Family Sunday

Today we took Spencer to the Purim Carnival at our temple. Purim is a fun holiday and I think it's safe to say he had a great time. As challenging as it is to have a baby that only takes one tiny nap a day, at least it doesn't prevent us from getting out an doing stuff, as he can take an entire nap on the car ride to get inside the loop, which just isn't that far. Although, the flip side is that he has an early bedtime, which forces us to eat dinner at 6:00pm, which can make for an early evening with friends! The holiday itself is later in the week, and (right now at least) I'm planning on going with Spencer, and staying until he annouces that he's ready to go. Here are some pics from the Purim Carnival.

weekend again

Things have been super-busy here this week, I can't believe it's already over. Spencer delights himself with his communication skills and sometimes enters a zone where he has to say or sign everything he sees. This can make for a very drawn out meal time as he repeats the sign for banana before every single bite.

I'm gearing up to hold my first few Baby Signs® Parent Workshops within the next month. It's very exciting and a bit nerveracking too.

spring time is here

The weather this weekend was just too fabulous to not spend as much time as possible outside. We brought Spencer to Meyer Park yesterday morning and again this morning, and later this afternoon we checked out the St. Patrick's Day Parade on F.M. 1960. A year ago the loud noises would have freaked Spencer out, but today he took it all in stride and proudly wore the beads thrown from the floats (I ate the candy!) We were a bit camera happy this weekend - here are a whole bunch of pics.

Zzzz

So, after catching a whopping 15 minute nap on Wednesday, Spencer slept nearly 14 HOURS that evening. Holy cow!

This weather has been so darn nice. Yesterday at school they moved a little table outside so the infants could enjoy their afternoon snack dining al fresco. How fabulous!

cat nap

Spencer took one nap at school today, and it lasted for 15 minutes. They tried to coax him back down, but no success. They tried again later in the afternoon, and again no success. So, this evening Spencer ate his dinner at 5:30, took his bath at 6:15 and was sound asleep by 6:45pm. We'll see how long he sleeps in the morning...

overachieving toddlers

Tonight I spoke on the phone with my fabulous friend Tracy who relayed an awesome story. Tracy's friend was picking up her 21 month old daughter, Maia, from day care when another toddler came over, pointed at Maia and exclaimed "baby!" Maia stared back at her friend, who was wearing a cute t-shirt that said "cotton" on the front and excitedly responded "C-O-T-T-O-N!"

Not nearly as impressive: today we learned at Spencer's 15 month check up that he continues to track in the 80%-85% in both height and weight. We are excited to learn that the next well-baby visit has no shots! Yeah! Although, our nurse was great and Spencer was a champ today.

grandma

Mom was in town for a long weekend to visit us, and most importantly to spend time with Spencer. On Thursday we went to see animals at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. As you can see from our pictures, he was in heaven being so close to the animals at the petting zoo. Since when are kangaroos part of petting zoos?? Spencer was thrilled because he knew what they were, and had not been previously familiar with llama or deer. He also did not recognize black sheep, or black pigs which he does recognize when they are white/pink. But kangaroos were a big hit, as he bounced his torso and kept repeating " 'op 'op 'op!" ("Hop hop hop!")

keep on signing

Today I received a completed application from someone looking to get certified as an instructor teaching Baby Signs Programs, an email from someone else requesting an application to become certified, and an interview request with a weekly newspaper located outside of Beaumont. Holy cow. And I haven't even taught my first class yet! I have a presence on the world wide web at www.babysignsbybonnie.com but all of the traffic, for now at least, comes to me from folks entering a zip code on www.babysigns.com. I think I have almost all of the essentials for starting a new business completed. Just need to keep reviewing class material and get something scheduled!

more babies

I forgot to blog congratulations on Friday as Rebecca welcomed her third son, Elijah River Miller, into the world.

busy times

It's been a very busy few days since Tuesday's post. I'm happy to report some items I have now checked off the "start up my new business to do list" include: decided on company name, filed DBA, opened business bank account, established EIN with the IRS, registed domain name, set up email account, designed a website and found a (back up) place to host a Parent Workshop. Still open items include: secure a better (i.e. free) location to hold classes, get TX sales tax permit, order business cards, advertise class info and brush up on material. At least those are of most immediate priority!

Last night Jim & Spencer went to a birthday party for JB's three year old son Jack at the Children's Museum. In keeping up with the 'big kids' there, Spencer got to do a lot of activities outside of the Tot*Spot, including getting soaked head to toe by dumping a bucket of water on himself in the water play zone outside. Meanwhile, I was way up in The Woodlands as a volunteer judge for SCI://TECH science fair. It does give you some great feelings to see how 7th graders can put together an depth experiement: formulating a hyposthesis, designing the test set up, collecting data, analyzing data and drawing out results and conclusions. My assigned category to judge was health & medicine, and I loved to ask the kids what prompted them to pursue their particular project. One girl's experiement was to figure out which drink (water, coke, caffeine-free coke, or gatorade) would send you running to the bathroom the quickest, because she and her family were never able to make it through an entire movie without a break! Or the boy who conducted a taste test because he wanted to show his mom how cigarettes were deadening her taste buds. Or the girl who wanted to find the most effective antacid on the market because her mom suffered heartburn when pregnant with a younger sibling. Despite all of the publicity about the overall decline of excellence in the technology sector of our country, it was very encouraging to see what the minds of tomorrow will bring.

That was quick!

I just got my first phone call from a stranger who saw the Baby Signs segment on Good Morning America and got my name from the Baby Signs website. She just can't wait to get started signing with her 13 month old daughter and want to know when I'll be offering Sign, Say & Play classes. Ack!!

Baby Signs are everywhere!

Ack! I feel like I'm under pressure to get things rolling. I am now an Indepenedent Certified Instructor to teach Baby Signs programs. I thought I would kind of ease into things and slowly get rolling, but apparently this timing is catching a HUGE wave of publicity. There was a five minute segment on Good Morning America today talking about Baby Signs, and following some of the (now) teenagers that were part of the research in the 80's which helped point to higher IQ scores for signing babies. Plus the signing baby in Meet the Fockers, and Debra Messing has been on the talk show circuit for her new movie and has been plugging the fact that she uses Baby Signs too! I'm still working on a company name, DBA, sales tax permit, website, and finding places to hold some parent workshops ASAP! Ack!

Car! Car! Car! Flower! Car! Car!

That's more or less the sounds heard from the backseat as we go driving around these days. Spencer now delights as he identifies everything on the road as a car or truck. And I never noticed how many flowers are planted on the roadside until Spencer started pointing them all out - mall entrances, gas stations, etc.

Today I took a vacation day from work so that Spencer and I could join some other mommy friends and their little ones at Collins Park. When Spencer and I were there two weeks ago they were working on the main play structure, but today it was open again and he had a blast climbing on it. Although it was cool and drizzly, it didn't ruin our picnic fun and I enjoyed getting out and socializing with friends! I dropped Spencer at school for a few hours in the afternoon, and picked him up early so that we could go swimming at the Y before dinner. While there, another mom asked if he was deaf because we were signing to each other. She said she has a very good friend who is deaf and recognized some of the signs. I explained that thankfully Spencer was not, but we use Baby Signs to help bridge the communication until his language skills are stronger. She was impressed at his knowledge. Pictures from today have been added to the end of the February album.

Bo

It's great that Spencer has now turned the corner and is walking. He holds my hand and toddles to get the mail with me, and is pleased as punch when I give him a piece to hold as we walk back to the house. And now he climbs up the steps of the stool Jim built so he can wash his hands in the bathroom sink before dinner (and breakfast if we're too slow in the morning to make it to school for breakfast!)

His newest word and sign is 'flower.' With an arrangement of valentine's day flowers from my two guys (red ones from Jim, and puh-pull ones from Spencer) on the kitchen table, he says and signs the word often throughout his meal. An interesting 'problem' has arisen by signing during mealtime which is that Spencer likes to sign the food he is eating, often in between each bite. On the surface that sounds ok, but the sign for 'apple' involves touching the face, so it contributes to his messiness. And tonight he enjoyed pineapple, but it was no neater of an experience.

And just have to add that this is the first season I have watched American Idol and I am really looking forward to hearing Bo sing again next week!

Teething

It's been an up and down day for Spencer. We both had a great time this afternoon at the Children's Museum with Marcos, Diane & 13 month old Michael, and Oriol, Tracy & 8 month old Aurelie. I think they may start to join us more frequently for our Sunday afternoon ritual. Once we got home, however, Spencer's teeth got the better of him. He is clearly in the process of cutting a whole bunch and the poor guy was miserable in between orajel applications. Didn't help that we cut him off cold from the bottle this weekend. Spencer has been drinking out of a regular cup for a couple of months now, and it's a bit tiring to keep on washing bottle and treating him like a baby when he's not one. We also had to teach him to drink from a straw for going out in public. (He's good with a cup, but does randomly dump it over or stick his hands in when he decides to play around.) Overall, it seems to be a success to have moved away from the bottle at home, but we'll see how things go at school tomorrow when he sees other kids getting bottles. Mom told the story when they weaned Deena off the bottle: the next weekend they went to a farm and saw the baby animals being fed with bottles which she found to be a bit confusing...

