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January 30, 2007
Sand Monster!
Sorry for the delay--we had been in Mexico, visiting our friends Meg, Anthony, Elena and Vivian. Details and more pics to come soon!
Posted by lisa at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
Big boy birthday party
Max Wilkins turned three this weekend (shown here sitting next to Finn), which meant that Finn got to attend his first big boy birthday party. It was held at a place in Roscoe Village called "Musical Magic", where a woman sings with them, the kids run around and dance, play musical instruments, and generally go nuts.
Finn spent most of the time with this look on his face:
I mean, dancing? Singing? Jumping around and playing maracas (which he cried when he had to part with). Followed by pizza, ice cream and cake? He seriously thought it was heaven. He had this look on his face that suggested he had never seen such a bacchanalian celebration. He was stunned that life could be so grand. Exhibit number two:
His sugar high kicked in on the way home when he started batting around his balloon (balloons! even better!) in the backseat of the car and squealing at top pitch.
Posted by lisa at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2007
four teeth coming in...
... and boy, is someone ever cranky. If you peer into his screaming mouth right now, you can see the spots inbetween where the other teeth are. Memo to Mother Nature: There's got to be a better way than bone bursting through soft gums.
Posted by lisa at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2007
Where do you think his love of food comes from?
Posted by lisa at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2007
My little lovebug
Lately, my ardor for Finn has reached epic proportions. I mean, I've always love-love-loved Finn, but lately we've fallen madly in love and we don't care who knows it. When he sees me in the morning, he practically leaps out of the crib into my arms proclaiming "Mama!" When I leave the room, he can't bear it and collapses into sobs. When I return, mere moments later, it is again a cause for jubilation. He crawls into my lap, and brushes my hair out of my face, gives me sloppy baby kisses, and sometimes lovingly feeds me from his prized stash of pretzels. At the end of the day, he waits for me by the window of the daycare. When he sees me, you can hear him yell my name from the street, and starts spinning in circles out of excitement.
And I eat it up, every bit. If this little guy turns into a mama's boy, I'll only have myself to blame. But he is absolutely too darling and scrumptious to resist. Forgive the sappy post, but I started thinking the other day that there is something almost primal about a mother's love. Those early months, when Finn was colic-y and I was sleeping only four (not necessarily consecutive) hours a day, I wondered if I was really cut out for this. But now I get it. Should anyone dare harm my precious child in any way, I would do things to them that are not suitable to print on a baby blog. He can create spectacular poops, throw huge tantrums, and wake me up at night any time he has a nightmare. I've got it bad for this guy.
Posted by lisa at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2007
Sketch your portrait?
Here's Finn with one of his favorite Christmas presents--a chalkboard on a little case that carries art materials. (A gift from Uncle Clintie and Aunt Sudi.) He just loves this. One of the first things he says when he gets up in the morning these days is "gaak! gaak!" which is Finnspeak for "chalk." Once reunited with his beloved toy, he starts drawing, erasing, and putting the gaak back in the case, to which he declares "all gone!" He kind of reminds me of those guys who site down at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and offer to draw your caricature for a fee.
Finn would like to wish all a very happy Martin Luther King Day. He recommends listening to this recording of King's Mountaintop speech in commemoration.
Posted by lisa at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2007
Alternative Kids' Books
Lately, Finn is really fixated on one book in particular at bedtime. It's called Baby's Busy World and it includes a bunch of rhyming pages with pictures of babies doing a variety of different things.
As far baby books go, it's pretty inoffensive. Although it does have gratuituous use of exclamation points ("Helping out is lots of fun! Soon these jobs will all be done!"), it really could be worse in terms of cute overload. And it doesn't include the creepy rabbit lady from Goodnight Moon. But let's just say it doesn't come to life quite as vividly the 100th time you read it.
On this most excellent blog (Sweet Juniper), Dutch creates a creates a baby book out of the Beastie Boy's song Paul Revere. Now, any aging hipster parent who was in high school or college when this song came out would choose reading copy like "I grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold" over "With a yum-yum-yum and a munch-munch-munch, baby's eating up his lunch!" on a night-to-night basis. It just holds up better, in my opinion.
Posted by lisa at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2007
Cross-blog love
Check out Rookie Moms today. Britney and I are up there together with our boys. Brit and Sean Preston's photo was taken back when she wore panties and the most scandalous thing she was involved in was the carseat fiasco. Brit, what happened to the comeback? Finn and I were rooting for you. Hey, I hear Justin's single!
Posted by lisa at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2007
Tiny Scientist
This weekend, I took Finn to the Kohl's Children's Museum in Glenview. Suffice to say, it was a hit. Finn repeated "wow" over and over again as he explored everything from the miniature grocery store to the water section (shown here). He was so blown away by the exhibits, I half expected a duuuuuude to escape from those tiny little lips. (If I press this button, it shoots water that spins a pinwheel? No waaaay.) The coolest things (like the music room) even got a little happy dance.
I must say, little trips like these are one of the most rewarding things about being a parent. In addition to it being downright adorable to see a 2-1/2 foot human being attempt to play a huge bass drum, it's really sweet to see him learning, exploring, and so excited by everything. He is soaking up every little morsel of information and language he can process these days, and is surprising me with new words every day to accommodate his wants and needs. (The two newest vocabulary words being "bubbles" and "blueberries", by the way.)
Posted by lisa at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
Blue-eyed babies times two
We were so delighted to have Heather and Fiona visiting last week. The last time we saw H and Fiona was the week before we moved to Chicago. While Shawn drove cross-country, Finn and I shacked up in the Gray/Williams backyard cottage. That was seven months ago and Finn was just rolling around and Fiona was a floppy newborn. There were some tears when a well-meaning Finn showed off for Fiona by rolling, rolling, rolling, nearly steamrolling Fiona as she lie innocently on a blanket.
What a difference a few months make! Now the steamrolling advantage is evenly matched. Fiona has grown into a gorgeous SuperBaby™, matching Finn step for step and toy for toy. It was great to see these two playing so sweetly together and toddling around the playroom. It will be fun to show them these photos when they're all grown up and married some day.
But it was also wonderful to see Heather. Ain't nothing like an H in the house--I loved just catching up with her, watching her as a mom, and just soaking up all the H-ness. I tried to sell her on a move to Chicago, which was only aided by our (relatively) cheaper real estate and 47 degree temperatures in January. (Frigid Chicago winters? Myth.) We might as well live closeby, as we will be in-laws some day.
Posted by lisa at 06:40 AM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2007
Welcome, Savannah!
My Colorado cousin, Holly, had a beautiful baby girl on January 3rd. Little Savannah Isabel was born just before midnight that Wednesday night, and although the labor was rough, she's healthy, happy, and beautiful. Finn can't wait to meet his first second cousin! (Does that make any sense?)
Posted by lisa at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2007
Little Man, Big Chair
Posted by lisa at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)