Trip to the Park, Part Deux...

The weather this weekend was particularly nice, so Mommy and Daddy May and I took full advantage and headed over to the park. I pointed out the way, in case they had forgotten:

Daddy May and I had a nice photo in front of the little kid slide (there's another section of the park, designed for big kids, that has even bigger slides). Even the little slide is still too big for me, though!

Daddy May snagged the camera and snapped this quick pic of Mommy May and me. Too bad Mommy May blinked, though:

Then it was time for my favorite activity, swinging! Mommy May started me off:

But, after that, I did a pretty good job keeping myself going:

Mommy May goes back to work tomorrow, after 10 glorious days home with me. I sure will miss having her all to myself, but, thankfully, she gets another couple of weeks off for Christmas. Yay!!

♫ Oh, Christmas Tree ♫

We had Yin-Yin and Nani over today to work on trimming our tree... another phrase that gave me pause, as I didn't think our tree needed a haircut. Then I realized we were just going to decorate it! Here I am, barking out orders on how the tree should look:

And, looking on sternly, while everyone got down to business:

Here's our tree, all dolled up:

Mommy May is still not feeling too great, and Daddy May was super tired (you can thank me for his sleepless night!), so they kept out of the pictures for today. No doubt there will be many more chances for photo ops with our cute little tree!

Black Friday 2008...

Today was my first experience with the phenomenon that is Black Friday. Here I am at the start of our day, ready to search out big savings:

And, here I am, less than 10 minutes later:

What can I say? I'm a baby! Mommy May has a cold and wasn't feeling too great, plus we didn't really need much this year, so we kept things pretty low key. We headed out around 8:30 am, and we just went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Longs Drugs. We got a few cute things, and we saved some money.

I didn't really understand all the hoopla about Black Friday, until we got home and heard the news reports. Some employees got trampled to death by overzealous crowds?! Two people shot at a Toys R Us?!?! Believe me, I love toys as much as the next baby, but I wouldn't want Mommy or Daddy May to risk their lives to get me something. I mean, come on, people. Was Thanksgiving only yesterday? I guess some people just didn't get enough turkey.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Today was my first Thanksgiving! I still don't quite understand all of the history behind this special holiday, but I sure had a good time! Mommy May even got me this snazzy outfit:

If you look closely at my shirt, you can see that Pooh Bear is dressed up as an Indian, and Tigger is a Pilgrim. I know, I know--adorable!

I was still sleepy for most of today, but it's ok, as I hear that's a pretty common phenomenon for this holiday. I took lots of good naps, but I also spent a fair amount of time visiting and playing. I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Nani in the morning, and then we had some special visitors this afternoon. Yin-Yin and her good friend, Uncle Paul, come over for dinner:

Uncle Paul and I spent some quality time discussing the merits of chewing on toys:

Then, of course, it was finally time to eat! Here's our modest but tasty spread:

The plan was to take a picture of me with all of the food and the cooked turkey, but, alas, I was sleeping when it all came together. I did sit at the dinner table with everyone, though, and I even had a little taste of potatoes and yams! Here I am in my high chair, where I was dubbed the Turkey King:

Young as I am, there is already so much that I am grateful for... what a wonderful tradition, to have an entire holiday devoted to being thankful! I hope that everyone also had a great day, and, to all of you loved ones who couldn't be here to share this special day, know that I held you very dear in my heart.

Never Nurse on a Bike...

To be perfectly honest, I've had a rough couple of days. I have been super, super tired all the time, taking way more naps that I normally do AND going to bed very early. When I am awake, I just want Mommy May to hold me, and I get really cranky and fussy as soon as she tries to put me down. Also, I have been having a lot of trouble with breastfeeding again... we're not sure why, but I'm just not happy with the milk. Mommy May said it might have to do with cycling, which confused me completely, because I don't see what riding a bike has to do with nursing... plus, I don't think we even own a bike.

Anyhow, after my 3rd nap of the day, I had a small block of time where I was more like my regular self. I spent some time goofing around with Cousin Laura:

Then I tried to eat some more of my toys:


Finally, before crankiness and exhaustion overtook me once again, I lit up the room with one of my big, big smiles:

Toys are Edible, Right?

Today was another nice day. I was pretty sleepy for a lot of the day, so I ended up taking 3 solid naps AND going to bed early. Mommy and Daddy May were busy for most of the day, reorganizing and cleaning and doing laundry, but they still made plenty of time to hang out with me. We even took a nice, long family walk in the afternoon.

