Trip to the Zoo

This trip went about as well as the trip to the aquarium. Xavier barely noticed the animals - he liked watching the kids more. We also spent a lot of time in zoo parking lot traffic! It was a nice day so it was still enjoyable and we've learned our lesson about parking.


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The last picture was taken while we were in traffic.

Good Morning Xavier

We woke up this morning to pounding on the wall. Good morning, Xavier...

End of an Era...

...or Hooray for Xavier. It's official - real crawling, sitting up on his own, and pulling to standing from crawling or sitting...on the floor and in the crib. Yes, this means the bedtime routine might have to be re-examined. No more putting Xavier in his crib and letting him fall asleep. The most trouble he could cause before included a little yelling while turning over on his side or onto his belly. Now he stands, throws pacifiers out of the crib, and demands, with a dadadaadaa, that we come back for him. He did this once last night and three or four times tonight! (For those of you who know about my most recent obsession/date with a certain Fernando Colunga, I mean, the novela Alborada. Today was not a good day for his antics. It was the final episode.)


C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel\My Documents\My Pictures\Xavier - 7 months 2 weeks\Xavier - 7 months 2 weeks 005 on Vimeo


C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel\My Documents\My Pictures\Xavier - 7 months 2 weeks\Xavier - 7 months 2 weeks 007 on Vimeo

Anyway, we are, of course, proud and happy to watch these developments, but it is also a little disconcerting. It's obvious what we are concerned about...bedtime. It's a little sad too. I know I am getting overly emotional about this, but keep in mind that while Xavier has been reaching these milestones I have been talking to the parents (mostly crying moms) of admitted students, whose kids are about to leave their homes to come to college. The moms inevitably ask me if I have children...usually about half way through the conversation. When I tell them Xavier's age they look longingly at their child and remember them at that age. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've cried with one or two of them. So we've decided to take grampa's advice to heart and watch Xavier carefully and enjoy ever minute (and probably take a million pictures as well). Oh, and start a college fund, but not in his name!

Here is one of the many other clips we have on the camera...we think it's cute. Before he figured out the sitting thing...he was doing some yoga poses...downward dog followed (usually) by belly flop but, occasionally, one leg would sneak out in front of him and he would plop on his butt.


C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel\My Documents\My Pictures\Xavier - 7 months 2 weeks\Xavier - 7 months 2 weeks 006 on Vimeo

PS Ok, before anyone says it...I am working on getting better quality video...really. Now that amitted student programs are over I will focus on figuring out our nice camera.

More Pictures with James!

As you can tell, James and Xavier were quite interested in figuring out what other babies look like and do. Once they made sure that the other was an ok baby, they decided it would be ok to play together.

James had to take a very close look at Xavier to make sure Xavier knew how to make the right kinds of crashing and car engine noises when playing together.

Xavier passed the test and promised to teach James all the cool sound effects he's learned.

another new buddy

Since it has been warm out, we decided to watch Daniel play soccer on the midway. Didn't end up doing much of that since we also decided to meet up with Pippi and her friend Daisy. You can check out the pictures on Daisy's blog. The highlight of the afternoon was, of course, "sharing" toys.

A New Month with New Food and New Friends

We are tired. Xavier is incredibly active from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to bed and still gets up at least once a night, so we are worn out. Sometimes we just let him army-crawl all over our bed and us (we are his favorite obstacle) in the morning while we are half asleep. Funny, then he gets to his gymboree class on Saturdays and all he does is stare at the teacher. We hope he gets over that soon - there are crawling babies he could be staring at! Let's see what's new...

Last Friday marked Xavier's 7 month birthday. He was happy, as you can tell. He's still rocking when on his knees. He tries to crawl and does it for a second and then decides he can get around faster by dragging himself. We'll be putting up safety gates around the house soon.


He has spent a lot of time with uncle Gabi and aunt Tsubasa. He loves them, especially because Gabi lets him play with his cell phone and Tsubasa makes him yummy risotto. That is new. He has taken a great deal of interest in the food that we eat and has recently started "asking" for some of ours. His dinner now consists of whatever we are having, as long as it follows (most) of the baby feeding rules. Risotto sort of follows the rules...and was delicious.


We also had a play date with James, who is about 4 1/2 months old but about as big as Xavier. James' mom, Meredith, and I think they liked each other and will have to get together again to play with cars or some other boy thing...

Occasionally, he sits around and just laughs.

We are having a great time with Xavier, even when we are tired, and are looking forward to warm, sunny days, taking long walks along the lake and a summer vacation! Xavier takes a nap, mami and papi take a nap...YAY!

Jailbreak

So much for lowering the mattress. I left him sitting in his crib...and he was able to pull himself to standing. He looked really proud of himself and laughed when I asked "what are you doing?"


Well at least he can't sit up on his own yet. He certainly tries, but doesn't get all the way up.
It was tough to get a clip of him trying to stand, you'll see why below. Someone had to catch him when he let go to grab the camera...he doesn't think he has to hold on once he is standing.



View this clip on Vimeo