A month's worth of pictures.

Adventures with food!

Boxes are fun!

Kitties around the house.

Thanksgiving.  The top three are from the drive to Portland.
In the center is Peter with Aunt Chelsea, such a great picture of the two.
In the bottom left that's Great-Grandma Winter playing wii (Grandpa is helping, much to her annoyance)!
Bottom center is Peter with my Uncle Chris (would that be his great uncle?) and Great Grandma.
Bottom right is Grandpa making an early start at trying to make a drummer out of Peter.

Merry Christmas!

So I'm a day early, but we won't be home tomorrow.  We're heading up to Portland this afternoon to spend Christmas Eve with my Grandpa as is our tradition and we're staying with my folks to do Christmas day there.

I'm so excited to get pictures of Peter's first Christmas!  He got his first present already, we got a package this morning addressed to him.  Being curious and unsure who it was from we opened it early.  It's a cute little "My First Yankee's Shirt" from Grandma and Grandpa Waterbury.  Jason insists that he'll be wearing it tonight so we'll get pictures to post.

Jason is TERRIBLE about surprises.  He loves them and he's always SO proud of himself when he's got one that he just can't keep it to himself.  I like surprises myself so I've had to learn not to make even the appearance of a guess what he may have up his sleeve because he'll give it away even if I wasn't close.  It's pretty funny.  He's also really good at screwing up my surprises by trying to buy them for himself.  He's done that trick repeatedly over the last few years, I think I've finally convinced him not to buy himself anything fun between October and Christmas or risk not getting anything for his birthday, our anniversary, or Christmas.  He actually messed me up for all three last year, but I think we made it through this year with no snafus.

Pictures coming soon!

Crawling!

It's official.  Peter's crawling.   Nothing is safe and I'm so excited!

He's been traveling around a bit for the last week or so but he wasn't really able to get anywhere in particular, it was more just a lean and reach and sit back up pattern that meandered around.  But Thursday evening he took a few crawling lurches forward and from there he pretty quickly figured out that he  could use that to get where he wanted to go.  It's fun to see the thought process "Oh, I want THAT!" and to see him actually go for it!

We also found out this week that there's a big unschooling community here in McMinnville.  I haven't gotten in touch with them yet but I got the contact info for the coordinator at a toy shop whos owner used to be a member (her littles are grown now).  I'll get in touch with them after the holiday chaos, plenty on my plate for now.  I'm just so excited to find out that we're going to have local people to work with as we take this unconventional route to parenting and school.

Now that Peter's crawling I think I'll have a chance to post some more pics, he's been pretty demanding lately but with his newfound mobility he seems to be enjoying his independence.  But for now, time to get ready to go, we've got Jason's work Christmas party and the Winter family Christmas today.

Snapshot - 7 months

I got this idea from another  blog I've been reading lately and it struck me as a wonderfully fun idea.  The point, of course, is just like a photo, just another way of helping us remember down the road some of those little things that we are so prone to forgetting.  I've no idea how frequently I'll be doing this, but as he sits on my hip watching me type, I just want to capture everything I can.

What he is saying:

• Blowing lots of very wet raspberries, frequently accompanied by projectile drool.
• "Plah" & "Bwah" no apparent meaning, just trying out his tongue and mouth shape apparently.
• VERY excited squeals and grunts when Daddy appears after work or after being elsewhere for an extended period.  (Similar excitement when a cat appears unexpectededly as well, though not as consistently.)
• Groans while being walked to sleep, sometimes while nursing to sleep as well.  The louder he gets, the closer to completely crashing.

What he loves doing:

• Tasting EVERYTHING.  Except food.  Go figure.
• Scrolling the mousewheel on Daddy's mouse.  It clicks!
• Chew on the TV remotes.  Extra fun when he changes the channel or volume while Daddy's watching.

What I am loving about him:

• Absolutely everything?
• The dozen hairs scattered over his head that are 10 times longer than the rest of his hair.
• The way he feels snuggled in my arms after nursing to sleep.
• His great big belly laugh when he's happy.

Some of his quirks:

• When he's tired and nursing down if he has to pee/poop he gets a look in his eye and a little half grin and then bites my nipple.
• In order to prevent me from removing said nipple SMASHES face into breast (often accompanied by a raspberry).
• When he's being held one of his ways of letting us know he wants to nurse is by licking our shoulders.

What I want to remember from today:

• The look of peace and contentment on his face when I went in to find him awake after breakfast and the way his face lit up when he saw me.

Bread!

We had our first adventure with bread! I made fresh ciabatta this week so we thought we'd try that out, no worries about any wierd ingredients as I made it, nice that way. He started sucking/gnawing on it almost right away. Being nice and chewy, it held up to a good bit of gnawing before it started disolving but he did eventually break off a piece. That's what prompted the face in the third picture. Took him a bit but he eventually worked it out and spit out the chunk. Still nothing swallowed but we're having fun. Those last two shots are of Gracie claiming and eating the drooly remnants of Peter's snack. She thought that was a great treat, the other cats came to see what she had and then just walked away. Yeah, she's funny like that.

