Just me and the boy tonight!

First off, congrats to Ellen Carlson who gave the world boy #2, Abbott, 2 days ago. Yay Carlsons! Tonight Katie is staying at the Beyer/Mastrapa house; since Ross is out of town all week, Rachel could use some company. Tonight I put Finn to bed myself. Bath time was an epic splashfest, for the very first time! He was very awake and attentive during story time, which is his last thing before bed. Sometimes he sleeps right through it for Katie--never for me. In fact he was so awake he just stared and yelled at me when I set him into his crib at 7:15, 15 minutes later than usual. But after I shut the door, he went silent within 5 seconds. I can only imagine that he really knew it was time for bed. He really seems to like his bedtime routine. If only we had something similar for naptime...

I got him this balloon at the grocery store, and he's been a big fan. I think there is only a couple more days of helium left in it, though.

Standing and smashing and reading and sleeping

Hey, look at Finn!
Tuesday (and part of today) the only way he was happy was standing, so the only way I could get anything done was to get out his play pen and prop him up. Then he stood while I did dishes, until he fell over, and then he'd play for a while, until he got bored, and then I'd have to stand him up again.

Speaking of playing, for the most part Finn interacts with his toys one way: smashing! Smashing them into the floor, his lap, or his favorite, another toy. It's best if this makes a good noise, like smashing a maraca into a tambourine, or a rattle into ... something hard. Like my head.

There's also chewing, but mostly it's all smash around here these days. A few things escape the smash. First there's a balloon Jonathan bought him a few days ago ("he promised me he'd be really good all week if I bought it for him") - too floaty. But he did do the smashing motion with the balloon string, and there's a two-minute video of that and him demonstrating how he doesn't know how to crawl yet at Vimeo if you want to watch it.

The other non-smasher (usually) is his books. He LOVES fun textures, like the thick corduroy of our couch or the fuzzy throw pillow that's on it, so he loves his That's Not My Monster book (thanks Jessica, Daren, and Caitlin!). He'll paw studiously at its pages ("Its paws are too bumpy" "Its eyebrows are too hairy") for surprisingly long stretches of time. So of course we bought him That's Not My Dragon, but so far have resisted the temptation to get That's Not My Robot, That's Not My Monkey, or any of the other Touchy Feely titles. Now he feels the pages of all his books, and seems mildly confused and disappointed when they're just flat.

You may have already noticed, but the crib cam linked over on the right is now the living room rug cam. Finn's usually there at least a little while every morning and evening, and doing more interesting things than sleeping. If we forget to turn it off, you may see Murray or Mona wander by. Did I mention they both may have urinary tract infections? Yeah, so that's fun.

Oooh, and our other exciting news: we managed to go to the Beyer/Mastrapas' last night for dinner and a gathering of out-of-town friends and put Finn to bed in his play pen. This was a first for us (the previous attempt was a giant FAIL), and may open up all sorts of exciting possibilities. Not that I mind staying home for dinner usually - I'm actually kind of a decent cook these days. You should stop by sometime. :)

Growing up

Our friends Ross and Rachel have two kids, Helen (age 3 1/2 years) and Arthur (age 3 1/2 months). We stopped by on Saturday to drop off a few baby things that they had loaned us. Arthur is a large boy and nearly as big as Finn! Arthur enjoyed the exersaucer that Finn had been using for several months--which is rightfully Arthur's. Finn kept playing with his favorite toy, the spinning clear plastic globe. (He enjoys all clear plastic things with smaller plastic things inside that roll around or rattle.) Unfortunately he got a bit too into it and smacked his two new top teeth. But on the way back down from daddy he saw his friend Arthur and said hi one of the only ways he knows how.


Making Friends from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Lately Finn has been most happy when he's standing up. Especially today. The only problem is that he CAN'T stand up, at least not by himself. He has terrible balance, but he can hold himself up on the couch or the pack 'n' play. But he still can't pull himself up on anything, and I think crawling is still a few weeks away. He's just now starting to get up on all fours, rather than just doing baby push-ups. Loyal reader, in the picture below he's subtlety leaning against the mattress to give you the impression that he can stand. But we know better.

Wow does he have a big head!

Fortney parenting tip #37:

Pureed ripe farmers market peaches may be delicious and make an excellent baby food, but this does not mean they necessarily make for good bellinis.

