Eamon vs Inertia

As a wise man once posited, a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Eamon is the former.

At this point in his life, Eamon is extremely curious. About everything. He generally sates his curiosity by putting the object he desires in his mouth, but flinging things behind him is also an option.

He will ALWAYS stop whatever he is doing to mug for the camera, however.

Eamon helping put Gladware away

Eamon helping with the recycling

Eamon helping with Nesta's food

Eamon making a phone call

You see, in Eamon's World, things do not belong where they were, nor are things used as they are intended. The latter property was established early on. He always turned things upside down or used them backwards, starting when he could actually manipulate objects. This has become more pronounced as he has gotten older. For example, we got him this really cool bilingual drum that will play the alphabet when you bang on the top of it. Eamon prefers to bang on the bottom.

Eamon playing with his farm animals toy. Notice the direction the toy is facing.

When awake, he is in constant motion, and he has gotten the hang of navigating stairs. If he sees an open door, he heads for it. If he sees something shiny, he heads for it. If he sees a leaf on the ground, he heads for it. Get the picture?

Eamon helping with laundry

Eamon catching up on celebrity gossip

He has finally settled in to our new home. This makes his parents very happy. If only the dog adjusted so quickly.

9 Month Checkup

(Or: A Man on the Move)

Ah, Eamon Wolfe.

9 months. (Except that he's almost 10 months old already...our doctor was sick last time so we had to reschedule the appointment that was actually closer to the 9 month mark).

My mother had to take him, because Aaron and I were working and used up most of our days off doing the closing/moving thing.

The doctor was running an hour late.

Eamon got bored.

Eamon doesn't like being bored.





He needs to be DOING things.

So the doctor's visit was a little interesting, according to my poor mother. Apparently, he spent most of his time shrieking (his happy shriek, because he was so excited to see all those other babies), trying to kiss the other babies, trying to crawl around the floor and eat everything, grabbing at the doctor's stethoscope, trying to roll off the table, and just generally being a really active boy.

So no one is too surprised that even though his height stayed in the 90th percentile (30 1/4 inches), his weight has plummeted down to the 50th percentile range (21 pounds 2 ounces).

I personally don't know how he keeps any calories.

I get tired just watching him.

But gee, he's a lot of fun, even if he never does stop moving.

Slow Down Already

Hey, remember this little guy?


Haven't seen him around much lately.







Nowadays, we have this handsome devil living with us.







He's the kind of guy who would tell a joke if he could talk, but instead settles for fake sneezing or coughing to get you to laugh with him.







And he can crawl. Fast. And is into everything. EVERYTHING.







He even claps for himself when he does something he thinks is clap-worthy. Don't worry, he'll clap for you, too, when you do something clap-worthy, like, you know, entering a room. He learned to clap on the day that we moved, and also to high-five (which must always be followed by a clap).







And then sometimes he just sits there, looking entirely too old, considering he was only born about 9 months old.








So, anyway, we don't see this guy around anymore.





But then, this guy is pretty neat, too.

Welcome Home, Eamon Wolfe

So, uh, we moved and stuff. And now every night is taken up with one of us taking care of Eamon and one of us continuing to move stuff out of our old house. That's when we're not both working late, or attending class, or going to district meetings.

So, yeah, things are busy. Posts might be pictures for awhile.

But the baby, he's still happy. And still very cute. So pictures posts, not the worst thing in the world.

And we will post pictures of the house, too. You know, someday. When we have some spare time. I'm thinking maybe this summer?

Eamon vs Sleep, Redux

Eamon has slept remarkably well throughout his life. Rarely does he awaken during the night and when he does, putting his pacifier in his mouth gets him back to sleep. Since he figured out how to do that on his own about 2 weeks ago, I barely hear a peep from him once he's in bed.

I do not mention this, dear reader, to make you angry at the remarkable luck with which we have been bestowed, but rather to illustrate why last weekend was so crazy.

