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.


C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel\My Documents\My Videos\Trip to the Zoo_0001 on Vimeo

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.