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!
Mount Diablo
Category Archives: Griffin
Griffin and Rosie
I somehow missed this update on a Rosie’s blog last month:
Griffin is Famous!
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.]
Messy
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!
Halloween
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.
Griffin and his tree parents.
Andrew and his little owlet.
Griffin’s favorite face these days.
Singing, Laughing, Bouncing, Banging
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.
Barf
New for fall 2009, the most fashionable ladies are wearing this season’s hottest accessory: barf.
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.
Roger the Dog
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:
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 each other intriguing.
Pickle Love
Much to our surprise, Griffin loves pickles. Andrew gave him a taste one night expecting to get a very dissatisfied (and very funny) face, but to the contrary, he started heartily gnawing away on it. Thus far, he really only sucks and nibbles on them without actually eating them (any time he gets a chunk, he spits it out), but I’d say overall they’re a hit.
Griffin Sits!
It seemed like just an ordinary web chat. Auntie Alli was getting caught up on all of the latest with Griffin, and he was looking cute for the camera. I kept trying to get him to do his new tricks, but he was so fascinated by the glowing red ring of the web cam, it was hard to get him to do anything other than stare. As Alli and I chatted, though, Griffin started sitting up on his own without support! Live, from the living room floor, Auntie Alli witnesses a milestone! It was quite exciting for everyone…except Griffin who acted like he’d been doing it his entire life. After we said goodbye, I played with Griffin some more on the rug, surrounding him with pillows to cushion the inevitable topple. It was then that the real fun started. Take a look: