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Family Meet and Greet

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Kinetic Sculpture Race

My daughter, the Cheerleader

Ten Months and Counting

The little man is now up and cruising (walking while holding onto furniture, etc. for those of you not up on baby terminology. I thought he would be walking by now, but he is taking his time. He also started waving the other day. It was at the Wescom Credit Union in fact. The funny thing is that is the one place he reliably waves now. The ladies there all love him. They call it the Wescom Wave LOL.

Now the debate begins about his first word. He definitely says mama and dada, but I can't say for sure he has ever "meant it". On the other hand, he says "dah" when he sees a dog, so I say that is his first word. Ron is sticking with "bump" though. Normally he never will imitate sounds, but the other day I said bump and he repeated it clear as day. It was a shock because it was so perfect - he pronounced every letter. I say it doesn't count because he didn't know what it meant, but it is a funny thing to say was his first word.

Nine Month Check UP

It seems like nine months brought an explosion of new behaviors and skills.

Orion is now crawling like a pro. What has been a variety of marine crawling, inchworming and scooting is now full blown hauling ass across the floor. He also has no problem going up the stairs and has a great time with that. He stops and pats each step, which is really cute. Of course, along with the stair climbing ability has come the battle of keeping him off the stairs. We do not want to put a gate at the bottom, since that would mean drilling some holes. With the house for sale, that doesn't seem like such a good idea.

He is enjoying his Goodnight Moon book every night before bed, and I had quite a surprise recently. I always say, "Where is the brush?" or "Orion touch the balloon," etc. and then put his finger on the thing I said. The other night I said, "Orion touch the mouse," and he did! All by himself. It is amazing how young they start to recognize words.

He has a couple more teeth now and loves to eat. He will pile in salmon and Pollo Loco until I think he is going to explode. He also loves avocadoes, but honestly the kid will eat just about anything you give him. I hope he stays not a picky eater.

He is still not a very good sleeper. I am starting to think he just has really high metabolism.

La Leche League Conference

I took Orion to the district La Leche League conference this past weekend in Costa Mesa. I drove down on Friday afternoon with Ninette, a mom I know from an Attachment Parenting Yahoo Group, and her three year old son. We also shared a room together. The biggest challenge of the weekend was they did not allow strollers. It made sense though because it would have been a congestion nightmare. Orion did great in his sling, and then every room had an area with a big box of toys where the babies could congregate. Orion really got to work on his fine and gross motor skills. He moved around the floor quickly with his marine crawl, and got really good at picking things up. The days went better than expected considering he was off schedule. He ended up napping in the sessions and slept really well at night. I found a number of cute things to buy, including a great nursing dress, and some mocassin style shoes and a tie dye outfit for the baby. I also got some nursing portraits done. Of course I hated the way I looked, but I am glad I got them done anyway. Overall, the weekend went great and I learned alot. I am happy to have gotten the "enforced" sling time as well because I am using it more now.

Water Baby

Orion has loved water from the beginning of his life. Maybe because he was born in it...? We have always been able to pour water over his face in the bath and he can care less. So we have been anxiously awaiting warmer weather. Our association was taking forever to start heating the condo pool, so we decided to buy him a little pool for the backyard. He loves getting in that and going in the big pool. We hope to have a private swim instructor come over for a few lessons and see how that goes.

Big Daddy Bday

Kaboom

The little man took his first big spill today. We went on an amazing hike up Solstice Canyon to the ranch ruins I had been wanting to see. As we were getting ready to leave, I noticed my glasses were missing. I decided to go back up a hill where I had just been taking pictures to look for them. I took the backpack off with the baby in it so he could stay down with Daddy. The next thing I know I hear screaming and start running back to see what happened. Kona had knocked the backpack over and Orion with it! He actually fell part way into the creek! Thank god for nursing. He was a bit scratched up on his face and leg, but he calmed down quickly. I never did find my glasses. :mad:

Ensenada Cruise!

