sitting pretty

We love to sit with Peter resting against our legs, facing us. (He likes it too - it's his "poopin' position.")

In recent days, though, Peter's been trying to sit up on his own from this position. He's not strong enough to do it yet (come on! he's only 8 weeks old!), but it made us think that he might be ready for his infant seat.

Peter shares his ride with San Jose.

Peter thinks his seat is a car - he's using the pummel as a steering wheel.

His neck control isn't exactly at the place where we could use the seat for more than a few minutes at a time - Peter will hold up his head only when he wants to, thankyouverymuch - but he seemed to enjoy a bit of big-boy sitting.

static cling

So, Dr. Harvey Karp tells us that babies like white noise, because apparently it's pretty noisy in the womb, what with all of the wushing blood and digestion and who knows what else.

And, since KJ and I are hopelessly cheap when it comes to things like this, we decided to forgo any fancy sound machine and just tune the radio to static.

For the first week or so, we had it tuned just off of a bizarro NPR station (which is a lot better than KQED), so I would wake in the middle of the night to Carl Kasell talking to me, or Michael Krasny kind of telling me what would be on that day's Forum.

Then, we somehow lost that station, only to have it replaced by a station that played popular indie rock and weird, crappy mid 90's music. Think Death Cab for Cutie followed up by the Goo Goo Dolls. It might be newborn-baby-sleep-deprivation speaking, but I kind of remember having a Decemberists singalong with Kevin. Then again, this really sounds like a bad party I might have attended.

Next came a pretty solidly static-y station, which was nice except for the night it mutated into some kind of semi-air raid siren. This little bit of audible pleasure occurred just as an unusually fussy baby was having his diaper changed. It turns out he was fussy because, in the moment it took me to find the "off" button on the stereo, Peter had managed to pee all over his face. Yeah, I'd be a little fussy too if I thought the Russians were nuking us and I had just peed in my eyeballs. Poor kid.

For about an hour we experienced the static station that played really bad jazz. Not even Peter appreciated that one.

Now, the station is pretty solidly fuzz. And it works magic, in ways I never would have anticipated. And...it's free!

personality

Peter's developing more and more of a personality, as evidenced by these latest funny faces:

cautionary tale

If baby has outgrown his diapers, don't try to "finish off" the last two or three.

Unless, of course, you like smelling like baby poo.

Zookeeper Peter

It's probably just a baby thing, but it sure seems like Peter's life is covered with animals. There's his jungle-themed stroller, carseat, and pack-and-play, the hippo gym, and his tummy-time blanket also is a cute jungle theme.

All of his toys are animals as well, with the exception of the baseball glove Kevin bought for him, because, really, it's never too early to start playing catch.

Peter's menagerie includes:

Monterey, the fish; San Jose, the shark; Serengeti the elephant

Galapagos the tortoise; Calamari the octopus; Everglades (or Crikey!) the Alligator (or Crocodile)

Hip-hop-anonamous the Hippo; Outback the kangaroo; Kalahari the lion

So, yes, I spent probably more time than was needed thinking of educational names for Peter's animals. And there are some flaws - calamari refers to squid, not octopus, and I have no idea if it's an alligator or a crocodile.

I'm in the process of composing theme songs and dances for each animal, so that Peter can learn to recognize them with three senses - visual, audio, and tactile. So far, we've been working on Monterey and San Jose, mixing Galapagos and Serengeti into the mix occasionally.

Peter also enjoys his two Busy Bees (neither of which is a bee).

Busy Bee #1 and Busy Bee # 2 (a.k.a. The Deuce)

goodbye, Gram and Pop and Aunt Brey

Peter said goodbye today to his grandparents and aunt, as they returned to NJ after visiting with him for about a week. I think he handled the loss well; both he and I spent pretty much the entire day sleeping. While it's great to have visitors, it definitely exhausted us both - we're used to a few more naps during the day!

I think I can speak for Peter when I say he's looking forward to seeing his family again in December. Who else can spoil him like this?

Don't tell Sean, but Aunt Brey may have a new man in her life.

A very mature-looking Peter hangs out with his Poppy.

Gram steals a kiss

new tricks!

I have several updates to post, but this one is breaking news:

Peter has TWICE rolled over from stomach to back. I would have dismissed the first time as a fluke, if he hadn't done it again minutes later, as if on demand, for our waiting video camera.

He's seven weeks old today, which means that the rolling-over feat isn't crazy early, but it is on the early side of rolling skillz. Given that he's had pretty good head control since birth, though, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that he's moving on to other developmental milestones.

We'll post a video once we get the appropriate connector cable, but it's pretty funny.

Peter takes on the city by the bay, and his second beach to boot

Peter was a trooper during the Ross family visit to San Francisco, including two long-ish car rides, being Bjorned all day, waiting on line for an hour for a cable car, riding said cable car, and walking around in the sunshine all day.

Ross Family with Golden Gate Bridge

Peter and a cable car

Did I mention getting a tattoo and getting a beer?

He also fared a bit less successfully during our attempted drive down Highway 1. I'm blaming it on his 6th-week growth spurt, which has made him hungrier and crankier than ever before.

The Ross Family walk into the ocean, at San Gregorio Beach

And, I'll go on the record as saying that there's now a part of me that sympathises with Britney Spears's holding-a-baby-in-the-moving-car, as there was nothing more I wanted than to scoop baby Peter out of his carseat and comfort him. (Note: I was not driving.)

Grandparents! (and an aunt)

Peter is getting to know Gram, Pop, and Aunt Brey this week while they're visiting from New Jersey.

Peter's surpisingly large family

Tomorrow, Peter will finally have a chance to meet his other Grandmother, as well as his Grandfather Ross and Aunt Bridget.

You may think that our little guy is bereft of family, being so far from everyone out here in California. Ha, ha! Peter actually has more aunts and uncles than one could think possible. For example:

Great Uncle Al. That's Al Gore. Yep, the love affair with Mr. Inconvenient Truth continues. We find ourselves referencing Great Uncle Al when walking around the condo, turning off lights, or lamenting the fact that we keep a radio tuned to static on all night. (Note: sometimes, he's Grandpa Al Gore, which kind of makes us Cosby Show-ish, in that Peter may end up having 15 grandfathers.)

Uncle Homer. Mmmm, doughnuts.

Uncle Larry David. Because Peter really likes the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme music, and because we find ourselves saying, "pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty" more that we'd like to admit.

Uncle Charles. Because Peter and the Round Mound of Rebound have so much in common.

Uncle Kari. Peter's waiting for some guitar lessons, or at least for Sammy Soil to come perform at his birthday parties.


Semi-Aunt Jen, or Should-Be Aunt Jen. She should technically be Aunt Jen (especially if Charles Barkely gets an upgrade), but we're hoping to throw a celebratory party when it becomes official. (Ahem. Hint hint.)

It seems that everyone we know out here has claimed to be an uncle or an aunt of some sort as well, including Uncle Father Bob and Uncle Father Oscar. Really, Uncle Father Oscar is far, far too much to resist.