Inchworm

So, the little man still has no teeth. Every morning, after a day of red cheeks, diarrhea, extra slobber, a slight fever, and lots of chewing, we expect him to wake up with a couple of pearly whites jutting through his gums. And every day we see nothing. I'm starting to think he has invisible teeth. Or, someone told me once that they never had baby teeth and went straight to the adult version... maybe that's going to happen to Baby J? Who knows...

Another thing that we're waiting to see is the onset of crawling. And we're split on this one... on one hand, we are so excited to finally see the kid start to move, which he desperately wants to do. On the other hand, we realize that once crawling sets in, our lives are totally over. No more leaving him in one room while we make his breakfast in another. Constant vigilance will be required. So, we're trying to enjoy the time while we have a semi-stationary baby. Although, anyone who's met James would never call him stationary.

Here's a video of him ALMOST crawling. He gets all the way to my new iPhone and then turns off the video recorder...

Dead head

It was a gorgeous evening yesterday and we took advantage of the nice weather by hanging out in the courtyard. James met another baby, the 8 month old Eva, and I think she was a little more interested in him than vice versa. Although he did try to grab her sweater and eat it. Smooth James... He was looking especially cool in his new Grateful Dead tshirt from Aunt Brantley. She always brings him the trendiest clothes when she visits from NYC.

More pics on Flickr.

What do these things have in common?

They are all 7 months old! Happy Bday to James :)

Book worm & Monkey Music

All of a sudden James has taken an interest in books. Granted, much of the time he's more focused on eating them than reading them, but still, it's a start. Current favorites are Animal Babies, Goldilocks, and Trucks. They only have about 4 or 5 pages each, so I could probably recite all of them in my sleep (Busy truck starts it's day, go truck go!)... We're happy to see the little guy taking up reading and are doing our best to keep him hooked . Ana even got him a plastic soft book that he can read in the bath about a splishy splashy duck. Not quite as dense as Wolf Hall, which I'm reading now, but a great place to start :)

We also went to our first music class this week. James was really interested for the first 15-20 minutes and then got antsy, which I guess you'd expect from a 7 month old. True to form, he wasn't at all into the other babies there. We've noticed that he only cares about what "big kids" are doing... he'll watch the little boys and girls in the common area behind us run around for hours. But put a baby beside him and he couldn't be bothered!

Singing along and clapping hands:



Very excited!

There are many people who advise against cot bumpers for babies becuase they restrict airflow. I guess if the baby pressed his/her face right up against the bumper and didn't move, it could be a problem, but we can't get James to sit still (or sleep still) so I really don't think he'd hang out in a position that makes him uncomfortable.

It's been close to impossible for us to find a bumper that goes all the way around the cot (I've located one, and it costs 210 pounds!!!). We are just trying to protect Baby J from bumping his head on the side of the cot (which he has done) and getting his legs stuck through the bars (exhibit A below). He moves around SO much that a bumper that just goes around half of the cot is a total joke. This kid needs the full monty.

Ric's comment on the topic is: "I still don't understand the airflow thing. Do people suffocate who ride around in convertibles with the windows up? Oh lord, open up the windows, I can't breathe with only the top down!"

Poor Snappy Snaps!

George Michael ran his Range Rover into the front of Snappy Snaps in Hampstead at 3:30am on Sunday morning! I don't think his pictures were ready to be picked up yet...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1292387/Careless-driver-George-Michael-smashes-car-shop-3-30am-drama.html