Busy Saturday

With the threat of afternoon showers (which never actually materialized) Spencer and I headed out early to Meyer Park. He just loves the energy from all of the people and dogs and ducks and nutria (!) and giggles so much while playing around on the toddler-size equipment. Even insisting on going headfirst down one of the baby slides!

Tonight we took some more pictures of Spencer with his new haircut - enjoying chili for dinner, his full naked belly after eating, and naked tush before hopping into the bath!

#7

Spencer has had six teeth in his mouth (two bottom, four top) since October. No activity at all since that time. But we've been pretty certain things have been brewing underneath the gums recently. Last week there were a few episodes of crankiness, and a few middle of the night wakeups which we attributed to teething pain. Even the teachers at school noticed, and pointed out how the gums are getting wide, and a little less rosy as the teeth are pushing up underneath. Well, yesterday the tip of tooth number seven finally broke through on the bottom. We're pretty sure this is the first of several to come in rapid succession. We'll see how wise we are (or aren't) in the weeks to come.

he's a toddler, finally

Yep, that day has finally come. Spencer has been crawling since just before nine months, started taking a couple of well-balanced steps right after his birthday, and has even mastered walking the length of our entire hallway unassisted, but until now - crawling was his preferred method of locomotion. This weekend Spencer mastered the art of standing up in the middle of a room - not needing furniture or a wall or anything. He just plants his feet, walks his hands in while sticking his tush way up in the air until he finds his balance point and can lift his hands off the floor. So now he toddles everywhere. And loves it! And I love not carrying the heavy dude everywhere too!

Spencer has been 'socializing' with the older infants, who all are all toddlers, for several months now. They took interest in him once he started moving around and didn't just sit there like a lump of clay. He's one of the 'big guys.' So strange as he was by far the youngest baby in the room from March until July last year. Now there are only two older than him, and a whole slew of new little ones who are not even crawling yet. To prove the point, Spencer has now 'graduated' to one of the two big cribs in the room. Kind of like stepping stones. He was in a 'top bunk' crib as an infant, then moved to a 'bottom bunk' crib when he was able to pull himself up (and was pretty darn heavy to lift into an upper crib!) Now he's near the top of the chain. Unbelievable!

mambo

Spencer has a new favorite book. After being partial to Goodnight Moon for the past four or five months, Spencer has suddenly decided that What Makes a Rainbow is the only book we should be reading at bedtime. He asks for it by name "mambo" to let us know he wants to read the "rainbow" book. (And I keep forgetting to look up the sign so I can teach that to him too.) He loves the ribbons threaded through the pages of the book, and we quiz him on the colors too.

A February photo album has been started with a few pictures from yesterday.

the apprentice

Today in Houston are the open call auditions for the next Apprentice. Not only for the upcoming season to learn under Donald Trump, but they are also interviewing for the new spinoff of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. Maybe I should have sent in a ten minute video tape and driven down to the auditions. But then I look at my resume compared to those folks on the website and feel kinda lame.

Actually, I will be passing the audition site shortly as I return to my favorite hair stylist from years back. I stopped going to him when he left the chic salon on this side of town in favor of location inside the loop. But during a holiday party in December I met up with a friend who moved to Austin last year, and learned that she still drives back to Houston to see him. I thought to myself that it really wasn't that big a deal to drive a little bit further (and pay a little bit more) to continue seeing him at the swanky new salon. It's been years since I felt like I had a great cut - I'm so excited for my appointment!

curls

This morning I was waiting in line behind two moms, each with a little boy about three years old. And these two boys had the most beautiful curly hair! I always expected my baby would look like they do, but Spencer's hair is clearly coming in straight. For now at least. We'll have to wait and see what he looks like when he is three, but I'm not holding my breath. Which reminds me, it's time to take the little dude for a haircut again - ack!

keep on chowing

This weekend was a bit off for Spencer. He ran a fever Friday afternoon, spiked at 103.4 on Saturday, and came back around 100 on Sunday. Fortunately no other symptoms, besides just being a little cranky for my pop's weekend visit. But it sure didn't affect his appetite. Holy cow. Saturday we had lunch out at Pappasito's (a must when visitors are here from out of town) and Spencer put away an unbelievable amount of food. He just kept asking for 'more' and packing it in. Part of me thought he might throw up later in the afternoon, but it never happened. And at dinner time he ate a huge amount of food again! We were stunned and impressed. Not to mention the few bottles of milk plus a snack he had between the two meals. He is usually a good eater, and we've seen him pack it in like this before, but back-to-back meals of that size was an eye-popping feat.

chow time

Yesterday for lunch Spencer's school served lamb curry with chutney - how awesome is that! Jim was able to stay for breakfast and watched him devour the freshly baked molasses brown bread. Their tasty menu is one of our favorite things about the place. It's amazing to see how Spencer is one of the 'big kids' in the room now, when he was the 'little guy' for such a long time!

Pictures of baby Mia, mom's visit to Houston, and some other random ones not previously downloaded have now been added to the January photo album.

she's here!

Spencer has a new friend. Our neighbors (the only ones we really talk to) welcomed baby Mia into the world yesterday morning. Jim and I went to the hospital to visit her at lunch today and she's just beautiful, with lots of dark hair just like Spencer had when he was born!

"help"

Of all the words that Spencer can say and sign, I think it's cool that he can ask for "help" - something that is not a noun or action. And he's coming close to combining signs to say "help, please." Today Jim showed the teachers at school Spencer's variation on the ASL sign so they can recognize any requests for "help."

I definitely blogged too soon yesterday about feeling better, as things are still not quite right today. One of Spencer's teachers was out sick with a stomach virus, so maybe we have all been hit by the same bug going around.

weekend downtime

On the surface, things got much better on Friday. Spencer spent a full day at school, and Jim and I were able to work the whole day without any unforeseen interruptions. But something wasn't quite right. I didn't feel very hungry at lunchtime, and by dinner I had no appetite at all and knew that something was very wrong with my stomach. By Saturday I felt completely puny. I managed to get out of the house with Spencer to meet other signing mommies and babies at 11:00, but I was hardly feeling chipper. Unfortunately, the meet up was a bust as a birthday party for someone else was being held in the pre-arranged location which prevented a bunch of strangers from getting together. So I fed Spencer his lunch (thank goodness HIS appetite has returned, and easing him back into milk this weekend by combining regular and lactose-free has been successful) and played with him on the Meyer Park playground for about 45 minutes. By then he was beat and passed out for a nap on the ride home. I transferred him to the crib, crawled into my own bed, and didn't get out until 4:30 in the afternoon. Feeling nauseous is no fun at all. Things seems to have turned the corner this morning for me, thank goodness.

back to normal

Spencer ran a small fever and had gotten sick a few times over the weekend, but he seemed to have turned a corner by Monday/Tuesday, and now with mom back in NY, I thought for sure that on Wednesday everything was going to go "back to normal" around here. But instead, Spencer threw up all over himself when Jim was taking him to school. So they came back home where I watched him for most of the morning and Jim did duty in the afternoon. I felt frustrated for forgetting we had encountered this pattern before a few months ago. The doctor had explained to us that often times a nasty stomach bug can shear off the ends of the villi in the stomach, and this is where lactase is stored. So, after the bug passes, the baby develops a temporary lactose intolerance and returning him to milk causes more diarrhea and vomiting. Sigh. Back off of milk again, and back on a diet to help bind things up. Spencer took three naps yesterday, and was not quite on top of his game, but did quite fine considering. So, today was another attempt at "back to normal." But after Jim and Spencer left, I discovered that our recently flaky high speed connection was out. For us, this means no internet and no phone, essentially rendering my home office worthless. Jim came back to the house to wait for the cable guy, while I dashed to the office to host meetings from there. We swapped again after lunchtime, and fortunately everything is working fine now (after I understand multiple cable guys were checking out screw ups all along our cul-du-sac.) Maybe tomorrow things will get back to normal...

not so little boys

Tonight I just couldn't stop the tears. Mom left this afternoon after a wonderful week here. I don't know why I can have infinite patience with my son, but not my mother. Our visit was great, but I know they can be even better if I learn to just chill out and stop trying to be a mom to everyone. This evening Spencer and I were singing and dancing together to a Raffi CD that mom had brought. As we were listening to "Puff the Magic Dragon," Spencer stood up by himself for the first time (in the middle of the room, without needing to pull up on any one of anything else) and it was exactly as the line "a dragon lives forever, but not so little boys" was sung. And the tears started streaming down my face as I think about the "infant" chapter in his life coming to a close. We'll move forward together with new and maturing relationships, but this part is gone forever and I am really beginning to understand how it can make a mom so, so sad that these days are behind us. Then my mind flashed to yesterday's Oprah with Nate Berkus recounting his experience in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. And I could only think about poor Nate crying and mourning the horrific loss of his partner who he watched, and felt, get carried away from him in the waters. His loss is permanent, but Spencer will continue to be a part of my life, just in a different way. Nonetheless, the tears just kept coming down my face as I tried to smile and keep singing along for my son.

