Milestones

Weight: 19 lbs (40th percentile)
Height: 28.75 inches (50th percentile)

My fat baby is slimming down. So much so, in fact, that the doctor told me she wants to see him GAIN weight! Is this the same baby who was topping the 90th percentile five months ago? Who looked like Jaba the Hut? Whose ankles were so fat that socks cut off his circulation, and I was ready to invest in a friend's velcro sock prototype? Who could barely roll over but could sit up like a sack of potatoes? He may be thin on the charts but he's still a brickhouse. A fireplug, people say.
Which brings me to another thing people always say. "He's all boy." What does THAT mean? People have been saying that to me since Sawyer was a newborn. "He's all boy." I've never quite known how to respond to that:
- Last time I checked.
- Yes, he is wearing all blue.
- He does look like a linebacker, doesn't he?
- You're right. There's nothing effeminate about him. Maybe he'll be straight.
- So the doctors tell me.
- Actually . . .
Now that he's older and developing his own personality, I have to say there are certain things about Sawyer that are, in fact, 'all boy.' Like the sounds he makes. He has already discovered that he can make motorcycle sounds, model-T ford puttering sounds, African Bushman tongue clicking sounds, and Indian sounds when I tap my hand against his mouth. Only boys seem to have the genetic disposition to make perfect motorcycle and machine gun sounds. When my brother and I ran around our backyard as kids playing war or cops and robbers I always lost because he could fire out more fake bullet rounds from his lips than I could.
Me: pow-pow. pa-pow-powpow.
Bro: Tchthctchtchthcthcthcthcthcthchthchtch. You're dead.
Of course, this all seems horribly incorrect now.
I must say that my favorite Sawyer thing right now is what he does when he's really excited about something. He holds the object - a block, the remote, a shredded piece of magazine - above his head with both hands and looks up, like he's making an offering to the Sun God. It cracks me up.
He has the run of the house, pretty much, these days. If I leave him in the living room he'll crawl down the hallway into our bedroom and the toss aside the curtain that currently hangs in the bathroom door. Then he'll crawl right past me to his bucket of bath toys. When Scott leaves the house, he'll crawl to the front door and stand up to watch him out the glass. He can walk holding on with only one finger now - even though he's still a bit wobbly. And for the first time yesterday, he let go with both hands and stood up on his own, briefly.
The talking is interesting.I haven't been very consistent about the sign language. I only really taught him one sign - which I invented - for "up." He uses that sign perfectly now and even says 'puh' when he's trying to climb something. Impressive, no? I may have to start inventing more signs because it really is fun. He seems to have dada down. When he sees Scott sleeping under the pillow in the morning he says: dada, and will even lift the pillow off Scott's head when I say 'where's dada.' Come to think of it, he may think dada is the pillow, not the man. Most of the rest of his regular words are unintelligible. I often wonder what he thinks he's saying: rart, baa, mop mop. Scott's decided that I'm mop mop. Which, he says, is the perfect name for me and he's been encouraging it.
I'm not sure Sawyer has fully grasped that he and I are separate entities. He likes to cling to me, climb all over me, suck on my necklace. Sometimes it's just too much and I start moving around the room making him chase me until he starts crying.
I can't believe its already been nine months. Its the end of the single digits. A year is going to be here before we know it. I should be treasuring those clingy moments while they last.

WSP: 9 Months

Tayloe and Sawyer


Sawyer: mmm - hat strings, good.


Tayloe: hey - something funny's going on here.


Sawyer: mmm - ball, good.


We actually had one of those rare out-and-about days in the Northern Neck yesterday. Our little family unit celebrated Sawyer's 9-month birthday with a trip to the Heathsville Farmer's Market in the morning and then an afternoon at the Menokin Bluegrass Festival. Our friends Catherine and Tayloe started this festival four years ago and it has since taken on a life of its own. We finished the night at an afterparty on the Rappahannock River where the Barrrel House Mommas serenaded us. It was the first absolutely beautiful spring day we've had. Two weeks ago the area received 6 inches of snow, which was followed by days of chilly, wet weather. We'll probably have about a week of spring before temperatures turn to 95 degrees and summer begins. We'll think back on that one lovely week in April. I am always jealous reading our friends' baby blogs - those who live in the city near so many aquariums, zoos, parks etc. We just rarely seem to find time to go do something as a family on a weekend that isn't either directly related to work or household chores or working on the house. In truth, while the market and the festival were fun, I was covering them both for the paper. The best part of this week has been seeing Catherine and her son Tayloe Jr. twice. T2 and WSP are only two days apart. Catherine and Tay came over for a playdate one day last week. It was the first time Sawyer had a friend over to play. Turns out my kid is kind of a bully. Every toy that Tay picked up Sawyer had to have. And he would snatch it away until he had like five things in his arms - thing he could have cared less about until Tay showed an interest. Tay was very patient with him - especially when we all tried to play a game of ball. Sawyer thought the game was called 'Eat the Ball.' Tayloe, who is far more versed in the rules of this game, sat patiently waiting for Sawyer to throw the ball - for about a minute - while Sawyer gummed it. Then Tay squawked loudly and came after Sawyer and the ball, swatting it out of Sawyer's hands. Clearly these two kids are destined to be best pals, and Catherine and I are already trying to decide whether to plan joint first birthday parties for the boys this summer since she will be out here visiting. Great seeing you all Cat, T1 and T2!



