Nine Months Out

Although my blog focus has been on the garden lately, Gabe has given us no shortage of things to be proud and amazed of. As of Monday he is nine months old, which means he’s been out now for longer than he was in. Last week tooth number three came through, with a good bit of drool. Gabe has taken some experimental chomps of my nipples that have caused me to yelp (while at the daycare, no less). This, alongside a greater appreciation for banana, avocado, bread, Cheery-o, carrot, potato, and rice, is becoming a demonstration of how Gabe is readying himself to leave the boobs and bottles behind.

Which reminds me: I need to get a photo of Gabe when he has painted himself with avocado. He can’t get enough of the stuff. We only let him feed it to himself on bath nights, because he has to be hosed down afterwards. Just the act of carrying him to the tub results in the necessity for me to change my shirt.

By far the most exciting news, however, is Gabe’s expanded hand vocabulary. He already has two hand-sings, of sorts; the flap – like he is trying to fly – indicates that he is excited and wants something. “Gimmie”. We are trying to teach him the sign for “more” but in the mean time, when he wants more of something, he flaps. And the “bwabwabwa”: back of hand dragged over his mouth while saying “aaaah”. He does this to tell the world that he is happy. I think. Or perhaps it is more as a way of calming himself down. I say this because he makes the gesture-sound as a way of self-soothing when chatting by himself in his crib, and also after vigorous play, when he is exploding with enthusiasm.

Added to these now is the clap! No, not Chlamydia, you sick puppy. He claps his hands! And he gets so very excited when you notice his clapping, and you applaud his efforts. If you start clapping he will beam and clap along. So not only does he do the gesture, but he recognizes that it means “fabulous, terrific, wonderful!”

Just days after he started clapping, I did a double-take: Gabe was looking intently at his own hand, and waving to himself, in that adorable little-kid bend-at-the-knuckles manner. And when he saw that I recognized what he was doing, wow was he excited. Instantly we had a game of waving and clapping, clapping and waving. Chris and Gabe and I have been rolling in the fun of this new game for days. “Bye bye Gabe! Oh, you waved back! Clap clap clap! Bye bye!”

Ah, over the monitor I just heard Gabe make a super cute coo in his sleep. Which reminds me, I need to get to bed. But first, about that gardening I mentioned: Gabe’s Garden is coming along nicely. Here is the view of it from the front window. It now needs mulch, more plants, and toys. I’m thinking if the weather is nice, and if Gabe is sufficiently mobile, we may have his first birthday party out there.

Fun Morning

Dad and Gabe hung out on the bed this morning while mom took a well earned shower. Gabe has been waking up multiple times during the night again, and getting up between 5am and 6am most morning. Dad has been staying up later than he should as this post past 11pm shows, and mom has been taking Gabe in the morning. This is around 8am. I remember when I used to think getting up at 8am was early, now it is a sleep in morning.

Dad also wasn't paying attention and posted as Michelle, and has now fixed it.

After mom got ready for the day Gabe tackled her and applied wet kisses causing mom to screech and laugh.

Mom returned the favor.

We then buried Gabe in the clean laundry oubliette that seems to have formed at the base of our bed. He didn't seem to mind. While we continued to ignore the laundry we did remember to take Gabe out of the oubliette.

Ta ta for now!

Out-Take

I couldn't figure out how to fit this image into the pizza narrative. I call it "Braaaaaains!"

Speaking of bumbos - a bumbo is a device for turning your baby into a potted plant. They are a delightful, if overpriced, solution to the baby who wants to be sitting up but can't yet manage the feat. There seems to be a recall of sorts on them because parents have been using them on tables. (Though, to their credit, it sounds like the bumbo packaging pictures the product being used on table-tops.)

Some babies recently have wiggled out of their bumbo table-top perches and fallen on their heads. It seems that fancy products replace common sense for some parents.

Up until yesterday Gabe has happily used the bumbo at daycare. And, I must stress, only on the floor, on top of a padded mat. Yesterday he popped himself out. Miss Cathy says he took a dive onto his belly, and then grinned like he had found the best new game ever.

Miss Cathy now considers Gabe to have graduated from the bumbo.

Pizza Night

Oh boy, a box! It's just Gabe's size.


And it's interactive! This is better than a bumbo.


Oh dear, Gabe is tired of being in the box.


Mom comes to the rescue with pizza sauce!


Gabe thanks his rescuer by feeding her some pre-chewed pizza crust.

Gabe the Book Worm

We've been letting Gabe play with his board books and overall he really seems to enjoy them. Not the reading so much as the textures and sometimes the pictures. Gabe is so advanced he can read the book upside down!

I love this picture! It is just too cute. He looks so content and focused.

In this picture it his expression says to me that he's looking for clarification on a complicated plot point.

Gabe just devours books, which is why it'll be a while before we take him to the library;)

Sick of Visiting the Doctor

Babies seem to come with a lot of trips to the doctor. Two weeks ago Gabe had a wheezy cough which the doctor thought might be a spot of pneumonia. She started him on antibiotics as a precaution, and then downgraded her assessment to bronculitis. Gabe continued to happily cough his way to recovery without much help from us. That was three trips to the doctor. Unrelated to that, Chris and I each had our own doctor trips. And as a result I’ll be heading off for a date with my plastic surgeon to have an angry-looking cyst removed from my head. (And I can even call him “mine”, since this will be the second cyst he has removed from me.) What with the assessment, surgery, and follow-up, that will be another three doctor visits.

Now it looks like the antibiotics, which we finished out as a precaution, may have given Gabe a mild case of thrush. So we’re going back to the doctor to make sure his mouth doesn’t reach the horrific zombie-mouth look of a real thrush outbreak. If you’ve never seen thrush before, I urge you to Google it. It looks like human zombie disease - like what you would expect if your mouth went moldy. Seriously yucky.

Poor Gabe; I’m off to get his mouth fixed now!

Gabe and the Ball-Pooping Train

Here he is, pressing the button on the ball-pooping train!