Video: Thomas walking with Matthew

More photos from Asheville, NC at Christmas

The Biltmore, Asheville, North Carolina

Video: Our family at breakfast

Thomas signs "more" cereal.

13 3/4 months

We had a great Christmas! This year we did something completely different: we took a trip to Asheville, North Carolina! Utaka and Shauna drove in one car, and Mom and Dad drove in another car, and Matthew, Thomas and I took US Air to Charlotte, where Mom and Dad picked us up on the way. The locals were all saying how warm it was, but to us folk from Florida, even 50 degrees caused us to put on heavy jackets and bundle up the little one in a snow suit! We stayed at a place called the Madison Inn and Restaurant, which was very nice. They decorated the place to the nines -- Christmas trees with tons of ornaments, animatronic Santas, singing wreaths, and lights everywhere, inside and out. It was so beautiful!

Anyway, we had a great time. There were warm leisurely breakfasts in the morning at the inn, seeing the Biltmore estate (twice!), going out to Asheville and Black Mountain the town for shopping and sightseeing, poking in all the gorgeous little shops, having dinner in town or at the inn, and collecting in our room at the end of the day, after Thomas was put to bed, to eat Christmas cake, do jigsaw puzzles, chat, watch TV and try to figure out how to play cribbage. A perfect end to a busy day. What a great little area that is. I would love to go back there again! Here is a photo of Thomas and Matthew at the Biltmore.

While we were in Asheville, Thomas really got a handle on walking while holding onto our fingers. We walked all the way around the inn one day! He is very opinionated about where he wants to walk, charging this way and that, spinning ninety degrees suddenly to change direction, going up and down and up and down stairs, dropping to his knees and crying out with frustration if we prevent him from going where he wants. You can see a video of him in action on the website. At his last pediatrician appointment, which was about a month ago, she gave him an assignment to learn three body parts. Now he knows nose, head, eye, ear, and sometimes toes. We also ask him, "Where's Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa/Uncle Utaka/Auntie Shauna?" and he can point to the right one. And if we're standing in front of a mirror, I can say, "Where's the baby?" and he gets a big grin on his face and points to his reflection. He's also started this new thing of holding onto his nose with his whole hand and saying in a slightly muffled voice, "doo doo doo." It's almost as if he's trying to say "nose" but he's holding onto his nose too tightly so it comes out "doo" instead of "no[se]."

Thomas is pulling hair these days, so today I had a haircut to give him less of it to grab. I went to a slightly fancy place (for me) and she did a great job. Pictures later! I think he's pulling hair because he's teething again. Lots of drool, crying at naptime, chewing on fingers, lumps under gums. It looks like the upper canines and perhaps first upper molars are the ones on the move this time. They've been coming for months, so I won't predict any eruptions this time! We will wait and see.

Video: Bedtime story: Airport, by Byron Barton

"up front in the cockpit, the pilots get ready"

Video: Thomas sliding again

13 1/2 months

Not much happening this week, but I did post two video clips this week! The first clip is Matthew reading part of the book called "Airport" just before Thomas' morning nap. It was given to us by our friend Jerryl, and it's by Byron Barton. It is a really great book about what happens at the airport. Thomas can already point to Mommy at the ticket counter and Daddy in the cockpit (as you will see in the video). The other video is of Thomas at the local playground, sliding backwards down the slide. It was the first time he didn't need any "encouragement" to go down the slide: he seemed to know what he was doing! And he had a great big smile, too! He is a lot more confident on the playground these days. Here he is being curious about what the big kids are doing.

Today was day two of weaning him off the second feeding of the day. We have dropped the third breastfeeding of the day for about a month now, but he hasn't been taking it well. Even now he'll make "milk" signs and point to my chest and fuss. We'll see how it goes for a week at least before we drop the morning one, although I would like to keep the first and last ones for a while. Thomas doesn't seem to like goat milk or almond milk, so I've been giving him a little diluted juice or pureed fruit at one of those feedings, and a banana at the other, since he likes them so much. Got to give him something to look forward to! I've been trying to distract him with trips in the car and visits to the playground. It seems to work, and as an added bonus, he's gotten a lot more comfortable in the car, as well. He plays with his toys, and looks out the window, and sometimes I tickle his feet, or we play the "where's Tommy's nose?" game. He can find his nose, and sometimes his eye, head, ear, and mouth. Except when I ask, "where's Tommy's nose?" he'll point to my nose. Or up in the air, as if a bird has flown off with it.

