9 months old

I haven't taken a proper 9-month photo of Neko, so I'll post his 8-month picture and talk about the past two months.

In the past couple of months we've had two visits from grandparents. My mom came out to help out with parent-teacher conferences. Aaron's parents came out the following week, which was our spring break. Unfortunately, Neko was sick while they were here, but it was still wonderful for him to see them and to be home with us for a week. We missed him a lot last Monday when we all went back to school. It's always hard for us to go back after a break. Aaron kept saying how much he missed him all day.

I was initially nervous about leaving Neko with my mom, (even though Aaron sarcastically reminded me that she has actually had children), mainly because we just haven't left him with anyone in the evening. It was a super long day, but it went great. We came home to Nirvana blasting on Grandma Terry's iPad, and Neko happily rocking out and playing on the living room floor.

Grandma Terry also bought Neko his first Cabbage Patch doll, Diego. We named him Diego because he's ethnically ambiguous and deserved an ethnic-sounding name. Neko adores Diego. He sleeps with him most nights. In fact tonight after Aaron put him in his crib, Neko sat right up looked around for Diego, grabbed him, and talked to him for a while before rubbing his eyes and lying down.

Speaking of talking, he babbles a lot, makes lots of "da da da" sounds but we don't think he really attaches those sounds to anything except maybe the dogs. He definitely points at the dogs and says, "doh," but who knows if he's saying "dog." It's anyone's guess. He's pointing and waving a lot, which is pretty cute too.

He's also been eating "real" food- finger foods. It all started when we were told by the ladies at daycare that, on a trip over to the "big kids' side," he grabbed another kid's green bean and chicken nugget right off the plate and ate them up. The "big kids" are 1-2 years old. He likes going over to that side. Miss Michelle said it's because, "He likes all of the commotion." We're glad that he's a pretty sociable kid who enjoys being out and about. It makes it relatively easy for us to go on little outings and take him places. 

In terms of food, we've been giving him banana and strawberry slices, peas, bits of chicken nuggets, and avocado. He likes pretty much everything. Tonight he had tilapia and asparagus. 

We're pretty happy that we now have an eat-in kitchen because we spend a lot of time in it.

We've also been spending more time in the backyard now that the weather is nice. Neko loves crawling around on the grass. We have to watch him like a hawk- keep those rocks and leaves out of his mouth.

Although he isn't yet walking, he's cruising everywhere and can walk holding onto something, so Aaron bought him a little wooden push toy from Amazon. He pushes it around the house. He can also stand on his own for quite a long time but isn't taking steps without holding onto something.  Seeing him stand on his own is quite amazing to me. He is so strong and getting so big already. He can almost do a pull up on the window sill above our bed. 

february: the most depressing month of the year

We've practically made it through February. Thank God. It's the shortest month of the year but always feels like the longest. I meant to post some photos of our adventures out of the house before the storm hit. We had some unusually warm (70 degree!) weather. Aaron had the good idea to head downtown. We walked around the museum district with Neko, played on the grass, and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a little taste of summer. We liked it.

We took Neko to the Tattered Cover and Twist & Shout with Dan and Cora. Bought him some Richard Scarry books. We've been record shopping more often and listening to music a lot more now that the TV is in the basement. It's a nice change.

We also went to the Lowry Beer Garden for the first time. It was really fun and filled with kids! It's on the old Lowry Air Force Base, so there is a museum and an enormous plane out front. It's pretty cool. Come visit us. We'll take you there.

Now it's back to being frigid and depressing with no snow days. Ever. Can't wait for spring. We got a call from one of Neko's teachers today saying he had a fever of 102. Luckily, Aaron finished early today and we randomly drove separate cars, so he was able to leave to pick him up. This winter has been a haze of sickness, sleepless nights, early mornings, and afternoons spent sitting in the kitchen while Greg and Jerry (slowly, very slowly) chip away at the great bathroom project.

It's practically March, which means we just have to make it through a few more weeks before visits from grandparents and spring break. Hopefully, the entire bathroom will be complete for our guests. We'd also like to make the guest room a little more inviting. Right now it's just a mattress on the floor. Anyway, we're getting anxious for warmer days, a finished downstairs guest area, and most importantly, some guests! We've got all of the grandparents on the spring line-up and the Dubravacs coming out in August. Eleanor will be here in June. What about the rest of you?

7 months and moving everywhere

Neko turned 7 months recently, and he is on the move. His crawling has become faster and smoother. He's got one little friend at school, Christopher, who is also a crawler, and the two chase each other around. This week, Neko also pulled himself up to standing for the first time. He was totally thrilled, and so was I. He likes to experiment with letting go and standing for a moment, which scares me. I try to do my best to hover and catch him, but inevitably he falls sometimes. He is so physical and active.

He likes to climb over everything. He almost never stops moving. It's a little exhausting but exciting to watch.

On an unrelated note, he sprouted a tooth this week. It cut through on the bottom. He's been a little fussy, but it didn't seem to interfere with anything else, really.