So I guess this would be the baby's first major vacation. Things went pretty well considering his age. The first night I followed our regular ritual and just went to bed early. I had bought a little inflatable bathtub and that worked out well. Overall, he slept great on the ship. The rocking must have been soothing. Our waiter was great and brought him avocados and pears every night. There was always some fruit around to give him, so most of the meals went pretty well. We did manage to get to one show. I got Orion all ready for bed and put him to sleep in the sling. Of course he woke up at the show, but he went back to bed pretty easily.

Ensenada was nothing exciting. We just went into town and let the girls do some shopping. They bought purses, watches and sunglasses - what a surprise. We bought Sarah a Tinkerbell blanket on the sly and I got a nice black poncho good for nursing.

We had the girls watch Orion on the last night so we could get a couples massage. They did a good job, but the spa is located right under the children's program. All we heard the whole time was the sound of feet running back and forth. What bad planning!

The big news that happened at this time was that Orion pulled himself to a standing position for the first time. He was on the bed in our cabin and pulled himself up using the pillows. So he wasn't even eight months old. Seems early. He is also up and rocking on his hands and knees alot now.

Rockin' and Rollin'

The little man is up on his hands and knees now doing the rock thing. He is getting faster and faster every day at getting across surfaces although not officially crawling.

Couple things I forgot to write about last time:
He responds to his name - has been for about a month.
He has been into that hand examining phase for the last couple weeks or so.

And yesterday's big news: Out of the blue he started clapping last night and now it seems to be one of his favorite things to do. So cute!!!

I am so bad at this!

Orion is getting to that age where all the changes are subtle, but no matter what, I am way overdue for an update. Let's see...

No new teeth

He had his first taste of solids just before six months. He didn't seem to like them too much, but he is more interested now. The bananas and rice cereal definitely seemed to plug him up so we added apples. Then I remembered apples and even carrots can be a problem for some babies and that peaches and pears are the best to keep things moving. So he is having those now instead. He loves the peaches, just like his sister did and now will open his mouth very wide and also smack his lips when he wants more. Very cute.

The progression of sitting has been very gradual. At six months I started propping him up more and he would stay that way for a bit. Now he will sit all the way up for short periods. He also does OK in a highchair or shopping cart, especially if he has his floppy seat to pad him. No signs of crawling, but he is definitely scooting a bit and using the rolling method to get where he wants to be.

His fine coordination seems to be well on track. Trader Joe's is now selling a pasta made from nothing but rice and water, so it was great to be able to let him play with that. Spaghetti is one of the best things to encourage two finger grasping and he went right after it.

We have been going on hikes most weekends and he really seems to enjoy the backpack. He also likes his walker, although I try not to put him in there too much as supposedly it makes them less interested in learning to crawl. He had his first Easter at Grandma Gloria's house, and she bought him a Jumperoo. One more thing we don't have room for! But he sure does like it.

I guess that is it for now. Wonder if it will take me another month to get back on here.

First Ritual

Orion went to his first ritual on Sunday. The CUUPS group at church did a very traditional

style Imbolc. They even had an anvil to strike while focusing on your intentions. It was an

amazing turnout with over 100 people. He sat in the sling for the spiral dance and

absolutely loved it. It was a really beautiful group, with all ages, including children and

some older folks that looked like they were being supported by those on either side of them.

But out there they were with big smiles on their faces. I swear Orion was in a good mood

the rest of the day. I am glad he got to be a part of that special energy.

The Pink

One Toof, Two Toof

Five months now and I am a little behind. The second tooth broke through just a few days after the first, so I feel obligated to post that. He is doing all the other things babies at his age do - grabbing his feet, reaching with one hand, rolling over.

Baby Dedication

We had a dedication ceremony for Orion today at the UU church in Thousand Oaks. It was a very nice service. I hadn't really thought too much about customizing it as I had seen services in the past that were just fine, but Betty made the offer so I started thinking about it. The symbols they already use are water and a rose, so that made me start thinking about including the elements. The water was already there and the rose could represent earth. In talking to Betty about fire she had the idea to start using a candle that could be used at every dedication. She mentioned they do the same thing for memorials and Ron had the idea that it should be the same candle - kindof a circle of life thing. Betty thought about it and ended up incorporating the idea. We also brought our own candle so Orion can have it to light as he grows. For air we decided to use the same feathers that had been used at our wedding. We called for the blessing of the East, South, West and North of intelligence, warmth, love and strength. I also found a poem that hadn't been used before by Rabinder Tagore:

When I bring you coloured toys, my child,
I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds,
on water, and why flowers are painted in tints-
when I give coloured toys to you, my child.
When I sing to make you dance,
I truly know why there is music in leaves,
and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth-
when I sing to make you dance.
When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands,
I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower,
and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice -
when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands.
When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling,
I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light,
and what delight the summer breeze brings to my body-
when I kiss you to make you smile.