While they were working, Bunny-Bear and I worked on our sitting up skills. Bunny-Bear wanted to work on spitting up instead, but I explained that that wouldn't be very nice. His name is Bunny-Bear because he's a bear in a bunny suit... obviously!

Well, today I guess I officially left my newborn-ness behind. Daddy May broke down my swing and put it in storage. Then he got out one of my bigger-kid toys, which I immediately attempted to eat:

I try to eat pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I was afraid that I was weird or something, but, apparently, that's something all babies do. Phew! Mommy and Daddy May both said they used to have a stacker toy like mine, though mine is a bit modernized. I would be very interested to know how many of my readers also remember having a toy like this!

How was your Saturday?

Today was another great day! We had planned to go to the city to see Yin-Yin, but our plans changed when Daddy May found out he had to go in to work. Instead, Mommy May and Nani and I made a quick run to Costco. I guess we're all set now for something called Thanksgiving... I'm not sure exactly what that is, but it seems to have something to do with Pilgrims and Native Americans getting together and eating turkey until they were sick.

Anyway, I keep on getting stronger every day, and here I am sitting up all by myself again:

I held myself up for almost 5 minutes before I needed to rest. Daddy May was there to support me, just like always:

Then, before bath time, I spent some quality time on my changing table. I still love playing on it. Yes, I actually like hanging out there, and I have loved getting my diaper changed since birth. Whenever I am cranky or fussy, giving me some quality time on my changing table always cheers me up. Obviously, now that I am starting to roll over, Mommy and Daddy May have to keep a very close eye (and hand!) on me, but I don't mind. Here I am, with a froggie that Yin-Yin got me before I was even born:

I totally love that frog! He ribbits when I squeeze his tummy, which always makes me laugh! That Yin-Yin, she always gets me the best toys!!

Swinger...

Mommy May has all of next week off in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, so we get to spend the next 10 days together! Yay!! We had a pretty special day today, hanging out and having fun. I started the day by practicing both sitting up and looking like an angel:

Mommy May and I went for a nice long walk this afternoon, and I went to the park for the first time! There were lots of ladies with kids there, although most of the them were Asian or Hispanic, while all of the little kids were white. I was a little confused until Mommy May taught me the word nanny. Then I got even more confused, cause I have a Nani too, but, finally, I figured it all out! I was about the same size as most of the kids there, but I was by far the youngest!! No one could believe that I was only 5 months old. There was a little girl there, smaller than me, and she was almost 12 months. Here I am on my first swing:

To prove that I actually did swing, here's a little video. Nevermind Mommy May's baby talk; she gets a little too excited about stuff sometimes:

Boy, swinging like a monkey sure tuckered me out!! I had lunch there at the park and then passed right out:

A Quickie...

Just a quick, short post to remind everyone that... I turned 5 months old today!

It was a pretty good day, over all. I spent the day over at Nani's until Mommy May picked me up in the afternoon. Then we came home, and I had a little time with Mommy and Daddy May before bath and bedtime.

Mommy May wanted to somehow commemorate this day; this picture of me smushing my face into my bumper is the best she could come up with:

I guess you could call it my signature move!

Mr. Wiggles...

Just when you were impressed by how great I have gotten at babbling, smiling, and sitting up... I go and add another skill! Well, I haven't quite mastered said skill yet, but I am working on it! Pretty soon, I'll be crawling and scooting myself all over our place. For now, you'll have to settle for me wiggling my chubby little thighs back and forth:



I really love hanging out and playing on my little blanket. Here I am acting out a scene from Snow White... don't worry, Mirror Mirror assured me that I am, indeed, the fairest of them all!

Oh, Happy Day...

Today was super fun!! Mommy and Daddy May and I had a leisurely morning and slept in till 8:30, which, for us, is totally sleeping in. I got dressed and ready, then I hung out and had fun playing while they got ready:

We headed up to Nani's house, because Mommy May had a lot of work to do on Nani's computer and brand new Tivo. While we were there, I worked on a brand new skill--sitting up all by myself!

Soon, though, I started to get a little tired of holding myself up:

Then I pretty much gave up:

It's ok, though... I actually enjoy falling over. No, really. Sometimes I fall over on purpose and then start laughing.

