4.5 months and on a roll

Sometime around now, Malcolm is 4 and a half months old! So we went back to the bear chair.

Playing with Bo the bear is old hat by now:
look at those chubby feet! Compare this picture to his 4-week chair picture :)

He likes to have dinner with us when his naps allow (though if he's napping during dinner, we honestly don't mind eating just the two of us either), sitting in the Bumbo, trying to chew on Sophie le Giraffe. He's started watching us eat, but not with any particular longing to join in yet, we think. We have a (belated) pediatrician appointment on Friday (his doctor had surgery and so his 4-month appt was delayed) and will ask about her philosophy on starting solids. Even if we wait til 6 months, that's not too long now! Andy is excited to cook baby food and introduce Malcolm to new tastes.

He has also started enjoying his new Exersaucer - though mostly it is a venue for him to practice standing (he LOVES to stand, though not so much to sit or be on his tummy) without Mommy or Daddy holding him, and chew on his hands or the towels we sometimes use to prop him up. But he has discovered one of the toys on it, and will sometimes play with an intense look of concentration:

Finally, today Malcolm and I watched the inauguration (well, it was interrupted by a diaper change right at the beginning of the inaugural address, unfortunately, but we caught most of it). I was glad to be able to watch history being made, but Malcolm was not so interested, so spent most of the time on his playmat. I guess he wanted to get my attention, because towards the end of the ceremony his playing got especially thrashy and he rolled over onto his tummy! He looked surprised and pleased for a few moments and then began the "I hate tummy time" crankies. Now, we'll have to see if that was a fluke or if we really have a roller on our hands! It hasn't happened again so far...

Milestones

We are loving 4 months over here! Malcolm is so smiley (when he's not cranky), and has started reliably giggling (usually at Daddy's wacky antics). He now actually likes going out and about, maybe better than staying in - we made a fun and calorific expedition downtown over the weekend - Malcolm's first ice cream shop, city-block-wide-bookstore, and gourmet drinking chocolate cafe. He hung out in the front carrier looking around, took a nap there, had a snack in the Art section of Powells, and enjoyed his first streetcar ride.The past week or so he has achieved some milestones!

He finally got to pet the cats, actually getting a handful of Sasha's fur and then her collar. She was remarkably patient. Cirrus is a little more skittish, but a couple of days later also got grabbed a little bit.
He is working on mobility - and while we don't have consistent rolling and certainly no crawling, he can rotate like clock hands while working on rolling onto his side.

The other day he started in this position, looking at that kooky baby in the mirror:

And pulling up his knees for the side roll practice, which also served to rotate him:

After a few minutes of this, he was almost 180 degrees around:And then 270 degrees:
And a full 360, yeah!
Self-satisfied portrait in the mirror, with new favorite toy Tigger (who is an amusingly bizarre hybrid of classic Tigger and a fuzzy beach ball gifted from Uncle Carl)

The final milestone explains why he's been so into gnawing on his hands, our noses, our chins, and Daddy's delicious head...
Malcolm has his first tooth! Yes, at only 4 months old, the bottom middle left tooth has popped through just this week. We noticed last week that his gnawing had become distinctly sharp, and a few days later the tooth came through. I was also an early teether - it seems to run in my Mom's family. We are hoping this explains some of his crankiness!

Of course I couldn't get a picture - the camera has a bit of a delay and he kept getting his tongue and lips in the way. But there is definitely a millimeter or so of white (sharp!) tooth poking up. We wonder if the next one is starting because he's still quite gnaw-ish and more cranky today. Though he did enjoy an outing to the local sushi place for dinner tonight

4 months!

Since I can't remember how many weeks old Malcolm is any more (er, 18? 19?), I guess it's time to go to monthly pictures. I'll still try to put something up weekly, though, since his skills are developing faster than ever. And I'm even getting back into knitting a bit (we'll see how long this lasts since I'm going back to work in a few weeks too) so maybe there will be actual knitting-related posts as well.

Malcolm turned 4 months old (on January 3) while we were in Boston at my folks'. So for this picture, he's in a different chair, and the part of Bo the Bear will be played by "Rexer", my childhood stuffed T-rex.


His pants were made by Grandma ("Loisknits" on Ravelry), from the "Pimp My Longies" pattern (Mom, let me know if that isn't the right link). See how she pimped 'em? This way we know which side the short rows (in the bum) are on.

They are super soft and comfy - she also made Andy a sweater from the same yarn. I'll have to get a picture of "the boys" in their matching wear.

We had a great time: made it to the airport (had to put chains on the car to get out of the neighborhood, but the highways were OK), did OK on the plane (only 3 meltdowns), and on the return trip (also 3 meltdowns, but shorter in duration). Vacation was nice and relaxing, and Malcolm(and us!) really enjoyed hanging out with his uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, and various kinds of 2nd cousins with a great aunt and other friends thrown in there too.