WOW!

WOW!,
originally uploaded by Leachfamily.

Spencer has begun not only to do signs for certain things, but has started to add a little extra to them with facial expessions.

Da da?

Spencer does not seem to distinguish between Jim and me as parents and says "da da" to refer to both of us. It's a little deflating to be the first to arrive in his room in the morning and be greeted with a huge smile and "DA DA!" When I remind him that I am "ma ma" he easily repeats it, but so far he has yet to get it right the first time.

Momma?

Is this the cutest story ever or what???

I watched the premier of the new show Wickedly Perfect last night. Mainly because I heard a radio interview with Candace Bushnell earlier in the morning and learned she is also a Rice grad. Looks like the show will be "entertaining," and I really like how the website includes instructions and recipes for all of the projects

"All Done!"

It was cool to see the signing babies in "Meet the Fockers." Now perhaps folks will have a better idea of what our life is like with Spencer. He knows and uses about two dozen signs - including eat, drink, sleep, play, socks, shoes, and of course 'milk' which was signed many times during the movie! He is also saying more words for which he does not have signs. He can identify and say his favorite shape "oh-oh" (oval) and favorite color "puh-pull" (purple) and is working on a few more colors with help such as "deen" (green) and "boo" (blue) and "elllll" (yellow - which involves running his tongue back and forth across his upper lip!)

He definitely has a good handle on "all done" (both speaking and signing) and is able to generalize the concept very well. He announces "all done" when he has finished dinner, when he is ready to get out of the bath tub, and when he has turned the last page of a book and reached the end. This weekend while playing around he paused for a bit to grunt and poop in his diaper, and when the grunting stopped he looked at Jim and announced "all done!"

Today our usual Sunday outings to the Children's Museum and Niko Niko's were made a little bit more fun as we were joined by Tracy and Oriol and seven month old Aurelie. It was their first time to visit both the museum and the restaurant. Tracy was so impressed with all the museum had to offer she plans to get a family memebership so perhaps they will be joining us frequently in the future. Unfortunately we didn't bring out camera today, so no pics of cutie Aurelie. Maybe they'll get to play together next Sunday!

Happy New Year! We have enjoyed a long week off of work - even sending Spencer to school for most of the week to allow us time to do things for ourselves (like run errands and go to the movies!) On Thursday poor Spencer was sent home from school early with a fever, but fortunately it was gone by bedtime.

Spencer's signing and verbal vocabulary continues to improve. We took a walk to the nearby duck pond today so Spencer could get a closer look and he has been saying "duck duck duck" and signing it all day. And yesterday at the grocery store he was so excited to see to many apples all in one place! I gave him one which he held with both hands (and did try to eat) while riding in the cart repeating "ah-pull."

Pics from today are in a new January album. And the December album has been updated with more pics found in the camera with Spencer wearing some of his new clothes and also enjoying opening a Hanukkah present from mom.

Yesterday we took Spencer to the movies and it turned out to be a huge success. He sat in a seat between us and stared in awe at the screen. About 15-20 minutes in, after a particularly loud and bright action scene (we saw The Incredibles) I looked over to see how Spencer was doing and he was actually nodding off! We laid him down across the seats in between us (cool that the armrests could lift up!) and he napped for about an hour. When he finally awoke, he was a bit disoriented and after identifying mommy and daddy right nearby, he then signed for us to turn on the lights! Sorry, Spencer! After a bottle he became a bit restless and wanted to walk around. Since there were only six other people in the entire theater besides us, it really wasn't too much of a problem to let him climb up and down the stairs on the sides for ten minutes until the movie ended. If we had known how well it was going to turn out, we would have picked a movie for us instead of for him!

Tonight we learned that Spencer knows a sheep says "baaa." We were reading one of his farm animal books together and he made the sound when we turned to the page with a sheep. I was quite surprised to hear this from him for the first time. It's cute to discover what he has picked up from us. Like this morning when Jim gave him an old phone to play with and he picked up the receiver and instantly put it up to his ear and said "hi!" He's such a little sponge!

Why don't we have any cool stuff like stroller skating in Houston? I think our YMCA is about to start holding some type of Strollercize classes early next year. I'll have to check into that a bit, but I think if we make the trip to the gym, Spencer is either going to want to play in the childwatch area, or go swimming in the indoor pool.

BTW - turns out Spencer and Alessandria were the only two infants at school today, and they got to spend a bunch of time playing around and climbing on the bigger equipment down in the toddler room!

This week has been quite wonderful at school. A few infants are on vacation this week and there have only been four or five kids each day, which gives them plenty of attention! This morning was a bit lazy as Spencer slept in until 7:45 (that's the time he usually arrives at school for breakfast!) Even with our late start, he was only the second baby to arrive. His friend Alessandria was so happy to see him that she jumped up from crayoning and ran over to give him a great big hug. Spencer was delighted!

Spencer is saying a few words these days and it's just too cool! He can recognize an apple and say "ah-pull" and also recognizes the color purple and says "puh-pull." He recognizes pictures of cows, but when asked what sound they make, his response is "booooooo."

Our "Spencer and mommy" weekend is nearing its end. With Jim traveling to catch the Steelers game in NY, Spencer and I have had lots of fun together this weekend. On Saturday we had a play date to visit his former classmate Paul and mom Cara. Spencer enjoyed playing with some new toys, and especially enjoyed when their cat stopped by to visit. I was sitting with my back to the door when the cat entered the room, but I knew something was going on by the way Spencer's entire face changed when he saw it! He just gets so excited about animals!

In the evening we caught up with Heath and Kim and Chloe. Dinners together often pose a challenge, as Chloe's nap usually ends around 6:00 and Spencer goes for his pre-bedtime bath at 7:00. But with a bit of planning, and an exceptional waiter, Spencer and Chloe were able to visit, and more or less stay on schedule which made for a very pleasant and social evening.

I had invited no less than seven people to join Spencer and me on our trip to the Children's Museum this afternoon, but it ended up just being the two of us. We did meet up with a few familiar faces from recent visits, so that was kind of neat to learn some of the 'regulars.' He definitely recognized the gated entry to the Tot Spot and gets very excited when he realizes where we are!

Pics from our weekend have been added to the end of the December album.

I don't remember what prompted the train of thought, but yesterday I was thinking it would be cool to introduce Spencer to "Trout Fishing in America." Their music is so much fun and kid-friendly, and I remembered when I last saw them perform in Houston (about ten years ago) they had actually put on a kids' concert earlier that afternoon. So, I check their website and could not believe that they are playing in Houston tonight. Alas, it makes no difference really as it begins after Spencer's bedtime and there is no children's concert. Of course there are scheduled one for the kids in Austin and Dallas this weekend, but I don't think we'll be roadtripping for them. Perhaps things will align in 2005.

Spencer continues to amaze us each day. Last night at dinner he showed off new skills learned at school by drinking milk from a cup by himself. Not a sippy cup, an open cup (actually a 1 oz shot glass) that he held nicely with two hands and drank without too much mess. When it was emptied, he made the signs for "more," "milk," and then "drink." Holy cow!

Hanukkah has ended. Last year Spencer was just a tiny baby during the holiday, but this year he watched intently as we lit candles, and smiled while listening to the blessings being sung each night. Now that the holiday is over and gifts have been opened comes the additional fun part of going out and spending some Hanukkah gelt to buy things for ourselves. Extra bonus is that all of the stores are still advertising so many holiday specials. I think Spencer and I may hit the mall this weekend!

I forgot to mention that this weekend contained a few more big milestones for Spencer. Friday was the last day Spencer had formula - he's now switched over to cow's milk. Whoo hoo! And, this weekend Jim switched his car seat around to face forward. I think Spencer really enjoys being able to see us, and not just through the mirror. Our baby is growing up!

It's been a great weekend for the Leach family. Friday night Ronnee joined us for latkes, and later in the evening (after Spencer was in bed) Jim and I went out to a holiday party. We had a family outing on Saturday afternoon to get Spencer's his first 'real' haircut at Cool Cuts for Kids. Before you have kids, you really have no idea these kinds of places exist - it was just too cool. In the evening, the three of us were invited to a 'kid-friendly' holiday party. Spencer enjoyed playing with other little kids - at least for the 45 minutes he was awake before we put him down for the night! The transition back to his crib at home didn't go super-smooth, but he did ok.

