Six months old!

Friends

As of Monday, I'm six months old. That means that I get to round up to one... I'll be in Norway by then, so I thought I'd post a little early.

There's a visit to the pediatrician at six months, and it's not one of the fun ones. Four big needles rammed into my tender little thighs. I did not like that one bit. Got a little bit of a fever that evening, and was tired from all the activity, but I'm my normal cheery self now.

I'm 13lbs 10 oz. That makes me a lightweight for my age at the 10th percentile. I'm 26 and 7/8th inches long which places me in the 90th percentile, and my head is in the 45th percentile. So I'm still tall and skinny, but with a bigger head than last time. Dr. Matt says I'm doing great, but that I could perhaps be eating a little more. So I'll probably get a little formula going forward. I've added sweet potatoes to my list, and they are starch-y.

The video, you ask? Not terribly exciting, but it's me coo-ing a lot.

I rake items toward me. I can just about hold a bottle, I juggle pacifiers. I'm cute as all heck, and hopefully everyone still things so after a 15 hour flight to Norway.

Until next time.

R.

Going to airport yet?

Friends

All week, it's been the same question: "Going to airport? Going to see (insert one of) Farmor, Grandpa, miss Barbara, Sean? " I'm very, very excited about this trip.

I've been using forks and spoons for some time now, but only recently did the folks let me try a knife (plastic) for the first time. This two-handed eating thing is a little tricky.

Other skills - well, I'm now walking up and down stairs while holding the handrail -> that's a transition from sliding down backwards on my stomache.

I'm a heck of a dealmaker these days. The other day I wanted to bring all of my bedbuddies downstairs (Alex the tiger, Lisa the dog and blue bear) which is something the parents disapprove for several reasons. Mom grabbed ahold of Alex and said in a falsetto voice "Hi Daniel, we want to stay in bed where it's nice and cozy". Well, I wasn't about to be outsmarted by Mama, so I held blue bear and said (in the same falsetto voice) "Hi Daniel, I want to go downstairs and play with you".

And so he did. (the others stayed upstairs)

The city we live in sponsors outdoor concerts a few blocks away from our house during the summer. I was completely fascinated by the guitar player and drummer. You can't see it in the picture, but I'm bobbing up and down to the music.

A friend of Papa's forwarded a little Youtube video about bedtime to him. I'm pretty easy these days, in that I will go to sleep without a protest if Papa reads "enough" books to me. There have, however, been times what that wasn't true, and the video is worth a watch.

It turns out that cowboys don't wear pants....


This is probably the last posting before the trip to Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Unca Dave is ignoring popular opinion on the question of puffin consumption, but I'm sure we'll stil have a good time.

Until next time.

Love, D.

Flying....

People

Welcome to my new little corner of the web. For those of you who linked into the old site, nothing has changed except the name - we thought it'd be a good idea to make it a *little* more anonymous than before.

I've got some moves since last time. I will roll over from front to back, but not the other way. Oh, I get so close, so close. I'll teeter on my side - and then roll back.

I can "scootch" along on my back, I can spin around the axis defined by the back of my head. These two tricks allow me to get from place A to place B - as effectively (if not as gracefully) as crawling or rolling would.

I've started to hold long monologues with coos and squacks, and I'll even give an "early warning" if my feeding needs are not being met.

I'm ticklish, and if I'm not already in a foul mood, I break out into the biggest smiles if someone tickles my neck or feet.

Peas and Corn are not as popular as carrots were, but are still OK. I really want more colorful food. The other day I just about launched myself out of the bumbo in order to get my hands on some pizza.

Friday I get on a long, long set of flights. Everyone is nervous about that.

That's about it for now.

Love, R.

Friends

Friends

There is just nothing in this world that is better than sitting on a motorcycle.

Nothing, I tell you.

This particular ride was at the Cherry Creek Arts festival, which the parents keep going to every year, despite the fact that the prices make them feel poor (or cheap).

Now, I'm not a snob, really - I'll take just about any kind of motorized vehicle, as long as I can "drive" it - as in "I control the steering wheel".

Harrison Jr recently turned 2, and there was a lawn tractor to pull the "train". Here we are co-driving the thing. Harrison and I actually are pretty remarkable in how we play together. At this age, it's typical that kids play around eachother, but we actually play and problem-solve together. On the 4th of july there was a wagon that was too heavy for either of us to push uphill, but with me pulling and Harrison pushing, we conquered that park. Then we traded off. It was pretty amazing to watch.

Skills - really it's all about sentences these days. I can string together these perfect requests: "Papa, can we go for a walk? I need to go for a walk." - sure it's all about what I want to do, but I also understand just about anything said to me.

My teeth have been bothering me. A lot. It's not trivial to have 4 molars pop through at once, and I'm not very happy. Some nights I wake up screaming, and I don't like to eat. Given my overall skinnyness, this stresses Papa out a bit, but I'm such an energetic guy that he has to acknowledge that it doesn't seem to harm me that I'm living on air and water.

Ah. Pirate's cove. I've talked about it before, and we keep going. It's just a fantastic place for me right now. It's close, it's reasonable, and I love to float around the river and see the pirates, the cannons, the treasure, the ship and then we repeat the process. All my buds like to go there with me.


We're only 3 weeks away from the scandinavian tour of Danielpalooza 2007. This year the trip goes to Norway, Sweden and (a first) Iceland. I get to hang out with Sean for the first time, as well as the scandinavian side of the family.

Unca Dave is threatening to eat a puffin in iceland. Only you can stop this gruesome plan.

And that's about it for now.

Love, D.

Biker Chick, or aunt jemima?

People!

So I have this new bandanna, and depending on how I wear it, I can look like a biker-chick or aunt jemima. Cool, no?

I have some neat new skills, really I do, but first of all, the editors would like to apologize for the short "nothing new" posts of late. For an embarrassing contrast, check out the beautiful 5-month post that Claire's parents wrote for her.

Now, the editors could hide behind the fact that this first-person style is a little harder to write than the third-person style, but that doesn't really make up for all the things they forgot to talk about. Like the fact that I've started liking Papa after several months of only liking Mama. Or how my big smile and beautiful blue eyes can really cheer up the room. Or that I have outstanding head control, or that I blow the best raspberries. It's not fair that the second child should get compared to her brother, but that's the way it is sometimes. I'm pretty amazing for my age. The one thing I've gotten too little credit for is how "easy" of a baby I've been - no colic, no tummy-aches, very little stress, really.

I like baths, I like being bounced around a little. I LOVE my brother. Yes - it will probably be embarrassing to find this in a few years, but there's just nothing that makes me smile more than if Daniel does something funny. And if he cries, I cry too.

Skills -well, the big one is that I can now transfer an item from one hand to the other. I also stand up more, can *almost* sit stably, and we're not going to focus on the whole rolling over thing - which I could probably do, but I don't see the point in yet. I have done a full 360-degree rotation on the back of my head, and yes, I'm losing a little hair because of it.

I have slept through the night, just to prove that I can, but that's not always what I feel like doing. Sometimes I might wake up and want to use Mama as a pacifier -> the parents think I'm literally milking their affection. I can get SO MAD if they try to let me "cry it out", so I usually win that battle.

I have a bit of a rash - probably from the heat. Or the sunscreen. Or possibly the chlorine at the pool. Or maybe a little bit of everything.

And THAT is about it for this time.

Love, R.