Padded Room?

Things with Makili have changed really fast. I remember the first few times he fell and bonked his head. I freaked out and yelled at Raph, who was of course at fault. I think he must have fallen at least a dozen times today. He is just not content hanging out playing with toys. To be honest, it is completely exhausting. Like there are things I want to get done. I put him in his crib to play for a little while today while I was reading some stuff in the same room. The crib is safe. He pulls himself up on the side and makes noise and smacks his hand on the side and what not. So I'm doing my own thing and he's happy and then all of a sudden he lets out his, "that hurts a lot" scream. I look up and he's standing there. His feet, arms and legs aren't twisted through the slats. So I'm like, "what is the deal?" Then all of a sudden blood comes oozing out of his mouth! Shit!! I of course freaked out. I guess he bit his lip or hip it on the side of the crib or something. There wasn't anything sharp, so I don't really know what the hell he did, but I mean come on. I can't even leave him alone in the crib for christ's sake! He was over it in like a minute, but I don't think I'm over it yet.

Fun With Grammy

I really can't get enough of this infectious laughter. We had a great visit with my mom this week... Can't you tell.

The Caterpillar

He is already way more efficient at his "crawl" than he was three days ago, but you get the picture. Anyway. He's so damn cute, I'm going to end up posting way too many videos...there's another one coming tomorrow.

Milestones

7 months. 200th post on my blog. We've come a long way. He crawls. He pulls up on things. He doesn't put things in his mouth (the only baby I know.) He is starting to really like his mom a LOT. He concentrates and investigates. He loves to hold food, anything food, and somehow he can tell food from non-food without tasting it. He will stare at a pretzel for a long time, turning it over, feeling its delicate curves and rough salt. Today we gave him an avocado peel and he really liked that slimy new texture. He loved that so much his socks turned green. Oh well. He loves music class. He does not like that there aren't breasts waiting for him at every moment of the day. He does not like it if you show him the pacifier when he wants to nurse. He likes your hands to be waiting to help him stand. He knows the word "help" which is said to as we offer our hands. We're just starting baby sign language. I thought I would start with milk, since he loves that so much, but he's too hysterical when he wants to nurse to look at my hands or even put an inch between him and my chest, so we gave up and are starting with "help" and "more." We'll see how that goes. He still likes being outside even when it is frickin cold or there is a foot of fresh snow. We went on a hike in the newly fallen snow this last week. So beautiful. He likes the BIG goodnight moon book, the book with the flaps that hide body parts, the puppy our friends Ryan and Jess gave him that talks, mom's necklace, and matchbox cars. We like the fact that he is finally sleeping through the night again, or at least 6-8 hours at a clip. Thank you sleep gods. He's a pretty happy camper, and we really can't complain either.

Cuteness

Makili was in complete hysterics. Unfortunately, our video-camera is pretty sub-par and doesn't really work for like five minutes when you turn it on. I missed the silliest laughter, but caught the end of the fun... I'm pretty excited about posting videos, hopefully you'll enjoy them too.

Momentum

This quilt was intended to be Makili's Christmas gift, but it didn't make it back from the quilter in time, so instead it will be his 1st birthday gift. It's arrival, however, got me quilting again, and I finished another one this week, though I won't post a picture until it's quilted...

As for Makili movement is his thing. After weeks of backwards and sideways movement, he has finally learned to propel himself forward. I guess that means that he's officially crawling, though it doesn't really look that much like crawling, instead more like the break-dancing move, the catepillar. He also pulls himself up on things which gets a bit dangerous. He's getting pretty adept at it. Though he can "crawl" now, he still defintely prefers to stand and scoot along the couch or the crib or your legs. We're actually on our way right now to buy cabinet locks...

I took some really cute video yesterday...maybe I'll get motivated enough to elarn how to upload it, though more likely that will happen when our new internet connections gets hooked up this week!!!! Hooray!

My guys

Skating before Walking

Raph really wanted to be able to say that Makili was skating before he was walking...

Cimbing Dad, Dirty Looks (give me the boob), Chapped Cheeks

12-16"

Yesterday it was 50 degrees and we went for two breath-taking walks - at Fort Foster and the Cliff Path in York. I was talking about how nice it was and how I was going to take my mom there when she comes next week. Then I just learned that we are expecting 12-16" of snow tonight. Oh well. I still love living by the ocean. Of course I lived by the ocean in Hawaii too and we didn't get any snow there...

Slacker

I really haven't gotten around to bloging lately as I'm sure anyone who regularly reads my blog knows. Life has been very busy and uneventful all at once. Makili is getting big and very mobile - pulling himself up on things (he pulled himself up on the music stand/bookshelf thing the other day and fell and got a little scrape on his face). He is close to crawling, going backwards and sideways very adeptly... I think he is going to be an early walker too since he spends a lot of time holding on the the couch smacking the cushions.

I started nannying/babysitting for three kids a day and a half a week. Luckily they're really nice kids. I've been enjoying the challenge and all that they teach me. Caring for four kids simultaneously is quite an exercise! Makili loves the activity and he and their youngest daughter who is 16 months are very interested in each other and spend part of each day staring at each other. So far so good!

Other than that we've enjoyed having new neighbors, my cousin Tim and his girlfriend Tamara, who bought a fabulous house two miles from ours! Yes! The more the merrier - who's next! We've been sharing culinary delights with them, despite their lack of a cooktop. Tim made the best pizza in the history of the world last week. Tonight is samosa night at our house. It is great to have them nearby. We are strategizing the extravagant garden we intend to put into place next summer (any of my farming friends who are interested in giving advice are welcome to do so...bob, becky, tara, etc?)

I'm feeling pretty good about life. The extra money from babysitting gives a little bit of breathing room with finances, allowing us to continue to live simply, without financial stress. Just the way I want it. And how about 60 degree is January. I am NOT complaining...