This morning I had (what I thought was) a great idea to take advantage of our gorgeous weather and go on a family outing to the Houston Zoo. But it was really not all that great. Maybe I'm a bit jaded having had a wonderful trip to the famous San Diego Zoo with mom and Spencer at the end of the summer. Right now, he's not really keen enough to know the difference between a stationary turtle and a rock. And many of the animals were just not moving around. We thought seeing lions would be the high point of the visit, as "lion" is currently Spencer's favorite sign to make. (It's too darn cute to watch him 'read' a book and make the sign for lion when he sees a picture on the page.) But, although Spencer did enjoy staring at the large, lazy lions, he chose that moment to make the sign for elephant for the first time. Hmmm. We cut our trip short, and bought Spencer over to the Children's Museum for about 45 minutes. (It's great being a member to run in like that for a short visit when we're nearby.) An early dinner at Niko Niko's rounded out the day for us, and Spencer promptly passed out in his car seat on the ride home. But not before thoroughly enjoying his feast of pita, gyro meat, tomato, feta cheese and Greek olives.

Here are some pics from our weekend.

Yesterday I was so frustrated I felt like crying. It was of those days when I can not stand living in Texas, in the Bible Belt. We needed more Hanukkah candles, and as our temple isn't close by, and I searched closer to home for them. I had to go to a dozen stores, and had more than a few employees look at me like I was from another planet. Discounters like Targer & WalMart, pharmacies, craft stores, dollar stores, grocery stores... I was met with "hanukkah candles? what are those? we don't sell them." The quest was a blur, but one that stands out was after walking up and down the fourteen aisles of Christmas 'stuff' in Hobby Lobby, I finally asked an employee if the Hanukkah stuff was in a different location and he replied "we don't carry anything for Hanukkah." Great.

But, I finally did find a place to buy candles. In my grocery store, not in the seasonal section, but in an aisle right next to matzoh ball soup mix. Good grief. (I bought three boxes so I don't have to do this again for a long time!)

Spencer is walking! Over the past few weeks he's take a step or two here and there as he lets go of one object on his way to 'falling' to grab another. But last night Jim and I watched him walk upright and take about three steps very steadily. Wow! And to prove it wasn't a fluke, or that we weren't imagining things, he walked again today at school. One of the teachers wrote a kind note to us to let us know that today was a very special day and how proud they are of him!

Poor mom. She missed Spencer's first crawl by less than 24 hours back in August, and departed Houston just two days before this milestone. I'm pleasantly surprised that we have witnessed so many of Spencer's "firsts" ourselves. I've been looked down upon by some friends who stay home about how sad it is that we should expect to miss these events because Spencer is in school all day. Yet in 2004 Jim and I witnessed his first rollover, his first crawl, and now his first true steps.

It has been a BUSY few days. Spencer is now one!!! Wow. Our little guy is growing up fast, he's one of the 'big kids' at school now and loves to imitate the older ones. This morning Jim caught him playing peek-a-boo behind a low curtain with a 16 month-old. Too cute.

Spencer birthday weekend was a blast. Mom arrived Thursday and we spent a chunk of time on Friday at the Children's Museum. After our tour of the ones (sort of) nearby her in Manhattan and Norwalk, CT, it was nice to enjoy the wonderful one here in Houston. Ellen arrival from Ft. Worth was very welcomed - teaching Jim and I to play Mah Jongg and helping to prepare food for the big day. Lots of Jim's family showed up for Spencer's birthday bash, along with a couple of Spencer's little friends and their parents. Our little guy now has quite a supply of awesome toys & puzzles & books, and some styling clothes. Jim and I were beat by the end of the afternoon, but we managed to get another round of energy to go to Jack & Lori's infamous holiday party which we missed last year. (Due to being discharged from the hospital after delivering Spencer about the time things were kicking off!) By the time everyone left town on Monday, we were completely spent. Here are some pictures from his birthday party.

All of the excitement left no downtime before Hanukkah got underway last night! Spencer got to 'light' his PBK menorah, and left the actual fire for us. Which reminded me that I forgot to ask mom to bring candles down with her - as they are readily available even in the grocery stores in NY, but I always have a ridiculously tough time finding them here. I think we have enough to allow me two more days of searching before we run out of some leftover from last year. Here are some Hanukkah pics of Spencer opening presents, our menorahs, and my handsome husband and son.

Oh my goodness! I can't believe that Ken Jennings is no longer the champ! We've been watching him every night since the new season began this fall. What an impressive run! Yesterday was quirky to recognize a classmate from Rice as a competitor, but today really left me in shock.

Saturday was a wonderful surprise visit with my cousin Michael for a few hours. He is performing this week on the Grand Princess cruise, which departs out of Galveston. During our Philly trip in July, we only overlapped with him for about 15 minutes, so it was great to spend more time together during his short time in Houston. A few pictures have been added to the end of the November photo album.

We took an afternoon walk to the park and on the way we passed an extended family also out for a walk, including kids and dogs. Spencer enjoyed seeing the two puppies (obviously!) and even did the sign for dog before we said anything!

I love Thanksgiving. After so much crummy weather recently, today was simply gorgeous here in Houston. This morning Spencer and I danced around to the Elvis songs performed in the Macy's parade. He thought it was so much fun! In the afternoon, we went to Katie's to join her and her family and other friends for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Although the oil wouldn't cooperate for frying the turkey, we still had a delicious dinner with all of the traditional side dishes.

Today was Mitzvah Day. "Mitzvah" is a Hebrew word which roughly translates as "good deed" and today's citywide event, proudly coordinated by our temple, included a huge collection of volunteer projects. As time was short for us today, Jim and I 'took turns' participating. This morning Jim went to the temple to give blood, and brought bags full of clothing with him where other volunteers sorted it for donation. In the afternoon, Spencer and I headed over to Seven Acres - an assisted living center for Jewish seniors. Knowing what a hit Spencer is when we visit (my)grandma in NY, we thought this would be a perfect fit. Folks were delighted to see a baby, and Spencer brought big smiles to many faces. It was cute watching him crawl around and pull on the walkers and wheelchairs! He was so beat after our time there that he actually took a third nap on our ride home!

Today, again, Spencer took another midday nap for two hours and forty minutes. Holy cow. I don't let myself get too excited about this being the possibility of a new pattern emerging. Today was probably just attributed to the tryptophan in the turkey meal they served today. Spencer's 'report card' indicated the following about his meals today: breakfast (TWO bran muffins and pear) and lunch (LOVED lunch!)

The other night Spencer and I were playing and I asked him if he wanted me to take off his shoes. I repeated 'shoes' a few times and also signed it to him. He responded by bending over and touching his shoes. I wanted Spencer to show off his comprehension of this word at school, and when I picked him up yesterday I asked him (verbally) to show the teachers his shoes. Well, instead of touching them, he SIGNED the word shoes, which was pretty cool! They said he had crawled up to them that day, made a few motions with his hands, and then crawled away. They were desperate to know what he had 'said.'

Yesterday was a big day. Spencer took a nap for TWO HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES! This is a guy who normally naps so predictably for 35 minutes you could set your watch. As he has matured, he has gone from 3 naps, to 2-3, to 2, to 1-2 where we are right now. But until very recently, the length of his nap has remained unchanged. Occassionally, only within the last four to six weeks, on those one nap days he pulls a 'double' and stays down for about an hour and a quarter. But nearly three hours just sounds ridiculous to us! We've read it's around their first birthday when kids settle in to just one nap a day. Could we finally be approaching that point? While it makes the weekends tough with very little downtime Jim and I have no complaints about sleep as Spencer is wonderful sleeping long hours overnight.

Spencer signed to me this morning! We had been up and playing for about an hour when I thought to myself, “it must be time for Spencer to have breakfast pretty soon.” I looked at the clock and confirmed it was indeed time to feed him. When I looked back at Spencer he was staring at me, and then he did the sign for ‘eat!’ Wow! (His variation is fist to the mouth, instead of just fingertips, but it was loud and clear.) What a smart dude! And, later on in the morning, Jim said Spencer started crawling towards the kitchen, turned back to look at him and made the sign for ‘drink.’ (He has adapted that one to be index finger to the mouth, instead of thumb, but also clear.) I guess it’s no surprise some of Spencer’s early signs are driven by his belly!

Tonight Spencer had his first taste of TexMex. We made plans to go to Pappasito's this evening, to be a part of their birthday celebration and pick up a commemorative margarita glass. Something we've made a point to do for the last six years. Spencer was behaving so well and eating his dinner nicely, that we complemented his meal from home with some rice and beans. He LOVED them (especially the beans!) and even started doing a happy dance while eating. It was a great finale to a fun family outing to the Children's Museum this afternoon.

A November photo album has been started.

