Fun Days and a Vertical Baby!

Alex and I have been having fun despite Dan's absence. Yesterday was playgroup, then a couple of errands, then we walked to the library (again, we were there on Wednesday, but it was the day the library closes early, of course) and picked up a book.

Today we went to the Y and then came home. Alex napped and then got up and played. He had some new skills to perfect, so it was an afternoon of busy, busy work to be done. Alex has figured out how to pull himself up. Despite the limitation of not crawling on his knees, he can do this goofy-looking superman pose, belly on the ground, hands on some surface, and then inch his knees up until he's vertical and then pull his feet under, and stand. It's a long, arduous looking process, but when he gets up, he bounces and giggles, and it is obvious that he thinks it's worth all the effort.

Then we went to the neighboorhood pool and swam for a little while. Alex always starts out a little hesitant, but he gets comfortable in water pretty quickly, and then begins to splash and giggle. Today I put my mouth down in the water and blew bubbles. This was hysterical. Really, really hysterical.

And finally, to ward off any loneliness I might be feeling, Alex took me out to eat. We wandered the streets of Waikiki, looking for a place that wasn't too crowded and loud, but crowded enough that there was background noise to cover the occasional loud exclamation of enthusiasm/frustration/annoyance/where's-more-food which is what passes for dinner conversation at our table. Alex was really, really good. He happily munched on a hamburger bun, raisins, and pineapple, and let me eat my yummy chicken sandwhich. The family at the next table even commented on how good he was. I think it might have been that he had my full attention the whole time, which is not normally the case when Dan and I go out to eat with him. Of course, he has most of the attention, but not all of it. I'm not saying that from now on we won't talk to each other and will dote (even more!) on him when we're out, but it was interesting to note the difference.

So, tomorrow we are going on a church retreat. Every year the church folk go on this hard core retreat where they actually camp out for the weekend. We haven't been out to the sight yet, as camping was not on my list of things I want to tackle alone with a baby, but I've seen a few pictures and it's right by the water. It sounds like a nice time.

And that is all. Right now I'm enjoying the lovely sound of a sleeping baby. Ahhhh....

I can feed myself Cheerios! I am such a big boy!

And when I run out of Cheerios, I can usually find a spare one..or fifty...in here. (This morning, I noticed Alex chomping on a raisin. I hadn't given him rasins yet today. I have given him raisins many times before, though, so this raisin could have been one day old, or many days old. Good things raisins are already old.)

Hey Mom and Dad! Seriously, when are we going to get these boxes out of the living room? This is just embarrasing. We've been here for 3 months already!

How 'bout I just unpack this one and then take it out for you? I can help, too!