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Yesterday Art and I were riding the bus when the man next to us asked, "Does he like bananas?" I said, "Yes! They're his favorite!" and the man reached into his box of groceries and gave Art a banana! Later on in the ride a woman was talking to Art and said, "I have to have something in here for a baby..." and rummaged in her purse until she pulled out a lollipop. Man! But that wasn't the first time Art has been showered with gifts from strangers. Once we were in Walgreens when Art was only a couple months old and a guy gave him a dollar! I said, "I'll put it in his college fund!" and the guy reached back in his wallet, "Well, if he's going to be educated, here's another!"

I love my sister, Emily , I love Art, and I love that Em loves Art. I'm happy!

 

  (Photo taken by Auntie Em)

Art stepped one hand in front of the other while he was on his hands and knees! He took two of the hand steps before slipping onto his belly, but that is some serious progress! I don't know why I'm so excited. He's going to be a little terror once he's mobile. I keep looking around lately, trying to pinpoint hazards. Cords are not all tacked yet, pull-downables are not all stowed. So many dangers, so little time!

This little series of photos was sent to me by Maura's mom, Emily. They live accross the ally. Here's Emily's interpretation of the photo's events: "Hey, Maura can I play with your blocks?" "Sure, Art. What are friends for?... Hey! I didn't say you could have that one!... Mom, do I have to share the fish, too?" Maura is about 6 weeks older than Art. It's neat to to see them together because she's just a little more coordinated, a little more agile. It's like seeing into Art's near future. But she can crawl! Now that's big time! Oh! Art woke up from his nap and is upstairs talking to himself. I'll go now. Happy Friday!

Crazy! He LOVES to stand. We put his crib down lower so he can't climb out, but it was a little premature. Since he can't pull himself from laying down we have to bend down really far to get him out, but man, look how happy he is! He's so excited that he's out of focus!

A couple weekends ago was the Grand Old Days parade in St. Paul. We thought it would be fun so we took Lateesha and Kaitlin, Ben's Little Brother's cousin and sister, to the parade. It was actually a super boring and dumb parade, but it was fun watching Lateesha with Art. She has 14 siblings - yes, 14! - and is wonderful with babies. When she's old enough she might be Art's babysitter!

Today Art and I went to our first official music class. It was hard for him to play a scale on the trombone at first, but... Just kidding! It was singing and bouncing and clapping. He's the youngest one of four - the other three are over a year old - but the games and songs were baby friendly and fun. He really liked the ones when I bounced him to the music. At one point I had him facing me and he let out a huge scream of joy (something he does quite a lot, actually). The teacher couldn't see his face and thought he was upset, but when I turned him around he did again and then she knew! On the home front, no crawling yet, but he's trying so I am babyproofing! Covering the outlets, tucking away the fall-on-headables, and tacking down all the electrical cords. My guard is up! I saw the plastic end of a pricetag - you know the part that you usually let fall on the floor when you rip them off (you KNOW you do that) - and picked it up without a second thought. The on...

Well, Art's stationary days are numbered. He has mastered pulling himself to standing. Today he pulled himself up on something whenever he had the chance - on the couch, on my chest, on a chair - anytime he was remotely near something slightly higher than himself. He can only do it from sitting down, so he's still stuck when he's laying in his crib, but if you want to leave the room you have to make sure he a good distance from anything pull-uppable. Now it's only a matter of time before he starts to "cruise" around while holding onto things. Crawling Update: No forward motion yet, but he is turning himself well and can go backwards a bit. (Photo is totally unrelated to this topic. Just posting it for fun.)

this is art and I in the airport bathroom just after I returned from a five day photo workshop. Longest ever art absence. hard for me, but much harder for poor jessica!  

Art's Popsterooni is out of town. Poor Poppa! Poor Art!!! They NEED to play together. I'm doing the best I can at filling the void. This morning Art wanted to practice holding himself up so we did that together. Later we went for a walk, but I had to jerry-rig a bigger sun shade on his stroller because he won't wear his hat. (It's made of a Hawaiian receiving blanket and an Aerobie.) Then we came back and played in the T.V. room while I watched Oprah. Now he's taking a nap. We miss you, Ben! We wish you could be playing with us.

Lately I feel like I'm not just taking care of Art but that I'm hanging out with him, like he's a companion. Sure, I still have to do lots of baby care stuff like change his diaper and put him down for a nap and feed him, but he shows so much personality nowadays and gives back so much that it feels like more than babycare. Whoo hoo!

Here's my mom, Adria, with Art at her work. Ben and I stopped by the other day while we were on errands. My mom deals with x-ray films in outpatient surgery and all the people in her department know about Art and how proud she is of her grandson! Can't you just see the pride?

This wild contraption is called an ExerSaucer. It's the modern answer to a walker. Anyway, the seat in the middle spins around so he can get to the different toys and the whole thing bounces and sways when he kicks his feet around. He actually stands up in it, which is great because he loves to stand! We figure it will be about a month or so before he's bored with it.

No crying wolf anymore! Art's tooth has arrived! I wish I could post a picture of it, but it's nearly impossible to get a look at it in the first place since he's always moving his tongue around around and opening and closing his mouth. But it's in there - the very top of a tiny, clearish-white looking tooth peaking up from his bottom gums. Wow!

A fellow pioneer press photographer/friend Brandi, who's from Louisiana, had a craw fish boil Sunday at her home in St. Paul (this is a photo of Brandi's cousin holding Art). Man it was yummy, thanks Brandi! Art seemed to have a good time, too, although he had trouble chewing the pinchers. p.s. Jess took this awesome photo!

The last couple days Art has been very clingy and a little on the crabby side. Not his usually smiley self. Maybe it's been the shots he got at the doctor's on Wednesday (one of them was Tetanus, and we all know that one makes you sore!) or maybe it's elusive teeth coming in. Anyway, I took this picture during a rare spell of contentedness while played with feet on the couch. Hope to see my happy baby again soon!