The past few nights you have fallen asleep while nursing, and I gently get up, kiss your forehead, whisper I love you and lay you down oh-so-carefully in your crib. On multiple occasions, despite being in a deep sleep when I lay you down, you appear to wake the instant you touch the bed, rolling over onto your tummy, pushing your head and chest up and looking around the room for me. When you find me your face bursts with happiness. It literally breaks my heart to have to turn my back on you and leave the room when you’re so visibly happy to see me. You fall asleep in a minute or so own your own, but it takes a lot of willpower for me to leave.

Today on your morning walk with your dad and furry brothers you saw all the neighborhood kids heading to school; today was the first day of school in Boulder. Your dad returned from your walk with stories of excited kids and anxious parents escorting their children to school. He even told me of a little boy who lives up the road and who hasn’t quite perfected bike riding yet. He clearly wanted to ride to school but wasn’t yet fully ready. His dad encouraged him to come into our cul-de-sac to practice before embarking on the adventure to school. I loved this story and the picture it evoked in my mind of a little boy so ready to head to school that even the fact that he couldn’t fully get himself there couldn’t dissuade him from trying.

Today around the country friends of mine saw their children return to school, and Facebook was plastered with photos of kids in their first day of school outfits. Accompanying almost every one of these pictures was some variant of the phrase ‘Where does the time go?’. Just yesterday we walked with Uncle Brett around the neighborhood and up the road to Bear Creek Elementary School, where you’ll go in five short years. That milestone seems so amazingly far away, but I know that a time will come when I carefully choose an outfit for you to wear on your first day of school, I get you dressed up and packed and I photograph you endlessly, and send you off with a tear in my eye asking your dad, ‘Where did the time go?’. Just thinking about it is enough to get me teary-eyed. Luckily I have five years to find my resolve.

Today we were driving home from nana and papa’s house and Uncle Brett was in the back seat with you. He was keeping you company and entertaining you during the drive, and at some point he became focused on a conversation with us and lost track of your shenanigans. Out of nowhere he yelled, ‘Owwwwww!’, loud enough for your dad and I to turn around and investigate what was going on. Apparently, while he was engaged in conversation with us you were playing with his hand. You proceeded to pull his hand to your mouth and stuck a finger in there and gave it a good hard bite. Now that you have a couple of little teeth in there, combined with your already powerful jaw, you can deliver a surprisingly hard bite. It’s funny because this exact same thing happened to me this morning! We’ve always been careful not to let you gnaw on our fingers unless we’re sure they’re clean, but now we have even more reason to keep them away from you, you little finger eater.

Today you attended your first Rockies game. I am not much of a fan of baseball, but your dad is so fond of it that I have a hard time at least not attempting to not like it. He was so excited to take you to the game. We haven’t taken you to any sporting events yet, worried that the sounds are too loud for you, or not sure how to work the timing since most of them start in the evening. Today’s game started a little after 6. Your Uncle Brett came into town this afternoon, so we met him and your nana and papa at the game. At first you enjoyed taking in all the sights and sounds, but after about an hour you were tired and less than impressed (well, the score was 6-1 with the Rockies down…). We made a hasty exit around 7:45, and you were asleep within minutes of being secured in your car seat. I think for the immediate future, the day games will be the best timing for you.

Every Friday both your dad and I work from home, alternating between watching you and getting some work done. These days start at a slower pace then the rest of the work week, enabling us to sleep in a little and then snuggle in bed until we’re all ready to get up and face the day. Then we take a nice walk with you and the dogs down to the coffee shop. In all, it’s about a 45 minute trip, but it’s a perfect way to start the day. I relish these walks with our whole family, and I love that it kicks off a full three straight days in a row that I’ll get to spend with you.

This evening we met with the nannies at Kristen’s and Greg’s house to chat about how everything has been going these past couple of months that they’ve been watching you. It was fun hearing from them about their two days a week they spend with you, and how much you’ve been growing and changing. Their experiences mirrored our own with you, filled with lots of stories about how active and engaged you are. They told a funny story about you and the stroller.

When we started the nanny share with Isla it was apparent we’d need a double stroller. Right when we were starting to look into buying one, nana and papa found one in Breckendridge, and it was free. It is in great shape although it’s missing the shade canopy on the front seat. Kristen and Greg rigged up a couple of poles by which the nannies can hang a blanket over to provide shade for the baby in the front. They said usually you’re in the front because the seat is smaller than the one in the back, and you’re the littler of you and Isla. But they said that it is entertaining because you love to work and pull down the blanket. They said you’re constantly trying to grab it and pull it down; you apparently just want to observe the world around you.