Video: Thomas walking, assisted by Daddy

13 1/4 months

Matthew is back from his Mexico trip!  Sounds like they did some weird scheduling due to the holidays so he spent time flying between Quaretero, Guadelajara, and Toledo.  While he was in Toledo, there was a snowstorm, and it was below freezing!  And he walked to Borders in it!   He showed me pictures later of snow falling down in a curtain, white stuff everywhere.  It's amazing to think that when I was growing up, that was what life was.  And now I'm reacting with shock to such photos! 

 

The Conway Mom's group schedules a lot of playdates at the park, and so Thomas and I and Matthew, now that he is back from his trip, go to the park to play on the equipment, run around with Thomas' little walking truck, and interact with the other kids.  Thomas seems interested in the other kids, but content to observe them for now.  He does seem to be getting the hang of sliding on the slide.  He likes to crawl to the top of the slide, turn around, and slide down feet first and backwards.  Then he tries to crawl back up, but because it's so slippery, he can't get any traction and just crawls in place.  Matthew says that he looks just like a hamster on a wheel.  So cute!  

These days of course, there are a bunch of holiday parties to enjoy, like an ornament exchange, a cookie exchange,  the first joint Northwest-Delta Christmas party, a Conway Mom's party (attended by Santa!).  Thomas accompanied me to the cookie exchange, where he was the hit of my Northwest friends, even though he didn't like those adoring people taking him away from his Mommy.  Matthew and I attended the first NWA-DL Christmas party while Mom and Dad babysat, and the food was SO GOOD, it totally made up for the music that was so loud, it would have drowned out even Thomas!  And at the Conway Mom's Christmas party, Thomas' first meeting with Santa went well.  I held Thomas as Santa said hello in the most non-threatening of voices, which I appreciated.  I knew better than to try to put him on Santa's lap and back away to take a picture, so I just enjoyed the moment for myself.  Actually, it was really reassuring to see just how many kids were wary of the guy in the red suit, with a few flat-out refusing to go near without their Mommy!  I can so see Thomas doing that in the future!  Good to know he's not the only one!

Thomas is developing rapidly!  He starts clapping his hands the moment he hears "If you're happy and you know it," and he has just started raising both hands when I say, "How big is Tommy?  SOO big!"  He is also eating more, both finger foods and table foods.  In this photo you see him eating Mom's green beans with black sesame seed dressing, which is why his face is covered with black stuff.  He loved it!  He has also been going down for naps so peacefully for the past month!  No more screaming and crying.  Now I just put him down in the crib after reading him some stories and singing a couple of songs, and walk away.  He roams around in his crib anywhere from five to 30 minutes, talking to himself, turning on his music box, just being quiet.  And then he's asleep!  Amazing!  It is absolutely amazing.  

Video: Thomas sliding

13 months old

This week, Thomas took 2 1/2 steps all by himself! I had put him down at my feet so I could talk to Mom and Dad, and Dad squatted down next to Thomas and held out his hands -- and Thomas toddled two and a half steps toward him! We all stared at each other with happy amazement. He hasn't really done it since then, though. Sometimes he will take seven or eight steps when we are holding both his hands, but other times he will just lower himself firmly to the floor and take off crawling, as if to say, "no time to play around with that walking stuff!"

Thomas is back on the non-eating side of the pendulum, but he does seem to like feeding himself fingerfoods like broccoli florets and chunks of carrot. He won't even look at food on a spoon unless it's spaghetti. The other day, I was driving him to the park and he took a partially-eaten banana out of the open backpack next to him, removed the plastic bag it was wrapped in, and held the banana himself and ate it. I helped by peeling it down little by little. He looked like such a big boy eating by himself! It's good that he gets his calories where he can because I've eliminated the afternoon feeding for about a week now, and tonight is day four of eliminating the 5am (or earlier) feeding! That first night I didn't give him milk in the middle of the night (it was at 12:45am so I know he wasn't hungry!) he CRIED with rage when I offered him a bottle of water but quieted down after 20 minutes! And then he woke up at 7am cooing! So now it's a matter of just making it not worth his while to wake up at all, now that he knows that he doesn't get milk at night. I’m optimistic and also pretty tired. On the other hand, his naps are getting a bit longer now (1 1/2 to 2 hours today!) which would be great for me to get stuff done in if I weren't snoozing on the couch!

