Captured on “film” for the first time!  Don’t be distracted by Daddy’s crazy-baby-voice, or by the unflattering stripes on baby’s pjs.

Bonus video of Nico the Bat Boy.  Cape by Grandma D.

My grad school friends and I have a hard time believing Daniel is 8.  He was born when we were taking a reproductive health class about the ways that c-sections can be lifesaving and his timely and safe delivery stands out in our minds because of the context in which we celebrated it.  But didn’t we just take that class a couple of years ago?  Certainly it wasn’t EIGHT years ago that I used my Columbia student ID to waltz right on to that maternity wing and visit Denise and Daniel mere minutes after he was born.  (Thank you, Denise, for not calling security to escort me out when I showed up unannounced — man I’m embarrassed now that I did that!)  It’s weird how kids seem to age in double- or triple-time while not much time passes at all for adults like us. 

Anyway, we traveled up to NY last weekend to celebrate (a bit early) the birthdays of both James and Daniel.  Nico had fun, as always, playing with his cousins.  And he left with some new favorite toys that Daniel and James have outgrown.  Some of his very favorite toys were first loved by Daniel and James (remember Doggie?) — thank you boys for sharing with him!  Some photos from our visit are here.

Unfortunately there are some other birthday celebrations coming up that we’re not going to be able to travel for.  Dana turned 16 last week and she’s having a party this weekend.  And Brady is turning 2 in a few weeks, but for the second year in a row we’re going to miss his party.    We’ll be sure to have a piece of cake from afar so we can feel like a part of the celebration. 

***

As an aside, we are looking into some new software so we can do better slideshows and video shows and hopefully return to putting photos on the blog.  Thanks for sticking with us while this blog has been text-only!  I hope it will be jazzier soon.

Nico took his first steps tonight!  Two steps to Mommy, then two steps to Daddy.  He’s still shaky and prefers to get down on his knees to get between two things.  But it won’t be long now.

He was obviously thrilled with himself — he started laughing hysterically and clapping and became really hyper.  Then he bit my shoulder.  Sigh.  We’re still working on the biting thing…

Next time we’ll try to get a video.  We were too excited to go find the camera.  But it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway – he was too excited to reproduce his achievement last night.

Nico added another 3 states to his list — Ohio, Indiana and Illinois — when we took the train out to Chicago for Auntie Ro’s 87th birthday (click for photos).  My parents met us there and we got to see my aunts (Rose and Nita), cousins (Scott, Kathy, and Diana), second cousins (Krista, Kari, and Lauren), and third cousins (Cadel and Quinn)!  It was a great trip and the next time we go we’ll probably take the train again.  This was our second trip by train (really Nico’s first since he was in my belly last time) and we got a room each way, which made a big difference.  We slept well and arrived in Chicago (and back in DC) very rested.

Nico had a great time with both of his great aunts.  And he particularly had fun with Lauren, who had as much fun playing with him as I had playing with her when she was a tiny little girl.  She swung him around, helped him practice walking, read to him, and kept him entertained for hours past bedtime.  He also loved playing with 5-year old Cadel, who has developed tons and tons of patience as a big brother.  He would build towers for Nico, not complain when Nico knocked them down before they were finished, and start over with a new tower (over and over and over).  Quinn is lucky to have such a great big brother!

We thought Nico might start walking before the trip, and when he didn’t, we were sure that he would take his first steps for his Chicago audience.  That didn’t happen, though.  He’s standing alone for longer and longer periods now (sometimes for the whole length of a book as we read to him).  But tonight we think he took his first half-step.  Frank was reading to him and he took one step toward the book, planting his foot before his hand reached the book.  It’s only a matter of days now, we’re pretty sure.   Batten down the hatches, he’s about to move! 

Here’s another link to the Chicago photos, in case you didn’t click that earlier one.

A lot has happened so far in September and a lot more is about to happen, so I wanted to get ahead of the curve and post these photos from the first two weeks.

Nico had his 9 month visit this month, complete with vaccines for 5 diseases (diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, HiB and polio).  I had thought he wouldn’t be able to get them because he still has the sniffles (going on 3 weeks now…), but she thought he’d do fine.  And he did — he had less of a reaction this time than he did last time (no fatigue, redness, or heat at the injection site).  His stats are :  19 1/2 pounds, 29″ long, and 18 1/2″ head circumference.  Back at 7 months he was 18 pounds, 12 ounces, 28 1/2″ long, and had an 18″ head.  So he has definitely plateaued, although really he has outgrown all of the 9 month clothes and is wearing 12 month now, so that 1/2 inch and 12 ounces made a big difference.