Anyway, we had a good conversation with the nannies and Kristen and Greg, and I think for now this daycare situation is working great. It’s going to be dramatically different over the next couple of months as you guys start to become more mobile and eventually start to crawl. We’ll just have to keep checking in with the nannies and making sure that they’re able to keep up with you two, and that you two are getting enough variety, challenge and activity each day.

Your dad’s first word was banana. A rather tricky word for an infant’s foray into the English language, but he succeeded with it nonetheless. I can only imagine what a big impression the fruit must have made on him at such a young age for this word to trump the usual firsts of ‘dada’ or ‘mama’ as the first word he uttered.

You had your first banana tonight. You haven’t been a huge fan of rice cereal, and after giving it to you the requisite five days we decided we were ready to move on, and we deemed the banana a worthy second food to try. You really enjoyed it, eating down the entire bit that we had pureed for you and enthusiastically grabbing the spoon to try to assist in the eating process. You even kept grabbing your bib and licking off any rogue banana puree that had landed there. I think we have another banana lover in the family.

A couple of months ago your dad started playing with you by holding you over his head and moving you about. One of the activities is called ‘The Sprinkler’, and he rotates you around in short bursts from one side to another, then smoothly rotates you back (you know, like a sprinkler!), all the while making sprinkler-like sounds. You are so cute when he does this, usually breaking into a smile.

He also holds you above his head and walks around the house (or yard) with you, like you’re flying. We often found ourselves singing ‘I believe I can fly…’ while he’s doing this, and before I knew it your dad had pulled up the R. Kelly song ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and he was helping you fly all over the house with the song providing a musical background to the activity. I will forever think of you when I hear that song, and think of that song when I see your dad helping you fly.

I got home from work this afternoon and your nana told me to wash my hands and feel in your mouth. I did and you had another tooth! I can’t believe how quickly you’ve gotten not one, but two teeth. I figured we’d feel the tooth working it’s way up, notice sore, red gums, and see lots of drool and fussiness on your part. But it really hasn’t been like that as all. Hopefully all the rest of your teeth are this easy.

We started today with an epic sleep fest. You slept great last night, sleeping through the night and waking up around 7. I fed you and we all snuggled in bed. But then we did something we’ve never done; we all fell back asleep and didn’t wake up until 11! We all must’ve really needed some sleep.

Once we finally woke up and got going we decided to go for a walk to the pool and take you for your first swim. I’ve been anxious to take you swimming for months, but had to keep telling myself that the risks for you didn’t outweigh the benefits. The doctor said that you are so little that you’ll get cold really fast and we’ll have to be careful to make sure you stay warm enough. She also said that you can easily pick up germs that cause diahhrea and other sicknesses from getting the water in your mouth. And lastly, we need to keep you out of the sun and so finding a warm pool either inside or in the shade has proven difficult.

Until today. The clubhouse in Breckenridge has a nice, enclosed pool. Your dad was at the pool a couple of months ago with your cousins and said the water was really warm. So we headed up there today. When we got there the water wasn’t quite as warm as he remembered it, and I was a little worried about taking you in the water. But the space was very warm, and the dressing rooms were outright hot, and we figured we’d put you in the pool just for a little while then could quickly retreat to the dressing rooms to warm up and dry off. We put on your little swim diapers and then your dad and I got into the pool with you.

I slowly immersed you up to your neck and everyone closely watched you with anticipation to see what your reaction would be; your papa had the camera at the ready. And you had absolutely no reaction. It was as if we were just holding you in the air, moving you about, and you were looking at us wondering what all the fuss was. Your dad swam back and forth and made some splashes, trying to get your interest level up. But you just seemed nonplussed by it.

I suppose this is a very good sign that you showed no anxiety about swimming, and that in fact you seemed rather indifferent about it. At one point I was holding you and you tried to bend forward to grab your feet, and your face went right into the water. It happened so fast that I wasn’t able to react and keep your head up, and we all watched closely to see if you were alright and what your reaction would be. You came up and looked surprised, but you didn’t cry at all. I think you might be a little water baby!

After the swim we needed to rinse you off but there were only showers (and one too-small sink) in the dressing rooms. So, you had your first shower. Your dad held you and I lathered you up. You did really good, even when water would run down your face.

On the walk home we decided to take you to the playground to swing. The nannies take you swinging every day, but we haven’t yet been able to take you. We’ve been looking for some bucket swings in our neighborhood, but haven’t yet found any. We do have a little bouncy swing in our house that for the moment is serving as a swing, but this was your first real swing adventure with us. You did seem to really like it, but you spent most of the time trying to turn around in your chair and see behind you.

Maybe I should’ve just turned you around so you could face that way. You are so tiny in the chair, even with a big towel behind you there was still lots of extra space. Papa had fun thinking about how in a year you’ll be so much bigger and you’ll be running around playing on the slides too.