We’ve been neglectful blogging parents lately, but Griffin’s been making so many leaps developmentally, we can hardly keep up. Over Thanksgiving break in Santa Cruz, despite the slippery tile floors of the rental house, Griffin learned to crawl. Andrew was witness to the first official crawl (and burned his Thanksgiving cheesecakes in the midst of the excitement), as well as the first official pull-up-to-standing. It’s so amazing that Andrew has been around for these developmental milestones in spite of the fact that he’s working full time!
We had only one week between Griffin’s crawling victory and pulling up to standing, so we’re frantically baby-proofing much higher than we thought we’d initially have to. Actually, I think baby-proofing is a misnomer. It should be baby-not-going-to-get-hurt-too-badly-if-he-comes-into-contact-with-this…-ing. Thankfully he’s not very fast yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
I wish I had some video to go along with this story, but the title says it all.
Griffin and I went on a walk on Tuesday down to Lakeshore Avenue to get more English muffins from our favorite bakery, Arizmendi. Naturally, as long as we were down there, we had to take a swing through my favorite store, Urban Indigo. Andrew often jokes that he could go in there with his eyes closed, pick something at random, and I’d love it. It’s pretty much true. The store may as well be named Sarah’s Favorite Things, but I digress. They have a children’s section, which I now have more of a reason to visit thanks to Mr. G, and I came across a jack-in-the-box. More specifically, it was a Jack Russell Terrier in a box that popped up to the tune “Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?”, and since Griffin has really been enjoying peek-a-boo, I thought he might like it.
I was wrong. He LOVED it. I mean, this kid would not stop laughing. I just did it over and over and over, and he kept laughing and squealing like it was the funniest thing on the face of the planet. Everyone in the store couldn’t help but hear his giggling, and it was agreed that the scene was pretty stinking cute.
Not being one to impulse buy, I didn’t take it home with us. Not only was it a little on the pricey side, but I thought ahead to what kind of trend this could turn into (“Oh, he likes it! Let’s buy it!”) and decided I’d try to find one for a Christmas present. We headed out of the store for our walk home, and over the mile or so home, he continued to laugh hysterically at random. Is it possible he was playing the scene over and over in his head, and it was continuing to make him giggle? This happens to me quite often, so I imagined it was happening to him, too.
We arrived home, and it was quite obviously nap time, but he was still in a great mood! We snuggled in the rocking chair, and he continued to giggle as he was falling asleep. Even after it was obvious that he was out and I had laid him in the crib and closed the door, I could still hear him laughing in his sleep. That pretty much clinched it. I needed to find a jack-in-the-box before Christmas.
The next day, I called around to just about every kid store I could think of (second-hand stores first), and no one had a used one or one that wasn’t a creepy clown. I decided to swallow the price tag and head back to Urban Indigo. The doggy one was way too cute to pass up, so into the bag it went. When we got home, I was really excited to show it to Griffin again, this time with video camera handy, ready to capture the laugh fest.
Unfortunately, he only found it mildly funny. I think his chuckles were pity chuckles, as in, “That wasso yesterday, Mom, but I’ll satisfy your need to hear me laugh since you spent 30 dollars on it.” Yes, that’s right. 30 dollars. There’s a lesson in here somewhere that I’ll figure out eventually. I’m still kind of new to this mom thing.
We joined Erika and Benjamin for an excellent hike on Mount Diablo this Saturday. Not only was it a gorgeous morning for a hike, but we saw cows and snakes too!
Griffin and I recently went to Seattle to visit my uncle Bob, aunt Carol, Mom, and sister Alli. In addition to lots of good conversation, food, and laughs, we attended an event at the Woodland Park Zoo called Pumpkin Prowl. Griffin dressed up in his owl costume and was met with lots of oohs and ahhs for his Halloween debut. I was one proud Mama. As we were browsing the booths, we were approached by a woman named Corey who, along with her mom, manages two websites called Celebrate Green and Green Halloween. [Both sites are no longer live as of 2022.] They’re both devoted to eco-friendly ways of celebrating holidays. Corey just loved Griffin’s costume and wanted to feature him in an upcoming newsletter! I took her card, emailed her the pictures, and the newsletter was sent out today. Click here to see the newsletter. [Newsletter is still there, but it looks like many of the embedded pictures and links are dead as of 2022.]
