Arousing Protective Maternal and Paternal Instincts

Dean decided to take an FMLA day yesterday and we spent it as a family at the zoo. At one point, we stopped by the mountain lion
exhibit. We couldn't see them at first, and then we finally spotted them, lazing about on top of a rock. Then Robin spotted a
tactile display of a mountain lion footprint in front of their exhibit which really excited him. He touched it and pointed at it, all
while emitting happy high-pitched shrieks. Once he did that, the heads of both mountain lions popped up, and one of them gathered its muscles beneath it in a clear stalk-or-pounce pose. Just at the moment that Dean and I asked each other "is he stalking us?" it hopped down from the rock and came right up to the wire fence keeping it inside. It stood up on its hind legs with its forepaws on the fence, and then fell back to all fours and stood right at the fence, staring at Robin (who was still happily shrieking and had no idea that something wanted him for supper.) Dean turned into muscle-Dad and glared at the mountain lion, and told it "don't touch my son, I'll poke you in the eyes, then we'll see how well you'll survive." The mountain lion stayed with us even after other people arrived in front of its exhibit, and it followed us to the edge of its enclosure when we left. It was really rather disconcerting to see a predator's "seek out the young/old/ill" hunting methods in action, especially when directed at my son. I've never really been concerned about meeting wildlife while out hiking before, but now all the news stories of mountain lions carrying off children while their parents run frantically behind are taking on a new light, and I'm thinking we should probably buy some bear spray for our occasional sojournes into the mountains. Don't touch my son!!!!! (No, I didn't take any pictures of the mountain lion. Sorry.)

In other animal news, we now have a snake. It's residing in the corner of our garage. Dean found it a few days ago while he was putting our dumpster away. We thought about trying to coax it out into the flower bed, but it quickly disappeared into a crack between the floor and wall of the garage when we tried, which leads me to believe it goes outside to eat and just calls the garage home. We have yet to make any serious attempt to catch it, and we're not quite sure what to do with it once we do. We have no idea where to take it to. I don't think I would mind it living in our yard and eating pests, but unless we plug those cracks up, it would probably just move back into the garage--and it would probably find other ways into the garage even if we did. The jury's still out on this one, so stay tuned.

And now for some lighter stuff. This is Robin's first grilled cheese sandwich.

This is a video of Robin crawling around in the fountain in Boulder, which I forgot to include with the last entry.

Let's see... what has the Wonder Boy done since the last posting? He's getting ready to cut more teeth... I foresee only a few more days before they erupt. He's a pro at getting up to standing and climbing stairs, and he's definately cruising now. He'll walk a little bit if we hold his hands, although he's not very enthusiastic about that yet. He's eating a wider array of solid foods (including finger foods, not sure if I've mentioned that before.) He's definately mastered the pincer grip (thumb and forefinger) so he's got good fine motor control. He even managed to pull a package of Ramen noodles out from under the pantry door. He's definately determined when he gets his mind on something he wants to do, and he's a problem solver and will figure out how to get at things. His reach continues to get higher and higher. He has learned to clap and point. Here are some pictures of the last few weeks.

My parents took us to Robin's first baseball game in mid July. Robin's got his ticket all ready.

"Take me out to the ballgame..."

Under the chair

A recent picture of the three of us

My friend Cora visited at the end of July. It was good to see her again, and she got to meet Robin for the first time!

Robin enjoying the blanket Cora's mom Fran made for him.

Cora and Robin playing together.

We went to the zoo while Cora visited. Here we examined evolution.

Seeing the tiger up close.

Keeping tabs on the baby giraffe (through the big one's legs)

Robin got a few visits from his great grandma at the beginning of August. Here they are sharing a bite to eat.

Last weekend we went to Boulder with my parents. We discovered the Boulder Asian Festival on Pearl Street Mall.

Robin enjoyed the music, and had tons of fun crawling in the grass.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

We have a big, long cardboard box that our exercise bike came in, and Dean turned it into a tunnel for Robin. He was unsure of it the first time we showed it to him, and it took several minutes before he ventured through. However, once he went through it all the way the first time, he turned right around and did it a half-dozen more times. Seems it was fun!

Milestones Galore!

Robin has done so many amazing things, I figured I needed to update this before there are too many to list.

First off, he's got teeth! The front two bottom ones sprouted on July 8th and 15th.

He did very well for the first one, though he had a rough day with the second. It probably added to his discomfort that we were up in Breckenridge with Dean's parents at their timeshare. Teething while away from home was a bit rough on the little guy. But he's a trooper, and made it through!