Tonight was a Mom's Night Out holiday party at one of the Conway Moms houses. And it turned out that the hostess is the daughter of one of my retired coworkers from Northwest! I couldn't believe it! What a small world. The other thing I came away with from that party was a newfound appreciation for how lucky I am to have parents that can babysit and are happy to babysit for hours on end so that I can go out and enjoy myself! And for how lucky I am to have a husband who will get up in the middle of the night with the baby and change diapers, etc! Thank you, Mom, Dad, and Matthew! This Mom's club is great for all kinds of stuff!

12 3/4 months old

Last week I wrote to tell you that Thomas' arm had gimped out again, but later, after I sent the update out, his arm healed itself! Today we finally had an appointment with a pediatric osteopath, and he said that it was probably nursemaid's elbow, and even showed me how to click it back into place so that I can try that next time before we do things like x-rays and visiting Centra Care! He was very reassuring and great with Thomas, who complained (loudly) about being examined. He really hates strangers touching him!

Matthew has taken off for Guadalajara again. This time his flights were delayed due to tornado warnings in Orlando, ground stop in Atlanta, and a mechanical! He finally made it to Guadalajara, arriving at the hotel at 2:30am!! We are sad to see him go after more than two weeks home, including a wonderful Thanksgiving with Utaka and Shauna, Mom and Dad, Matthew, Thomas and me. Matthew and Thomas visited the park often, taking his new truck, and had lots of shoulder rides. For Thanksgiving we had an amazing amount of food, including a New York cheesecake that was actually flown in from New York by a couple of our friends! Wow what a cheesecake!!!! Utaka and Shauna seemed happy to lounge around for a couple of days, and we all ate food and pie and cheesecake, went for a couple of walks, and watched part one of Lawrence of Arabia. A very low-key, relaxed, and lovely Thanksgiving.

Thomas is signing. The only difficulty is, the signs for "all done," "drink," "hi," and "bye-bye" all look the same, which can cause some confusion in the high chair. Sometimes he just points to what he wants: water, now food, water, more food, light, water .... sometimes I feel like the servant to the king! He is also signing "more," but it looks just like clapping hands. So he is either applauding Mom and me for bouncing balls and doing "this little piggy" or he wants more!

Thomas is very interested in dogs these days. When he hears the word dog, he will start barking short "arh, arh" noises. The other day we visited a friend's house (they have a boxer) and Thomas started barking as soon as we pulled up to the house! He has a good memory for where all the dogs in the neighborhood live and barks at them when we are near.

I’m ready for bed! It's almost freezing tonight, so time to pile on the blankets and kiss the tomato plants!

Video: Mommy and Daddy scuba diving

Video: Thomas pushing his truck

A very friendly little girl!

12 1/2 months

Well, it's been a busy week over here. We visited a few parks with the Mom's Club and Thomas. He had a very busy time with his new birthday present, a truck that he can use to walk. He toddled all over the place with that thing, ranging far and wide, on the grass, on the sidewalk, on the rubber mat. The other kids were very interested in it, too, clustering around, taking it for a spin themselves, helping him push buttons on it. Poor Thomas -- littlest one on the playground, didn't quite know what to do about all those kids. To tell you the truth, neither did Matthew and I! We settled on a "wait and see if there's blood or theft" approach. That meant we intervened only a couple of times to save our little baby from those big bad kids (haha!). Thomas could have used our help to save him from one in particular, however. A little girl we know, five days older than Thomas, was intent on giving him kisses. Very cute pictures on the next or previous post!

We also had a "turning the car seat around" ceremony. Now that he's over twenty pounds AND one year old, he can sit face-forward! We are hoping it will calm him down a bit because sometimes he can get quite distressed back there. So far so good. I think he likes looking at where we are going and what we do in the front seat, so it keeps him occupied. Sometimes he points out the window and says, "ah!" which usually means he sees a truck.


We had a Thomas birthday celebration for Matthew -- which basically meant we had my friends over for cake and made Matthew babysit. I sent out a text and was quite touched that several people came! It was great to see them again and catch up over cake and blue jello. This time I made a bathtub cake with a duck, in honor of Thomas' first word, "duh!" (by which he means "duck"). Thanks to Michelle again, for finding the directions on the internet! She finds the neatest stuff!