Included in the ceremony were my parents and Ron's dad and sister. Ron's mom chose not to come for religious reasons I guess, but she came by the house later. My friend Taira and Ron's friend Andy were the godparents. We closed with a poem by Sophia Lyon Fahs, a wonderful woman who pioneered much of UU religious education:

And so the children come.
And so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they come -
Born of the seed of man and woman.
No angels herald their beginning,
No prophets predict their future courses,
No wise men see a star to point their way
To find the babe that may save [hu]mankind.
Yet each night a child is born is a holy night.
Fathers and Mothers -
Sitting beside their children's cribs -
Feel glory in the wondrous sight of a life beginning.
They ask: "When or how will this new life end?
Or will it ever end?"
Each night a child is born is a holy night.

After church we had everybody over for lunch. Thanks to Costco and Pavilions for making my day easy. I didn't make a thing - just bought a bunch of platters. I even had the tomatoes sliced for sandwiches! Overall a very nice day.

Tooooooooth!

Not alot of time, but had to make a note that the first tooth poked through today. It is the bottom right one. So the other bottom one should follow shortly and supposedly teething symptoms mellow out after that!

First Hike with the Baby

So the hubby's journal reminded me I better put an entry in my journal. The main reason I am doing this is so I will have dates when it is time to go back and put the scrapbook together. So if a picture taking or a first happened, I better be writing about it - haha. Last Monday (MLK day so Ron was off work) we did our first experiment with Orion in the baby backpack. He did great. There is just enough support for him even though he can't sit up on his own yet. We tried to hike to the local waterfall, but the extra 20 pounds kicked Ron's butt. Also, we tried a different route down into the canyon which turned out to be much longer. Altogether we did make about 2 miles, some of it pretty steep, so we didn't do that badly. Interesting sites along the way: one of the bridges washed out from the heavy rains and sad little debarked dogs.

Update

Well, I guess I should do an update since the holidays have passed. On the 23rd we got together with Ron's family and Taira, Mike and Christina for dinner at Buca di Beppo. A rolicking good time with a 4 liter bottle of Chianti. Ron even had a few glasses. Mike was in fine form and embarassing Taira. Christina somehow graduated from thinking I was a freak for breastfeeding to asking if she could try it!?! Orion spent most of the time with grandpa Dirk and seemed quite happy. By the time he gave him up it was nursing time so he didn't get to spend much time with anybody else. We got a great food gift basket from Dirk and Christine. Everything in it was good for either Ron or me. I also got a beautiful frame from Taira and Orion got his first Hot Topic gift! Nightmare before Christmas clothes!

Christmas Eve was spent at Chuck's as usual with homemade chicken noodle soup. Back at home we opened family gifts. Ron seemed pleased with his Geek blanket and his old school Atari games. Orion grabbed at the wrapping paper a bit, but was overall pretty uninterested in the goings on. Christmas morning brought the Santa gifts and a nice fire, although we had some trouble with smoke.... I made pancakes and bacon and we also had some fresh cantaloupe. Then it was off to Grandma's for more presents - we really do live in a consumer society, don't we? I think the highlight there was the antique dragon lamp my mom got for Ron.

In other baby news... Orion loves his Step and Play Piano. I think he feels like a big boy standing up. He has also discovered raspberries and is delightedly making new noises every day, including laughter. He makes this cute inhaling squeal that goes with his laugh.

At his well baby visit on Tuesday Dr. Krumian measured his length three times because he couldn't believe how big he was - 29 inches - which translates into 12 month sizes in clothes! It is getting hard to buy him the kind of things I like for babies because they don't make them in his size.

That's all for now.