baldy from the front and a 49 year-old balding man from the back.

PDA

Macadam is really getting into his toys, as well as household objects, faces and basically anything he can grab a hold of with his vice-like fingers. He recently has become quite smitten with this mouse and it's really cute to watch him, even though he doesn't handle it in an entirely G rated fashion (the hand was trying to intervene not place).

Heads or tails

When it comes to his rubber ducky, Macadam manages to get both.

And no, we didn't stage these, we were just lucky enough to capture our little man moving from his usual duck kissing to second base.

Four months old

Macadam ran up his age tally to four months old yesterday. While we won't know his growth tallies until next week at his doctor's appointment, it's rather obvious that he is growing and changing each week. It's been in the last couple of weeks that he has really kind of woken up as he's much more aware of his surroundings (which is good and bad for mom and dad), his toys have a whole new meaning (and as you see below, hooded sweatshirts are no longer safe with the knowledge that his hands can grab things) and his personality continues to come up to the surface.

If the shoe fits...

These adorable little shoes were a gift from the Burdicks, which Bege found at an artisan craft show. They're cute and Macadam loves watching his feet in them. Unfortunately our point-and-shoot with the video recorder is broken so no video to hear the wonderful noises and partial laughter.

I have a couple of posts that I have scheduled to hit over the next couple of days but it will be quiet on here until after Christmas. Macadam and I leave in a few short hours to go to San Francisco. We're meeting Rob at the last stop of his business trip this week. I can't wait to catch up with old friends, cruise around a couple of neighborhoods and some shops I have had my eye on for awhile, as well as meet the infamous Miles Christopher and see his hilarious mom and dad!! Miles was born just six weeks before Macadam so it will be fun to see these two cousins size each other up and to catch up with some beloved family members. It's a quick trip but the balmy temps of the Bay area will be a nice respite before we head to Oregon and participate in StormWatch 2008 (cue local new music now).

Chatty kathy

Well, okay, Macadam's not talking yet but the below is a good example of how much noise he likes to make when he's engaged in discovery.

Favorite time of the day

It was right around six weeks that Macadam started to smile at us. It was soon after that when he started to smile when he would wake up for the day. For me, my all-time favorite time of the day is witnessing the glory that is Macadam waking up. He opens his eyes and when he looks at you he just lights up and goes through a series of big stretches and even bigger smiles. Rob discovered that if you sing to him, it's as if you've given him the gift of pure joy.

In a matter of days he will be leaving his bassinet for the greener, and roomier, pastures of his crib and before that happens I decided to capture his current routine on film.

I have an excessive amount of photos of him (shocker) doing the same thing over and over. I seriously believe that if his hunger didn't take over, he could do the stretch-smile-stretch series for hours. So not to bore you, here are some highlights.

Three months

Macadam hit three months on Wednesday. The old saying of time flying couldn't be more true. Mr. Mac is changing each day as he develops new noises (both good and bad), faces and changing moods. He remains a pretty mellow baby who likes to interact face-t0-face most of the day but knows how to sleep and to smile. We're still waiting on giggles, but he definitely has them waiting in the wings as he loves to squeal/coo when we try to make him laugh and smile.

Physically, he's much stronger and now can stay still if you prop him. We still have more work in the tummy time area to do before he's rolling along, but we'll get there. In the meantime, he's really enjoying getting to know his tongue, legs, arms, hands and feet.

Giraffe hunting

Macadam continues his quest to eat his toy...


Note: it's almost better to click through the slideshow rather than wait for the timer, it shows how aggressive he was:).

Double fisting it

Thankfully it will be awhile before Macadam will be holding two drinks but it was fun to catch him successfully holding two toys at the same time.

Baby burrito with arms

Instead of his typical swaddle, we outfitted Macadam in a different wrapping version which he easily wriggled his arms free. He's recently discovered his hands and it's pretty cute to watch him watch these new and strange "toys."