And as a very belated birthday present, Matthew and I went diving at Epcot's Living Seas on Sunday. Mom and Dad were kind enough to babysit Thomas while we got into the tank with all the fishies. They hung around the observation deck and looked at all the fish while Matthew and I got wet-suited and briefed and followed the divers behind the scenes to the tank. It was very exciting to be backstage where all the Disney divers work and then march in wetsuits out across the floor! I felt like a rock star arriving at the airport with my entourage! Flashbulbs, people eyeing us curiously, parading down the hallway. And then in the tank, we saw lots of fish and endangered turtles, got to peer in at the diners at the Living Seas Restaurant, and wave to Mom and Dad and Thomas and everyone else at the picture window! I just started waving to everyone. And they waved back! Pics on the website next week!


Oh, and remember that last week Thomas had a problem with his arm and started favoring it? We went to our pediatrician, got it x-rayed, screaming Thomas on the x-ray table, then a miracle and it was ok again? Well, it happened again. He's not using his left arm again. We don't even know how it happened. One minute he's holding his train getting his diaper changed, the next minute, he's crying and his arm is limp. So we have an appointment on Tuesday with a osteopathic pediatrician -- or is a pediatric osteopath? Anyway, hopefully he'll be able to get the arm working again and have some answers about what it is and what to do about it! Thomas seems okay, just a little fussy from time to time and content to sit in one spot with his toys, which is very weird to see him rooted to one spot instead of roaming all over!

Well, must dash, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Utaka and Shauna are coming down from Gainesville, so it will be seven of us for dinner tomorrow! I’m very excited. Menu: Turkey; stuffing; cranberry relish; sweet potatoes; italian broccoli salad; green beans; pumpkin and molasses pie for dessert. Yay!

12 1/4 months old

Well, Thomas' birthday celebration went pretty well. Three of my friends came over for dinner and cake with Mom, Dad and me. One of my friends was running late so we took pictures of Thomas with the cake before dinner, and then more pictures, and then ... well, there was a lot of noise and activity and it was just too much for Thomas. He cried. In the end, he didn't even want cake. But he got some beautiful presents from everyone: beautiful clothes, a children's book about airports and airplanes, a cute monkey, and a dump truck with blocks. Thank you, everyone! We had a great time chatting around the dinner table, and at times we laughed so hard we woke up Thomas. Sorry!

For the past four days, Mom and Dad have been down in Plant City at Boot Camp, learning the intricacies of some of their dances. They came back for one night on Saturday night, the night Matthew returned home from his trip. This trip was pretty short -- he wasn't even gone for two whole weeks. He expected to come home in the early afternoon, but his flight leaving Toledo was delayed due to snow so he missed the connection and he ended up arriving after 10pm that night. Darn that airline! Who was that, anyway? Oh, was it Northwest? Oh, well, I guess everyone makes mistakes sometimes .... Must forgive and forget, haha! Matthew says he met a couple of my coworkers as he came in, and it was nice to hear about them. I had just seen a few of them the night before at an informal wedding reception. Mom and Dad babysat, and Thomas did not want milk from a cup or bottle. Does this mean that the weaning process will go easier than I expect? Wouldn't that be nice!

Thomas' understanding is progressing quickly. When we say, "Where's the airplane?" he points and looks up (even when we're in the house). When we say, "Close the door please," he closes the door of the cupboards that he has opened! He's also started clicking in his African dialect again, after months of nothing! He's also developed this funny smile that looks like he is trying a little too hard to be social. His eyes squint, his cheeks bulge, all six of his teeth are bared. And diaper changes, after a wiggly relapse, have become quieter affairs. Thomas can quite easily push buttons on his LeapFrog or his "cellphone" these days, so these are very helpful in keeping him occupied on the table! Another tool that sometimes keeps him quiet is the baby-hypnotism. Sometimes, I can get him to be quiet by getting in his face and talking or singing very quietly, and he gets this kind of wide-eyed, vacant stare. I'm tempted to continue with, "you are getting veeeery sleepy" or "when I snap my fingers, you will cluck like a chicken" -- but he doesn't even know what a chicken is yet!

