Sitting

Stian and I were practicing sitting just a little bit ago (him more than me, I'm pretty good at sitting, actually) and he was doing quite well! We were practicing on the bed though, which was a good thing, because he was doing a lot of this:



But he finally got the hang of it, and I got him to sit unassisted for 30 seconds or so a couple of times.



Perhaps his giant belly is making it harder for him to learn how to roll over, but it sort of works as a kickstand for sitting - so I guess it's good for something!

His other new trick is that he has learned how to cluck his tongue. He thinks this is great fun and we had quite the conversation earlier clucking back and forth at each other.

Five Months!

Wow! It's hard to believe Stian is already five months old!

He celebrated by having lots of fun in his jumper.



He also hung out with Mommy and Daddy. And took a lot of naps today. He was tired today, probably from keeping me up most of the night last night.

Related?

Gee, do you think these two are related?



We've been meaning to do a picture with Stian posed in Kris's arms like the picture of Kris in his dad's arms. I went back to look at that picture of Kris as a baby tonight to see if it looked like Stian was getting to be about the same age and had to laugh. They sure do look alike! Guess we better do the posed picture soon.

Grass and bottles

It was another beautiful spring day here, so we hung out outside for a little while when Kris got home from work.



Stian's first time having his toes in the grass:



He's getting better at sitting up. He still can't do it at all unsupported, but he needs less and less support. Although sitting on a pile of pavers is probably not the best place to practice sitting.



And then this evening he wanted to help holding his bottle. He wasn't great at it, but he did pretty well. Of course he wasn't all that hungry and was more playing with the bottle anyway.

Adventures in Cloth

So I've been thinking about doing this for awhile, but I finally decided to make the leap and buy some cloth diapers for Stian. They are a little intimidating, but they are better for him, better for the environment and better for my pocketbook. Although these things are not cheap - they are more expensive up front. But theoretically they can save you $1000 in the long run - even including the cost of washing and drying them. And that makes sense as right now it costs us about $20 for a 11-12 day supply of disposable diapers. So they are not cheap either.

Cloth diapers have come a long way since Kris and I were in them. They still make the traditional ones, of course, but they make all different kinds now. I bought Stian 5 different cloth diapers to try out. One is an all in one - and it's basically just like a disposable. The other four are pocket diapers. They are like a disposable, but they have a pocket that you stick absorbent material into. They are nice because you can vary your level of absorbency, but they are more work because you actually have to stick the material in there. But with all-in-ones and pocket diapers you don't need a cover like we needed when we were little.

So here is Stian in his 5 different cloth diapers. Aren't they cute?



They make ones called fitteds too, which is what I think I will try next. They look sort of like the ones above, but you do need a cover for them. They are typically cheaper though, and you can make your own covers (you can also buy them), including knitted ones, which I'd like to try.

So far it's going well. But he has only been in each diaper once. But we had no leaks or other issues. They are in the wash at the moment though, so we will see how that goes!

And just because I'm a mean Mom, here's a picture of Stian in his cloth diaper this afternoon and his leg warmers I knit him. :) Can't you just hear Kris saying "poor little guy!"?



Aren't they cute? They are all the rage these days. But Stian has such fat little legs (as you can see the pics above) that the ones you buy are kind of tight on him. So I made him some - although these don't stay up all that well either - I guess I need stretchier yarn.

Feeding the ducks

I mentioned in my last post that one of the activities Stian and I did last week was feed the ducks at Columbian Park with the moms' group. One of the other moms took pictures and just shared them, so I thought I'd post them.

Here are me and Stian and Talin and Raffi. Talin is actually the wife of one of my new anthropology colleagues.



And here are some of the other moms and kids and some ducks too.

