Working on the Computer with Daddy

Christmas Excitement

First, look around at everything going on.


Next, be very happy!

Christmas Morning Montage

(with a bit of Christmas Eve, Eve so I can show off the pony)

Christmas Eve in Phoenix

First, Theo eats.
The, everyone else eats. Note that this will serve as our obligatory stiffly posed timer holiday photo shoot.
Theo relaxing with Grandpa Joe.

Christmas Eve, Eve

All the snow delayed our trip to Phoenix until Christmas Eve, so we spent the night before at my folks. Theo showed off his Christmas elf costume, and got his first Christmas pony.


The Elf.


The Pony.


Yes, ponies are very cool.

The First Ski Trip

Our Christmas trip to Arizona was postponed from the Sunday before Christmas to Christmas Eve, due to Seattle's traditional total inability to cope with any sort of winter storm. Fortunately we found out our flight was canceled before leaving for the airport, so we were able to dig the skis out of the basement and head outside.

Here we begin in front of the tomato, which is not looking so red-hot.
I was happy, and Theo was... well, bundled up.
Sara was happy too. Finally, a snowy Christmas for her.
Even when we got back she just wanted to look out at the snow. This meant Theo was interested in looking out at the snow as well.
Here's the view they had. Looks cozy to me, too.

Theo's First Walk in the Snow

When we first got outside, Theo seemed ambivalent.


But he soon was back to his happy self.


We made it over to the closed part of Union Street, where Theo saw his first sledding party.

Theo Socializing

Sara and Theo went to a Mom & Baby yoga class up on Capitol Hill a couple weeks ago. They had been going regularly, but Sara's return to work threw a wrench into the schedule. Here he is sizing up Miles, whose mom Jessie was also in the class. They seem to be quite friendly. We can't tell if that's an enormous drop of drool dangling from Theo's chin or not.

Almost Crawling 2: Theo vs. the Round Animals

Theo Almost Crawling, with Some Bonus Eating

Just Can't Get Enough of Great-Nana Campbell.

Two views. The first, giggling and engaged.



The second, wistful and contemplative.

Thanksgiving At Pruss's

Theo with Pam, Stacey's sister-in-law.

Diana trying to teach Theo how to knock things down.

Stacey and Theo.

The Other Side of Theo

We've recently been featuring active pictures of Theo: smiling, moving, playing with people. But he's also still an infant & spends most of his time crashed out. It's not as interesting, though still
very cute.

More Time with Great-Nana

Theo loves her for her shiny things ^H^H^H^H sense of humor.




Hey, Dad, look who I found!

Happy About Eating

We had some concern for a while that the high chair was going to turn into a place of sadness for Theo. But after adjusting it, and learning that anything tastes good if it's mixed with banana, he seems to have come around.

Great-Nana!

Theo and Kieran meet Great-Nana Campbell for the first time. Theo wishes the camera would leave him alone. Kieran's just flirting as usual.
Nana remembers what it's like to hold on to squirming infants.

Theo vs Banana

Late for Trick-or-Treating

I don't think Theo's sure if he's been tricked or not. But Nana and Grandpa are happy to see him.

Phht

Sound makes this better.

Peanut

Our Halloween costume.

Feet!

Theo's found his feet. I can't capture it in a photo, but in the movie below you can see that he gets them all the way to his mouth.

Wrestling the Caterpillar

Sara's friend Lydia made Theo a totally rad caterpillar that's over twice his size. Theo can still muscle it around pretty well, though.

Teeth!

A two-fer, also. They erupted around September 25th, Theo's 4-month doctor's appointment, but it's been very difficult to get a picture of them. Also, it wasn't until today that hit bit Grandpa with them for the first time.

Self-Service Dining

On the way home from Westport, I started letting Theo hold the bottle himself. He only sort of got it.


But by this morning, he was doing a much better job. He even sometimes seems to realize that he can tip the bottle up to get more milk.

Happy Baby

What a happy kid! He's started to laugh as well--maybe we'll be able to catch that on video one of these days.

Surfing Trip #1

A typical northwest surf picture: boards and pine needles.


Theo hanging out on top of the van with Sara.

The beach scene; Theo's sleeping in his tent.
See? Totally racked...

Theo Stares Down Orange Tire Man

Grrrr! Also, compare to this post, where it seems my adulation of his ability to raise his head was a bit premature.

Teeth

We haven't been skilled enough to get a picture of it yet, but Theo has cut his first teeth. The two lower front teeth broke through this week. It's hard to see them as he doesn't like to move his tongue out of the way, but they're easy to feel, and sharp.

Sleeping

I suppose I should make some notes about Theo's sleeping. For the past couple of weeks, Theo had been very good, going to bed between 7:30 and 8:30, and sleeping consistently all the way to 6:30 or 7. Then on Sunday night, just when we were getting comfortable congratulating ourselves on our parenting skills, Theo woke up twice during the night. We don't remember much, sort of a haze of nursing in bed, moving him back to the crib, and moving him back to the bed.

On Monday night he woke up at 1, and I spent 45 minutes calming him back to sleep in the rocking chair in the nursery and swinging him in the bassinet. Tuesday it was worse, with Theo waking up at 1:00, 3:30, and 5, as I mentioned below. I had dreams of writing out sheet music of Clementine that night. Sara nursed him the first two times; at 5 we let himself cry himself to sleep. It took to trips of swinging the bassinet, but it worked. This was the first time he'd gotten himself back to sleep while crying, so that's a milestone of sorts.

Tonight, he seemed to go to sleep after being put down in his crib at 7:30 or so, but by twenty minutes past 8 was up and crying again. I took two trips in between dinner courses trying to calm him down, but as soon as I'd leave, he'd start crying again (the late dinner was because of another first, my going out to do intervals on Madrona with John and Ben. The first workout since Theo).

Sara brought up the swing, and when I put him in it he was in a great mood, smiling, grabbing at my face, and playing with my lip. Very endearing, but not very sleepy. I couldn't stand to just leave him while he was so obviously enjoying my presence, so I hung out with him until his attention drifted off to the night light and the fascinating blank patches of wall he always seems to find. I slipped out of the room, and after an hour switched off the swing and moved him into the crib (actually, into the bassinet in the crib. A babassib, baby-bassinet-crib, analogous to a turducken). Will he sleep through the night? Our fingers are crossed.

Lineup

Sara's PEPS group. I just love the piles of babies. Can you pick out Theo?