Griffin has eight teeth already. Since he started teething at three and a half months, we definitely have our fair share of things for him to chew on. I’ve been reluctant to give him teething biscuits because of the concern that he might bite off a piece and choke on it. But lately as he’s been working on tooth number eight, he has been gnawing and biting things he shouldn’t. Namely me. That kid can chomp! My shoulder and arms have been receiving the brunt of it, and it seems like his desire to bite is increasing. More teeth on the way?
With a little reluctance, I picked up some very healthy looking teething biscuits at the store today. I took one out of the package and clunked it on the counter. Definitely hard as a rock. With Griffin sitting in his high chair, I handed it over. He immediately liked it and started gnawing away. He attacked it with gusto, and since he was such a mess and seemed to be enjoying eating, I decided to feed him some some squash and yogurt, too. Definitely the messiest feeding to date!
Griffin’s first taste of a teething biscuit. I think he likes it!
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. There’s something really magical about the mix of autumn, dressing up as someone else, and heading out into the night. I also have many fond memories of my mom’s handiwork throughout my childhood Halloweens, so I couldn’t wait to sew Griffin’s costume. I knew from the get go that I wanted him to be an owl. Even though he’s a good sleeper, the play on a baby night owl was just too delicious to pass up. It ended up turning out better than I expected, and Griffin made the cutest little owl.
Griffin tries on his owl costume for the first time.
We recently received an Exersaucer (yes, it’s actually called an Exersaucer) from our friends as a hand-me-down. It’s one of those baby things that’s really great to have for about two months, so we were glad to get one that had already been well loved. Dave and Nancy used to call theirs The Neglecter, and while Griffin does spend some time in it while I do other things during the day, I have really been enjoying watching him entertain himself after I plop him in.
It’s amazing to see him spin himself around, manipulate the toys (that, frustratingly for Griffin, do not detach from the base), and most recently, discover the joys of bouncing. Today I caught him in a particularly joyful moment, singing to himself, laughing when he’d catch my eye, bouncing, and making lots of noise. There’s nothing necessarily extraordinary about this video, but when I think about how much he’s changed in almost seven months, it’s really kind of breathtaking.
New for fall 2009, the most fashionable ladies are wearing this season’s hottest accessory: barf.
While our model doesn’t look particularly pleased with this season’s hottest accessory, it is her job as a model to look miserable.
Our model’s creative director, however, looks quite pleased with himself.
If you’d like to recreate this look, make sure to get a six month old and have him barf on you without any warning. Extra hotness points if it gets in your hair and on your face.
We have a house guest this weekend named Roger. He’s the dog of our friends Yoni and Laura, and with all due respect to Dusty (may he rest in peace) and any dogs in my life presently, he’s the best dog in the entire universe. He’s patient, gentle, comes when you call him, likes other dogs, loves a good scratch, plays fetch, chases squirrels, and curls up in the cutest little ball when he takes a nap. He also likes to lick Griffin’s face, gets concerned when Griffin cries, and lets Griffin tug his ears.
Yesterday was our first full day together. Griffin met him after waking up in the morning, and much giggling ensued. Griffin was fascinated by Roger! Simply watching him walk around the room made Griffin laugh, and Roger seemed to like getting Griffin’s attention. I could tell they were going to be friends. We went for a walk, took naps, rolled on the floor, played fetch. It was a good day.
The afternoon is when the stare-down happened. While there are many of Griffin’s toys strewn about the house, Roger seemed completely uninterested in them . . . until Griffin started playing with Mr. Mushroom and Mr. Mushroom let out a squeak. Now like I said, Roger is the best dog ever, and being the best dog ever means you have manners. I stumbled upon this scene after starting to cook dinner:
Griffin thinks Roger only has eyes for him…
But Roger really just has eyes for the squeaky toy between Griffin’s legs.
Roger resisted Mr. Mushroom all afternoon and into the evening. It was only after Griffin went to sleep that Roger dared to gingerly take it from Griffin’s play mat. He gently gave it up after I said no, but he still wanted to play with it thinking it was a toy for him. While Roger seems to understand much about the human world, he must find it rather confusing that babies get squeaky toys, too. With Mr. Mushroom out of commission, Griffin and Roger are back to finding eachother intriguing.
