Peekaboo!

We've been having a lot of fun trying to get Bry to laugh. Today's winning game was 'Crashing Elevator Mommy,' which consisted of hovering over Bry who was lying on the floor, and then falling down to his level until we were face to face. Another recent favorite has been peekaboo - sure to elicit at least one good James Brown squeal.

Peek!

A!

Boo!

Insert Photo Here

Using my well-honed technical skills, I managed to delete ALL of the pictures on our camera, just after I deleted ALL of the pictures I had just uploaded to my computer.

Genius.

Don't worry though, Bry has managed to generate enough cuteness to make up for the lost shots.

See, I told you. Cute.

That spoon was GOOD entertainment.

I am sad to report that our brush with wildlife at Lebanon Hills this weekend (read: a house cat) will never be recorded visually. You'll just have to take my word that Ash (the cat) was very, very vicious, and that we barely escaped with our lives.

The Falls

This afternoon, Steve, Bry and I took a brief hike around Minnehaha Falls.

Ooh, pretty.

While we didn't actually enter any verboten areas, Steve was quick to point out that we could, given the awesome capabilities of the All-Terrain Jeep Liberty stroller. Such a manly stroller, don't you think?

Think this is where they keep the tigers?

No cutesy fabrics here.

While hiking around the base of the falls, we ran into a wedding party that happened to include 3 women that Steve went to high school with. Bryson was just as surprised as we were.

Houseguest

Hitchhiked in with a Mother's Day plant.

More Toxic Than a Superfund Site

I had really gotten my hopes up that Bry was past the stage of pooping out his diaper and onto his clothes every 5 minutes. OK, not every 5 minutes, but our water bill based on doing 70 hundred loads of laundry every week would seem to indicate differently. He does seem to have mastered NOT peeing across the changing table and onto the wall, floor, his hair, changing table cover, clothing, the cat, etc., every time you remove his diaper. He still likes to pee in his bathwater about every 3rd or 4th bath, though. Something about the cool air and the warm water...but I digress. In the past week or so, those hopes have been dashed, as Bry has reached that magical in-between diaper size when every rumble issued from his behind brings with it anxious anticipation - was it contained? Or is it time to go do ANOTHER load of laundry? And maybe change my own shirt as well. The best is when he manages to poop out his diaper and spit up simultaneously, WHILE IN THE PROCESS OF EATING. Who was it that said that caring for an infant is all about input and output? The references to Vesuvius and toxic waste also seem especially apropos at those times.

I'm not changing this one.

The Waning Moments of Mother's Day

I started to write this post just past midnight on Mother's Day. I was still up because Bryson got his party on around 10:45 pm. I went into the nursery where I found him fussing with his eyes closed and trying very hard to suck on his left foot. He could NOT let go of his feet. Lately his sleeping has gone all wonky, and I'm not sure why. According to The Wonder Weeks, babies undergo a big developmental spurt at 19 weeks during which they begin to comprehend "events" as being fluid, rather than a series of chopped up occurrences. During these spurts, babies apparently sleep poorly, become fussy, etc. Bry certainly is fitting those criteria at the moment. I'm hoping he makes the "leap" soon!

My first Mother's Day was fun, if not a little stressful. We cooked brunch for Steve's family and my parents and Uncle Tim. I received some beautiful flowers, a picnic blanket, and a gorgeous beaded bracelet that my mom made with Bryson's name on it. Despite receiving gifts on this Hallmark sanctioned holiday (not sure if it's a real holiday too), this whole mother thing can still seem a little surreal at times. But I'm growing into it.

The best part of the day was when Bryson and I laid down in bed for a 3 hour nap. Best present ever. After he woke up, we introduced him to the lawn. He was a fan.

