First Halloween, with Grandparents

I considered taking him trick-or-treating, but I realized that it would be a little too apparent to our neighbors that I was using my own child to procure candy for myself. Next year, I'll be able to look them squarely in the eye and say, "Yes, we let him eat candy. He's 18 months old, of course he can eat candy!" Then, when we get home, I'll swipe it from him.

He met his first trick-or-treaters, saw his first pumpkin turned into a jack-o'-lantern, and got to wear his award-winning tiger costume again. Grandma and Grandpa came down from Virginia for the weekend and we all took turns playing with the lil' tiger.







One more spooky one. If you look closely, you can see the fierce jungle tiger lurking in the darkness.



Here we are a little earlier in the day. We climbed a tree and took a nap and enjoyed a warm autumn Saturday.

The Kid Finally Pays Off

He went to work with us today, ready to charm the world in his Halloween tiger suit. Wherever he went, he turned heads and left smiles in his wake.









We took him to a Halloween costume contest at the University library. A couple of students asked Claire if they could have their picture taken next to him. He's like a rock star. This is what it must be like to walk around with Brad Pitt.



When it was time to judge the "kids under 12" costumes, he was asleep. But he still won, beating out a bunch of 5- and 6-year-olds. Who were awake. He was in a whole different league of cuteness. He won a set of coffee thermos bottles for Mommy and Daddy, in shiny designer colors with a handsome carrying case (see below). Booyah! What other free crap can we win with this kid?

Damn Yankees

Spud hates the New York Yankees. They have purchased themselves a ticket to another World Series with their league-leading $208 million payroll. Does your team have a good player? They'll take him, thanks. The Phillies won game 1. Spud was happy. He hates the Yankees. Good boy.



He slept through the night last night, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.!!! Hopefully this is a new trend (he's been waking up every 3 hours or so for several weeks). But it may be related to the antibiotics he's taking for his ear infection. We'll see.

Six Months Old!

He's traveled to Florida and Pittsburgh, and now halfway around the sun. On Saturday night he turned 6 months old. Today we took him in for his 6-month checkup and shots. We called a vaccination audible, and got him the seasonal flu and swine flu (apparently the last one the clinic had) shots instead of the 3rd and final d-tap shot that he was scheduled to get. His status as a 0.5-year-old qualified him for the shots, just in time for the flu season and daycare. We reasoned that he's very likely to be exposed to one or both flus (flues?) at daycare, and he's already had 2 of the 3 d-tap shots. He'll need to get 2nd shots for both flu vaccines.

He's sick (again). Runny nose and snorty and cranky and he's been tugging at his ears and not sleeping well. The doctor checked his ears and he has an ear infection, so he's going on antibiotics. I used to get terrible ear infections when I was a kid; hopefully Spud will be spared their full fury. I felt like I had firecrackers in my head.

Six month stats:

weight: 18 lbs. 1 oz. (50%)
height: 27.75 in. (95%)



We took him out to his first pumpkin patch yesterday. He had absolutely no clue what's going on, of course, but he seemed impressed by all of the bright colors (well, orange anyway) and energetic older kids. He'll be more excited about it next year, I bet. I can't wait for him to get a bit older and watch him get excited about the holidays.

Pittsburgh and Portland

Claire and Spud flew up to Pittsburgh to spend the week with Aunt Megan and Uncle Brian and Cousin Marcus while I went to the Geological Society of America meeting in Portland and did nerdy science stuff. We left on the same day, and I got a flight that was strategically scheduled to take off about a half an hour after theirs, so I could help get them to the gate. It's sort of a two-person job getting a baby through security and onto a plane.

They had a short flight (1.5 hr), and Claire reported that Spud did very well on the plane. He only got a little fussy, and spent the flight napping and chugging a bottle and playing in Claire's lap. Claire was prepared with 3 bottles just in case of a flight delay. Those of you who have flown lately know that air travel is pure joy nowadays [sarcastic eye roll], and delays are likely.

So Spud got to spend some time with his cousin Marcus. He may not have known what to make of this other smallish human.