He has also recently begun standing up on his own! He started using objects that were low to the ground, and he would kind of lean over the object while he got his feet under him. But now he can pull upright using objects that are higher up. And even more recenlty (since I began writing this post yesterday, in fact) he has learned to stand up using a flat surface, like a wall!

He even has begun the bare minimum of cruising, although the most he's moved so far is about a foot.



And now for the most amazing feat that Robin has accomplished recently: he has figured out how to climb stairs! It follows well on the heels of standing up, I guess. We tried to see if he would follow a toy up, and he did.

There are seven steps from the landing up to our living room, and he has gone up that flight of steps several times now. I also sat two steps down while he played at the top of the stairs, and after I caught him a few times as he started to tip down, he seemed to understand that going down stairs means falling, and wouldn't try to go in that direction anymore. Not that I'm going to stop using the baby gate, by any means!

Robin's 4th of July sparkler
Train rides in Breckenridge and at Belleview Park

ROBIN IS CRAWLING!!!!!!!

That's right, CRAWLING! It first happened on Saturday when my parents were playing with him on the floor and he tried to grab my mom's camera. She moved it away from him and he followed!

Hip, hip, HOORAY! We've tried to put toys just out of reach before, and we've shown him how to crawl, and tried to help him move his limbs, but on Saturday it finally all clicked. Now we have to be a lot more careful where we leave things--it's time to finish babyproofing.

Just two days before, he mastered the concept of getting into a sitting position by himself. He's really advancing like crazy these days. Last week, it seems like he fell over from a sitting position more often than usual, so I'm thinking that he was probably trying to figure out the stomach/sitting transition and crawling and was falling because he wasn't quite getting it yet. That's my theory, anyway. He's got it now!

We had a good time on Father's Day. "Robin" got Dean a shirt that says "Super Dad" and a matching onesie for himself that says "Super Baby." We had my parents and Dean's brother over for a bbq (the rest of Dean's family was out of town, so we had them over this weekend instead.) It was a pretty casual day and we also played some games on our new Nintendo Wii. It was fun to have some games we could get our parents interested in playing.

Robin and I went to the zoo last week with my friend Christin and her two kids. It was fun and we got WET! It started pouring rain about a half hour before we were planning on leaving. We hid under a canopy for a while and then finally decided to brave the elements to get back to our cars and leave.

He's also learned to splash in the bathtub. You can see the ripples he's made. Just like the ripples he's made in my life and heart. (awww, sappy!)

More of Robin

Robin is still growing and developing like crazy. He still hasn't learned to crawl forward, but his scooting backwards is very fast and more controlled now. He can also scoot forward while sitting upright, although that takes a bit more time. He can entertain himself pretty well and loves to have the freedom to move himself around.

I finally caught some of his babbling on video!!! For your viewing pleasure:

At the beginning of June, we attended the first birthday party of Gavin, the son of one of Dean's coworkers. Here they are together on the merry-go-round. It was fun, and showed us what we have to look forward to (babies on sugar highs!!!)

At the end of May, we went bowling to celebrate my birthday. Robin had fun playing with a bowling ball and chilling with his Grandmas (who were party poopers and didn't bowl!)

While at the bowling alley, Robin pushed himself to a sitting position from his stomach for the first time! However, this is a feat that has yet to be repeated at home.

Here is Robin playing with Zax, the teddy bear my Aunt Catherine made for him.

No, this photo wasn't faked. Robin has used the toilet! Granted, Mommy and Daddy (mostly Mommy) are the ones who are toilet trained at this stage, but when we notice he's going or about to go, we get him to the toilet like a big boy!

We also finally started using cloth diapers mostly full-time (just not while out on long outings where we expect to have to change him.) I'd been intending to do that since before he was born, but it took me a while to get my butt in gear. But now he's Eco-Baby!

Last week, we had Robin's friend Christian and my friend Vanessa over for a few hours. It was good to get the boys together now that they're a little older and can interact more.

We let them play in the giant Hoberman Sphere.

Solid foods are progressing pretty nicely. He's had both rice cereal and oatmeal and several fruits and veggies. I had been giving him cereal twice a day and a fruit or veggie once, but now I've started mixing up his meals so he'll have more than one item at each meal. In addition to the pureed stuff he's also had small pieces of blueberry and watermelon. The only thing he's rejected completely so far has been the homemade rice I made for him. :( But since I made a good amount and froze it, we're trying it mixed with other things in small doses to try to get him used to it. I think he may have rejected the rougher texture more than anything else, which he'll get used to. This video is of the first time he tried bananas. Even though he made the faces, he still kept opening his mouth for the food, and now he likes bananas. Enjoy!