Cool Fort

Please, no photos.

Little Ted is trying to block the view of his cool fort.  When I came home last week on Friday, the baby gate that had once blocked off the T.V. had been converted into a fort.  By the time Little Ted woke up from his nap, it had grown considerably.  It could accommodate one adult and one child, and it had two entrances.  Here are some pictures of Little Ted enjoying his new play area.

Fashion Statement

When we first put in Little Ted's foam playmat, he didn't pay much attention to it.  Every now and them, he'd pull off a piece of the border, but that was generally the extent of his interest.  More recently, he decided that it is fun to take it apart.  It's an easy way to tell mom and dad that he's tired and frustrated, and perhaps more importantly, it's a fun game to play.

One of the games that has resulted from this demolition is using the squares as accessories.  The "O" square, for example, makes a perfect scarf.

Alumni Festival

 On Labor Day weekend, we went to the 2010 Baylor Rugby Association's Alumni Festival.  Ted played in the match, and I chased Little Ted around the field.  The event was a chance for Ted to introduce his college friends to his son and future member of the Baylor Men's Rugby Club.

(By the way, the 2010 festival was also the 5th anniversary of our first date - what better way to celebrate than to show off our son!)

New to You Photos

Even though we have been very busy since the start of the fall semester, we've taken plenty of pictures to document Little Ted's growth.  Here are a few from the month of August that are new to you. 



The pictures of Little Ted were taken by daddy during the first week of classes.  As you can see, they had a much easier time transitioning into our new schedule than they did at the start of last spring (thank goodness!).  Little Ted does well with daddy in the mornings, though sometimes he has a hard time letting mommy leave.  One morning, he knew I was getting ready for work and was pretty upset about it.  He grabbed my nightgown and carried it with him when we all went downstairs.  Later that morning, Ted said the baby managed to put on my nightgown and sat quietly in the corner to rummage through the diaper bag.  Guess he decided that if he couldn't have mommy, he could at least have her clothes and bag. 

You can see that Little Ted likes to bite his stuffed animals.  He always bites them in the same place - their noses - and when he gets really excited,  he bites down as hard as he can and pulls.  Sometimes he tries to do the same to mommy, but I think he's finally outgrown that.

I can hardly believe how big he looks in these pictures.  He's starting to look less like a baby and more like a little boy. 

Little Ted usually blinks when his picture is taken.  He gets that from mommy's side of the family (we have the worst time taking family photos - at least one person blinks in each photo!).

There are also a couple of photos of my birthday in the mix.  Notice the age that is printed on the cake. That's my husband's idea of a little joke . . . ha ha.  :-)

Go Figure

Last weekend, we had Lord of the Rings on the T.V.  It was late afternoon, and Little Ted was playing with his toys while the movie played in the background.  He mostly ignored the television, until Gollum spoke.  Then he went wild!  He squealed in delight and imitated Gollum's scratchy voice.  What about the character is so appealing to Little Ted, I cannot say, but we have all been using our deep, scratchy voices around here since them.  Little Ted can even manage a pretty good imitation of "My Precious."  Creepy, I know, but it entertains, so we go with it.

Little Ted and the Boy in the Mirror

Little Ted has a regular playmate, the little boy in the mirror.  For a long time, Little Ted was only brave enough to smile at the little boy.  Without fail, the little boy would smile back.  Recently, Little Ted mustered up the courage to approach the little boy.  The little boy responded and approached him as well.  They bumped heads.  Little Ted thought that was funny, and so he tried it again.  The little boy was happy to comply, and they bumped heads again.  The third time, the little boy in the mirror (or maybe Little Ted, I'm not quite sure) was a bit too enthusiastic when he approached, and they bumped heads hard.  Little Ted backed away as fast as he could and began to cry.  After mommy comforted him, he made up with the little boy, and they continued to play.

(It may interest you to know that a "head bump" is the way Little Ted typically offers kisses.  So it looks like he is infatuated with his reflection.)

Grandpa Gonzalez,

I'm ready to shoot cans at the ranch!

Stroller Envy

Have you seen this stroller???  It's a stroller/bike/shopping cart all in one - genius!

Baby Gear

Here's one of the promised photos of Little Ted in our backyard pool, and it serves a dual purpose in also allowing me to discuss baby gear.  The day this photo was taken was our last pool day; on that day, we discovered that the sides would no longer hold air, meaning that we lost all the water in the pool - sad!  This was one of several baby-related items we own that just didn't survive for very long.

Another was our baby monitor.  We picked this particular model because it had a video feed and, according to its advertising, you could also monitor your baby via the web.  We quickly learned, however, that the monitor had to be connected to a desktop computer (not a laptop) to view your baby on the web.  Since we don't use a desktop, there went that idea.  Without the web viewing capability, we ended up with a plain jane video baby monitor, which served its purpose and worked well, but picked up a lot of interference and kept us up at night.  Not fun.  Last month, the monitor broke, so we resorted to using Skype and our laptops to keep an eye on Little Ted.  If we were smart, we could have just gotten an inexpensive netbook with a web cam and had the monitor we thought we were getting.  Oh well, now we know. 

We also have a mini-fridge in Little Ted's room, and it died this summer, too.  It was really convenient while it lasted, though, and kept me from having to march up and down stairs when he woke up in the middle of the night for feedings.  Thankfully, he sleeps much better now, so the fridge isn't really a necessity any more.

In addition to the failing baby gear, our A/C died twice this summer, and our wireless router went out today.  I guess what they say is true - when it rains, it pours!

Updates

For those of you who frequent this blog, you know that posts have been less than frequent lately.  Simply put, August is upon us - and so is the start of the semester (the first day is Monday!).  In other words, the Gonzabloggers have been occupied by other tasks.  Nevertheless, much has happened over the course of the month.  Here's a quick update:

Little Ted is changing fast these days.  He is learning to communicate in new ways.  While he can only say a handful of words (mama, dada, papa, uh oh, ow, eh?), he can get his point across pretty well.  He points at the things he wants, licks his lips when you eat a food that he wants to try, and pushes away his spoon when he's had enough. 

He is walking more these days, but crawling is still the preferred mode of movement.  It seems like he has to muster up the courage to walk from point A to point B, but when he decides to, he can get pretty far.

Little Ted has a molar coming in.  For the most part, he has handled it well, but this afternoon was rough.  It took a dose of ibuprofen and some cuddling to help him calm down. 

On Thursday, he had his second hair cut.  Unlike the first hair cut, which he handled well, Little Ted cried - loudly - through this one.  He only stopped when he realized a couple of little boys were watching him.  Once they left, the tears started again.  Apparently, he didn't like the sound of the scissors next to his ears - go figure.

At the beginning of the month, Little Ted went in for his one year check up.  He weighed in at 21.6 lbs (on the big kid scale!) and is 29 inches tall, putting him in the 16th and 22nd percentiles, respectively.  His head, on the other hand, measured in the 95th percentile! - might explain why the walking seems to cause him a bit of trouble.

We took Little Ted for his very first visit to the park.  He enjoyed the swings, but the slide was too hot for him to try out.  He also spent a little time walking while holding mommy's hands, but that turned out to be a frustrating process.  More than anything, he wanted to roam around the park freely like the rest of the kids there.  But the concrete sidewalk does not make for a good crawling surface, and it was a hot afternoon, so we decide to leave, much to the frustration of the child.  Maybe more frequent visits to the park will encourage Little Ted to try to walk more often. 

We've got more pictures and videos to post and will work to get them up this weekend, before the madness begins again . . .

Summer Music

This is Little Ted's favorite song right now.  He especially likes to see the sun rise; it puts a big smile on his face.