Almost 9 Months!

Well, we're getting back into the swing of things post-holiday and post-cruise...trying to rediscover our  routine, scale mountains of laundry, and the chaos of putting away Christmas while unpacking and returning to full time work. Whew. But we're chug-chug-chugging along.

The weekend was a different pace compared to December. We'll call it busy, but not overwhelming. On Friday night, I had a good friend's book launch party, so E and Lisa hung out with the family while I was in Danville schmoozing and celebrating.

On Saturday, we did stuff around the house (see paragraph 1) and then Lisa took E to a tea party while I continued to do stuff around the house (see paragraph 1). Saturday night, all of us - dogs included - headed over to the Balyon's place for a delicious dinner and to watch the 49ner's win...Though with the three kids, three dogs, and a parrot...not much 'watching' could actually happen...which is fine by me. The lil'man had so much fun watching Cid crawl around and pull himself to a stand on the couch. I think it was definitely some good positive peer pressure.

Sunday, I watched E while Lisa taught Sunday school and we had breakfast-for-lunch with Oma, Opa, and Uncle Bri. The afternoon was still more stuff around the house (see paragraph 1) and then we had dinner at Oma and Opa's with Uncle Ron and Aunt Vicki. Aunt Vicki is headed back to Arkansas until the spring, so it was sad to say goodbye at the end of a fantastic evening.

E turns 9 months tomorrow and since the last "normal" post, E has been a busy boy.

• He's really interested in the world around him. His obsessions now include digital clocks, watching his "brother-dogs", and having story books read to him (especially Little Blue Truck and Baby Beluga). 
• If you hold the edge of a board book page up and say, "Turn the page," he'll do just that! 
• The teething thing is in full swing. The two bottom front ones are out and about. The top left is sharp and ready to poke through at any moment. That's THREE teeth in THREE weeks (and we have a sneaking suspsion the fourth one is coming soon). 
• His vocalizations have changed from pterodactyl-esque squeals to saying "da da da" and "ma ma ma," though neither of us claim that he's using those as actual words since he refers to everything as "da da da" or "ma ma ma."
• On the cruise, we could give him a cloth napkin and he'd use both hands to hold it over his face. We'd say, "Where's the baby?" and he'd drop the napkin with a huge grin. "There he is!" We'd shout and clap and he'd giggle. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be enough of an audience for him at home...so this trick has 'gone dark.'

Finally, a cute story that I'd like to share:

Lil'E rarely has trouble going to sleep at bedtime (staying asleep all night, right now, is a different matter) and will typically sleep the first several hours without stirring. However, on a night before our trip, I heard him fussing around 9:30 or 10pm. Bewildered, I stuck my head into the hallway only to see Lisa dash out of his room.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Did he see you?"

"Ahh, yeah." She avoided eye contact.

Knowing she likes to touch the back of his neck for sweat, I said, "Were you checking to see if he was too hot again?"

"Mmm. Hmmm."

"Ok. Lisa. What did you do?"

Finally, she confessed. "I was trying hats on him."

"What?!"

"Sorry, he needs one for the trip and I wasn't sure what fit."

E's a good sleeper, but I guess she found the line.