Busy Week

(I wrote this last night, but Blogger was having issues, so I couldn't post until this morning)

We're having a very busy week this week. Well, for us anyway. On Monday Stian and I went to a local moms' group meeting at the library. Stian loved it. He laughed and smiled and kicked and just seemed to have fun sitting in my lap watching all of the kids running around and playing. On Tuesday Stian and Kris came to my doctor's appointment with me (just my allergist, nothing exciting, although my asthma seems to have disappeared, which is awfully nice). On Wednesday we went with the local moms' group to feed the ducks at the park. Stian and I didn't actually feed any ducks (which is just as well, as there were like 15 kids and about 6 ducks, there was lots and lots of bread just floating in the water after awhile), but again Stian seemed to get a kick out of watching the other kids. Today I had a dissertation defense I had to be at, so Stian went and hung out with Kris at his work for a couple of hours. And tomorrow we have a lunch out with the local moms' group ay my favorite local Thai restaurant.

The moms' group is pretty neat. It has about 100 members, so it's not always the same people that show up at everything. And they have probably 4-6 activities going on each week. A lot of them are activities that are too old for Stian. For instance next week I think one of the activities planned is a behind the scenes tour of a local supermarket and then decorating cookies in the bakery. Sounds like lots of fun, but obviously Stian is too young for it. I've only been to three activities now, but I think it'll be nice to have things for Stian and I to go do. And he sure seems to like being around other kids.

This evening Stian sat in his high chair and watched us make dinner. He looks like he actually fits in his high chair these days.



After dinner we went for a walk. Notice his bare feet! Notice the green grass! The radio said it was 78 degrees here today! Wow!



We went and looked at the eagles. They are nesting right by us again this year. It's neat to watch them.



We also met our new neighbors who were also out for a walk. Kris had met the woman before, but I hadn't. It's a couple with two young sons, one is 3, the other is 9 months. They seemed quite nice.

Spring Evening

Spring has sprung - at least temporarily.

Gobble Gobble

Just a little bit ago I was sitting here at my desk and looked up and saw this:



Five wild turkeys walking across my backyard. Wacky.

Dopey Kid

Stian has discovered the joys of sucking on his fingers. The other night I was giving him his evening massage and he was really sucking on them quite vigorously. I said to him "be careful kid you're going to make yourself ..." and that's when he threw up. It was nice of him to demonstrate my point, but yuck! Unfortunately, I doubt he has learned his lesson.

More fun with the girls

Laura, Anna Sofia and Sunniva left this morning. It was fun to have them here. Stian seemed to enjoy it. When they first got here and he was sick he seemed to be overly stimulated by them. But towards the end of their visit when he was feeling better, and also maybe a little more used to them, he appeared to enjoy watching them and interacting with them.

We had more outside play time. I put Stian in the Snugli facing out for the first time. It was nice to do that while Laura was here as the Snugli is a hand-me-down from them, so she was able to help me figure out how all the straps and buckles work when he is facing out. Stian seemed to like being carried around that way, being able to see out.





I was really amazed at how well the dogs did with the girls. They have not been known to be particularly good around kids. And although they growled a few times, they did so much better than I thought they would. I thought Toop would be fine, but Morri really surprised me.



Of course both the dogs loved being outside with all of the tennis balls. Here's Morri emploring Kris to put down the camera and throw the ball for her.



Even Toop was into it. Although we were careful not to throw the ball too far away for her. But she wanted to chase it.



And of course the girls had fun running around as well.

Laura, Sunniva and Anna Sofia are here!

Laura, Sunniva and Anna Sofia are here for a visit! We've gone for walks, gone to the park, out for lunch, played with tennis balls in the front yard (who knew tennis balls could be so much fun? Well, I suppose Toop and Morri have been telling us this for years), we've been eating good food (Laura's been cooking for us - yum!) and just having fun.

Poor Stian has been sick though. I'm not sure if it's the bug Kris and I had last week or it's a reaction to the vaccinations he had on Monday, but he had a couple of rough days - lots of crying, and he even threw up. Poor little guy. But he was feeling much better today, thankfully!

So here are a bunch of pictures taken so far during their visit.