Spencer reminded me this evening that I omitted a few words from his vocabulary review earlier. He was so exited about his dinner tonight (some goldfish as an 'appetizer,' followed by some leftover lasagna, and kiwi for dessert) that he kept shoveling fistfuls of food into his mouth, forgetting about chewing and swallowing. I finally had to remind him "Spencer - chew!" and he did indeed stop and move his jaw open and closed to show me he was chewing. He didn't really get the concept that it was supposed to help mash the food, I think he just thought it was a game of opening and closing his mouth at the table. Nonetheless, he got a lot of practice as he was reminded "chew!" many times during the meal!

I also forgot to mention that he has now truly mastered "uh oh." Sort of. He thinks that is what you say when things fall to the ground, no matter if it was an accident or intentional. Not so funny to watch him deliberately pick up an object, drop it, and say "uh oh." But it is funny if that object is something like a Cheerio, and it is still stuck to his palm and hasn't actually even fallen down when he says those words.

Spencer has so many new tricks these days. He predictably responds to a request for a kiss, or asking him to clap his hands. He also claps for himself to celebrate accomplishments like getting a shape to fit through the correct slot in his jumbo shape sorter. He is very good at flipping off the light switch when we leave a room. (Turning on is trickier for him.) Jim has taught him how to safely dismount from the sofa or the bed, by turning onto his tummy and sliding his feet off until they hit the floor. (Then he sometimes claps for himself and falls because he can't stay standing up without holding on for supprt!)

Spencer now understands many words and their signs, including: light, stars, shoes, socks, bath, eat, drink and diaper. So far, the only signs he has voluntarily made back to us are light and bath. We've been using the book Baby Signs which my cousin Hedy gave as a gift when Spencer was born. We read that getting started can take months, so we keep trying.

It's been a good birthday weekend. Lots of calls & e-cards from friends and family, and great gifts like a day of Spa pampering (from my sweetie & baby) and a Mah Jongg set (from mom.) Jim and I had an 'adult' dinner out without Spencer last night (far cry from our 5:00 reservations on Saturday night when we went out with friends from Spencer's school!) And celebration continued into today as Carol made a birthday dinner and cake. It was such a wonderful evening as Spencer and I joined Carol & Brian and Kim & Chloe. Usually I meet the girls for lunch sans Spencer, so it was nice for all three of the little ones to get to play together for a change.

Spencer got a haircut last night. It's been in his eyes and over his ears, so last night I gave him a trim. Next time, I think we'll take him somewhere to get it done. Check it out - Spencer's a big boy now!

Jim and I voted this morning, we hope everyone else has too.

A great Halloween weekend finished up today with a trip to the Children's Museum of Houston. Rebecca and eight month-old Brianna joined us today. I was not aware that this was truly THE place to be for kids on Halloween. It was so much fun (for the adults!) to watch the little kids play around in costume. Spencer's costumer was a big hit, and he seemed to be having a great time. Pics added to the Halloween album.

Tonight we dressed Spencer up again and went to visit a couple of neighbors to show him off. He definitely seemed a bit confused to still be awake. Even though we've been working this week to slide everything later, poor guy was a little over-tired, and the trick-o-treaters continuing to make noise after he was in the crib did not make for a good night. Poor guy CRIED so much. He's sleeping now, but Halloween aligning with the first bedtime following the end of daylight savings was not a good thing.

Yesterday afternoon was the Halloween carnival at Spencer's school and he was such a hit! Parents we didn't even know were checking him out and taking pictures. Spencer's classmate Nico was an adorable little dragon. And former classmates Hannah and Alexa (now in the toddler room) looked fabulous too! After Spencer was in bed last night, Jim put his artistics talents to the test and carved an incredible Jack-o-lantern, or, should I say Spencer-o-lantern! Pics have been added to the Halloween album.

For those of you that have asked about Spencer's Halloween costume, here it is. If you think about it, Spencer's body was made for this. Bonnie did a great job making this from scratch too...

Tonight I was back on the ice and scored my first goal since Spencer was born. It felt sooooo good! It made me realize that most of the time when I feel good about myself lately, it's because I've done something good for Spencer. But tonight was a great feeling of accomplishment and it had nothing to do with him. It felt good.

So many huge things have happened since the last blog entry:

• Jim and I had some wonderful time to reconnect without Spencer. We went out for a romantic anniversary dinner where we were married and it was soooo delicious. And, then we got away for an overnight with Karl & Heather to their country house in Barryville. (My first small plane ride in a couple of years.) We've both had occasions to be away in the evening when the other one would put Spencer to bed, but this was the first time for me to wake up without Spencer. It felt odd. It was also the first time in a year and a half I had more than half a glass of wine and that also felt odd the next morning. (Not in a good way.) It's possible, however, we were a little off from helping to plant over 500 bulbs Heather had ordered.


• We returned to Houston where I discovered that Jim had installed a hardwood floor in the study during the days Spencer and I were in NY without him! He had completely cleaned it out and re-organized the whole room top to bottom. Kind of like While You Were Out and Clean Sweep all in one. It rocks!


• Spencer cut his fourth tooth.


• Spencer cut his fifth tooth.


• Mom taught Spencer to smack his lips and give kisses on verbal request (not just by mimicking.)


• Mom taught Spencer to say "Mmmmm" after taking a bite of food. Very cute!


• Spencer said his first intelligible, spontaneous word! I'm not sure if that's a developmental milestone to say something on his own (rather than just trying to repeat stuff back) but it seemed pretty darn cool to me. We were driving to school yesterday, and Spencer was happily sitting in the back seat and banging two blocks together. I heard one of the blocks tumble down, and then I heard Spencer say "uh-oh!"

I omitted the fact that the Children's Museum of Manhattan was actually pretty lame for tots Spencer's age. I think our photos capture almost everything there was to do. Today's outing was completely different. We drove out to Norwalk, CT to spend some time at Stepping Stones Museum for Children and it was wonderful! It's not as large as our Children's Museum in Houston, but I would say it is equally nice and Spencer had so much fun. I would definitely like to bring Spencer back during future visits when he's a little older. They had a super cool water play zone that looked really fun! Pictures from the museum have been added to the end of the new October in NY album.

Nasty traffic on the ride back to NY prevented us from squeezing in a visit with Amy and Zachary this afternoon, but perhaps they'll swing by to say hi tomorrow when Jim is here too. I bet Spencer will go berzerk when he sees his daddy!

October in NY is beautiful. Yesterday Spencer took his morning nap in the stroller as we walked to the Chappaqua library for story time. Great Grandma Evelyn joined us for dinner and she just couldn't get over how mobile Spencer has become! Today we visited with my pop for the afternoon while we and ate lunch and played at his house. Spencer had a blast meeting little Gabrielle (toy poodle) and playing with toys. Tonight was another first for Spencer - his first taste of Grandma Eileen's chicken soup! Yum. More pics from that past couple of days have been added to the album for this trip.

Although we've made several trips to NY before with Spencer, today was his first visit to the city. We walked around the upper west side - starting with brunch at Josie's, then the Children's Museum of Manhattan (did not have as much toddler stuff as our Children's Museum in Houston) and then a successful bit of shopping at Crafts on Columbus. We passed back and forth by Karl and Heather's apartment about five times, but unfortunately they were out of town and could not join us. Here are some pictures from our trip so far.

I haven't blogged about this much yet, but the last week at Spencer's school has been quite stressful. Both the morning and afternoon head teachers in the infant room were out for a few days to tend to personal matters, and the staff backfilling their spots hardly came close. Jim and I have been incredibly frustrated and stressed over the situation, to the point where we went and looked at other schools to know what our options are if we decided to pull Spencer out. I've been talking on the phone to other parents at Spencer's school, and the school that would be the most likely place we would move him to. I learned that other parents at Spencer's school are also quite unhappy and have also been talking to the administrator on a regular basis. I also spoke to a parent at his school who did actually pull her two children out last year, and brought them back within three months. She said that despite some of the frustrations, the school's education is top notch. (Explained that her son had already learned two digit addition, but the school the moved him to wasn't going to be covering that until next year.) In the 11th hour, I found out from the administrator that they have just hired a new full time teacher for the infant room. The current head teacher in Spencer's room (whom Jim and I think extremely highly of) said this person is fabulous, and is very much looking forward to working with her. So, for now at least, we'll keep Spencer where he is and see how this plays out.

Spencer and I had a nice break from this headache with a trip to the Oil Ranch. We went with a huge group of mommies (from my monthly Mommies Night Out dinners) and their little ones. It was wonderful. Spencer was too little to appreciate all it had to offer, but he really did enjoy himself and is always happy to get close to animals. Here are some pics from the outing.

