Meanwhile Back at the Ranch...

Back from vacation, Marsha, Adam and I went to the pond yesterday. Marsha hasn't emailed me all the photos yet, but the big exciting news was his first successful, voluntary eating of actual hard food!


Marsha and I were eating goldfish crackers, and Adam was very jealous. So I gave him one, keeping a close eye to see that he didn't try to swallow it whole and choke on it. He sucked on it a bit, and when it was soft, he got half of it in his mouth and actually chewed and swallowed it! Then the other half! Then the same with another cracker!

This from the boy who nearly choked on a bit of banana yesterday. Overripe banana. You can't choke on that stuff unless you're really determined, which he usually is. But hey, way to go Adam! Welcome to the wonderful world of ACTUALLY solid food.

Busy Day, part 2

So after our walk, we went to the beach. I like to go in the late afternoon, when the sun isn't as intense. We still put him in his baby tent, though.



He happily read his book while Mike read his own and Marsha and I went swimming.

Sadly, the undertow was too strong to take him to the waves--even ankle deep, it would have been scarily easy for him to be washed away. Marsha and I had to fight hard not to find ourselves in Canada. But since it was low tide, there were some nice, shallow, warmish tide pools for him to play in.

And Mike made a big dent in his book. Men concentrating.



Running out of vacation photos, I should warn you. I'll have to start taking new ones!

Our Busiest Vacation Day

I think it was Wednesday that it was overcast, so we went for a walk--Adam, Mike, Marsha, and me--on the Marginal Way, a cliffside walk in Ogunquit. (Apparently, a number of Maine towns have a seaside walk called the Marginal Way. Not sure what's up with that.)



At the end of the walk, we ended up in town and ate at a restaurant called The Blueberry Patch, or The Blueberry Pancake, or something like that. Adam sat in his high chair like a champ.

And then I gave him sips of water from the wrong end of the straw. He loves this, and gets very involved, as you can see from his intense gazing into the distance as I perform this task for him. I also have a great shot of him waiting patiently, mouth open, while I sip my water. But it's possible to overdo it with the photos.

Up next: the second half of this day, in which it gets hot and we go to the beach.

Mix -n- Match

The babies of summer vacation, and some of their parents.


Jude (11 months) and Adam (8 months)

Becky (ageless) and Adam


Mike (old) and Tigerlily (6 months)

Theo (15 months) and Emily (mom)

8 Months!

Adam's 8 month birthday happened in Maine, and Marsha kindly brought the equipment for the formal photo shoot. He had the most fun that he's ever had at one of these shoots, which made for some fun pictures. Huge baby!

Ogunquit, Part 1

There were many kids on vacation. How fast that happened! Below, left to right are Adam, Theo, Jude, Tigerlily, and Alice. Conrad, being 3, would not condescend to sit still for the picture.



What are they all staring at? Me flapping my arms and jumping around wildly to keep them in one place, of course.

Here we have Adam in yet another pose for the Cute Hunks calendar he'll be on in just 17 short years.

On to the beach! We got there on Monday, our second full day in town. Sunday just seemed like it would be too crowded, but we were worried we'd miss the good weather. We did get lucky and have lovely sun on Monday. Adam sat happily in his tent and ate his lunch.

This resulted, sadly, in some sticky, sandy messiness. But I guess that's what the beach is all about.

The water was brutally cold, so he just dipped his toes in. He was also very resistant to any hat-wearing we tried to impose on him. Luckily, we got one shot that incorporates both.

This was taken just before I sent Adam back to shore with Mike and promptly got washed away by a very strong current. I made it back to shore three days later, having discovered two species of fish and an uncharted island.

More vacationing to come!

Back From Vacation!

We're back from vacation! More pictures and posts to follow...

But Not the Watermelon

Dislikes: watermelon

Likes: yard bath.

Like a Day at the Beach

Given Adam's feelings about a) the outdoors and b) getting wet, I was shocked to find him cautiously optimistic about the pond.

He was serious, skeptical, occasionally hesitant, but never upset. He didn't cry at all. He did try to crawl up my shoulder when I took him in a little deeper, but it wasn't exactly bathwater.

And after experiencing sand and water, the grass seemed like an old familiar friend. A friend he could yank out of the ground and maybe try to eat a little bit of.

I would call the outing a roaring success. This bodes well for Adam and me getting along in the future.

Mustard Catch-Up

My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Levitt (I think that was her name. God, I hope I'm remembering that right!) used to have one Friday a month that she'd call Mustard Catch-Up day, where we took care of all the things tha had slipped through the cracks. We'd clean out cubbies, take make-up quizzes, hand back homework we'd forgotten about. It's what I think when I'm behind--say, I haven't blogged in a week--and I want to just get a jumble of things done quickly.

I finally took the camera to the grocery store! Adam likes the cart....

...for a while. But by the end of the trip, he's always tugging on my shirt and begging to be picked up. He feels the same way about the stroller--it's a little frustrating. But we're patient with each other.

My mom came by today, and she and Adam read some books. Actually went through and read them, not just pretending to read to keep up appearances for a moment before he starts eating them.

This one's from Sunday, when Mike and I washed Adam's hair. We lay him on the counter next to the sink for the procedure. Often, if I'm careful, he doesn't know it's happening till I rinse him at the very end. He's gotten much better about these things--he'll even smile occasionally.

And he took a very cheerful bath today, which he did not ask to get out of. Eventually, the water got cold and I took him out, but he played cheerfully with a wooden spoon while I scrubbed his feet with all my might. Good baby!

Maybe because of his sniffles, or maybe just because he's been crawling and walking and pulling up so much, but Adam's had a lot more quiet cuddles in him lately than before. He'll sit with his Daddy and look at a book, which they both enjoy.

It's a very sweet time.

Balloon!

We got something really cool at Trader Joe's today.

Adam likes it, mostly because when he rubs it it makes noise. Also it has a string--he likes string.

O great orange god-thing! Come to me!