Quick!

This kid is doomed to wear pants that are always either too long or too short. He's growing so fast I can't keep up with what fits. We have two plastic bins: one filled with things that are too small, and one filled with things that are too big. Inevitably, I keep missing the window on the upcoming clothes. Also: he's between shoe sizes: medium pinches his chubby feet and large looks like clown shoes that flop right off.

He's just learned to wave. It's bye bye and its also random. His English grandparents are visiting, Nain and Taid (Welsh for Grandma and Grandpa) and he's having a grand time playing with them and being taken out on very long walks where he gets to see flowers and the world.

I've just put together invitations for his first birthday party at the end of this month, and I cannot believe it's already been so long. This time last year I was very pregnant, and wrecked from not sleeping and anxiety. Against all expectation, I'm more relaxed than I've been in a long, long, time. This time two years ago I was reeling from jetlag in India and being a corporate wife for the summer, and the year before that we had just bought our house and moved in.

It was Baby Day at the hospital where he was born; we got an invitation to come take a group photo, so we went. They had invited all babies and their families born from 2006-2009, and took a group photo for each year. It made me feel almost giddy, happy to be there. As we left I teared up. It snuck up on me, the momentousness of the occasion. This was Alexander's generation, his cohort. And also, this was a thing that was only us, not our families of origin, but something else, new and exciting. The future seems full of the thrill of the unknown for the first time in a long time. Funny, that. I mean going to India was exciting, but in a very different way. I'll have to think more about how.

If you're happy and you know it

Clap your hands!

Alexander figured out how to clap today, and was very pleased indeed. In fact, he's so taken with it, he was trying to clap as he was falling asleep tonight.

Also new today: zooming away on the bed whenever he's undressed, giggling hysterically. Maybe the giggling has something to do with our playing along, "Oh no! Naked baby escape! Get him! Get him!"

Watch out.

He's growing faster than I can see. One minute he's a baby in my arms, the next he's trying out being a kid.

We just got back from a four day trip to Boston, one of my conferences. Flying was better than expected on the way out, and as bad as I thought it might be coming back.

Baby Benadryl, by the way, is a lie.

It wasn't that bad. He cried and fussed for three hours, and slept for three hours. In my arms. Even with a sling, it still hurt.

Boston was funny; apparently, the bug has powers of zapping random people on the street with his cuteness. This never happens here. Either the kids there are not so cute, or there aren't any kids there.
And then there's this picture below: What?


We just ditched this table. Not to prevent delinquency, which from the looks of this photo, seems like a good idea, but because the top is glass and it's all super sharp corners in a very small space. Also it was spacky and had to go.

He understands "no" and won't come into the kitchen (one of the rules). He'll stop if you call his name: here he was reaching for something dangerous, and I called him. Hence the look.

Thanks to Tia Pita for the fabulous attitude appropriate T-shirt. Y que, indeed.

Zoom!

Once he figured out crawling, it's been full-speed ahead. Last weekend he was rocking back and forth on his knees and apparently sat up by accident. During the week, he started sitting up on his knees pretty deliberately, and pulling up on furniture, his crib, and me to his knees. This weekend he's been pulling up to standing, unassisted, pretty consistently. Today, he was able to pull himself up on the edge of his play-yard and started taking little steps towards the wall he was leaning on, and according to his Tio Johnny, took a couple of steps sideways, while holding on to the top of the wee plastic wall.

He is minutes from walking.

Before I know it, he's going to be running away from me, shouting nononononono. He already shakes his head and squeezes his face shut when he doens't like something.

Apropos the picture: isn't he a sly bunny?

I know, right?

Dinner!

The great thing about watching the wee one eat is his crazy exuberance. He will mix things all together and attack with great aplomb. Tonight's menu: noodles, tofu, and pear.

I have to figure out how to put up digital footage of him attacking that pear at the end of the meal. Nose wrinkled, eyes squeezed shut, growls emanating from his tiny throat.

What's that in your mouth?

My constant refrain: what are you eating? what is that? Yes, indeed. The buglet is creeping around the house picking up lint and whatever else he can find and popping it into his mouth. Its gross, alarming, and hilarious all at once.

Also: he's discovered how much fun it is to hit his tray and see how far the food on it can go. Or at least, make a clear spot in the middle after smearing everything around it first.

Had me contemplating putting his lunch on the carpet, so then he'd be interested in eating it.