Now we're in NY. Spencer (thankfully) was a great traveler today. He took an extra long nap (!) on the plane which gave me a chance to eat and relax. Traveling solo with a little one is tough. We drove straight to grandma's for dinner so she could show him off to all of her friends. Man, did Spencer ever ham it up! He smiled at everyone, and clapped hands on request, and did his famous 'dancing' by swinging his head all around. It was pricess watching him pull up to a standing position holding on to grandma's walker. Ha!

I've thought about blogging almost every day, but we've been so busy somehow a whole week slipped by! Spencer was home with me most of last week due to his diarrhea. I'm happy to say that things are much better in the diaper now, and this weekend he finally got his appetite back too! After six days of messiness, we went to the Dr. just to make sure there wasn't something else we were missing. He confirmed Spencer seemed fine, and after getting a flu shot, we dropped Spencer back at school.

This weekend we all went to the Greek Festival on Saturday. Spencer got to enjoy some music and dancing, while Jim and I enjoyed the fabulous food - especially the baklava and kourambiedes! Since we were nearby, we drove over to the Children's Museum so Spencer could do as he pleased for a couple of hours before we went to Brian's first birthday party that evening. I can't believe his little buddy is one year old! That means Spencer's birthday is not too far off, oh my. Ronnee came by on Sunday to spoil her nephew with clothes & toys, and hug & kisses.

Speaking of celebrations, Jim and I celebrated our second anniversary last week. He was so sweet in secretly planning an evening out without Spencer (dinner at Americas - yum!) plus gorgeous flower and chic new clothes to wear for the occasion! It was also sweet for others to also acknowledge our special day - we received cards from my mom and Audra, plus online wishes from Kim and Bari. Last year our anniversary was a bummer for many reason (I was big & pregnant, it was Yom Kippur, and Jim had to go in to the office for an hour before services to lay off an employee) so it was nice to truly have a day to just focus on us and reminisce about our awesome wedding. For an anniversary gift, my mom is treating us to dinner at Bernard's Inn at Ridgefield where we got married. I can't wait for that meal!

Spencer seems to be learning new tricks almost every week. He has mastered crawling and pulling up, and dancing is no longer quite so risky. He has figured out how to clap (especially during diaper changes, not sure why,) how to wave hi (although he usually does it 'backwards' and waves at himself!) how to turn off a light switch, and how to open dresser drawers. I realized last week that this is something he practices at school. They tell us that he stays 'very busy' all day. Montessori schools use the term 'work' to refer to the different learning toys that are used from infant through primary classrooms. One day a couple of weeks ago we brought Spencer to school before breakfast (we usually feed him at home, but our schedules were tight that day) and the head teacher commented "it's a good thing Spencer came to school early today because he just had so much work to do!"

A new October photo album has been started.

After having a baby, you find that poop is a common topic of discussion. Well, Spencer has diarrhea, and it's pretty bad. It came on strong Saturday morning, with about eight or nine diaper changes already by noon that day. And, we experienced our first real bout with diaper rash. Yeah, his tush has been red before a few times, but one application of cream and it was gone by the next change. This was different: he CRIED every time he had to be wiped and it was horrible. Except for the diaper area, he was happy and playful, as if nothing else was wrong. We pumped pedialyte in him, and by Sunday morning his poop had improved to 'sticky.' So, thinking we had turned the corner, Spencer and I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the Children's Museum with Carol and Brian. Another sticky poop diaper change at the museum was a relief. But last night it was back to watery. And, I won't go into details, but just know that Spencer got a bath at 5:00 this morning. We wondered what to do about school today. Do we send him or not? He was perfectly happy, but kept filling up icky diapers. We decided Jim would bring Spencer and the pedialyte to school and let them know to check frequently. Jim IM'ed after dropping Spencer off that "3 diarrhea diapers in a row = go home, and don't bring him back until it's gone!" Good grief, I thought. He had already gone through three diapers before leaving the house! Miraculously, Spencer managed to hold out until 12:30 this afternoon before his third at school. So, he came home and my work day ended around 1:30, with a brief break to run a meeting during his 30 minute nap from 3:00 to 3:30. Tonight was no better, poop-wise, and I'm wondering about tomorrow. Right now, I am thinking that we'll just run some errands and perhaps check out story hour at Barnes & Noble. I feel like it would be playing hookey from work to be out and about, but the truth is I wouldn't be working at home, except during his two 30 minutes naps, so we might as well get some stuff accomplished instead of hanging out here all day. We'll just have to see. For now, he's sleeping soundly, and I hope tonight is better than last night.

Well, Spencer has yet to do his best moves on camera, but he will always dance to his favorite song... The Theme to Sanford and Son... Don't ask! You can also see here that while he is still bops along without regard for his own safety, he has learned some nifty recovery moves...

Tonight Spencer took dancing to a new level. Literally. He was up on his knees when Jim started up the tunes and he just 'stood' tall rocking back and forth.

I'm so proud of how the big guy has learned to eat his Cheerios so well! He used to get 1/10 in his mouth, and now I'd say it's more like 6/10! Most of the misses account for the fact that he still has to check his fist a few times between the tray and his mouth to make sure the Cheerio is still there. Sometimes, when he sees it still stuck in his hand, he uses the other hand to help the first hand maneuver it into the mouth. Very clever guy. Sometimes the Cheerio falls out during the check. It's a bit painful to watch: yes, Spencer, you did have the Cheerio until you opened up your hand and let it fall to the floor.

Spencer had a little dancing accident this evening. He was sitting down and bopping back and forth to the music like he loves to do. Apparently he got so excited, that he rocked a little too far back, and toppled backwards landing flat on his back. He was on the carpet, but the poor baby cried and cried. It took a lot of hugs and kisses before he was able to continue enjoying the music.

Another Yom Kippur has come and gone. While we were at services, Spencer was happy to be able spend the day with Ms. Tatiana at temple again, and she was equally happy to see him! I guess they won't get to visit again until next year. We are happy that Spencer will be learning at a Montessori school, but it is frustrating that we don't live closer to our temple. They have a wonderful school, but it would mean an extra two hours in the car each morning and afternoon, and that just does not fair to us or to Spencer right now.

Today Spencer and I visited with Jen, Emma (2 1/2) and Jacob (10 months.) We walked to the Children's Museum and it was the BEST! Omigoodness! Even though it's a bit of a trip from our house, I am definitely signing us up for a family membership. That place is just too perfect for Spencer right now and I hope we'll be able to go down there a few times a month over the next year or so. Here are some new pictures of Spencer having fun today at the museum.

Spencer and I did some dancing last night! I wanted to see what he really enjoyed, and I decided that with 80+ music channels at our disposal through Directv, we could figure it out. First attempt was showtunes. He was instantly pleased with music, but the song was a little too slow moving, (I think.) So, then we moved to a Big Band channel. Instantly, he could feel the charge of the music and the big brass sounds coming from the television. After a little while, I switched to a Golden Oldies channel. There was an Elvis song which had just started ("I Need Your Love Tonight") and Spencer just could not keep still! He was bouncing and shaking all over the place with a HUGE smile! He thought Elvis was simply the greatest! I know that (my) pop will be very proud to hear how much Spencer enjoys 'his' music!

Spencer's got rhythm! (Quit laughing, Audra!) And it is too cute for words! He has always enjoyed music and singing, but this week he took it to the next level. While Spencer was sitting down playing with one of his favorite musical toys, he suddenly started rocking back and forth in time to the music with a huge smile on his face! The music stopped, and so did he. And when it began again, he resumed rocking and smiling! His teachers at school have commented on his new favorite activity. He just loves to dance!

Spencer's top two teeth are breaking through the gums, and he's been a bit uncomfortable this weekend, but over all it's been a good one. On Saturday, Spencer entertained many visitors - Katie, her mom and future sister-in-law came for brunch. Pat was so delighted to finally meet Spencer and enjoyed feeding him lunch. Later in the afternoon Heath, Kim & Chloe stopped in for a visit. It's been a while since Chloe and Spencer have been able to 'play' together. Today our family of three went to the subdivision park for a (very) short trip, as it is still in the 90's here. Some pics from our weekend have been added to the end of the September album.

Yesterday was a big day as the three of us went to temple together for the first time as a family for Rosh Hashanah services. Actually, that's not quite true. Spencer spent the time with other little kids in one of the day school classrooms while we were in the sanctuary. Our temple membership is enormous, and yet we always manage to run in to people we know: yesterday we were able to wave hi to Spencer's pediatrician seated just a few rows away. When we returned to pick him up after services concluded, Spencer was peacefully sleeping on one of the teacher's laps! They said he was a delight (we know) and ate all of his lunch (no big surprise!) It makes us glad to know that going to school has certainly helped him get accustomed to socializing with kids and adults. (Just put him on a colorful mat with some toys and he's a happy camper!)