Playdate, Redux

Bry has had two more playdates over the past two days. The first one was with our "mom and baby" group that's been meeting since Bry was about 6 weeks old. (Or was it 8 weeks? I know, I'll check my baby book...hmm...somebody really seems to be slacking on that project.) All of the babes in that group were born within about a month of each other, and it's fun to watch them develop together. Below is a picture of Bryson and Lucas, chillin' old school.

Oh no you di'int.

The second was with Bodhi, who's a month younger than Bry, and Finn, who's 11 months old. It was really eye opening to watch Finn sitting up, babbling away, and rolling around, like a preview of coming attractions.


Is it me, or does my child have an unsually large head?

Just me? OK.

Caught in the Act

Feeling shorted on love (what is that creature y'all brought home anyways?), Casey has chosen a more direct route for getting some attention: take over all the toys.

Mad Skillz

We haven't necessarily been keeping a super tight watch on whether Bryson is meeting developmental milestones. We have the general sense that he's on schedule (whatever that means). What we do notice is that he changes A LOT, though the scale is small and the skills we track might not be seen as momentous. For example, in the past week or so, he's learned how to grab his feet (making diaper changes a blast!).

Righty almost got away, but he caught it just in time.

He's even sometimes able to stuff his FEET in his mouth. This is a skill I was not prepared to look out for. Can he sit up unassisted? Not yet. Can he crawl? Too early. But does he have the crazy abdominal muscles to chew on his own toes? Check!

Other fun skills that Bry has mastered: screeching at the top of his lungs (which I'm pretty sure he learned from one of his playgroup mates), pinching everything within arm's length (including skin on very many parts of my body), and did I mention that he can put his feet in his mouth? Other things that go in his mouth: his fingers, toys, cat hair (even though I'm constantly picking it out of his sticky fingers), my shirt, burp cloths, my fingers.... We're so proud.

Hittin' the Sales

Steve, Bry, and I hit the Bryn Mawr Festival of Garage Sales this weekend (which was really more like a Sad Little Party of Garage Sales, if you ask me), in search of a Burley bike trailer and maybe a baby backpack to tote Bry around this summer. Unfortunately, we showed up on the scene at around noon, approximately 6 hours after the serious garage salers were out scooping up all of the good stuff. Did you know that people do this for a living? Find stuff at garage sales and then sell it to other people on e-bay? According to the infomercial we were watching on Basic Basic Cable, we could make up to $10,000 a month selling stuff on e-bay. And since TV told us so, it must be true.

Steve did discover a cool fruit and vegetable chopping toy. The pieces are velcroed together and making a cool "chopping" sound when you cut through them with the wooden knife.

And there was a little $6 shelf for Bry's books.

Seriously, he does own books.

Steve was bummed because he missed out on a $50 fish tank deal. He's convinced that Bry needs lots of little creature friends. I'm not so sure that Bry's ready. He's still working on figuring out the proper uses of kitchen utensils.

Wooden spoon or canoe paddle? You decide.

Parallel Play

Bry had a play date on Friday with his friend, Bodhi, who was born just a little over a month after Bry. Play date is perhaps a loose term, since I'm not sure that either kiddo recognized the other the entire time, although we did try to get them to sumo wrestle (sorry, no photographic evidence). Here's a picture from Bry and Bodhi's first encounter almost 3 months ago.

Fancy camera tricks make them seem the same size.

How much longer do I get to pick out Bry's friends for him?

It seems like a first post should have a more exciting title.

Welcome to Bryson's brand new blog! We're launching our way into the blogosphere with an undecidedly boring post. Bryson's honestly not contributing much to this post either. In fact, he's sleeping off an exhausting morning at mom and baby group at the moment. One of these days he's going to have to start pulling his weight around here. Until then, we'll just have to put him through some baby endurance tests to get him ready.

Um, are you guys sure this is safe?

This past weekend, we visited G-ma and G-pa Eng in Black River Falls, WI. We partied hard with the orange moose and then took a nap. Or something like that.

It's hard being 4 months old. Also 65 years old.

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from the Land of the Bry.