Adult (and baby) Swim

Despite Truman's swimming debacle last month, he had a much more favorable response when wading in a friend's pool recently. So Paul and I decided last Friday to take him to one of our nearby parks, which has a 15-inch wading pool and a slightly deeper one for the big kids. He liked being "walked" in the wading pool, so Paul took him into the adult pool. No big smiles, but at least he isn't crying. And he still looks sharp in his monogrammed trunks, not to mention his spiffy hat from Great Aunt Ellen and Uncle Bill.

The Office

We decided to buy an exersaucer now that Truman is four months old AND given that he seems to want to "stand" all the time (What happened to sitting up? Isn't that a worthy goal?). The "pants" that hold him in the seat allow him to be upright unassisted, and the 360-degree turning feature means that he can access all the toys on his own. (In theory.) He didn't seem to like it at first, but now it's one of his favorite hangouts. In fact, he's such a busy bee while in it that we've taken to calling it "the office." (I'm sure we're not the first parents to come up with this!)

Here he is conversing with an "associate" about recent sales figures....

And organizing his "tape dispenser," which he is obsessed with. And I do mean obsessed. (Notice how his hand rests protectively there in the first photo.)

Big smile! Must be because he's playing with that tape dispenser. Again.

We've kind of cheated and haven't yet installed the batteries in the sound machine (right background) that makes animal noises. For now, Truman just thinks it's a bunch of brightly colored things he can bang on. Hey, whatever works.

One more thing

As I mentioned earlier, Truman received a lot of special gifts, but we just had to spotlight this one, made by his illustrator aunt, Linda.



A close-up . . . .

Holy Baptism!

Truman had a busy weekend that began on Friday morning when his New Jersey aunts landed in Austin. They were so eager to meet him that they started snapping photos at baggage claim. I don't think he knew what to make of it all, but by Monday when they'd left, he was a sad boy after all that attention. (His mom was sad, too.)


Family continued to arrive on Saturday, and on Sunday we all assembled for Truman's baptism at St. Austin's, where Alison and Paul were married. Here are the proud parents with the baptismal candidate right before the ceremony.


He wasn't too happy about the starchy outfit, but he looked pretty snazzy.


Here we are with godparents Elizabeth and Harvey. Thanks for coming in, guys!


One set of proud grandparents....


An action shot! Truman looked a little uncertain but didn't cry when the water hit his forehead.


An uncooperative baby with Uncle Harvey and Aunt Linda.


Yum! This cake was identical to the one that Grandmommy supplied for Alison's shower. As with that one, it was all gone within 36 hours.


I think Truman was asking Paul for a piece of cake.


Thanks, everyone, for making the trip, coming to the after-party and sending all of the good wishes and generous gifts. Truman's one lucky baby.

A Militant Baby

We're a little worried about this latest development. It's a little too Hitler Youth for our tastes.

Playdate

(Warning: This is a long video.)

Truman had his second playdate yesterday. A group of us who had taken a prenatal yoga class together all had our babies within weeks of one another, and we finally were able to coordinate schedules for a get-together. Truman is the youngest at 16 weeks. Here he is with Callum (a week older) and Ilena, who was the only girl in the group of six! Callum was very sweet with Ilena, who let him massage her face and ears. Truman doesn't seem especially interested in all that's going on right next to him, but you do get a glimpse of his "marching" routine. He's either exercising or about to take flight.

The stimulation must have been too much for him. Later he fell asleep on my shoulder, then napped in the car seat for 30 minutes. I'm hoping all of this bodes well for naps at daycare, where he'll be around seven other babies....

Bad Day at Black Rock

The title of this Spencer Tracy movie started going through my head on Friday when we learned that the roofers assigned to our house had gone to another job by mistake. That meant that the hotel room we had splurged on as a "safe house" where Truman could nap was sitting empty for an entire day. The roofing contractor arranged to have a larger crew come on Saturday, promising to have everything finished in a day (a doable feat, we learned from others who'd been through the process).

So when the roofers arrived at 7:30 on Saturday morning, Truman and I made our way up north to the hotel. I figured the packing was good practice for our early October trip to South Padre. Here's what we took for just four hours at the hotel: two diaper bags, the Boppy, a bouncy seat, the Baby Bjorn, a tote bag and the car seat.


Truman's hangout, a combo sleeping area and changing table. I'm sure this violated some health code.


As for Truman's nap, I finally managed to get 30 minutes of him sleeping in the sling before we had to check out of the hotel.


The roofers almost finished the job but have to come back for another couple of hours on Monday. Truman slept for a total of 70 minutes all day. And the piece of furniture we'd been eagerly expecting from Crate and Barrel arrived—damaged.

Bad Day at Black Rock. You can say that again.