I’m sure that this wasn’t the first time, knowing him, but I caught Tristan having had rolled over today while I was wrapping Christmas stuff. Unfortunately, I didn’t see him in the act, but unless he teleported his butt over his head, he definitely rolled over. He’s been rolling from his back to his side in his crib at night (that he’s been sleeping in only a little bit worse than he did in the bassinet, by the way) but always woke up on his back. What he does is swing his legs, puntypaw-style, to get the momentum to flip up to his side. He hasn’t shown much aptitude for rolling or the like from his front yet – he still tries the Cobra yoga pose whenever he’s on his tummy.

Scratch that. I just saw him roll from his front to his side. And James, who is minding him while I pump, said that he’s been rolling in portions and he has some video of it. I suppose video is to be posted soon!

Lately Tristan has been showing off his interest in grabbing/grasping things. Of course, there’s hair, but he also can pick up toys and wave them around now. We finally started putting toys more in his reach after being reminded that babies should be grasping at his age, heh. The cutest and most punkass thing he’s been grabbing lately has been his bottle. He puts his little hands around it and holds it, but when I stop directing it, he aims it in any direction other than the proper one to be able to drink from it. I’m anxiously awaiting the point where he is able to hold and drink from his own bottle, mostly because I think it’s cuter than hell.

In other news, Tristan has become very attached to his daily sling rides and they are always the cure for a randomly fussy baby. We walked around the park today (the one in the center of the complex, for those of you who have been to visit) with Samurai, who stayed home from work today because James had a dentist appointment and for some reason, they don’t allow puppies in there. Said park walk perimeter is 1/3 mile, by the way. We met two other moms with babies – one with a 2-month-old in a stroller and another with a 15-month-old walking/running around and very interested in Samurai and the other dogs who were out. Seeing the 15-month-old makes me so eager to see Tristan that age – I know they’re easier to manage as little babies but I’d rather have the critter with a personality that will interact with me.

Oh, and I moved the crib into our bedroom. The screws didn’t seem to be loose or lack integrity, so I’m not too worried. We still have to put the mattress and bedding back in, so he can actually SLEEP in the thing, but we’ll do that soon enough. I’m highly considering purchasing a plastic wrap for the mattress, as there is a lot of speculation that toxic gases are the cause of crib death and the wraps prevent this. It’s likely hype, but I’m of the mind that the precautions we take buy us much peace of mind. In any event, the crib mattress was new and he hasn’t even slept on it for more than about 4 hours total, so it’s probably not growing anything funky. I must also mention that it’s very interesting to partially dismantle and reassemble a crib while being alone with a baby!

Tristan went into the sling and we did some housework together.  He provided snuggle support while I took out the downstairs garbage and unloaded the dishwasher.  It’s too bad the sling and our couch are incompatible, because I really need to get some web development work done.

Other things on the to-do list:
– donate stuff Tristan has grown out of to someone in the complex who just had a baby
– change upstairs garbage
– make dentist appointment (grumble)
– move crib into our room to replace bassinet

The crib-moving will be a pain in the ass. It will require at least partial disassembly, since it doesn’t fit through the doors. The crib instructions say something like “fill in the holes before reassembling crib for your next child.” Does this mean that they need to be filled when doing a quickie un/rescrewing? Is wood putty filler crap sufficient for this? Woodworking is not my forte.

The moving of the crib is something we’ve been pondering for a few weeks. Tristan has outgrown his bassinet weightwise and is close to it heightwise, but he knows how to fall asleep in it and sleep for a good portion of time. When put in the crib, he sleeps for about an hour, so I am hoping that putting the crib in with us will ease the little Virgo into his new bed gently. I also want him in the room with us until 4 months at the least, for which he has about 3 weeks left to go. That being said, I’m not sure I want to take the crib apart twice in 3 weeks, and we plan to move when Tristan is about 6 months old and we’ll have to take the crib apart then, too. So he may end up with us until then.

It’s such a shame that he’s too big for the bassinet. He’s sleeping some overnight stretches of 6-8 hours lately, and I have a feeling that changing beds will reverse that until he gets comfortable again. Also, there do not seem to be many or any portable beds that are rated for over 15 lbs. Theoretically, you’re supposed to stop using them around 5 months, as sitting up makes them dangerous. Our kid needs to be transitioned at 3 months because he’s a giant. Punkass baby!

5 new photos added (split between 2 – 3 Months and 3 – 4 Months)

We’ve added a video gallery.

Of course, he can’t yet, but we received a copy of the “My Baby Can Read” DVDs from a friend who used them successfully with her baby.  We started the first one today, as they are supposed to be started at 3 months.  The kids in the video are reviewing random vocabulary words/phrases, and as one of them said “arms up,” Tristan babbled and it sounded JUST like he said “arms up.”  We know better, but what I would not give to have had that recorded!

It’ll be neat if the system works and Tristan learns to read young – he’ll be able to play RPGs with us.

Last Friday I brought home some goodies from Cost Plus World Market, including some maple candy.  That stuff is the devil and managed to crawl into my mouth and down my throat, so on Monday I ended up taking Tristan back to Cost Plus to get some more.  Instead of using the back/front pack carrier, I jammed him into the Moby carrier, which is pretty much a giant strip of fabric (pictures will make their way into the gallery). 

When I set out into the world, he’d been fed pretty recently and I pre-tied the sling.  I had no idea where I planned to take us – I was originally thinking a mall but realized that I didn’t need anything and no interesting malls were nearby that I hadn’t been to recently.  Driving around town, I realized that it would be a good idea to look into bicycling supplies so I can take him out on rides with me when he hits about 6 months.  However, the Cost Plus jumped out at me and I remembered the evil maple candy, so we stopped there first.  I got a piece for both me and James (so he’d actually have some this time) as well as some imported Cadbury chocolates and liquor-filled candies.  There was another baby in the store, in a stroller instead of a sling, but Tristan’s too young to notice other babies. 

I put him back into the car seat and headed toward the bike store where I bought my folding Dahon Espresso, hoping to catch a glimpse of current models.  They’ve totally redone that bicycle, by the way – I barely recognize it.  Anyway, one baby went into the sling and into the shop we went.  The two girls working were probably in their early 20s and spoke very little English, but the moment they saw a baby, they went crazy.  One of them in particular spent about 20 minutes lavishing attention on Tristan and even said that when he grows up, she wants him to be her boyfriend.  I told her that he needs to be at least 16 before he gets to make any adult decisions.  He reacted well to both girls, doing the bashful move that a baby tends to do when amused (giggling and then sort of hiding in my chest).  So far he reacts well to just about anyone who pays enough attention to him – it’s usually females who do but there’s been at least one male at James’s job when I brought him in on Halloween who got him to giggle.

We didn’t go anywhere on Tuesday – sometimes I need a break from shopping, it’s true!

So, to celebrate his turning 3 months today, Tristan joined me on the floor to play along while I did some Yoga on Wii Fit. By joined me, I mean of course that he was sprawled on the floor, looking as though he were trying to mimic along.

Here are some of the typical “3 month old” things he can now do:

• Raises head and chest when put on tummy – He can practically look straight up!
• Lifts head up 45 degrees
• Kicks and straightens legs when on back
• Open and shuts hands
• Pushes down with legs when placed on a hard surface
• Tracks moving objects
• Recognizes familiar objects and people, even at a distance – I can make faces at him from across the room, and he’ll start giggling.
• Begins to develop hand-eye coordination
• Kicks legs energetically – he’s been doing that one for about 6 months, I think 🙂
• Holds head up with control

Things a typical 3 month old can do that he doesn’t, really, yet:

• Begins to imitate sounds – he vocalizes a lot, but no real imitation
• Grasps and shakes hand toys – he grasps, but usually for hands. Or hair. Especially hair.
• Reaches for dangling objects

Things we wish he wouldn’t do:

• Interrupt his feeding to scream, just because you started talking while feeding him.

Things he can -almost- do:

• He looks like he’s trying to roll over when on his tummy – we’ve seen him kick one leg over the other, and twist, but he hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet.

And some atypical things he can do:

• Perform the yoga pose – Cobra
• Perform the yoga pose – Tree
• Shoot laser beams from his eyes.
• Fling a pacifier, from his mouth, halfway across with the room, one handed.

Okay, so one of the above might not really be true, but I’ll let you figure out which.

Tristan’s sitting here on the couch, behind Kirin, who’s on the floor. He’s desperately trying to kick her in the back of the head, and seems to be getting frustrated that he doesn’t quite have the reach. Wonder what she did to deserve that. Perhaps he’s jealous, as he knows he will not get to partake (directly at least) in the Deep Fried Cajun Turkey we’ve ordered from KFC for Thanksgiving. (Yeah, we’re lazy, but c’mon. Deep fried turkey, how can you go wrong.)

Also: tomorrow marks three months of babytasticness. 

Also also: we’ve taken to occasionally putting Tristan in the middle of the seat in the couch – there’s a depression in the back, and it generally holds him up in place, so he can sorta sit.   Which worked fine, until tonight, when he’s managed to tuck his shoulder and roll onto his stomach, twice.  Troublemaker.

Added 16 new pictures to 2-3 month gallery.