I had a couple of good naps this afternoon and spent lots of quality time with Mommy and Daddy May and Nani. And, as you can see, I also made a new friend:

My little seahorse lights up and plays lullabies when I hug him--don't you wish all of your friends could do that?!

Playboy...

I have been a busy, busy boy these past few days! I spend my days working hard on very important tasks such as rolling over and playing with exciting new toys. Here I am playing mediator, settling an intense argument between my two bears:


Now that I have gotten so skilled at grabbing whatever catches my eye--Daddy May's nose or Mommy May's hair, for example--I have turned my eye to another important part of my anatomy: my feet!! First I mastered how to keep them up in the air for ridiculously long periods of time:

The next phase involved the essential element of play. Months and months ago, Uncle Trav sent me the cutest booties. They're great! They jingle; they crinkle; they even squeak!! I am finally able to take full advantage of them:

Next up? My favorite... goofing around! Now you see them:

Now you don't:

I haven't quite reached the most important stage of sucking on my toes, but it's all just a matter of time now!

Hangin' Around...

We had a pretty nice weekend, if I do say so myself. We stayed in on Saturday, as it was a rainy day, and Mommy and Daddy May needed to work on a computer. We think I'm going through another growth spurt, cause I took lots and lots of naps!

Here we are, just lounging and snuggling on Saturday morning. You'll notice that it's a pre-haircut shot:

Even on busy weekends, we like to start our mornings with hugs and kisses and some relax time. Itty Bitty Kitty likes to get in on the action whenever she can!

Here I am hanging out in the big chair, with my new do and a big smile:

Every day I learn something new... it's really quite amazing!! I am really starting to get interested in toys, and I am getting better and better at reaching for and grabbing things. I need to gather some more pictures, but then I will make a post showing some of my newest tricks.

For now, here I am trying out a new way to eat:

After my last check-up, my pediatrician gave the ok to start a little bit of cereal mixed into my milk. She recommended that I start with a spoon from the beginning, rather than in a bottle, to better help me with the transition to big people food. For the most part, I am doing fine with breastmilk, so Mommy May isn't going to rush me to solids. For now, it's just something we try out every once in a while so I can get used to the idea. I ended up wearing as much, if not more, as I ate, but it was still pretty fun. And, yes, Mommy May was feeding me out of a shotglass. No, it's not early training... it's the perfect size for mixing just a tiny bit of milk and cereal!

While I have gotten much better control over my hands, allowing me to do things like grab and pull Mommy May's hair and hold Daddy May's hand, I still do some funny things involuntarily. Lately, I have started hitting myself with my fist, over and over again, in the same spot. Take a look:

Check back soon!

Shave and a Haircut - 2 bits...

Mommy and Daddy May gave me my first haircut today!! Mommy May almost cried, cause she said it was way too early to cut my hair. Daddy May has been wanting to cut it for months now, and Mommy May finally gave in. Many of you may remember how my hair was so straight and spiky when I was younger, but, recently, it has started to take on a strange shape. Mommy May took a few before and after pictures from today. Here's a before:

Admittedly, my hair doesn't actually look too bad there. The problem has been that, while my hair grew in thick and curly and lustrous on my right side, I am almost bald on the left side of my head, as seen here, in my other before picture:

And that's the reason Mommy May finally gave in and agreed to cut my hair. She's been feeling pretty bad for me, especially since, adorable as I am, it sometimes looks like I have the hairdo of a burn victim:

Well, they did trim it, as best they could, while I sat still, as best I could. They cut a respectable amount of hair:

Mommy May even saved a lock of my hair to put in my album. Here's my after picture... handsome as ever!!

All Hallow's Eve...

This past Friday was my first Halloween! I got my second round of immunization shots the day before, so I can't say it was a total blast... but, all in all, fun was had. Mommy May and Tía Lu had put up some decorations when she was up for her last visit:

Mommy May also snapped this super spooky picture of Itty Bitty:

Mommy May was a ladybug, and I was a cute little pumpkin!

We had a pretty good turnout, at least 30 different trick-or-treating groups. Everyone had great costumes, and all of the kids were very polite and well-behaved. We love Albany!!

While we didn't get to see Tía Lu on Halloween, she was nice enough to send us pics of her totally awesome costume! Here she is, as good ol' Sarah Palin:

Last, but certainly not least, wrapped in righteousness... er, I mean, the American flag:

I kid, I kid... *wink, wink*