Well, someone's nap is ending so I will wrap this up, but will try to make another entry later this weekend.

16 weeks and Christmas Eve

Malcolm says...


Happy Holidays everyone! And tomorrow I'm taking my first plane ride to see my Grandma, Grandpas, Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins! P.S. - I love this bear! (and Daddy making faces at me behind the camera...)

(fingers crossed that the melt that started this afternoon continues - it would be nice not to have to drive to the airport in chains...)

Arctic Blast!

So, we are having TONS of snow (with a lovely layer of ice in between). TONS. Not just tons for Portland (which would be maybe a few inches) but tons for snowier cities. Well, I haven't lived in a snowier city for 10 years, so I may be misremembering (especially since we have a distinct lack of snowplows here, so it builds and builds), but it's over a foot! And there is the matter of that lovely layer of ice... the city is pretty well shut down, and in fact Portland's county (which is not ours) has declared a state of emergency so that they can get state and national guard resources. Yikes!

Anyway, we haven't driven since Saturday, and going a bit stir-crazy, decided to make an expedition to the grocery store, about half a mile's walk. Malcolm doesn't have a snowsuit, so we put him in a largish fleece pajama over his regular clothes and sweater, a nice warm Jayne hat which a friend knit for "wee cap'n Mal" (KT has an adult-sized pattern here), and red furry socks as mittens. I eventually zipped my coat around his feet and tucked my scarf (Christmas gift from KT a couple of years ago!) around his neck too. He was content (as long as I was moving) to chill (hah!) in the Beco baby carrier and watch the snowy world (and Daddy). Here are a few pictures:

starting out:"whoa, it's all, like, white out here"
We made it! Lots of folks stocking up, and our neighbors toldus later that they had talked to the grocery store manager - the chain (Albertsons') had told him that they couldn't make deliveries today (some of the highways are closed!) so he called up local restaurant supply places and got produce that way. Hence the garlic, yams, etc looked a bit rough as they were not meant for display. Yay, local grocery store manager!

On the way back, Malcolm had a nice nap while I had a soda. Then we stopped in at the aforementioned neighbors' for tea. One of the neighbors is from Ireland, so of course they had Barry's tea - nice!
Oh, and we're supposed to fly out of here on Thursday, and there's another storm forecast for Wednesday... wish us luck!

15 weeks

Whoops, well, we skipped 14 weeks... but Malcolm is getting big enough that weekly pictures aren't a necessity. See how Malcolm is admiring the bear (or maybe the thought of his cute self) here!At 15 weeks (yikes, 3 and a half months!) Malcolm is definitely reaching for things, studying things intently, and even will tolerate having a book read to him if it is interesting looking. He didn't used to like to sit on laps! We've had some laughs/giggles which sound more like "heh heh heh", particularly in response to the "Daddy far away.... DADDY UP CLOSE!" game, which in the right mood will result in Malcolm chortling, opening his mouth, and attempting to shove both fists in :)He's also gotten into standing, and will suddenly go straight and stiff in our arms, our cue to prop him up on his feet to look around (especially at whoever is not holding him) or even try to reach for things. I wanted to add a picture here, but we don't have any great ones... will try for one later.

In the right mood, he'll take to tummy time like a seal... for short periods, anyway. No rolling yet except the occasional accidental front-to-back.

He's still got an odd schedule - during the day, he can only be awake for an hour and a half before needing a nap, which might last between 30 minutes and 3 hours (though the 3 hour naps have gotten rarer, sadly). He can nap in the baby carrier or the carseat, though often not as well as in the bouncy chair. I'm not going to mention nightime sleep since I have now learned that to do so invites smiting by the Sleep Gods... ;)

More posts tomorrow, probably - we're having a blizzard and an ice storm, and so there should be more time for the internets...

3 months (=13 weeks)

Malcolm's month- and week- birthday lined up this week - he was 3 months (or 13 weeks) on Wednesday! We took his photoshoot in the morning, and for the first time, he actually seemed to notice the bear! He's been grabbing (or waving at and randomly opening and closing his hands near) things this week, and decided to go for Bo! The best pic I got is a bit off-center, but includes both a grabbing hand and a smile for the camera :)

We even got a little video:

Malcolm notices his bear! from Alison (& Andy & Malcolm) on Vimeo.

He's also gotten really into sucking on his hands this week. He discovered them a few weeks back, but didn't really do anything with them. Now, it's drool, slobber, suck... If we give him a napkin or burp cloth to hold at the same time, he will kind of wipe up his own drool :)

No knitting update today - I am rather behind on the one thing I am trying to do for Christmas. Hmm, I should go get it...