A Night Away

It occurred to me this weekend that I haven't taken any pictures of Joseph in two weeks. That must be a record. We haven't been doing many new and exciting activities the past couple of weeks. Friday we did pick him up from daycare in the middle of the day and took him to Town and Country to see the baby animals. (A perk of being self employed and living in a small town). He loves watching Bandit and Hearsay and I thought he would like to see all the other "kitties." (I believe any furry/four-legged thing will be a "kitty" for the foreseeable future). The baby chicks were a hit. Last Friday was also our 5th wedding anniversary. I had never been away from Joseph over night and I figured it was time. It was total smooth sailing. I'm told J had one very short, very minor moment of unhappiness when he realized that we weren't there in the morning. Drew and I stayed overnight Saturday at The Umstead in Cary. www.theumstead.com. Fancy. I fully expected to wake up a couple of times during the night with momentary panic, "Where am I? Where's Joseph?" But I didn't. Here's some pictures I took over the weekend. I think he's starting to look less like a baby and more like a little boy.

9 Months

Joseph turned 9 months old yesterday. I can hardly remember a time when he wasn't in constant motion. He had his 9 month well-child check yesterday. He weighs 20 pounds, 7 ounces and is 28 inches long. That puts him in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. I think he's losing his chunk due to the fact that he is always exercising. He'll play so hard on the floor that he gets out of breath. At least he's starting his little ticker out strong.

Favorite Things at 9 Months: The cat (probably #1), empty soda bottles, doors, kitchen utensils, books (for gnawing, not reading), standing up, baths, the remote control, daddy's glasses, mommy's necklaces, yogurt, his Leapfrog music table, sitting outside, his stroller, riding in the car, riding in the grocery cart, shopping

Least Favorite Things at 9 Months: cold things (milk, water), getting dressed, sunscreen

Challenges at 9 Months: having to watch him like a hawk because he's always on the move, eating paper, won't pick up food to eat himself- instead looks at me with his mouth open like a baby bird, pulling himself up and bonking his noggin, mosquito magnet, recent ear infections, pulls cat's hair/tail

Joys at 9 Months: smiles, smiles, smiles, laughs all the time, thinks his mommy is SOOOO funny, "sings", starting to say words, is so proud of himself with new undertakings such as walking while holding on to furniture, so happy to see us at the end of the day, cuddles in the wee morning hours

Words: "ball", "kitty", "Hey!", "Hey, kitty", "da-da", "Bye-bye"


Other things: Waves bye-bye and hello, claps and says "yaaaaaaayyyy", dances whenever there's any music - and sometimes when there's not

Poison ivy, new pajamas, Joseph's first car and wierd people.

Superhero fuel.

Superhero physique.

We had a busy busy weekend. Joseph got his first car. A 2009 silver Honda Accord. His dad will drive it until Joseph gets his drivers' license. Yes, we broke down and bought a new car this weekend since poor poor 1997 Camry (that Drew was convinced would be Joseph's first car) was totaled the other week. I'm sure if the new car is still running in 2024, Joseph will be driving it unless I come to the rescue. I guess making him drive a car his dad's been driving since he was 9 months old will ensure that he doesn't date superficial girls. "Here son, take this hunk of junk with 400,000 miles and find you a nice girl." Hopefully he will be like his dad and be proud of all the miles on his car as if it's a quest to see how long a car will run. "Look! This car only has three wheels, the engine's held together by scotch tape, and the fuel tank is an old Mountain Dew bottle, BUT IT STILL RUNS! I'm going to work now." I can't believe I'm about to admit this - I actually took a peek at the minivans at the car lot. How convenient they are! I can lift Joseph into his car seat without bonking his head on the top of the car. And the storage space - luxurious! Maybe I can wrestle my ego into a dark corner at some future point in time so that I can recline in the back watching DVD's while Drew chauffers us around. Joseph has what appears to be a small amount of poison ivy. How did this happen, you ask? Before you make a CPS referral, I can assure you that what happened was Bandit (Oh, Bandit.) took a roll in "the poison" (as it's called in these here parts) and transferred it to Joseph's blanket that he was playing on outside. It's not bad at all - just a few small places, and it doesn't seem to bother him. In other weekend news, Joseph has outgrown his beloved Spiderman pajamas, which were replaced at Wal-mart yesterday with Batman and Buzz Lightyear - he's in 18 month sizes BTW. His Spidey ones were so cute that I kept putting him in them anyway and Drew began referring to them as his Spiderman tankini, as his ample midsection would hang out the bottom of his shirt. I would jack up the pants to cover his protruding gut, which would transform the Spiderman tankini into Spiderman capris. Never good for a superhero. While we were in the produce section of said Wal-Mart, this lady abrublty stopped and looked at Joseph, who was riding along in the cart minding his own beeswax. The following took place:

The lady: Oh, for goodness sake! Can I touch his head?
Drew: (Sideways glance at Anna for reassurance, permission, something, anything). Err...mmm...ok.
Anna: (Long, sorrowful gaze at her child as if to say, "My dear child, that cowlick thing - I will make it up to you if I die trying.") Uhmm...sure.
Joseph: (Internal monologue) "That's it, c'mon...a little closer, that's a nice lady, just a liiitle closer. Those cute little red bumps there...thaaat's it...THERE! HA! I've poisoned you!"

Some Pictures from our Beach Vacation

 
 
 
 

As an entertaining side note, I heard the following conversation when I dropped Joseph off at daycare the other morning:

Teacher 1: Is there a teacher in the baby room?
Teacher 2: Not yet, why?
Teacher 1: Because there's a baby here being dropped off.
Teacher 2: Which one is it?
Teacher 1: The one with the funny hair.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man

". . . Does whatever a spider can." Well, almost...really. I'm afraid very soon we're gonna have a climber on our hands. Have I mentioned that Joseph is into everything? He has fine tuned his knack for spotting a dangerous condiiton and immediately engaging his Go Go Gadget army crawl. It's quite a spectacle really. I need to post a video of his "crawling" but our camera needs a battery charger. He throws his arms forward and then pushes with his feet while simultaneously pulling with his arms. Each thrust forward is always accompanied by a grunt, which is convenient because I know when he's on the move. However, crawling is soooo last week. Now all we want to do is stand. Stand, bounce, fall, pull back up, stand bounce, fall, pull back up, stand, bounce, fall, pull back up.... We were at the beach all last week. I'll post some pics once I have time to figure out what day it is.