Oh yeah- and he came home in a dress today. He had two blow-outs at school, went through all of his extra clothes, and the ladies had nothing else to put on him except for a strange, pink, Holly-Hobby-looking dress. It made us laugh.

More to come.

settling in

We recently had some friends over for a little bit of breakfast (pastries from the French bakery on the corner, which Aaron discovered is owned by the family of one of his old students) as well as a music class taught by Miss Marissa. Marissa had been wanting to teach a music class to Marcel, Jones, and Neko for months. Since we were finally able to unpack almost everything, we decided to host. It was really fun. Neko absolutely loved it. He was completely mesmerized by her voice, and it was nice to have people over to the house. It was a sign that things are starting to normalize (just a little).

It was warm enough for a walk today, so we packed up Neko and walked around our new neighborhood. We love looking at all of the cool retro houses that people have fixed up and restored. It's a good reminder that the move was worth it and that we're finally settling into our new life. It's a pretty good one, I must admit.

On a totally random side note, Neko's been sticking out his tongue constantly for the past week. I have no idea what it's about, but it's pretty funny.

firsts and christmas break

In spite of the horrible sleepless nights, we thoroughly enjoyed having two weeks off. Neko experienced a few firsts- his first Christmas, his first crawl, and his first taste of (semi) solid food. For Christmas, we bought him a little white Ikea high chair. He loves it. He likes banging on the tray. He likes the vantage point. It was a hit.

Along with the high chair came his introduction to solids. We started with rice cereal. He seemed to like it. We also tried sweet potatoes and bananas. The sweet potatoes have been his favorite so far. He doesn't seem crazy about bananas, but he'll eat them. We tried green beans and avocados today, which he did not enjoy. He made some grimaces and then started crying. I think Aaron was disappointed. He keeps commenting that he really hopes Neko isn't a picky eater. I'm sure that this experience isn't indicative of his future with food. He had his 6-month vaccines yesterday and wasn't quite himself today. We'll try again with the avocados soon. Who doesn't like avocados?

In addition to the high chair, we also bought Neko a few books for Christmas. I had a Barnes and Noble gift card, so we went on a little outing and picked out three books, including the one above.
I also bought him two Christmas books. I want to make that a tradition. I love buying children's books. I wish I had unlimited funds for that.

 Here are some random photos from the break. You see? We are actually smiling in spite of the sleep deprivation.

**The puppet master.

**In jammies from Grandma Terry.

**In hat and booties from Aunt Christina. We also got a turtle from Aunt Christina. It matches his room, and he likes it.

We listened to a lot of records, finally hung some art on the walls, and tried not to let the sleep deprivation get the best of us.

**Video of Neko eating.

6 months old

Neko turned 6 months old this week! Halfway to a year. Amazing. I had the worst time taking his 6-month photo because he simply wouldn't stay still. Posted below are some of my best attempts. He's just a little roly poly these days.

You may have noticed that his hair no longer stands up straight. It was fun while it lasted. I think it's just gotten too long and too thick to stay up. 

So what else is new at 6 months? Sleep regression and crawling (see below), a big growth spurt (he's already wearing the 9-month jammies he got from Grandma Terry for Christmas), he sticks out his tongue a lot, he's able to stay standing while holding onto something, and he is so much more aware of us and of everything around him. For example, he laughs at the dogs, he squeals when I ask him if he's hungry and make the sign for milk, he enjoys going to the grocery store with Aaron. The other day, his friend Christopher crawled over to him at school, and Neko began giggling wildly. We adore our little 6-month old. If only he'd sleep at night. 

sleep regression and crawling

We just survived a horrible sleep regression. It lasted a little over two weeks. Although Neko's sleep habits aren't completely back to normal, (he's still waking up a few times a night), we are thankful that it's not as bad as it was. Over the break, he was consistently waking up every 15-20 minutes for the first few hours of the night, then every hour or so after that. It was like having a colicky newborn all over again. It was hell. So instead of going back to school well-rested, we went back sick and exhausted. We tried everything, read everything, and our best guess is that it was probably a result of a developmental milestone. We'd find him half awake, up on all fours, rocking back and forth in the middle of the night, trying to crawl. I never knew that milestones could interfere with sleep. I'd always imagined that they'd just be exciting and wonderful...Anyhow, I'm getting over my cold, and finals are upon us. We're praying for more sleep. We're also grateful that, starting next year, finals will happen before the break, as they should. We're thinking it will make for a more relaxing break altogether.

During the vacation, we tried to give Neko as much time on the floor as we could to practice his skill. He started by rocking on all fours. He began pulling his arms and legs into his body and shooting them forward, and he's now able to get himself from point A to point B. It's not very graceful, but it works. His biggest motivator was an iPhone. If I put it on the floor a few feet in front of him, he'd get determined to move forward. He is a very physical and very determined little guy. Who isn't motivated by Apple products?

**Of course, as soon as I posted this, he had a horrible night's sleep. Sigh. I cannot wait to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. It's going to feel amazing.