Monthly Round Up!

I think I've hit a new record -- nearly a month without a post! Well, I've got some downtime this morning, plus today is Hank's 8th Month-iversary (8 months old at 1:49pm!) so there is no time like the present for a post. Right?

There have been so many things going on. Hopefully I can make a concise enough post that covers what Hank's been up to, lo these many weeks....

Developments

Hank is moving around like a maniac. He crawls -- LOVES to crawl! And he pulls up on everything, whether it is nailed down or not. He often gets up on his feet, stands all the way up, and then lets go of whatever was holding him up, and sometimes manages to stay standing for a few seconds before plopping on his behind. For several days when he was learning how to pull up he would fall over like a log and land on his head -- that sucked! I am much happier now that he has learned to land on him bottom (who would have thought that was something a person must learn? We're constantly amazed at everything Hank has to learn...).

My favorite part of Hank's new mobility is that he will crawl over to me on purpose and climb up into my lap for a quick snuggle. Melt! How much do I love this baby?

In the eating department, there is nothing this kid will not turn away, and he's getting more adventurous with each meal (or maybe his parents are just getting more adventurous with each meal? that is the more likely explanation.). In the last 48 hours Hank has sampled his first Indian, Mexican, and Thai foods, downed a huge dill pickle, enjoyed some grilled onions and fresh mozzerella, and a scrambled egg. He loves sitting in a high chair, and meals (in restaurants, especially) are highlights of his days. He loves to take the spoon away from us and shove it in his mouth himself, and his pincer grip skills are getting better by the day allowing us to give him more finger foods to experiment with. For the most part he only eats food that I made for him or that we are eating ourselves, and pretty much never gets any 'baby' food anymore. It is really amazing to watch!

Sleep has really been quite a mess the last several weeks. He was such a great sleeper at first, that we've been surprised. We decided to try crying-it-out, but that has just been so very sad to participate in. Some nights it seems to be working, in that bedtime takes less time, or he doesn't wake up for a feeding at 4 am, but the crying, the crying... it is heartbreaking to listen to. And to go in to his room to check on him, and to see him standing in his crib with his arms flung over the rail, howling and wailing and nearly asleep at the same time, and NOT BEING ABLE TO PICK HIM UP OR COMFORT HIM? It has really been horrible. We've been doing this for a week, now, and most nights I wind up in tears, too. Tonight we are going to start comforting him again, and hopefully undo some of the stress we've put him through. Poor baby -- he has no idea what's going on. We need sleep, but we need to find it a different way.

Other Happenings

• Starting Daycare

Hank started going to daycare two days a week about four weeks ago. He took to it like a fish to water. I'm glad we didn't have to start daycare for him until he was seven months old. I really think that he was truly ready to start when we did, ready to play with other kids and be in a different environment during the day. His daycare provider is very sweet and really good at managing a bunch of tiny kids at once. Hank has clearly been happy there -- every day when I come to pick him up he's in the middle of something he doesn't want to stop doing. On the first day he was in a pile of little tiny boys, and they were all rolling around on top of each other, like a pile of puppies. He was having a ball.

Of course, even though he's having fun while he's there, it is still very hard for me to walk away every morning and go to work. I just miss him, so! Fortunately the daycare is very close to my office. I haven't needed to visit in the middle of the day, yet, but I am glad that if I ever need to do so it will be easy to do.

• Haircut

Ok, Ok, so the grandmas will probably be happy to hear that we finally broke down and cut Hank's beautiful, beautiful, crazy hair last night. Sniff! Henry and I gave Hank a bath, and then Henry held onto Hank while I hacked off a few too-long locks with some extraordinarily dull safety scissors. I think I managed to salvage his rooster tail, but the sideburns are gone, and his bangs no longer touch the tip of his nose, rather they cut a crooked line across his forehead. Clearly I will not be going into business as a baby-hair dresser any time soon.... Hopefully it grows quickly. (and that people will stop asking me how old 'she' is).

Out and About

We've had some fun outings in the last couple of weeks. We've been the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco to take in the Chilhuly retrospective. The exhibit got panned in the Chronicle, but I loved it. Their reviewer doesn't seem to think this is art, but I think he is so incredibly wrong. No accounting for taste, I guess? Hank enjoyed the exhibit from a mei tai carrier on my back, and managed not to get close enough to anything to break it. (yikes)

This past weekend we somehow decided it would be a good idea to take a baby to the Crucible's Fire Arts Festival, a huge outdoor, late night, extravaganza of fire art. It was extremely loud and very crowded, yet somehow Hank slept through the entire thing. We saw some incredibly things, including giant tesla coils, and a fire tornado (made by aiming several huge shop fans at a flamethrower). We saw as much as we could, but we were all feeling pretty tired, and also pretty stressed about how Hank was handling the experience, so we packed it in early and went home to get the smell of butane and propane out of our systems.

I think that is it for now!