A couple of days ago, Matthew was putting a very wiggly Thomas into his cardigan so that we could go for a walk (it was cold! 55 degrees!) and suddenly Thomas stopped and started crying inconsolably. We noticed that he was favoring an arm, and cried whenever he tried to use it or put weight on it. We decided to ask the doctor to check it out, and thankfully she had an opening in an hour and a half. She sent us to get it X-rayed. They took four X-rays in the end and it took two technicians and Matthew to hold him still enough to take the X-rays. I sat outside on my hands listening to Thomas scream as if banshees were after him. It was pretty harrowing for all of us and one technician said to us later, "you have one strong little boy there. He's going to be a football player!" I remember the nurses giving him a blood test and also the nurses delivering him said the same thing! I guess he DOES NOT like to be held down! Anyway, after all that struggling, something must have popped back into place because his arm was as good as new. He could crawl and hold things, and he started smiling again! What a relief! Even the doctor was happy it all worked out so easily! When Mom learned of what had happened, she admitted that the same thing used to happen to her regularly when she was a child. I guess Japanese blood isn't completely superior! Ha ha!

One year old!

Today Thomas is ONE YEAR old! How time flies! With all of the things that have happened, I can't believe that it's only been one year! It seems like a whole lifetime has happened in that year (oh wait, yes it has!). Thomas is developing so quickly these days. He now cruises around holding furniture for support, can stand up and sit down without using support, stands unaided for several seconds at a time, claps his hands, rolls balls, gives us five, and holds up his arms to be picked up. He is very interactive and I can see his personality more and more clearly. These days he is really getting the hang of what we are saying to him, too. He responds when we ask him to close the cupboard doors, or tell him that it's night-night time, or teach him something new, like holding up one finger for "one year old!"

He is getting better at communication, too. He can say a few words! Besides "mama" and "dada," he also says "duh" for duck, and sometimes "amama" for Grandma. This week he has started saying "nana" for banana! He has been getting a lot of bananas to eat these days as he will hold out for them. He really likes bananas and says his new word often. He can also do sign language for "milk!" This has come in pretty handy a couple of times already. Thomas has also started pointing at things to get his point across. He points at his drink, at people, at the cat, at a toy .... He also points at everything on our daily stroller ride with an inquiring, "aah?" Trees, plants, airplanes, and squirrels get pointed out but his favorite are cars and trucks. He holds his whole hand out to every one that passes us.

Mom and Dad have almost finalized the move-in date to their apartment around the corner. They will be in the same complex since it's so close to us (it's about a 5 minute walk, and about a 2 minute walk if you jump over a wall!), and it has a great racketball court that they use for their dance practice. They will be in the apartment next door to the one that they had last year, so they will have the same view and live in the same building! They have about another week until they can really be moved in. One more week and they will have their own space instead of living out of their suitcases and digging around in the garage where their stuff is piled, thinking, "Where did I put that thing? I'm sure that I brought it! Didn't I?" It has been lovely having them in house, though. Thomas loves to play with his Grandma and has developed quite a bond with Grandpa, too. Last night he cried until Grandpa comforted him and put him to bed! How great!

Tonight we are having three of my friends over for dinner and then we will eat cake. That is Thomas' birthday celebration! Michelle gave me a link to a website where you can make fun cakes, so I will make a "pig cake" since Thomas was born in the year of the boar. When we have his one-year celebration with Matthew, I am thinking I will have a little more time and energy, so I will make a duck-bathtub cake, since "duck" is his first word. They are so cute! Pictures of his birthday celebration next week!

Video: Thomas swinging

11 3/4 months old

This week has gone by very quickly again! Mom and Dad arrived last Tuesday after a visit with Utaka and Shuana in Gainesville. It sounds like they had a great time together, catching up and enjoying themselves and the weather. We made plans to see each other at Thanksgiving, so it will be another lovely family event!

Friday was Halloween. That morning we decided to go get ourselves some pumpkins and photos in the pumpkin patch down the road. Pickings of pumpkins were slim as were smiling photos of Thomas. He just wasn't relaxed and happy in this new orange environment. We did manage to squeeze a few smiles out of him at the very end though. Then we quickly carved a pumpkin for trick-or-treaters later that night, dressed Thomas up in Aladin's Jaffar costume we found at a resale store, said bye-bye to Mom and Dad, and Matthew and I ran off to a Halloween pumpkin-carving party. It was six adults and it took me quite a while to get my "Mom" head off and my "normal person" head on to enjoy the party! Once I did though, I had a great time with Matthew and the others, mixing and mingling, carving pumpkins and watching Rocky Horror! We stayed out until almost midnight, I think! Wow! Just like a couple of normal people. It felt great. When was the last time we had done that? We couldn't even remember!