With Spencer continuing his nap in the stroller, we walked over to the Zoll's afterwards to join their family and friends for lunch. There were so many babies! Jen had made the trip in from Zurich with 10 month old Jacob and 2 1/2 year old Emma, and we also met Michelle's 8 month old daughter Lindsay who was just as cute as could be! Last time we saw each other (last Rosh Hashanah) we were both quite pregnant. It was great to be able to show off Spencer to everyone, especially with him on his best behavior!

Spencer is done nursing, and it truly is bittersweet. It's been a long, hard road. We managed to hit the first six and half months exclusive, before starting a gradual transition to formula. I had heard horror stories about pain associated with weaning, but tapering down over the past few months helped to avoid that. And now we're done. And it feels weird. And sad. And part of me is definitely happy - I look forward to the hormone levels in my body evening out, and to really focusing on getting my body back in shape, and having a drink would be nice too. There was a great opportunity to celebrate my first drink in a loooong time at Mommy's Night last week, but it had only been a couple of days since we stopped and I still hadn't fully admitted to myself that it was really over. The other week at Carol's we discussed with friends that being a nursing mom really enters you into a 'club' - that there are things that just can not be understood by someone who has not walked in these shoes. The struggle during the first several weeks to hit a groove together with your baby, the frustration of not knowing how much milk your baby is getting, the excruciating pain of needing to nurse, and the woeful feeling that you only exist to feed your baby. I surely don't miss those emotions, but I did find it tremendously rewarding to see Spencer gain weight and thrive on what I was able to provide for him.

Until Spencer arrived, I didn't really understand what it meant to have your happiness so tightly tied to someone else's well-being. Today I am in the best mood after learning this morning that one of Spencer's teachers is no longer working at the school. We didn't like her style very much, and we really didn't like the fact that her daughter was in the infant classroom with her as well. (Yes, there is a rule against this, but the toddler room was full, so they were making an exception.) The poor 18 month old daughter could not understand why her mom, who had stayed home with her up until this point, suddenly had to pay attention to other kids. The little girl cried a lot, which created additional frustration for the mom, and took attention away from the other kids. Although Spencer didn't seem to mind (yet,) it bothered us, and now we are happy that situation no longer exists.

A new September album has been posted with pics from the first few days of this month.

Yesterday was Spencer's nine month well-baby visit. He weighs 23 lb 6 oz (85%) and is 29" long (75%.) He also received two immunizations, which he took like a champ, before disaster in the lab for routine blood work. Apparently, Spencer seems to have inherited my crummy veins instead of Jim's great ones. Poor baby SCREAMED for five minutes while they tried to draw blood from his arm. Then went to the other arm where he SCREAMED for another two minutes before they stopped trying. Finally, they had to do a finger stick and he SCREAMED some more while they squeezed the site to collect the blood. It really, really sucked. Spencer zonked out for a late nap on the ride home, but Jim and I were still a bit shaken.

Some people have said that they were unable to see the Spencer crawling video, so I am also posting it here as a flash video. Sorry for the relatively poor quality of the video in this format.

I have to confess, I've always thought of yoga as a kind of hippie activity. Now that I'm turning my focus towards getting my body back in shape, it seemed like a good way to ease back in to exercising. (Plus, what new mom couldn't use a little relaxation time in the day.) On Saturday, Spencer and I went to the Y for an early morning pilates stretch class. It was great. The stretches and strength moves were hard, 55 minutes flew by, and although I didn't really feel like I had just worked out, it did feel good. Well, jump ahead 24 hours and my muscles were SORE! Oh my! Pilates focuses on strengthing your core, and I felt like someone had kicked me just below the ribs and completely bruised that whole section. My calves felt like I had been climbing a few hundred stairs. By today I had recovered enough to venture back to the gym with Spencer to try a "yoga ball" class (yoga with one of those big resist-a-balls.) It was tough. Like Saturday, there were some times when I actually laughed out loud at the directions being given by the instructor - knowing there was no way I could push the stretch any further, or lift a leg off the ball, or continue holding the pose balancing on one hand.

One great part about the trip to the Y on Saturday was running in to Brett & Liana with 10 month old Brynna. We hadn't seen each other since we were both pregnant working out in the weight room last summer. It was so cute that our babies got to play together in the child watch area.

After Jim golfed with some hockey buds during the day, we all met up at the Furze's in the afternoon. Spencer thoroughly enjoyed their pool and their Golden Retrievers - giggling when they gave him kisses. I was so pleased he was in a great mood the whole time we were there. I know it will be harder to socialize when he's a toddler, so I'm just glad for the wonderful stage we're in right now.

Spencer has been mobile all week now. We have replaced all the outlet covers with child-safe ones, contained potential cord hazards (including building a wall,) attached a toilet lock and are getting ready to re-install the kitchen cabinet locks we removed (and saved!) when we moved in to the house.

Also this week, Spencer has figured out how to eat Cheerios. It's been tremendously entertaining to watch this learning curve. Even once he got better at picking them up, he still had lots of trouble figuring out how to release them into his mouth. His inital solution was to take the other hand and use it to help shove the hand with the Cheerio further in his mouth.

He seems to enjoy flipping toys upside down. Particularly his larger toys, like the Kick 'n Play bouncy (from Audra, Heidi, Kim, Katie & other Girls' Night friends) and the Musical Activity Walker (from a couple mom sees during her annual summer vacation to Quisisana.) The teachers at school say Spencer does the same thing there too - just too look for some kind of switch to play with. Ah, the offspring of two engineers...

For those that haven't had patience to flip through our entire online vacation album from San Diego, I just wanted to share this one pic of Spencer showing us that he really knows what it means to relax!

And here is some video of Spencer crawling we took last night - a mere 24 hours after his first attempt.

As much fun as we had in CA, Spencer was also happy to be back in Houston to see his old pals at school today. The morning head teacher had not seen Spencer for three weeks, as she had been on vacation to Spain immediately before we left town! I stopped in to visit at lunchtime (to drop off formula, since we left none at home!) and all of the teachers were commenting how he would be crawling pretty soon. We didn't have to wait long: when Jim picked him up at the end of the day, Spencer crawled to him! And he crawled some more tonight at home! He's going to be absolutely all over the place before the end of the week

Now we're back in Houston and time to wrap up the last bit of vacation blog. Friday we decided to take another recommendation from Rebecca on a "can't be missed" breakfast at Brockton Villa in La Jolla. We sampled their famous Coast Toast which was absolutely amazing! So much so, that on Saturday (mom's birthday!) we made the drive back there again for breakfast! Yum! I had hoped to connect with Nikki somewhere between San Diego and LA, but that didn't work out. We were able to catch up on the phone, and I learned that Jill, our wonderful freshman advisor from Rice, had a baby girl just six week ago. I contemplated making a long day trip to LA with Spencer to visit, but her parents were in town for the weekend. Saturday afternoon was the wedding, the reason for the trip to San Diego, and Spencer and I made a brief appearance at the outdoor reception to say hi. Then, suddenly it was Sunday again and time to return home. Where did the week go??? Oh yeah, I guess I can just look back at the 200 photos we took! Or, look at Spencer's tan! You can tell he's tan because the chubby creases around his wrists, elbows, ankles, etc. are still white!

Vacation continues to be wonderful, as it should be. Spencer has learned a new trick - he now can sit on the side of the pool and "jump" into the water. He thinks this is tremendously fun! He just loves the pool so much, it's great to be able to walk outside and take him swimming every day.

On the tourist front, yesterday we walked around Balboa Park and ate lunch at the famous Prado restaurant. We didn't think Spencer would be too interested in the local art exhibits, but we did go into the sciece museum. He thought the toddler area was fun, and especially enjoyed looking at himself in the funny mirror. He even sat quietly through an Imax!

Today was SeaWorld! I've never been to the one in San Antonio, and wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was fabulous! Far easier to navigate than the vastness of the zoo, and many more shows for entertainment as well. We made sure to check out the dolphins, shamu, the penguins and the sea lions. Spencer thought they were all great and enjoyed watching. One time when shamu jumped up out of the pool Spencer was a bit startled, but overall he was captivated. At the tide pool he was just fascinated getting to see the starfish up close, and grabbed hold of one of its legs pretty tightly!

More pics have been added to our San Diego vacation album.

Omigoodness. A week since posting – lots to catch up on. Quick recap from last week: Thursday was fabulous as I was able to spend a few hours with Audra during her return to Houston. We kicked butt at DSW (her more than me) and she was also able to enjoy some time together with Spencer too before heading off to hockey. Friday evening was the annual luau at Spencer’s school. We were able to swim and socialize with a few other parents before Spencer was rubbing his eyes and yawning, so we called it a night.

