April 18, 2007: Happy Spring

One day of snow followed by four days of sixty-degree sunshiny days suggests we are easing towards a glorious spring. This past weekend, the CEO of the Pikes Peak YMCA, Merv, and his wife, Roseanne, came up to relax in their nearby cabin in the national forest. Toby took full advantage of Merv's love of camp and his years of being steeped in the history of this Y to get the platinum tour of Camp Shady Brook.

A 10-minute walk up from the main camp landed us at the campfire clearing, used by campers about once a week for skits and songs. Off in the distance, you can see the small spot of water. That's our camp's cute little lake for swimming and boating. For a few more shots of the view from here, visit where we are.

Eliot gets high on granny love during our Easter excursion to Dallas.

Aunt Nancy is as fascinating as she is cuddly.

Gramma Genie helps Eliot practice good oral hygiene.

Learning to crawl can be so frustrating!

April 5, 2007: Six Months Old

With several new teeth, a family-wide, flu-like stomach bug, and international air travel, this month has offered up a wide array of challenges. You have responded as any baby should, with a delightful variety of new and familiar fussy behaviors. Lately, you have given up sleeping for any length of time, and you wake up every hour or two throughout the night for comfort. During the day, you cling and nap without any routine. It is hard for anyone other than me to take you for more than a few minutes. Sadly, I have chosen to forgo YMCA Childwatch for the time being, as the beleaguered staff have had to interrupt me just a few minutes into my workout three times in a row. Even solid food, which you had taken to with such gusto a few weeks ago, has become your latest foe. Oh, the moaning. The stuffy nose, the chapped cheeks, the drool. This rough patch may only grow more tortured. Our baby books warn of a six-month growth spurt looming.

Your misery has not slowed you down, though. Your busy days (and nights!) suggest all is not wretched in baby-land. Still a hair shy of crawling, you scoot yourself happily across any surface on which you land. Changing table, crib, living room floor. When I set you down with books and toys to chop vegetables for dinner, there is no telling where I will find you moments later. Grabbing the carpet with your elbows or hands, you propel yourself under the coffee table or onto the kitchen tile. Just a few days after Toby installed the baby gate at the top of the stairs, I set you down in the middle of the living room. I went to the basement to fetch the vacuum and clean the dingy stairway carpeting. When I turned the corner with the vacuum roaring, I could see you, peeking down through the rails of the baby gate at me. Six feet, at least, in less than a minute.

And oh, how you grin when you reach the object of your desire. Board books and toys are equally compelling. We are so happy your fascination with books has begun to flower. Most of the time a “good book” refers to its taste and texture rather than its content, but opening up the cover now slows you down and captures your interest. I love to watch your eyes dart over the page, following my finger, puzzling together the shapes and symbols. When the very hungry caterpillar emerges as a beautiful butterfly, your brow creases, and you look over the kaleidoscope of color on the page. You touch the pages, then bang on them, and then into the mouth they go. Your attention span is still only moments long, but I hope that the more we read, the more you will find a bounty of curious and thrilling new worlds in books.

All of your noises are not whines and cries. Your squeals are music, your giggles bubble like a spring creek. Your voice grows in range and shape every day. Before we lay down at night, you still love to play the hollering game – standing and bouncing on your daddy’s or my belly, practicing all the shouts and squeals, razzes and growls you have learned in your first six months on earth.