Clapping and crawling

Pete, by the way, has enjoyed two breakthroughs in the last few days. First, on Thanksgiving, he learned how to clap. I noticed that Carolyn's cousin Mike was clapping at Pete. Then I looked and saw Pete clapping back. "My goodness!" said I. "You got him to clap!" And Mike explained that it was actually the other way around--Pete clapped to him first. The next day, Pete developed the skill enough to make a little pat-pat sound with his claps. The day after that, he really got the hang of it: we were in a big group of people, including another baby, and when everybody else clapped, Pete would respond with huge sweeping claps, starting with his hands way out to the side of his torso, always smiling. BAM BAM BAM.

And last night going into this morning, he really figured out crawling. We've seen the elements falling into place for a while. Most recently, he developed the ability to move from a sitting position into a very confident crawling stance on all fours--this was so smooth that it always looked like he was set to zoom across the floor. But then his arms would go forward, and his knees didn't know how to follow, so he would just go down to the floor on his belly. The knees have now figured out how to follow. Which means, of course, that we're in big trouble.

Up and at 'em

During his usual roll-around-the-floor time after second breakfast, Pete has sat himself up twice. He seems to have understood immediately that this well let him reach things, such as the top of the coffee table, that were previously inaccessible. Yikes.

Fall photos

Here are the latest Petey pix! I recommend the "view as slideshow" function.

Papa got a blog

In case any readers of this blog care to see posts on topics other than Pete from Erik, they can have a peek at Underlying Logic.

Where's Pete?

Pete has added a new element to his peek-a-boo game. Now, he covers himself up, and as we're saying, "Oh, where's Pete?" he sticks his hands out to the sides, raises his legs way up in the air, and then slams the legs down. Repeatedly. So we're there saying "Where's Pete?" as Pete lies in front of us, twitching with excitement and slamming his legs, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hey! I'm not here to play background music!

Pete started to get fussy a little before his nap time this morning, so I decided to play piano with him. Playing or hearing the piano almost always settles him down. This time, he joined in hitting the keys for a few minutes, then leaned back against me while I practiced some things. During the next ten minutes, he got more relaxed, which let me concentrate more on the playing, which I could do with both hands in a limited way. Then I looked down and realized that Pete had fallen asleep! I had been working out a solo over a Gershwin tune, and he was happily snoozing on my lap. Nice.

An October thought

Pete's near future?

Nature boy

From Carolyn:

We took Pete to CERA for the first time this weekend. The weather was gorgeous and everything there is turning to fall colors. I hadn't been there since the new lab opened, and from what we could see from the outside, it looks fantastic! We used our baby backpack for the first time and tromped through the woods a bit. Pete had a great time (loving the outdoors with a passion that is a bit unsettling in its intensity), and Erik and I , in our more restrained, less screeching way, loved it, too. I found some good-sized snail shells near the trail. I'm not sure I've ever seen those before. (I left those where I found them, but I did remove a tic-tac box that didn't seem native to the area.)

Sudden sitting

I think I've mentioned before how much we've been surprised by the suddenness of Pete's developments. The latest: he figured out how to sit up (meaning, how to stay in a sitting position when placed there) in the last 24 hours. BOOM--he could do it, and now he's perfectly stable for long stretches. The downside is that if he starts to crawl that suddenly, we will be lost.

Comedic interlude

This is a rare post not directly about Pete, but I must call your attention to Calvin's snow art.

Incident report

At day care today, some one-year-old BIT MY SON AND HEIR ON THE HEAD. Aside from a couple little scratches, he's fine, expect for having been BITTEN ON THE HEAD. We got an "incident report" with gems such as "[form] WHERE did the incident take place? [answer] In the Honey Bunnies room." Given that, I say it was Colonel Mustard with the Candlestick.