Now we’re in San Diego! On Saturday mom flew from NY through Houston so we could all be on the same plane together to California. Sunday was a day to get acclimated (as Spencer is still on Houston time and woke up at 5:30 that morning- ugh) and spend most of the day enjoying the great pool at our awesome hotel. We ate dinner in Old Town at Casa de Bandini where I had the most phenomenal meal ever – a shrimp dish in a cream sauce over rice served in half a pineapple. Yum! Yesterday morning we walked to Mission Bay Park after breakfast and Spencer giggled like crazy on the baby swings. For lunch we drove up to Del Mar to meet up with mom’s friend Terri. Terri’s son David is getting married on Saturday, which was the excuse for the vacation. In the evening, on a recommendation from Rebecca who used to live here, we had a delicious dinner at Mandarin House.

Today’s outing was to the San Diego Zoo. We had no problem getting there in time to hear “Welcome to the world-famous San Diego Zoo” when the gates opened at 9:00am. We started off with a guided bus tour, and then went back around to re-visit some of our favorites. I wasn’t sure if Spencer would be too young or not, but he was certainly intrigued by the animals. Not necessarily more or less interest than he showed in Terri’s Lab Beowulf the day before, but the animals did hold his attention. He was most pleased to see them up close at the petting zoo, inside the children’s zoo. Good thing those goats don’t mind getting their coats pulled by little kids because Spencer liked to grab on tight!

Pictures from San Diego have been published to a new ofoto album.

Unrelated, Spencer tried broccoli tonight for the first time. We laughed as he made a funny face, similar to his intial reaction with asparagus. I don't know if it was the taste or the texture which he was responding to. He did slowly open his mouth for more, although he didn't seem overjoyed. Then, after about 7 or 8 bites, he threw up. It wasn't pretty. Up came the broccoli, and the 'vegetable turkey dinner' which he had just finished. Thanks Janet for the super-awesome bib from Canada that caught everything in the pocket and made clean up a snap! No more new food introductions for a while...

I work from home almost exlusively now, only going in to the office a couple days a month. I was there today, and it was quite somber. I learned that Glen's final downturn was very quick, he had been at work as recently as two weeks ago. Geez. I feel awful that I will not be able to attend his funeral as we will be heading out of town this weekend. I hadn't mentioned that Glen was not an old guy - he was exactly the same age as I am.

Over the weekend, while Spencer and I were walking to the park, my thoughts drifted to my close friend Tracy. She plans to be spending a bunch of time in the upcoming months traveling across the country to be with her friend/co-worker who will be going through nasty chemo treatments (not her first) and has a poor prognosis. I then thought about my co-worker Glen who went through chemo last summer while I was pregnant. When I returned to work this spring, he told me that unfortunately it had not done the trick, and he was in the midst of a second round. I made a mental note during my walk to send him an email today and see how he's been doing. Sadly, instead I got a phone call saying that Glen passed away last night. I don't even know what to do with this news right now.

Our great weekend with a happy, happy Spencer continued into Sunday, and was capped off with a totally awesome visit to the Parkhill's late in the afternoon and evening. We thoroughly enjoyed getting the chance to relax together as a family and spend quality time with our friends. Before kids, Jim and I would get together with Bari and Blair every Tuesday night for dinner and to watch NYPD Blue. But somehow babies have gotten us out of that routine! Yesterday, the seven of us played in the pool for hours, which absolutely delighted Spencer. There are tons of great pictures added to the end of the ever-growing August photo album.

Developmentally, Spencer has hit some big milestones. He is now able to get from lying down to sitting up all by himself! He is so pleased, and so are we! He is up on all fours and rocking back and forth, but no forward locomotion just yet. As school, they tell us that it's right around the corner!

Spencer and I had a great day together today! We took advantage of the fabulous weather this morning (high 70's in August was delightful!) and walked to the park in our subdivision. He had so much fun swinging, sitting in the tunnel, and sliding down the slide! Pictures have been added to the end of the August photo album. We then took a trip out to visit Maggie while dropping off my skates for sharpening. She was so thrilled to see and hold Spencer after seeing his pictures in the locker room on Wednesday night. Our second stop was to visit Angela (one of Spencer's teachers at school) at CostCo. She was absolutely delighted to see Spencer and insisted that we send him to school with his adorable hat! After lunch (new food introduction = kiwi) and a nap, we went to the subdivision pool and enjoyed having it all to ourselves! Spencer was having so much fun that we stayed for an hour! Evening followed the usual sequence: dinner, playtime, bath, story and bed and he only fussed for one minute in his crib before going to sleep. Overall, it was a fabulous day for us.

Jim's big project that consumed his time today was working on building a wall to block Spencer's access to the back of the television.

I'm a little bit sore today, but it felt soooo good to lace up and get back on the ice last night! I can't believe that I had not skated at all since April of last year. This was also my first real aerobic activity of any kind since Spencer was born, and I was soooo tired out there. But it was a rush, and the new rink at Memorial City Mall was cool, as there were many 'fan' stopping by to watch the action. Although I've seen some of the folks during my 16 month hiatus from playing hockey, it felt great to be greeted with so many smiles and 'welcome backs.' I am definitely looking forward to getting my body back in shape, and getting my game back, at least whatever game I had...

Yesterday I stopped in at CostCo during lunchtime to pick up a few things and saw Dr. Mintz, the mohel who performed Spencer's circumcision at his Bris. Excitedly, I went over to him to say hi and show him recent pictures of Spencer. Sadly, he didn't have a recollection of the baby (who certainly looks nothing like he did at eight days of age!) and he didn't seem to clear on the details of who I was either. He confessed he's probably seen about 200 baby boys since then, so it's understandable, but it made me a bit disappointed nonetheless. I sent him a quick email from home later on, and attached a photo of Jim, Spencer and I along with him and Rabbi Walter from the Bris. He replied almost immediately saying that after leaving the store he did remember who I was, and was so glad I had said hi, and thanked me for sending photo. So I felt better.

At CostCo I picked up asparagus as part of our dinner, and steamed some separately which I pureed for Spencer. At first he wasn't sure what to think about the new taste (new fruits are always good, but new veggies can be interesting) but within a couple of bites he was opening wide for the next mouthful!

Over the weekend I finally got around to reading the weekly newsletter from Spencer's school. No mention of him in the classroom news this time, but it was next week's upcoming enrichment curriculum that held my attention this time: Biomes. "What the heck is a biome," I thought. It sounded vaguely familiar, perhaps something related to math, like a binomial? Then I scanned down to the related Show and Tell for next week which said "Bring a picture of a biome different from ours." Hmmm. OK, clearly not related to math. I gave up. I confess here publicly that I ended up having to do a web search to find out what exactly is a biome. It did all come back to me, but I don't think I've heard that word since learning about it in school. (Here is one link that gives a good basic definition.) I think/hope that Spencer may end up like that kid in Jerry McGuire by the time he's three.

This afternoon we went to Monique's to check out her awesome new kitchen. It was actually Spencer's second visit there, as we had brought our tiny bundle of joy to their housewarming party back in January. Today, healthy eight-month old Spencer was able to enjoy the pool with us and half a dozen kids who were friends of Grant and Zoe. I think this was (at least?) Spencer's fourth day in a row to go swimming. Backing up to Thursday which was water play at school, then Friday after work Carol & Brian came over and we went to the subdivision pool with the two babies. And yesterday we brought Spencer with us to the YMCA where he'll be starting up swim lessons next month. I'm so glad that he's reached this age at this time of year when we have access to so many swimming opportunities.

Spencer and Jim looked so cute dressed alike today that I just had to take some pictures before they went off to school/work. (Pics at the end of the August album.

Update on Spencer's sleeping, as it has now been two weeks since we have begun working with Spencer on the Ferber method. For the last four nights in a row, Spencer has gone to sleep with any crying or complaining. And he has stayed down all night, putting himself quietly back to sleep when he wakes up. Whoo hoo!

Yesterday I met Rebecca for lunch to catch up. Her two little boys are so sute, and will have a young brother or sister to play with in early 2005! And she also mentioned that their business NurturedFamily.com is continuing to grow and now has a gift registry. When we met up with Tracy and baby Aurelie last month, she just couldn't say enough good things about the Fuzzi Bunz she had bought from them!

Tonight we put shoes on Spencer for the first time. Kinda silly, since he can't even crawl yet. But Jim had read how it can be helpful for babies to get used to wearing shoes before they learn to walk. Spencer thought his little sandals were absolutely fascinating. Jim played around trying to hold him up and "help" him to take some steps, but Spencer was far more interested in checking out his feet up close. He tried to inspect the sandals while walking, while sitting, while eating... Check out some funny pics added to the August album.

OK, I guess it's a bit tedious to ramble on with daily updates on Spencer's sleep progress. To sum up, in the last four nights he has gone to sleep without any complaining twice, and one time only about 30 seconds of half-hearted cries. We are feeling quite good.

Since August is here, time for a new photo album! Yesterday afternoon Spencer played in his little pool from Grandma Eileen in our backyard. Rain was pending, but he was able to enjoy a nice half hour of goofing around before we came in for the evening.