On the other hand, travel is becoming imminent. He's actually moving around pretty well already, but just backwards and turning so far. He's working on the forward direction though and I must say I'm glad we've kept babyproofing in mind as we unpacked everything. The finishing touches shouldn't be too bad and I know he'll show us quickly enough what we forgot to worry about. :)

He's making more different sounds now too instead of just different volumes of the same sound. I already think my little boy is the cutest thing in the world, how is it possible that he gets cuter every day?? Yet somehow, he manages.

6 Month Checkup

So Peter had his 6 month wellness checkup last night.

Our monster is 21 lbs 7.5 ounces!

His doctor was very happy with all of his skills.  He happily demonstrated how quickly he's moving backwards now and he was talking to her in his cute tired pterodactyl-talk.

He's also done a very good job of making her fall in love with him, I can't imagine very many patients giggle while getting their vaccines.  He did!  At least the first one, the second one he wasn't so thrilled about, he cried for a minute but he got over it and actually fell asleep in the car afterward.  For those who don't know, Peter is not one of those children who falls asleep in the car, he's actually VERY resistant.  He's great for short trips, but for long drives I have to sit in the back with him to help him fall asleep.

Speaking of sleep, it's time to put the boy to bed right now.

Pictures!

I just can't get enough of the baby/kitty snuggles. I rarely get to actually get pictures of it though as it usually happens in my lap. Such sweetness!

 These pictures were after Daddy decided to let the baby play with his "empty" coffee cup.  He had a blast playing with the lid and he's got an early start at wearing his morning coffee.  :)

He seems to enjoy having all of his toys together in the basket so he can dig through them for his favorites and then eventually dump them all on the floor.  I think it's so cute watching him search and shuffle through them all.

 The baby led weaning has been fun.  This apple slice was his first positive encounter, he actually nibbled and chewed a bit, though I really don't think he swallowed any.  He also tasted a slice of onion the other day.  He reacted more positively than I expected.  He simply put it in his mouth, licked it, then looked at it, and finally dropped it on the floor.  We've tasted broccoli, banana, carrot, apple and onion now.

Childhood

I'm finding some very inspiring and thought provoking words as I look deeper into homeschooling Peter.  The two quotes that follow hit me upside the head particularly hard and will make it into my Words to Live By (along with my mom's favorite "Be of use").

"When we adults think of children, there is a simple truth which we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life, childhood is life. A child isn't getting ready to live - a child is living. The child is constantly confronted with the nagging question, "What are you going to be?" Courageous would be the youngster who, looking the adult squarely in the face, would say, "I'm not going to be anything; I already am." We adults would be shocked by such an insolent remark for we have forgotten, if indeed we ever knew, that a child is an active participating and contributing member of society from the time he is born. Childhood isn't a time when he is molded into a human who will then live life; he is a human who is living life. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied him by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation.

How much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognize the child as a partner with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing him as an apprentice. How much we would teach each other...adults with the experience and children with the freshness. How full both our lives could be. A little child may not lead us, but at least we ought to discuss the trip with him for, after all, life is his and her journey, too."
- Professor T. Ripaldi

Our first taste of food!

Our first taste of real food was pretty fun. He was certainly not impressed but after tasting it he did have fun swinging the broccoli around and then trying to pick up the little bits that broke off. The smaller pieces seemed to interest him more than the big bit, sadly his pincer grasp isn't reliable enough for him to actually pick up those pieces so they just stayed on the floor.

After the broccoli we tried giving him a big chunk of banana to see if he would be more interested in something sweet (apparently that's the case for many babies) but that was a no go too. We video'd that intro but Daddy was playing with the zoom button while he tasted the banana so Peter's all fuzzy because the camera was having trouble keeping up the focus and you can't see his expressions. Oh well, there will be many more chances to get cute baby faces.

He's stolen a slice of apple and a leaf of lettuce now while we've been eating our own dinners. As long as whatever he's reaching for isn't too salty or messy I've just been letting him experiment. So far he still hasn't done more than lick anything more than once before proceding to just swing it around and hit things with it but the mantra I'm seeing on the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) forums is that "Food is fun until they're one" and that it may be months of simply playing with food before he gets interested in actually eating it, any then even more before he makes the connection between eating and hunger. We'll be working out my new washing machine over the next few months, good thing bathtime is fun around here!

More Pictures

Sleeping peacefully.

"No, Mommy you can't have the remote, Daddy and I are watching football."

Peter & Thomas

Oooh! Kitty!

Here kitty kitty!

Awww...

Poor Peter, Thomas still just doesn't have much (or any) patience for his grabby little hands. Luckily Daisy & Gracie are more tolerant. The sequence perfectly depicts his relationship with both Thomas and Ethel.

Sharing

Well, now that we've left Portland it seems more and more necessary to record Peter's progress in a way that we can share with the family (probably should have started earlier with some family across the country, sorry Kelly I know you asked for pics a long time ago!) but I can't start before now.

Yesterday I learned about Baby Led Weaning and as Peter turned 6 months old this last week it seems like a great time to start and we're gonna give it a go tonight. I'm excited. I really don't know if he'll eat anything or not but since absolutely everything he touches goes in his mouth anyway, I think he'll have fun with something that doesn't taste of either cardboard or plastic.

In fact, as he's happily chewing on his old rattle right now, I think it might be time. We'll take lots of pics and maybe some video. :)