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.
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.
Griffin started channeling Mick Jagger today.
Grummy is in town for a visit, so the whole Stocco-Palmer-Roy family (minus Andrew, who was working hard getting his classroom ready for students on Monday) went out to the Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square on Oakland’s waterfront.
Our bedtime routine for the past couple of weeks developed from the discovery that Griffin really likes to play on his changing table without anything on. The first night I was ready to put on his diaper after only a couple of minutes but was met with so much protest, it was obvious he didn’t want the fun to stop. We played for longer and after he’d had his fill, he was ready to move on to diaper and pj’s and settle in for the night. He has clearly been delighting in naked time, squealing and laughing as I tickle him, pretend to eat his toes, and kiss him on his neck, tummy, and armpits (his favorite). This has turned into a 30 minute affair that we both really enjoy! It’s so different interacting with him now that he has stronger likes and dislikes.
Today is already turning into a warm one, so I decided to let him have naked time in the middle of the day while I folded diapers. He rolled around his quilt, babbling at me and playing with his toys. It seems inevitable that he will soon be asking me why naked time isn’t all the time!
Over the past few weeks Griffin has been getting better and better at front-to-back rolls. He sometimes goes the other way, but never quite makes it. There’s always an arm or an elbow preventing him from completely rolling onto his front. Tonight, inspired by a visit from his friend Rosie, he managed an effortless roll onto his tummy! (Rosie is two months older and is an Olympic class roller.) Pretty soon Griffin will be rolling clear across the room.
Yes indeed, Griffin ate himself some watermelon today! Click on the thumbnails for larger versions with captions.
Griffin’s third tooth broke through on Wednesday, and it has been a tough couple of days for him. (Oddly enough, it was his right lower lateral incisor, which doesn’t “typically” arrive for another eight months.) This evening the pain was obviously excruciating, leading to his worst meltdown in a very long time. I took this picture a few minutes before he really lost it.
As you know if you’ve been paying attention, Griffin’s first roll was on July 27. Since then he hasn’t repeated the trick… until today. During a long period of “tummy time”, Griffin repeatedly rolled from front to back. (Never the reverse, yet.) It’s certainly not easy, but he’s got the basic motions down. Sarah managed to catch one of them on film (or digital tape anyway):
Griffin is four months old, and he is continuing to amaze me. I know as his mother that’s what is supposed to happen, but it’s not just an admiration of him; it’s amazement at human beings in general. All of a sudden, the world seems so much more delicate, people so much more precious. That we all started this way is something of a miracle to me, and I hope to do right by him as his mom. I cannot wait to see what impact the world has on him, and what impact he has on the world. Most of all, I hope to remember to always be amazed by the little things, as awed as I am by the recognition in his eyes and the smile that breaks out on his face when he wakes in the morning to see that we’re all still here and life is wonderful.
