Sheep

Here is a photo of Linus batting at Sheep as previously described. He was really going at it with legs kicking and arms swinging. After all that playing he took a nap. He is wearing his new onesie from KaVarna. The owners' daughter is 2 weeks younger than Linus. They had six onesies made with their logo. It was very much an impulse buy. I got him the white one and Alex said Johanna has a yellow one. I noticed the other day that only two are left. He looks great in it with his tan yoga pants. I think he also needs a black beret to wear to complete the coffee shop look, and an iBook and a board book of beatnik poetry. :)

Last night he fell asleep just before 8 p.m. and woke up this morning just before 6 a.m. This allowed me to read more than a few pages of my book before I konked out, and I still got 8 hours sleep. He woke up very hungry!

We don't have much planned for the weekend. Since Linus only does his great bouncy chair tricks in the morning, Matthew will get a chance to witness it. We might also go to the Botanical Garden to check things out. In addition, Matthew and I have a deal: I'll climb up the ladder in the garage to look for the carpenter ant nest and he'll deal with the tree-sized thistle growing in the flower bed on the south side of the house. We are hoping to deal with the carpenter ants ourselves and not have to pay an exterminator.

Bouncy Chair

Linus must be preparing to grow an inch or develop some new skill: last week he ate a lot and this week he is sleeping a lot. Today he batted at Sheep with both hands. This is a first! There are three toys that connect to the toy bar of the bouncy chair. First we attached Miss Cow and Linus quickly grew to love her. She was the first inanimate object to receive one of his smiles. After a few weeks we added on Pig. Linus quit talking to Miss Cow and only talked to Pig. After a few more weeks, we added on Sheep. He ignored Sheep for the most part until this week. He started batting at Sheep with one hand and I wasn't convinced he was doing it deliberately. This morning he batted at Sheep with the hand farthest away, and then batted with both hands. So exciting!!!

The other day Susan and I were marveling at Linus' perfect little feet. No calluses, corns, bunions. Just soft, smooth skin.

Eyelashes

I think Linus' eyelashes grew! A few days ago they became very noticeable. I'm sure they weren't that long before. I look at him all the time and would have noticed, right? They are light brown and long enough that they curl up. So precious.

He'll soon be moving into some clothes of the 3-6 month size range. We played mall last night and some new things fit. (To play mall, he tries on clothes to see what fits.) The pants and hat to his monkey outfit from Star and John fit, but I think the shirt might be big yet. He didn't try the shirt on yet. I can't wait to see the whole outfit on him. I had the monkey on the hat kiss him and talk to him. He really checked it out. The adorable bear outfit from Stephanie is fittting pretty well. The pants (Lyz- these are the yoga pants) fit pretty well and we will just have to cuff the sleeves of the teddy bear long-sleeved onesie. It sure felt funny slipping the matching bear booties on his feet. They are so shoe-like and he has just worn sock-like booties. Baby clothes are like all other clothes in that the size on the tag is only a rough estimate. For instance, two of his summer outfits are size 6-9 month and fit him now. Sara and Billy did a good job of eyeing those up. The other two outfits that are the same size and brand are too big. Strange. What this means is that every few weeks, while we are playing in his room, I go through his larger sized clothes to see what fits. Some onesie type clothes are long and narrow, some short and wide. If clothes look like they won't be too huge on him, then we play mall and he tries them on. Baby clothes are so much fun. It is like playing dolls. Thank you everyone for the great outfits you gave him!

This picture is of him in his farmer outfit from Stephanie and hat from Lyz.

Ice Cream Truck/Week 11

Today Linus is 12 weeks old. Hard to imagine! He had an action-packed eleventh week of life. He attended the Farmers Market downtown with us on Wednesday night and joined us for dinner at Kavarna, our beloved coffee shop. Thursday he attended the Summer in the Park event. We met up with some of my former co-workers to picnic, listen to music, and talk. My sister Susan came to visit yesterday and she was amazed at how much he has grown. She last saw him on Earth Day, when he was three weeks old. Linus gave her some smiles and enjoyed the fun book she brought him.