Mom and Dad are having a grand old time with Thomas. Mom showed Thomas how small things can fit into big things. Now he likes to take Old MacDonald and Duck and fit them into one of his cups. A few days ago at breakfast, instead of eating his Cheerios, he started putting them back into the container! He has also figured out how fridge magnets work. Last time when we visited Mom and Dad, which was about three weeks ago, Thomas could take all of the magnets off the refrigerator onto a heap on the floor. Now he can put them back onto the fridge! Unfortunately, sometimes he misses or gets the fragile magnets, so that is why my California fish has a couple of glue-spots and Gromit is missing a head.

Thomas is getting very adventurous! He laughs with glee when I swing him on the swing at the playground and Mom and I take him for "horsie" rides! He shrieks and hangs onto our shirts while we gallop around, and now he bounces at just the right moment to send himself even higher. When we stop, he bounces for more!

He is starting to eat pretty consistently which is a great relief. Today for the first time he sat on Mom's knee at the lunch table and ate parts of her onigiri "rice ball" and miso soup. He looked like such a big boy! When did that happen? What happened to my little one? (wistful sigh) Anyway, every day his personality and his likes and dislikes start to show themselves more and more. For example, he seems to really like taking bites himself instead of being fed by spoon. He will refuse food from a spoon but then eat half a banana straight from the skin! Sometimes I sneakily mush his real dinner onto the bitten-off end of a banana so that it looks like more peeled banana, but when he bites it, it's all his real dinner! Ha ha! What hilarity!

Video: Horsey ride with Grandma

11 1/2 months old

This has been a nice week with Matthew and Thomas. We have been around town doing errands and enjoying time at Borders, and I voted (early). It only took 35 minutes and I can say that I voted in the 2008 elections! We will see later today how the other Floridians vote this time. Hope the elections goes better than 2004! How can it not (knock on wood frantically)?

The weather has been beautiful and our stroller rides in the morning are lovely. The weather has been hovering around 65, but this morning it dipped down to 50! I think Mom and Dad are bringing the weather down with them! One of the ducks on the lake has a brood of nine ducklings, and they are so fuzzy and cute! They huddle up to their mother and she steps protectively between them and us when we get too close. Thomas takes to shouting, "Duh! Duh!" when we get in the vicinity, which is very exciting! He also says "Duh!" when he's near his rubber duckies or there's a picture of a duck in a book we're reading, so I like to say, "yes, Thomas, duck!" and point it out, just to be sure he's getting the right idea. This morning he gave me a huge grin when I did that and kept patting the book and saying, "Duh! Duh! Duh!" as if he really got it for the first time. We will see if he does, because a few days ago he pointed straight at Chloe and said "Duh!"

Here is a picture of Thomas very absorbed in pushing buttons on the flash for Matthew's camera. Matthew said, "I really wanted fill flash for that shot but ... d'oh!" (He lightened it up in Photoshop.) He's still so excited by buttons. Thomas, not Matthew, although sometimes, judging by the sheer numbers of remote controls we own, I wonder .... ha ha! I've covered up power buttons for the TV, computer and backup power for the DVR so that prevents a lot of hassle. He did find a new, fun button, though. He discovered that by pushing my belly button it makes me giggle. Thomas really likes it! He'll sit and push my belly button (or around my belly button) for minutes on end.

Thomas is gaining in coordination these days. He lets go while standing a little bit more often these days, can sit down without holding onto things, and has fun pushing around the ottoman while standing up. Yesterday he even took a staggering step without support on his way to something. And now when he plays with Old MacDonald's tractor, he has enough coordination to place Old MacDonald into a spot on the tractor so that he triggers the noises. Matthew says he seems to like "Uh-oh, I can't drive!" the best.

This week has been a trying one for Thomas. He is not sleeping well and seems to be in a lot of teething pain. He is biting much less, but when he does it is with such force that it leaves welts! There are also little tooth marks running along one whole top rail of his crib, poor guy. He is also starting to shriek loudly. If you are holding him during a shriek, your ears ring and hearing dims! At our safety training sessions at work they call it "temporary threshhold shift" and they caution that too many of these can lead to permanent hearing loss! I hope that he outgrows this quickly! I guess the only thing to do now is ignore him when he makes the noise and reward him when he's quiet. It really sets the hair on edge, though.

Well, Mom and Dad have made it to Gainesville and are now visiting Utaka and Shauna. It sounds like they are having a wonderful time, decorating the place for a Halloween party and going out to eat. Later today they will drive down to Orlando! Can't wait!