Marcus has a seriously tricked-out Exersaucer, with more toys and awesomeness than Spud's. When he got home yesterday, Spud stared at his own Exersaucer, then looked at me and shook his head in disappointment and murmured something derisive under his breath. I think he knows that someday I'm going to buy him his first car, and it's going to be a used Chrysler.





Marcus also has a cool ball pit. I have often thought that we should replace all of our couches in our house with ball pits, but Claire rejects this idea for some reason. Anyway, you are supposed to romp around in a ball pit, or at least lounge luxuriously amongst the multicolored spheres. Spud just sort of laid there, stiffly, like a slab of fresh salmon on a bed of crushed ice at the supermarket. He didn't get it.



Later in the week, Claire and Megan and Spud went to the zoo.



Mother animals teach their young at an early age about other dangerous animals. Baby squirrels no doubt learn about foxes, and baby deer learn about cougars. Claire took the opportunity to teach Spud about the dangers of kangaroos. Those of you that know me know that I was brutally savaged by a kangaroo in my childhood. I'm not really over it yet.

She may have overdone the drama a bit in this early life lesson, but you can't be too careful when it comes to kangaroos.



Meanwhile, I got to spend my last day in Oregon cruising the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. Beautiful emerald green cedars mixed with golden autumn maple leaves and the rumble of the rapids and falls. Thin tendrils of fog made the air glow yellow and green. Nice!

Travels

Claire and Spud and I have been travelling. They to Pittsburgh, and me to Portland. I will report on our adventures and Spud's first plane ride a bit later. In the meantime enjoy this diaper video, sent by Aunt Larissa.



The diapers aren't that bad. But he's just getting started eating solid foods. So they may soon take a horrifying turn for the worse. But we only change one diaper. Imagine what four, or eight at a time would be like!

A Change in the Weather

Spud's first autumn is getting underway. The leaves are showing a hint of color, there is a slight chill in the air, and Claire is seriously considering turning on the furnace for the first time. So we are introducing Spud to layered clothing. Just so you can plan, it's great having a new baby in the spring and summer. Clothing: onesie. Now that the cooler weather has moved in, we start with a onsie, add a t-shirt and pants, and cover the whole thing with a coat. And socks. I suppose I should mention that there is a diaper under there too. He seems to know the drill when it comes to getting dressed, and actually "helps" to get his arms in the correct orientation to get them into the sleeves.

So we bundle up a bit now before we head off to work. But first, a snack.





One thing he still needs to learn: don't try to smile while you're eating.

Mmmm....Smooshed Bananas

We got the high chair out of the crawl space. If he's going to start eating spoon food, he's going to need the appropriate apparatus to sit in while he's dining. Richard and Lynn (and Elizabeth!) gave us the high chair. Thank you! And Barbara John gave us the cool little colorful plastic spoons and cups. Thanks!

He looks pretty comfortable, a little like Captain Kirk settling into his captains chair. "Warp 5, Mr. Sulu."



Claire smooshed up some banana and we spooned it to him. He likes it. Something like 60-70% of it actually stayed in. The rest went elsewhere. Chin mostly.

Snagging Skills

Here's the game: place a toy on the floor, grab the kid and hold him up over the toy, and lower him down and let him try to snag it. We call it "The Crane". He needs practice.



P.S. I have been notified by Claire and Aunt Megan that this activity is in fact called "The Claw" and not "The Crane". Without authorization, yesterday I renamed it "The Crane" because I was making growly crane noises during the activity (the big machine that picks up stuff, not the regal wading bird). The idea for this activity came from Aunt Megan and Uncle Brian, but ultimately "The Claw" may come from the movie Toy Story:

Spoon Food

He's been watching me eat. More specifically, he's been carefully studying spoons and forks laden with food as they make their way from my plate to my mouth, and then he watches the chewing. He's interested in eating like the rest of us. So we've been shoving spoonfulls of applesauce into his mouth for the past few days with one of those little spoons. Usually he's kind of interested in it and works on his primitive chewing skills, but then he grimaces a little and spits most of it out. But today Claire reported that "about 90% of the applesauce stayed in."

This is what it looks like when a person first eats from a utensil:



Tomorrow we give him his first chili.