On the weekends, Kate and I like to spend as much time as possible with Eamon, which usually means that the person getting up with him would also nap with him. He is such a cuddler that the practice was pleasant for all involved (even Kate, who isn't much of a cuddler). However, it seems this practice was getting Eamon in the habit of sleeping with someone all the time. Once he figured out how to sit up (see previous post), he was reluctant to soothe himself back to sleep. Apparently, learning that one can sit up does not necessarily mean that one also learns to lie down.

All of these things came to a head last Sunday, when Eamon took FOREVER to fall asleep, then was awake an hour later, screaming his head off. This was unfortunate for me, since the Cowboys were playing their first game in their new stadium. Being a good father, I then decided to allow my son to watch his first Cowboys night game. Ok, so he played on the floor while I watched, but he did look up at the TV every once and a while. At the end of the 1st quarter, I took him in to sleep with Kate. Side note: DVR is the best invention ever.

This episode repeated itself Monday night, with Eamon strenously objecting to going to sleep alone (and by "strenuously object" I mean "screamed his lungs out for 90 minutes"). Kate and I decided to just let him scream it out, and it worked. While he did have to get rocked to sleep after his marathon (for him) session, Tuesday was a breeze. Problem solved. For now.

In other news, we bought a house today and Eamon goes for his 9 month check up Wednesday. Updates on the transition will follow.

Do the Locomotion

It finally happened: this morning, I went in to Eamon's room to find him sitting up by himself. He was playing with his Baby Elmo (who sleeps with him in the crib) and looking altogether more like a kid than an infant (it doesn't help that he's the size of many of the little guys toddling around out there).

Moreover, Eamon finally got tired of dragging himself around in an army crawl. While he could move, and pretty quickly, he always sort of looked like he was rock climbing. No more. Yesterday, he finally figured out the complicated process of getting his butt in the air, pushing up with his arms, and moving his arms and legs in a motion that allowed him to move forward. From this position, he has also figured out that he can easily get himself back to a sit.

He has also been attempting to pull himself to a stand, though he isn't quite as ready for this. His balance is still really off, and he wobbles and teeters precipitously until he finally falls on his bottom. Nevertheless, it seems that once Eamon gets it in his head to do something, he keeps at it until he finally figures it out. So we'll see. I think the walking is still a long way's off given his pretty terrible balance so far, which is kind of good since we're right in the middle of packing and getting ready to move, and the last thing we need is a baby literally running around.

I bet you can guess what he's crawling towards before you even watch the video.

The Original King of Comedy...and Drama

Eamon has needs (formula, sleep, shelter, etc.) and he used to use his "voice" to express those needs. But now Eamon Wolfe also has wants (well, he thinks they are needs), and those wants include the TV remote, our cell phones, the camera, and anything else technological that he can destroy with his nefarious baby spit. And no longer does he just lunge for things he wants...if he can't have them, he can burst into tears in a matter of seconds. It's quite the act. And it is an act, since when we start laughing at him (as we always do), he usually stops crying and laughs along (his desperate want momentarily forgotten).

See how quickly he goes from happy to upset and back? I was trying to get a video of him doing a raspberry, but it was a moot point since all he wanted was the camera.

When he isn't fake crying because we are being mean and evil parents who don't think an 8 month old needs his own cell phone, Eamon loves to entertain. Despite his occasional fake crying, he's actually quite a happy little guy most of the time. Much of his day is spent in pursuit of finding funny things or making others laugh. There are some things that he finds absolutely hysterical: the popping noise that Aaron can make with his mouth, when Mommy fake sneezes, or when you "pretend" to throw the dog toy but don't actually throw it (Nesta does not find this nearly as funny).

But Eamon has learned that he can make others laugh, too. He's almost somewhat of a clown sometimes, and I pity his future teachers. The child has a vast repertoire of funny noises and sound effects: grunting, shrieking, fake coughing, fake sneezing, fake gagging, and recently, blowing raspberries. He loves to blow raspberries now. He blows them all the time (even while you are feeding him, which I hear gets very interesting--sorry, Mom).

So anyway, if you come to visit our little man, be prepared for both laughter and tears--and watch your cell phone.