The week was topped off by Linus' first ice cream truck experience. I could hear the music in the distance when I was upstairs. I went down and told Matthew. A few minutes later he could hear the truck coming down our street. He ran out the door in his stocking feet with the baby and I grabbed the camera. The truck stopped right in front of our house! Three kids ran from one direction and a woman with a small child ran from the other. She was also in her socks. After taking a photo, we got our treats and retreated into the house to enjoy our Spiderman popsicle and Drumstick. It was too cool and damp to eat them outside. Notice the weather didn't prevent people from flocking to the truck for ice cream!

Developmentally, Linus made some big strides. He took a great interest in the little bird music box thing that hangs in his crib. He also started looking at the pictures on his wall. They are of storybook characters like Madeline, Harold (of the Purple Crayon fame), Curious George, etc. This weekend he began to reach out and bat at the sheep on the toy bar of his bouncy seat. He continues to smile up a storm and bring us great joy.

Linus Goes Grocery Shopping

Today we took Linus on his first trip to the grocery store. He was so patient and tolerant. When we were nearing completion over in the frozen section, he gave us a ten-minute warning to hurry it up. At the register he was mellow and looking around. The cashier and the people in line commented on what a good baby he was. We were so proud! Everything is more fun with Linus.

I made the image of the candy heart for him at : www.acme.com/heartmaker. I recommend visiting the site for about 3 minutes of fun!

Rhubarb

Yesterday I discovered that Linus finds the word rhubarb to be very funny. When I said it to him he would smile huge, toothless smiles. When Matthew came home from work and heard this, he took Linus out to show him our rhubarb plant that has gone to seed. He couldn't stop singing, "Mama's little baby likes rhubarb, rhubarb. Mama's little baby loves rhubarb pie." Boy does that stick in one's head. (Garrison Keillor sings this song on Prairie Home Companion.) I finally had to proclaim, "Enough!!!"

Linus also likes the words ribbit and linkadoo. They also make him smile. He's been smiling at ribbit for a couple of weeks.

Flaxen Hair

It turns out that the name Linus is Greek for flaxen, as in hair. (I finally looked it up.) As luck would have it, his hair appears to be growing in blonde in the ring around his head where his brown hair has worn off. I'm very attached to his pretty brown hair, but I'm sure he'll be just as precious as a blonde.

In this photo he is sleeping face down on my lap and you can see the ring around his head.

Week 10 in Review

Linus did a lot of developing this week, which maybe explains his large appetite! By the end of the week, he was sticking out his tongue, "talking" up a storm, smiling frequently, and even laughed for Matthew. He grabbed my yogurt container, my necklace, and enjoys grabbing onto Matthew's neck ties. So that's what they're for: something for babies to hold on to! After every feeding he is smiley and chatty, much to our merriment. It makes it difficult for Matthew to leave for work in the morning. Linus also averaged 8 hours of sleep for three nights in a row. That made life seem pretty normal. Here's a picture from Father's Day.

Sara and Susan's birthday

Linus wishes his aunts Sara and Susan a very wonderful birthday. Cheers!

Rattle

Linus has been getting better at grasping things (and then putting them in his mouth!), so Matthew introduced Linus to one of his rattles on Wednesday evening. It was great fun to see him with the quintessential baby toy. I couldn't help but laugh as he bonked himself in the head with it. We think we'll have him play with his toy keys first, which won't pack such a punch when he rattles it into his head. Toy keys are harder to find these days because who uses a key? Everyone uses a remote opener!

First Night in Crib

One thing I'm learning is that Linus achieves milestones frequently and I'm regularly reminded that the days are quickly passing and he is growing up. Last night was his first night in the crib. He was rapidly running out of room in the basinette and he was getting too noisy to sleep in our room. (He starts noisily waking up anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before he actually wakes up.) I couldn't help but shed some tears when I tucked him in the crib and walked down the hall to our room. He slept through the night and all was well. In a couple of years I'll be tucking him into a big boy bed and I'll be shedding tears over that.

Linus Week 9

Linus enjoyed a very eventful week. He became much more proficient at
sucking his thumb, survived his 2-month immunizations, and met his
paternal grandparents. The biggest thing to happen was that although
Matthew fell and sprained his ankle while holding Linus, Linus came
through with no injuries. I, on the other hand, suffered emotional
distress about it for about 24 hours.

We've been spending a lot more time on our sun porch. In this photo
Linus is visiting with Winthrop while sucking his thumb in the play pen
out on the porch.