Yay Grandma!

Grandma Mary (my mom) was in town for 5 days to soak up the love and affection from our little man! Finn enjoyed the nonstop kisses and attention. He also got to see much of town, as grandma took him on two walks a day. One thing that grandma does not lack is energy.

Katie and I took *2* opportunities to leave Finn with his loving grandma so that we could take some time for ourselves, like the real couple that we are. Night one we hit an upscale lounge and a downscale pub. Night two we have a nice meal at Nick's on Main, which just opened up. The place it so tiny, you'd think you were in Manhattan. Chef Nick was a nice guy. He even took over being our server after she imploded due to an embarrassing broken cork, which then led to two table water miscues, and then she disappeared for the rest of the night.

It's sad that Finn isn't going to see grandma and grandpa again til (likely) sometime this summer. The difficulty of being far from family increases quite a bit when little ones get born into the family. One positive is that we've been doing well at keeping up our Skype dates to see the family back in Minnesota, especially Finn's cousin Jamie. We miss you grandma!

Skype + "We're buddies"

One of the things that we like to do to keep in contact with the Midwest families is to video chat on Skype. Then Finn's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins can see how he's doing, and vice versa. Last weekend we chatted mostly with Grandma Sheryl and Cousin Brandon. Something about Brandon's giant head looming over Finn makes me think of Bladerunner.



This video shows how fun and interactive Finn is getting!

Playing and squeaking

This has been a pretty neat week.
First of all, we have a game now. We've always noticed that our boy is such a ferocious kicker that any blanket you put on him when he's on the ground soon ends up under his feet. A few days ago he decided it was fun if we started the top edge of the blanket over his head instead of under his chin. He flails around and kicks until we can see him again, and then he grins at us. It's pretty darn cute, and is still fun after about 200 repetitions, both for us and for him.
Second, he'd hardly been cooing at all, but apparently covering up his face made him think it was time - maybe he's letting us know he's still there when we ask him "Where'd the baby go?!" Sometimes he just lets out with a happy squeal for no apparent reason when I'm somewhere across the room, and it's hilarious. Tickles me pink. But even though he's talking a lot more now, it's still unpredictable, so I just got a tiny snippet on video. Also included are some hijinks with the blanket:

Also, he's getting better at controlling his arms - the past few days he's been sticking his hands in his mouth on purpose, rather than just by accident. Sometimes, at least.
And the other exciting thing is that we installed Skype for some folks back home while we were there over Christmas, so grandparents have been able to watch him live and kicking. We copied the idea from our friends Rachel and Ross, and I can't recommend it highly enough for those of you with the connection speed to make it work. It's very easy to use, and the sound and video have been better quality than I would have expected.
And now, for no particular reason, here are the boys in the kitchen last night as we made dinner. Aren't they cute?