Three Photos of Cosmo

Cosmo gets his first taste of rice cereal...















...thinks, "So this is that solid food everyone says is so great."














And enjoys an October-like morning at the lake (today).

Three Observations from Felix

Last night, Felix was playing with his sit 'n' spin before bedtime. I tried to lure him away with the promise of milk, but he wanted to sit 'n' spin AND drink his milk, too ("you have milk on sit and spin," or words to that effect). So he sat down on the toy and balanced his milk on the steering wheel.

Felix: It is kind of like a picnic lunch.

*****

Also, seeing his Utah relatives brushing their teeth all together clearly made an impression on him.

Felix: You are brushing teeth all by yourself, just like Oscar and Wilhelmina and Uncle Sean and Auntie Kirstin.

*****

This morning he (intentionally) spilled his milk on the floor.

Keir: All right, Felix. Breakfast's over. You're going to have to clean that up.
Felix: Clean up mighty ocean.

It was a pretty big spill, all right.

Oh, Look! He Can Hear Me!

Yesterday Cosmo had his first walk in the big-boy stroller. He's still kind of slumpy in it, but he's starting to really resent the other stroller, where he lies on his back--he tries to do situps the whole way. I didn't remember the camera yesterday, but I did today. (In fact, this may have been his third ride in said stroller. Historians take note.)


Also yesterday, we ran into two older ladies and had a near-repeat of a previous encounter:

1st Lady: Is that Cosmos?
Keir: Yes, this is CosmO.
2nd Lady: OH, HOW CUTE! IS HE SLEEPING?
Keir: Yep, he's all tuckered out.
2nd Lady: HE'S SUCH A GOOD SLEEPER! HE JUST LOOKS SO COMFORTABLE! OH, LOOK! HE CAN HEAR ME! HI, COSMO!
1st Lady: HELLO, COSMOS! HI THERE, SWEETIE!
Cosmo: Waaaaah!
2nd Lady: WE SCARED HIM! OKAY, BYE BYE!
1st Lady: BYE, COSMOS!

Catch up

We were drawing with markers recently. I walked away from the table for 30 seconds and came back to this: thank goodness they are the washable variety.


Most evenings after dinner we go for a walk. Recently a favorite destination is the rocks along Lake Michigan where we feed the young seagulls.Last week Keir and Cosmo made my week by visiting me at work. We went out to lunch then enjoyed some fresh air from my office's roof-top patio.

Finally, One Photo

Okay, I'm still behind on photos, but I can do this one one-handed, at least. From today's big trip to the dollar store:

More "Elbow Song"

We've been talking up the trip to Montana and Felix is starting to get excited. This evening we were playing his favorite game, "Daddy Slam":

Keir: Felix, you'll have to show Oscar how you jump.

Felix: Have to show Oscar how to jump.

*****

At bedtime, as I was tucking him in, he asked to sing "Elbow Song," and then, out of the blue:

Felix: Sing "Elbow Song" for Oscar and Wilhelmina.

*****

And last night, when we were telling him about all the people he was going to see in Montana, he interrupted our recital:

Felix: You love Grandma Nancy.

(Remember "you" means "I" still. I'm sure he didn't mean to slight the other grandparents, but Grandma Nancy was here most recently.)

*****

I just tried to add photos, but Blogger is acting glitchy. Tomorrow!

Potluck

Yesterday Cosmo and I continued our quest for air conditioning, visiting Marya downtown and then going to the Art Institute. I think my favorite places to keep cool (other than Marya's stylish workplace) are actually the buses. Nice and cool and the scenery keeps changing. Only received one piece of unsolicited advice: we hadn't even gotten off the bus yet and a woman told me I needed to put a hat on Cosmo because of the sun. I pointed out the umbrella next to his head. She went on a riff about how great it is that some men are finally stepping up and helping out--but I'm not sure she's willing to concede any of them are qualified.

*****

Cosmo is getting so strong, and is so interested in using all his limbs, that feeding time has come to resemble a wrestling match. Actually, it's more like trying to pump up a basketball while someone is dribbling it. Getting the nipple in his mouth is no guarantee that it will stay there, even when he's hungry. And he has no idea that he's being working against me, poor guy. When he achieves a momentary victory, it's very upsetting to both of us. But I have heard that milk baths are very good for the skin....

*****

Felix seems to come home singing a new song every day. "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "I'm a Little Teapot" have been supplemented by "Yankee Doodle" and "Frere Jacque" and "The Number Rock." And, after a long period of forbidding bedtime lullabies (Keir: "Felix, would you like me to sing a song?"; Felix: "No, no, no, nony nony nony no.") he now enjoys a song or three before drifting off to sleep. Our favorite is the "Hobo Song," which he calls the "Elbow Song." "Sing elbow song!" he commands. And, amazingly, he can sing all three verses along with us.

*****

Felix's joke-telling usually involves nonsense words, some of which can reduce him to helpless laughter when said back to him. "Pitty-pow" was the first one, then "smitter-smash" and its variant, "stitter-stash." The latest is "fizzy-fuzz." I know I'm forgetting a few....

*****

I'll try to post new photos later today.

File Under: You Can't Win

This morning, to escape our hot apartment, I packed a bag and climbed on a nice, cool, air-conditioned bus with Cosmo. We rode downtown, bought donuts, took them into my work, and enjoyed coffee with my colleagues in a nice, cool, air-conditioned break room. With one of said colleagues, we then went to lunch at a Thai restaurant (yep, air-conditioned). Cosmo seemed to enjoy it, even though I didn't give him any fish sauce. The Museum of Contemporary Art, my next planned air-conditioning stop, was closed, so we spent some time at Borders. I browsed a bit and also let Cosmo wiggle on the floor in a quiet corner.