We’ve taken advantage of this early fall weather with lots of walking trips to various libraries and parks.  And we had a great visit from Aunt Denise, Uncle Robert, and Daniel and James earlier in the month.  Nico loves watching his cousins!  We also had to say good bye to our good friends Lara and Beth and their daughters Caroline and Cassie.  Beth got a great job out in WA state and they packed up and moved out there last week.  Nico will miss having a secret admirer (Cassie) and we’ll miss the whole family.

Nico has been doing well with eating, but we’re not out of the woods yet.  His latest trick is to eat two or three slices of banana (in small pieces) and then toward the very end, choke and throw up everything he’s eaten.  We’re taking a little break from food until his sinuses clear out, thinking that maybe his throat is just too swollen for all the stress of food.

Here are photos from the first 2 weeks of September.  In the last few photos you can see him enjoying his right to vote.  He was shocked to learn, however, that the members of Congress on our ballot don’t actually have a vote.  Next up, photos of Nico demanding representation!

The Cape Charles and August Odyssey photos that we’ve already posted covered the first half of the month.  This slide show rounds out the month with a bunch of solo shots of Nico, plus our trip to Pittsburgh for Lisa’s bat mitzvah and the spice rack Frank built to house all of the Penzey’s goodness we brought back from Pittsburgh.  Unfortunately no cameras were allowed at the synagogue during Lisa’s bat mitzvah so we have no photos.  But she did an amazing job with her Hebrew and her remarks to the congregation and Andy, Sadie and Jonah also were excellent in their roles.  We were really glad to be there to celebrate with Lisa.  And, since most people make their bat mitzvahs at the age of 13, Lisa’s friends threw her a great ’80s themed party so we could party like we would have when Lisa was 13.  She and Andy went to the prom together and they recreated their promwear. (Lisa actually wore her prom dress and Andy was somehow still able to find a white jacket and turquoise accessories.)  Frank wore his actual jean jacket from junior high.  And I grabbed all the Desperately Seeking Susan clothes I could find at a local costume shop, including the white socks and black high heels that were oh-so-fashionable at the time.

In terms of Nico’s developments in August…he turned 8 months old, ate some cantaloupe, and started grinding his teeth, which is a sound worse than fingernails on a chalkboard!  He also ate some peaches and rice cereal, but got pretty sick when we gave him egg yolk.  At the very end of the month he actually asked for some food by making up a sign; then he successfully swallowed some banana pieces!  That was a huge step.  (He’s regressed some again, but we’re optimistic that he’ll eat someday.) 

Enjoy the photos!

Right after we got back from Cape Charles, we headed out again — this time on a northeastern odyssey that took us through Poughkeepsie, the Catskills, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.  It was a trip filled with fun visits with family and friends.  Unfortunately we don’t have photos from his visit with Grandma and Grandpa in NJ — we only used their camera while we were there.  I have to say, for a kid who doesn’t like to be in the car, Nico handled the 1,200 miles really well!

He turned 8 months old while we were traveling, and we realized that at that point he had been in 12 states already (plus DC, of course).  He did a southeastern loop in early spring, visiting VA, NC, SC, GA, and FL.  Then on this trip we did a northeastern loop, covering MD, DE, NJ, NY, MA, NH, and CT.   At the end of the month, he added PA to the list — those pictures will come soon.

Enjoy this batch of pictures.  Frank has a great video from a couple of weeks ago when we discovered Nico knew how to dance.  He’ll post it soon!

After we had so much fun last year in Sperryville, VA with the Somobrights and Hjeltaks, we decided to take another group vacation — this time to Cape Charles, VA.  Cape Charles is a sleepy little town at the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula.  It was formed in the 1880s when an enterprising duo decided that it would be more efficient to load train cars onto a ferry and take them over the water to Norfolk, VA than to go all the way around via Baltimore and other points west.  Their invention of a ferry car for trains worked and led to a boom in railroad traffic down the peninsula.  This was a boon to farmers there, who could sell their produce to a much wider audience.  And it led to the creation of a town for railroad workers and travelers alike — the beginning of Cape Charles.  The town was a hub of commerce and leisure until the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel was opened in 1963.  At that point, the railroad ferry became obsolete and the town slowly shut down.  Now it’s a well-preserved patch of gorgeous old houses and largely empty storefronts.  But it has great potential as a vacation destination and that seems to be what’s attracting new visitors to the town.  We had a great time there and can see how Cape Charles may have a second life after all.

Photos from our trip are here.