This is why I'm going to be a hunchback


Sawyer suddenly stopped walking. He had found a young hand sticking out from a lawn chair fort. Ah - to see the world from the perspective of a 30-inch-tall human.


Sawyer: dooode, this is the coolest tractor ever

More Cali Photos

CLiCk HeRe for more, printable, photos from our trip.

Trip out

So, we rolled all our change and flew to California to visit Scott's family. The grandparents had not yet met Sawyer and Justin was on spring break. I kid you not when I say we rolled our change to pay for the trip. $480 in pennies, quarters, nickles and dimes. We've been emptying our pockets into a beach bag for almost two years saving for a vacation. With a new house we are still trying to finish, hauling the 35 pound change bag to the bank was the only way we could afford to travel.

We flew to San Diego via Denver. Sawyer did well on the first leg. Only mistake - I sat in the middle so Scott could stretch his legs in the aisle. Sawyer just wanted to play with the guy next to us. He pushed the buttons on his armrest, grabbed for his newspaper and played with his sleeve. I smiled apologetically and handed Sawyer an airline safety card to chew on. In Denver, Scott waited for the stroller and carseat on the jetway while I headed out with Sawyer to check the flight schedule. "Last call for San Diego," I heard. No time to strap him in, I took off with Sawyer bouncing under my arm like a football. Scott followed along with the stroller and carseat saying "i'm not running, stupid airline, i'd rather eat vomit than fly United again." 32 gates later I arrived at our gate huffing and puffing and we scored a row to ourselves. We dropped the carseat and stroller at the end of the jetway and boarded the plane. "Our bags are never going to make it," I said. Well, the bags made it, but the stroller and carseat didn't. The plane pulled away, leaving our stuff hanging at the end of the concourse. It caught up with us a day later, but not before Scott promised to divorce me if i ever 'made' him fly United again. Scott's a Jet Blue fan. He actually cried when the Jet Blue CEO sent him an email apology letter for the inconviences suffered during recent bad weather.


Here's Sawyer in the crappy umbrella stroller United lent us. Shortly after thata, we spent $20 on hockey puck hamburgers at the San Diego waterfront. Our own stroller arrived broken 12 hours later.

We rented our car from Al Queda. Not kidding. The people in front of us rented five indescript cars. "We just want them to blend in," the guy said. After relaying our sob story, the owner gave us a free carseat for a day and upgraded us from a ford focus with cigarette burns and a partially attached bumper to a brand spanking new clown car (electric blue pt cruiser) that we all barely fit into.

We spent two days in San Diego, saw an Annie Lebovitz exibit and toured the zoo. We picked up Jusitn in Oceanside and headed to Calimesa, where we spent four days with Scott's parents. Scott got to help Justin build a misison, something every California fourth grader has to do. The mission had its very own seat in the PT clowncar. (incidentally, model mission building is such big business in California that Michaels carries its own brand of mission decor - little plastic priests and indians. They also sell a kit for only $19, but the schools won't let you use that. Instead they make you buy the materials and build it from scratch - I guess that's supposed to increase parental involvement. There are blogs dedicated to mission building. Average cost to build a mission: $75. Scott's hoping for a display spot in the Library.



We saw a small muncipal airport air shows with F-16s, a stealth fighter and planes that do stunts. Justin tried out every helicopter and plane in sight. The next day, he braved the 68-degree pool at his grandparents house. We window shopped dune buggies for Scott's sister and her family. In Riverside, Scott got out on the slush slopes with Justin and his brother while I got my teeth cleaned for the first time in (gasp) five years by my sister-in-law a.k.a dental hygentist extrodinaire. "oh, we're going to have some fun," she said, "but you may not like me later." Just what we all want to do on vacation right? We later headed for LA where we spent time with godparents Cap and Sarah and friends Catherine and Tayloe along with their babies. These kids are all within two months of each other. We dyed eggs and took a wagon ride - a bit risky but everyone survived.


ADDIE


TAYLOE


TAYLOE, SAWYER, ADDIE


AN AFTERNOON WITH THE GODFAMILY AT THE SANTA MONICA PIER

and we were back to Calimesa for Easter and San Diego for the return flight. Sawyer slept the whole way home. We arrived sleep deprived but in one piece this time. Love to all the family and friends. hope to see you agiain soon.

Family

Check out the mommy muscles

Spring sporting

The Awards

Ok- so it wasn't the Globes or the Oscars, but we made celebrity-status fools of ourselves. Here's some photos of our weekend in Norfolk with coworkers and their sig-O's.