Sean's new favorite toy at school

Hey there Mr. Blue Sky

We have truly been enjoying the semi-springlike weather these past few days! We've been on lot of walks, visited the playground to swing a couple of times, and have just generally enjoyed a weekend without snow for a change.

No worries little garden turtle, you'll be free soon!

These guys have had it:

Odds n' Ends from daycare

Sean was served the school lunch for the first time last week! His teachers will give him the fruits and veggies that get served to the older babies - he's ready!! They are also working with him on drinking from a sippy cup. So far we haven't been too successful with the cup at home, but hopefully this extra practice will make him a sippy star.

One night this week, when I arrived to pick up Sean, he was hanging out in the toddler room and sitting with his pals, a set of twins who are nearly 2 years old. Twin 1 was kissing Sean on the head and Sean responded by patting him roughly on the face (okay, it was hitting - but he's nine months old!). Twin 2 then scolded Sean by saying, "Nice hands - baby Sean - nice hands!"

Sean's excited to be riding in the front seat of the "buggy"

Sean's crib was moved over to the side of the room where the older babies sleep! More and more little babies are arriving in the infant room (including another Sean!) and a lot of Sean's older friends have been "aging up" to the toddler room.

And finally, Sean can drink his bottle by himself. His teachers put him in a chair and let him drink away. Apparently he's also content to lay in the chair for a few minutes after a bottle and watch the others play - which is good for helping him digest a bit before he's on the move again.

The stroller gets him everytime

No respect, I tell ya.

After daycare, I was walking out to the car with Sean in my arms. The little bug looked right into my eyes, gave me a big smile, and let loose the mother of all burps - right in my face!! Then, while fastening him into his carseat, he grabbed my face, pulled me close and screamed DA-DA! and broke into peals of laughter. Little stinker.

Fine art

After the blog post about Sean's last visit to the pediatrician, Thom John and I were left scratching our heads about what exactly was so familiar about the pose Sean was striking in the last photo...

Then Thom John thought of it -


Although I think Sean is slightly more Rubenesque than the chiseled hard-bodies Michelangelo depicted.

Hugs!

Munching and Scooting

Sooooo big!

We went to the pediatrician's on Monday for Sean's 9-month well visit. Sean came away with a clean bill of health and only 2 shots.

His 9-month stats are:

Height: 28 inches (50-75th percentile)

Weight: 20lbs 10oz (50th percentile)

Head: I don't remember - and the nurse didn't write it down!

Here we go...

Sean's new favorite thing to do:

9 months old

Sean, you're nine months old!!!

-You're a teething machine. You've got another tooth poking through your top gums and another one that's on the way. You've been drooling and chewing like nuts, but you're so smiley and silly - we didn't even notice it until daddy happened upon it by accident while playing with you.

-You are on the move! All of the sudden you can't sit still. You scoot, inchworm, creep, and sometimes crawl all over the place - and you're quick, too. Everyday you're discovering a new corner of the house or daycare - you even crawled under the cribs at daycare one day this week to go after a toy that had rolled away from you.

-You love to walk - holding onto someone, of course, and you love it. Just like when you crawl, you giggle hysterically or blow raspberries while you move.

-You're a friendly little bug, waving "hello" and "goodbye" to nearly everyone you see

-You're so curious! We definitely need to pump up the babyproofing. You're always looking into boxes or baskets and our favorite game these past couple of days has been to open and close the pantry door.

-You're noisy - in a good way. You make new sounds everyday and are constantly squealing, cooing, and shrieking. Today you've been trying out "fa fa fa fa"

-You're such a good eater and you're getting very independent. Your absolute favorite thing to eat right now is corn and today we found that you've lost your taste for avocado. You've been practicing really hard with finger foods, you love to feed yourself Cheerios and big chunks of bananas.

-We won't know your stats until Monday night, but I know you're growing like a champ - more often we're finding that you can't fit into clothes that you wore the week before! It really is head-scratching. Thank goodness for Carter's coupons.

Go Maryland!

Snow! Again. Again.

It snowed again! Big time. And this time it snowed in the middle of the week, so we all were home for a snow day on Wednesday and Mommy and Sean are home on Thursday, too. This storm was a doozy - slushy, sleety, snowy, windy and even thundersnow-y! So we used the time inside to study, play, nap, bake (did you enjoy that whole loaf of banana bread, Pepper?!?), shovel, watch movies, eat, crawl, and walk! Sean is suddenly walking really well with assistance - I'll have to get that on video this weekend!

I can do it myself!

Sean's been trying to take the lead at mealtimes and Mommy needs to learn to let this happen. It's not that I don't want him to be a big boy and it's not that I mind mealtimes taking two or three times as long - it's just that this tends to happen:

Heyyyy - what's down there tickling my feet?

Oh... hi Pepper!

You like blueberries and bananas, too?

Nom nom nom...

Snow! Again.

We're making it through "Snowmageddon" 2K10! We made sure we were stocked up on diapers and formula, and that we had good food and liabations, as well :-) After a night of sipping Manhattans and playing board games, we woke up to about 16 inches of snow and now it seems to have finally tapered off, leaving us with over 2 feet of the white stuff on our driveway. Amazingly, our neighbors came by with their snowblower to give us a head start, so I bundled up Sean and brought him outside to thank them. Sean seemed a little more excited about the snow this time, but something tells me he has warmer climes in mind:

"Seal me up, mom - and address it to MIAMI!"

Maybe I can convince Sean to stick around long enough to help me bake a "Thank You" gift for the neighbors. Besides, I'm not sure any box can contain him.

Buh-bye

That's what we said to the pool table on Sunday. Peter came by with his friend Grant to take it up to his new place in Saratoga Springs. Sean was excited to watch Daddy and the guys load up the truck: