I took Tristan into the bathtub and then the shower. It was his first experience with the shower. I got together his towel, washcloth, toys, baby soap, and rinsing containers and set them up by the bathtub, and then in we went.

I washed him up except for his hair while the water was still in the bathtub. He was happily playing with the three water toys we’d brought in, but he kept trying to lean down and crawl, which doesn’t quite work when the tub has a bit of water in it. I let the water out (pleased to note that SO FAR Tristan doesn’t mind the water being let out of the tub) and turned on the shower. It ended up being slightly cooler than I’d take myself, but it was quite comfortable. I let him crawl around the bottom of the tub (for some definition of “crawl around”) and he was quite content to play with his toys. I finished up my showering process, washed his hair, and got us all toweled off.

This is the first time I was ever sort of sorry that Tristan isn’t a girl.. but only because playing together in the shower will have to stop at some point. Perhaps during the tween year(s) (when it’s inappropriate for him to see me naked but parents play with their kids in the shower) James will get in there and splash around with him. Hey, if we end up with a large stall shower, there will be no excuse! But in any event, I suppose I could always wear a bathing suit into the shower.

And taking a baby into the shower is very convenient. You’re not rushing to squeeze a shower in while the baby is asleep. You can linger in the shower longer because if the baby is entertained, there’s no need to rush (but if the baby doesn’t like it, that’s a huge pain in the ass). No need to haul out the baby bathtub or kneel over the side of the adult bathtub. It’s OK if baby splashes because the mess is contained (well, we have doors on the shower.. it may not be as foolproof with a shower curtain). Point the shower head at baby’s head to rinse the shampoo instead of messing with cups.

I think Tristan and I might get more bathing in if I keep bringing him into the shower.

I have learned of the recent losses of three family members. Two were on my dad’s side and one was on my mom’s.

My grandma, Tristan’s great grandma Judy, passed on several days ago. She was either 88 or 90 – apparently, there were debates as to her true age. Either way, she beat the typical life expectancy. She’d had a stroke back in 2000 and had been sort of ‘not quite there’ since then, so she actually held on for an impressive amount of time. Anyway, I am sure that my mom is sad about losing her mom, so.. Mom, if you’re reading this, we all hope you are doing OK and I’ve been trying to call you.

I believe that my Aunt Ginnie was actually a great aunt and I’m not even sure which way she spelled her name. I’m sort of hazy on the details of my dad’s side of the family, so I might screw up some of it. There were a few incidents that caused a lack of communication, and as a result, I’m sort of the random relative who drops by rather than the little girl or one of the three little girls. But I knew Aunt Ginnie as a kid, and she was fairly old then. I remember going over to their house, which was very close to my dad’s house. They had an above-ground pool that we all loved swimming in (pools are quite covetable to kids – that’s why we’ll likely end up buying a condo with a pool or some such shit). Halfish of the family was very kind – the older members and the youngest member (who I’ll be discussing in the next session). So, using aforementioned detail haziness, I think Aunt Ginnie and Uncle Richie (who passed on a few years ago; I don’t remember him being anything but very-very-old) had a daughter, Karen, who had two kids, Kim and Ricky. Anyway, Karen and Kim were always sort of aloof and the shit I’ve heard about them is fairly uncomplimentary lately. But Aunt Ginnie always treated me so kindly and patiently that I actually sort of miss her the most out of the recently expired relatives.

But about the aforementioned Ricky – I was told that he also has passed on. I’m actually surprised he lived as long as he did, as he was severely handicapped (I believe it was cerebral palsy and then some). I don’t remember how old he was, but he was a few years older than me, so possibly 40 or thereabouts. All I heard was that he ‘got a virus’ but I think that’s all that was known by the person who told me. It’s a shame, though. I didn’t know him as an adult but he had a very kind spirit as a kid/adolescent.

I appreciate any further information if any of my side of the family is reading this.

It’s likely Tristan wouldn’t have ever met Aunt Ginnie or Ricky, but he’d have probably met my grandma in the next year or two if she was still around. I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember a shitload about her, though. But my mom should have some stories about her to share with him in a few years.

I am planning some updates for this website, so when I get around to it, there will be subtle changes and maybe some content addition. Basically, I want to clean it up and add neat stuff.

Some of you know that we had an offer in on a house, a bloody short sale. We found out that the offer was rejected a couple of days ago. So, no shiny house all the way south for us. But we’re opening our minds to other locations and styles. We may not end up with a backyard, but if not, it will be at the gain of a community pool or an awesome commute or just a shiny place. In any event, now we have house-hunting again to take up all of our damn time.

It looks like we’re in this apartment for at least another month, but I’ll continue to pack stuff. Tristan loves crawling around while I pack, because bins are interesting. For the most part, I’m becoming anal-retentive and putting all of the shit into organized bins. I figure that I need to do that to keep from becoming too much of a packrat, because there’s a decent chance we’re moving into a smaller or same-sized place. Anyway, it’s only April now, and we’re not expecting any company until June as far as we know.

It’s a shame that we live so far from everyone in the family. Granted, we’re sort of an isolated family in a relatively new city, so we don’t see people in general on a more than waving hi basis. People don’t introduce themselves, and I forget to introduce myself (yes, I am being a shitty New Yorker here!). But anyway, it’s fun showing off a baby to strangers and it would be more fun to show him off to family. The last time he saw another family member, he was just starting his first solid food.

But since I wear Tristan in some sort of carrier for a good 45 minutes per day, I speak to a whole shitload of people. Seriously – if you have a baby and you want attention for your ultra cute, super curious baby – wear him or her. When the baby’s at adults’ eye level, everyone notices the baby. It’s better than having a cute puppy for people-meeting potential. So, I hope that this experience teaches Tristan to like people in general, since people speak directly to him and praise him daily. I also hope that Tristan does not grow up to hate dragons, since we sneak so many around him like on his Mei Tai.

Also, we have some MORE teething. This one’s coming slowly – it’s his left vampire tooth. Still no sign of the top middle two. Poor Crankypaws is taking it pretty well, and has slept very well today with absolutely no fuss upon being placed in his crib for naps.

He’s still not crawling yet, but he still tries very often. He sort of can do it, just not consistently. He also moves backward a lot when he’s trying for forward. He’ll get his crawling paws in order when they’re ready, or maybe he’ll just say “Screw it!” and walk instead.

I’m really eager for him to start walking and to walk around with me. I know that the “with me” part is going to take a lot of careful discipline, but I figure if he likes his walks in the carrier, he may like just walking around outside and looking at shit. I just hope he doesn’t decide he dislikes the carrier, since it’s very useful to be able to wear a baby and walk him around.

Daytime with Tristan has been fairly routine lately. Routine is good for sanity with a baby, though. When you can predict the day and it goes according to plan, you know everyone and everything is all right. So much can go wrong with a baby and it’s really scary. Sorry, but that dissuades me from wanting to do the baby thing again.

Right now, we’re trying to figure out what to do with our old baby shit. We’re saving anything memorable or decorative, but we have loads of outgrown stuff. But I don’t know many people who are having a baby right now who need any baby stuff. I suppose I will have to either corral it and bring it to a consignment event in the fall or try to find a consignment shop. Or just bring it to Goodwill. Anyway, if you’re reading this, and you know someone who’s having a baby or has a baby younger than Tristan, and you’d like outgrown clothes and some baby gear (the stuff that would be fairly cheap to ship), contact me. This shit takes up a lot of space that Tristan could be crawling (or pre-crawling and rolling around, for now) in.

We’re in the process of switching diaper brands so we can buy diapers at Costco. James likes the current ones better (Huggies) than what we were using before (Pampers). I think they’re both decent diapers as long as it’s not a Huge Mess Situation. I could be convinced to cloth diaper, assuming that means using flushable inserts (forgot the brand but I can look it up). But in general, I’m more curious if anyone has any diaper preferences for any reason other than “is good for the Earth” or “is cheap.” (Those are valid reasons, but they also are the main selling point of the product already.)

Oh, and Tristan seems to want a bit more to drink and a bit less “solid” food these days. He still eats it, but he’s been sleepy with a lot of his bottles lately and not interested. We haven’t fed him meat again since the first time, but we should soon. I think today’s a new food day so we’ll see. We have a lot of fruits to introduce and a couple of the strange multi-ingredient blends. I also picked up wheat cereal – still have to continue research on when it’s appropriate to give a baby wheat, and I think that we should skip the next new food day when we do give wheat.

He still does not try to hold his own bottle until he is done drinking from it. He gets the point except for the “tilt the bottle up to get the milk into the nipple” concept. He also tried to feed himself using the spoon and kind of got the idea of putting the spoon in his mouth, but we didn’t get anywhere with the other part of that – getting food onto the spoon to put in the mouth.

Our little vampire now has two teeth that just poked their little heads out within these past couple of days. The bottom right, as expected, popped out slowly, but he’s also got the one to the right of where his middle teeth belong. There’s no sign of those yet, but the one on the left hand side of the middle teeth seems to be next.

Of course, we’ve had a very cranky little baby on our hands, but there are things we can do to make him feel better. Either because of the teething or because he’s just growing, he’s becoming somewhat resistant to sleep. We have a sort of guideline schedule – we know when to expect him to be sleepy, hungry, etc. based on the last time he slept, ate, etc. When it’s time for him to be sleepy, he displays his sleepiness with the fists rubbing the eyes and some yawning. But lately, when he tells us he’s sleepy and we put him in his bed, he plays for a bit, fusses for a bit, screams a bit, and then passes out about 45 minutes later. Putting him down for naps now takes 3 hours instead of the pre-teething 2 hours and a little bit of change for him to settle down.

However, he’s becoming better at independent play and entertaining himself. Either in the jumper or on the floor, he can amuse himself for a good hour before he gets sleepy/hungry/etc. It’s fun to come over and hang out with him, as opposed to not being able to go out of his sight. He’s got plenty of little toys and lots of household clutter to play with.

Tristan used to like having his diaper changed, but he screams nearly every time he’s put on the changing table these days. Most of the time he will cheer up by the time we get into it if he’s not hungry. However, teethy babies are cranky babies so we expect this. When he’s not being cranky on the changing table, he’s busy being a punkass. Last night he grabbed my elbow and put it in his mouth while on the table and appeared to keep doing it because I giggled. I’m not sure if I should reinforce the condoned gnawing on my arm, but it was really cute and hopefully a fun game for him.

New design!

We’re well into the second half of the first year now! We have the following going on:

Teething – Tristan’s starting to grow that other bottom tooth. He’s a bit crankypawed because of it, but is otherwise in good spirits. It hasn’t popped out yet, but we’re expecting that soon.

Bath time – Tristan learned how to splash yesterday, and that splashing is interesting. I think we might have to start bathing him in the big tub soon. His tub shares a bathroom with kitty litter, and that doesn’t like to be splashed. The kitties usually come visit and watch curiously. He’s also, as of the past couple of baths, realized that bath toys are interesting; that may be our fault that it’s just happening now, as we bathed him in the bathroom sinks until he got too grabby and big. We’ve bathed him in the big tub with me a few times, but that thusfar has required two people. Now that kiddo knows how to have fun, it might require just a person in the tub to have a splash fight with.

Food – We’re continuing to add to Tristan’s food repertoire. We’re still using baby foods instead of the stuff from the table, but we figure that he’ll get a better balanced diet that way (we are dieting). I also like the jars of baby food for the quick and dirty isolation of ingredients. He tried his first meat (beef) on 3/21 and he didn’t seem to care much for it. Then again, it smelled like dog food so it may just not have been pleasant for him. He ate it mixed with vegetables later on just fine. But we were thinking that he might become a hippie like me (I do eat meat, but I eat a lot of fake meat and whine about meat a lot). Anyway, the advice on when to feed baby how much of what is all contradictory so we’re trying to use the wing-it and decent common sense methods of queuing up new foods for him. He still drinks a lot of formula and prefers the bottle before his solids. Also, he technically can hold his bottle but doesn’t choose to until he’s done drinking from it, at which point he matter-of-factly removes it from my hands and acts like he’s going to drink it.

Travel – We’re still using the infant travel set, even though lifting the carrier portion to get it into the car while it contains a baby is damn hard. He still seems excited about being worn in a carrier, and usually wear him facing outward so he can see the world. We’ve been doing at least one walk daily around the park for the past few weeks, since the weather’s been getting nicer. I’m grateful that he doesn’t object to facing backward in the car seat.

Play – He’s first and foremost trying to crawl. He can sort of move backwards now. He’s taken a step forward a time or two. He can roll toward his target, and he can reach toward it, but the crawling is just not ready to happen yet. However, he can lie on the floor and relax now, entertaining himself with whatever’s around. It’s really neat to lie down next to the baby and just sprawl out! Otherwise, he’s been grabbing everything in sight, jumping for long periods of time in his jumper, and sitting with us on the couch. He’s fascinated with Samurai and giggles when the dog is near. He tries to pet all of the critters but he’s sort of inept at it.

And that’s how our baby is doing.

Tristan has several different sleep schedules, depending on circumstances. He’s currently asleep, and for him to be on his second nap at 4:30ish is sort of weird.

After a long practice of snuggling Tristan to sleep on our bed or in some other manner, we have finally taught him to fall asleep in his crib. A few afternoons ago, I stuck him in his crib when he was very obviously sleepy but I had spent half an hour trying to get him to sleep using various methods including the snuggle shoulder technique (though I admit, I am a novice with that!), putting him in the bed, and later wearing him out for a walk to get him to fall asleep, I just gave up and stuck him in the crib. He passed out within 5 minutes. I took that as an opportunity to train that and so far (knock on wood and all of that) now when put in his crib while obviously sleepy – rubbing his eyes, being crankypawed for no good reason – he now falls asleep after just a little bit of fussing, and far less than while trying to get him to sleep using any other method lately.

Anyway, about the weird schedules. He wakes up at either 9 or 11. If he wakes up at 9, he pretty much wants a bottle and a change and then to sleep again until noon. He did that today, and that was because his diaper indicated that he needed a bath immediately. Ah, one thing I miss about when he lived on breast milk is that his poo was far easier to clean up and smelled sort of neutral. If he wakes up at 11, he just stays up for a bit after his feeding. Either way, he usually wants a nap somewhere from 2 to 5, depending on which way the wind is blowing or something. After James comes home, Tristan will usually get really sleepy around 8 or 9, go to sleep, get woken up for a bottle about an hour before our bedtime, and then we all sleep through the night and repeat as necessary.

I’m watching him sleep on the monitor and it looks like he may be waking up. He’s indecisive about that, though.

Added 10 new pictures to 6-7 month section.

We gave Tristan some stage 2 sweet potatoes today… his very first! I’m not sure if he notices. We also think he’s teething again; we shall see in a couple of days, perhaps.

We went out and got a whole assload of food for him, both stuff he’d tried before and stuff with something new in it. We got yogurt, some meat product, and assorted fruit and vegetable bundles. There’s probably enough new food to last a month and a half!

Tristan and I went to the local mall via train. This was his second trip, and the first one since the one we had to leave due to his screaminess. We walked around to the train station, about half a mile away from here. We rarely do this even still, but he was in his front-facing stroller and I packed the sling (in this case, the Mei Tai – all baby carriers are collectively referred to as “the sling” here) in the diaper bag.

The trip to the mall was fairly uneventful – we slathered on baby sunblock, got strapped into the stroller with an attached toy, got to the station, bought the ticket, got on and had to sit in the bike section because assholes felt the need to sit in the facing-out seats, cursed the stroller, baby was asleep by the time we got there, and the main elevator from the station was out so we had to walk a block out of the way, complete with obnoxious pedestrian signals. I took the sleepyhead through Sports Authority, where I looked at baby bike seats and trailers. I looked for cheap baby stuff at Burlington Coat Factory (we need a couple pair of cheapo dark pants; I will find them in the next couple of days, most likely), and when Tristan woke up I took him out of the stroller and sat with him in a rocking chair (we are considering getting one after all, but most likely once we move). After finding nothing in BCF, I took him out to the main mall hallway and put him in the sling. We met a 3-month-old in a stroller who looked almost as big as Tristan (and Tristan’s no slacker, even though he’s levelled off quite a bit) in another baby store. We walked for a while, got to Gamestop, picked up Wii remote rechargey thingies, and headed out.. me walking with a baby in a carrier and pushing a stroller.

I tried to get to another store, but then Tristan started screaming his little head off, which in the carrier means only one thing: “Feed. Me. NOW!” I tried to plead with him to let me wait until we were closer to the train station, and we ended up compromising and stopping at the bus station that was a good 5 minute walk from the train station. I’d packed a mixable bottle since he ate sort of scantily this morning, and when we were sitting down I mixed it up and he ate about 2/3 of it. Punkass. If you’re hungry enough to scream in the carrier, why are you only taking a snack? After he decided he was done, we tied up the carrier and worked our way toward the correct station. Sleepy baby wanted to fall asleep on me but saw too many interesting things.

After a 20 minute wait in deceptively chilly weather (I swear, it LOOKS like summer out there, and it occasionally FEELS like summer.. but it’s chilly and windy) the train came, I managed to get a side-facing seat this time, Tristan enjoyed watching scenery go by and then finally started passing out on me. Half a mile of walking after we got off the train, we were home, and I actually managed to get him from the Mei Tai to the crib without incident. And he’s still asleep two hours later.