Then again, maybe we just got the proportions wrong, and need to experiment more.

FYI, there are cute new Finn pics on Thomas's Flickr page.

Cousins and peaches are both awesome, says Finn.

My cousin Mariah came to visit us last week from Iowa. She braved her first plane trip, scary San Francisco hills, 100+ temps, and a heart-breaking lack of Mountain Dew with considerable fortitude. We took her to the city, the forest, the beach, the movies, the mall, the theatre, and the mystery spot, and took lots of pictures of our adventures. Finn was surprised and delighted to see her each and every morning, and stared at her more or less nonstop. Perhaps he meant it to be welcoming. Kid really needs to learn how to blink. Unfortunately, we spent a little too much time in the car for Finn's liking, so he's now doing the thing where he arches his back and goes stiff as a board when we try to put him in his car seat. But he's always happy about 2 seconds after we take him out. See?

This week we're back on our normal routine for a while, which is actually kind of nice. Yesterday we took a nice long walk to run some errands, and then stopped in the park downtown to watch kids play in the fountain and eat some peaches. The peaches were apparently both delicious and hilarious.

Finn likes peaches from Katie on Vimeo.

Tooth count is now more or less officially up to four.

Acceptable foods are up to about a dozen.

Wakings at night were reliably down to one, but have been back up to two or three the past couple nights - but he's been sleeping later, and has finally figured out where the button is on his crib aquarium. Yay!

In other news, I made spanakopita the other night, Jonathan and Finn went to an Oakland A's game on Sunday, and Mona's claws have reached an all-time length record.

Giggles and Thumps

In the late afternoon Finn can often get a little punchy. He will giggle at pretty much anything. This movie is from a few weeks back, suitably edited. While laying on his back he kept giggling until I sat him back up!


Giggly Boom from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Mama's home... and Happy 4th of July!

I made it to and from Anaheim safe and sound. It was a great trip - I met some neat people, saw some interesting talks, got some free books, and had a wonderful time with Nina, my Mom, and Teri (yay Disneyland!). By Monday I was really looking forward to going home, though, and on Tuesday I ended up flying standby and getting a much earlier flight so I could be home before Finn's bedtime.

Here's my mom at the conference trying out the Wii Fit, getting hit on the head with a soccer cleat. Good times. Yes, this was part of the conference.

Mom on the Wii Fit from Katie on Vimeo.
And here's Finn's reaction to seeing me at the airport. He may have thought I was never coming back.

Reunion from Katie on Vimeo.

Finn got a crazy cold while I was gone, and has basically been a big snot ball for days. I don't know how we'd survive without our Nosefrida, or how that much snot comes out of that little nose. Eeew. He even finally got so sick it affected his moods; Christine and Dereck were visiting from New Jersey the other day and got to meet Finn for the first time, and I don't know if they believe that he smiles. But we turned a corner yesterday, and despite the snot and the new teeth and the weather, he's our little grinner again.

Oh! And yesterday while sitting in a little wagon at Jason & Gwen's 4th of July barbeque, he pulled himself up to standing, and then sat back down. I missed it, but Jonathan was there. Soon he'll be running all over, I'm sure, but in the meantime he can still only crawl in his head.
Also, he LOVES plums - thanks Jason & Gwen!

Happy 4th from Finn! More at my and Jonathan's Flickr sites.

Yay Grandma!

My mom came out for another visit to see Mr. Finn! It was well-planned, as Katie left for 5 days for her library conference. Finn was healthy and fun the first few days, but then by the last day he was sick and cranky. :( So let's only show pictures from the happy times. We went to Filoli Gardens, up on the peninsula. As you can see from the picture, Finn had a rockin' good time. The gardens were beautiful!


Finn liked hanging out with grandma Mary, who was on full-time baby duty when I went to work for a couple of days. They visited Starbuck's, the grocery store, and the two parks in downtown Los Gatos. The last day, when he was cranky except for when he was outside, grandma walked perhaps 10 miles all around Los Gatos! I'm also very thankful that several days my mom got up at 6 a.m. with Finn, so that I could sleep for another hour or two. It's hard going back to real life!

So, he's sick again, with a bad cough and congestion. AND, his two top teeth are coming in, and that is also bothering him. So happy times are a bit fewer and farther between the past several days. But he is sleeping great, and has only woken up once at night the past 5 days in a row! Keep it up Finn!!!