A sporting chance

Pete seems to love live sports (as well as live music, happily). I thought he might enjoy the crowds, but he has surprised us by showing a lot of interest in the action--he was watching the ball from the minute we went in to see volleyball. Huh. As I type, he is making his evening non-milk feeding (peas, bananas, and oatmeal) difficult for Carolyn by commandeering a spoon and jamming his own spoon into his mouth every time Carolyn approaches with food in hers.

Peek-a-boo!

Last night, after his bath on the dressing table, Pete started playing peek-a-boo with us! That is, we've played it with him many times, but this time he was controlling the game--he'd cover his face with a cloth, and we'd say, "Where's Pete?" and he would immediately reveal his face and start laughing. Over and over again. A conversation!

Separation?

Pete has been an utter joy for three and a half days--he got over the worst of his fever thing quickly, and he's been happy, sociable, and sleeping well. Then I dropped him off at day care twenty minutes ago, and he was instantly despondent. Pete will be eight months old tomorrow; perhaps he has arrived a day early at the time of this paragraph's relevance:

"Between 8 months old 1 year old, your child is growing into a more independent toddler - yet he or she is even more uncertain about being separated from you. This is when separation anxiety typically develops, and your child may become agitated and upset whenever you try to leave him or her. Whether you need to go into the next room for just a few seconds, leave your child with a sitter for the evening, or drop off your child at day care, you may find that your child cries, clings to you, and resists attention from others."

Laugh buttons

Pete is doing much better. He's on antibiotics, and he seems to be feeling good. Last night, I was trying to give him the medicine with a little syringe, and he jerked to the side, knocking a bit of medicine onto the front of his shoulder. So I got a bit of damp cloth and started patting it onto the offending spot of medicine. And Pete started laughing and laughing! It turns out that the upper corners of his chest are little laugh buttons. This is a great, great discovery.

Flickr: a bettr place for pictrs

We've gotten a Flickr account, and Pete's pictures are now much better organized. Searchable, too. The latest big batch includes Pete's recent baptism and trips to Davenport, Kenosha-Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities, as well as my pictures from Greece this summer.

The Call

I got The Call this afternoon. Not the call to the big leagues, which I still expect any minute, but the call from day care: Pete has a fever, so come get him, 'cause he's all yours now, bub. The remainder of the week just got really different.

Baking with Pete

Pete and I have been baking a cake and brownies. That is, I've been preparing the ingredients with Pete in a carrier in front of me, while Pete excitedly reaches for everything with his hands and feet. My reach is longer than his (even spotting him the advantage of being in front of me), but the difference is small enough that whenever I relax my vigilance for a second, he's sure to catch the lip of a bowl with a finger or toe. It was not his fault, however, that in the course of my licking a spatula, he got a medium-sized spot of chocolate batter on his head.

One step Ferber

After being called upon as a last resort, Dr. Ferber has revolutionized our evenings. Keep in mind that Pete was crying hysterically at bedtime every night, for a good while, until we broke down and fed him. We started the Ferber method of teaching him to go to sleep on his own last night. It involves some crying at first, but Pete is learning:

Last night: 32 minutes of crying before sleep, followed by an unprecedented nine-hour sleep
First nap today: 30 minutes, followed by unprecedented nap in crib
Second nap: 22 minutes
Tonight's bedtime: 7 minutes

It's certainly hard to hear your baby cry even for seven minutes, but that's a whole lot better than last week, and at least there's a reason behind it, and we get the extremely valuable bonus that Pete is going to be able to get himself to sleep without all the theatrics we've been using for months. If things go according to plan, the crying will stop completely soon. Oh joy. And knock on wood knock on wood knock on wood--especially since everything could be thrown off when we leave for the weekend on Friday.

Day care begins

As we had hoped, Pete was easily the least anxious of the three of us about his adjustment to part-time day care. So far, so good. Bedtime has not improved, but thanks to Jackie Brown's encouragement, we will let Dr. Ferber take the lead tonight. I've gotten his book and found that his ideas have always been wildly misrepresented when I've heard about them in informal settings.