Finally, we rode home on an express bus (nice and cool), which let us out at the top of our street. As I walked down Marine Drive, Cosmo's bare arms and legs wiggled outside the Baby Bjorn, and I held an umbrella over his head to shield him from the sun's brutal rays. It was definitely hot, but a fitful breeze kept it from being stultifyingly so.

Ahead of us, a woman stopped. With a sorrowful look on her face, and an Eastern European accent in her voice, she said, "Why do you bring the baby outside when it is so hot? It is very dangerous!"

Flirting, Seagulls, and Cicadas

Today I took Cosmo to the bank to open his savings account. The ladies there were fawning over him, and he was loving the attention. One of them said, "He's a flirt. He's going to be a real ladies' man. You're going to have to watch out in 16 years."

Which is funny, because on Monday, the guard at Felix's school said to him, "You better watch out. Eighteen years from now, I'm gonna look you up!"

I guess the age of consent is going down.

*****

Tonight we took Felix to the lake to feed the seagulls. It was a little scary for him at first, but then he liked it.

Felix: These guys are funny.

*****

Felix has been working on his bug identification. Tonight, when the first cicada started up, he said...

Felix: That bug is a cicada. That bug is loud.

A few days ago, however, he hadn't quite mastered it.

Felix: That bug is a quesadilla.

Laundry Day

Who says three-and-a-half months is too young to help out around the house?



As you can see, Cosmo was all tired out from doing laundry.

And Our Blood Ran Cold

Last night during our rooftop BBQ, Felix decided he was ready for a big challenge.


Felix: I can climb down building.

Overheard in the Living Room

As Felix takes the Miss Spider toy away from Cosmo:

Felix (chanting): You need to share. You need to share.

Outside Again

Cosmo was glad it finally stopped raining so we could go outside.


After this picture was taken, he promptly fell asleep.

Grandma Nancy's Visit

Grandma Nancy came to visit last Tuesday and stayed until Sunday. It was her first time meeting Cosmo. She dove right in...



...and got down to business. Well, baby business.

It was incredibly hot over the weekend. We went to the beach on Saturday, where Felix enjoyed shoveling water...

...and moving water from the lake to the beach.

Grandma Nancy was there to help him get the sand out of his ears.

Thanks for visiting, Grandma Nancy! See you again soon in Montana (with Grandpa Wolf, too)!

North Oaks

We had a great time visiting the Keys in North Oaks over the long Fourth of July weekend. Felix and Auntie Iris heard bells ringing...


...while Grandpa Dick got a lot of hands-on time with both of his grandsons...

...and Grandma Neva did, too.

We enjoyed a diverting trip to the Mall of America (now that's a mall), but the real theme of the weekend was water. Felix helped Grandpa Dick water the garden...

...and lolled on the shores of Pleasant Lake...

...before retiring to his own private pool.

After that, he needed to freshen up in the sprinkler.

Cosmo celebrated the Fourth by wrapping himself in the flag. And then eating it.

3-D Felix

"Everything is red and blue."

(Usually when he puts on sunglasses, he says, "Everything is orange"--not this time!)

More from our Minnesota trip soon. Keir is home with Cosmo!

And Oh Yeah

Usually at night when I'm tucking Felix in, we have the following exchange:

K: I love you. Do you love me?
F: Oh, good.

This is a condensed version of our old exchange:

K: I love you. Do you love me, too?
F: I love you, too.
K: Oh, good.

Which was only arrived at after some serious parental pressure:

K: I love you. Do you love me, too?
F: Yeah.
K: Say, "I love you, Daddy."
F: I love you, Daddy.

Hey, I gotta get it one way or another--when he's older I won't get it at all! Anyway, last night, Felix was tucked into bed, and I was heading out to get him a drink of water before making my usual demand for an avowal of affection. But Felix just came out with:

F: I love you, Daddy.

I think he missed me while I was gone. It was hard to make it to the kitchen on legs that twanged like heartstrings.

First Day of Leave

Today is my first day of family leave, and the stress of work is slowly starting to lift. The first step was taking Cosmo to Felix's school to watch the Fourth of July parade. It was very, very cute, and unfortunately I don't have pictures. I took a half dozen as the different classes were coming out, then noticed that my batteries were getting low, so turned off my camera to wait for Felix. After the first picture, the batteries died. I swapped them, took a picture, and those batteries died, too. (Forgot to charge them after New Orleans.) And just now I discovered to my chagrin that the camera didn't even have the juice to record either of the images.

We still had fun, but...argh!

The next step in achieving relaxation was watching Germany defeat Argentina after two overtimes. Cosmo seemed to enjoy it, and if I'm not mistaken, Germany's late equalizer was the first goal he ever saw scored. Aww....

Anyway, here's a picture I got before the batteries died, just to give you an idea of how cute the parade was.

Splashing Water

We had a great weekend with Grandma Neva. It started out on Saturday with lots of 'splashing water' at Millenium Park.

On Sunday we splashed in the rain all around the neighborhood
and played with Felix's new tricycle. He pushed it quite skillfully around the block before he was ready to get on it. He giggled with excitement as I pushed him along and his feet went around with the pedals. He'll be racing ahead of us in no time!

Today was my first day back to work, boo-hoo. But Cosmo is in great hands with Grandma Neva.He's not a wee baby anymore...
We miss you, Keir.

Past Tense

After waking up this morning, Felix was remembering yesterday's after-dinner excursion. For the first time, we believe, he demonstrated his understanding of the past tense:
"Last night you threw up your supper at Buttercup Playground."
We're still working on personal pronouns. Now, if only there was something we could do about that sensitive gag reflex...