11 ( and 1/2 ...) months + we're East Coast gypsies now ...

Well, Rowan is closer to twelve months than eleven now, but I do have a good excuse for being behind on posts - we spent last week living like nomads along the scorching Eastern seaboard.  We took Rowan on his first Big Trip and drove to the Annapolis/DC area to visit friends and family.  I was anxious leading up to the trip and nearly canceled it several times - I just wasn't sure if we could all handle it.  However, everyone did extremely well; we were very impressed with Rowan's ability to cope with the constant changes.  We joked that the drive down broke his spirit, but really, I do think the whole experience was great for building character.  We have noticed a definitive improvement in his overall coping abilities - he is still sensitive, but seems to be less easily upset.  We hope he continues to grow braver while still enjoying lots of snuggles. :)

Scenic view of the Susquehanna that we found on the way down.

We went to Annapolis first and got to hang out with Ben's cousin Cody, his wife Jamie, and their one year old son Colin.  Colin is big and strong like Rowan and he is already walking really well.  I think he had a good influence on Rowan because just a day after watching Colin stand up independently, Rowan did it for the first time!  He had already been taking a few tentative steps back and forth between Ben and I, but now he can stand up and lurch, I mean, walk independently!

Waving to the dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

Jellyfish!

We also stayed with Ben's brother David and his wife Liz in Annapolis.  They have a border collie mix named Dakota and he is the best dog ever!  He and Rowan are BFFs - seriously, they just love each other!  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the friends playing; they both move awfully fast.  I hope we can get Rowan a dog when he is older because he really loves them.

We stayed with David and Liz through the 4th of July and went to a swanky party - Rowan charmed everyone, of course.  He is SUCH a flirt.  It is very cute and it makes me glad to see how social he can be - he is far from a shut-in, but he doesn't go to day care so his daily social interactions are fairly limited.  We also took him to the big National Aquarium in Baltimore and that was a big success.  Rowan seemed really interested in looking at all the animals, including the people.  He made several friends, both swimming and non-swimming. :)

Seriously?  ANOTHER place to stay?

Hey, Girl.

We left Annapolis to spend the weekend in Washington, DC.  We stayed with my college roommate Sue and her boyfriend Brian.  Rowan loved both of them - he also loved their cat, Bauer, but unfortunately those feelings were not reciprocated.  Bauer spent much of the weekend in hiding.

Unfortunately, last weekend in DC was one of hottest ever recorded - it was 105 on Saturday!  So that somewhat limited our choices of activities.  We went to the mall to stay out of the heat and Rowan had a great time playing with the other kids on the indoor playground.  He is so funny - he was practically chasing the kids around with this goony smile on his face.  He is definitely friendly, but I think he came on a little strong. ;)

HI! BE MY FRIEND!!

We spent a lot of time in the pool at Sue's apartment complex.  Rowan had been in a pool before, but hadn't been completely excited about it.  However, maybe he just needed to get used to it, because now he is turning into a little fish!  He was practically throwing himself out of our arms and trying to swim.  And he definitely doesn't mind getting his head wet.  If the weather holds out, we're hoping to take him to Canandaigua Lake this week.

The heat broke on Monday and it cooled off to the low 80s so we went into Washington, DC.  Rowan took his very first train ride and did a great job.  He enjoyed checking out the scenery as well as the other passengers.  We walked around the National Mall and visited the Museum of American History.  Rowan was pretty interested, especially in anything he could get his hands on.

First train ride!

Thank god for the Ergo!

Cool day in DC.

OMG THIS SLINKY IS SO COOL!

We ended the trip with a quick visit to Manassas to see my friend Kelly, her husband Brett, and their new little girl Ella.  Rowan was starting to lose it by this point and took a little while to warm up to yet another new place.  However, Brett is a natural and quickly charmed Rowan.  We hope to spend more time with them the next time we brave the drive.

This month Rowan started walking.  At this point he is pretty much just tentatively lurching back and forth between Ben and I, but he does so with great enthusiasm! :)  He has been cruising for quite awhile, but while we were on this trip he stood up independently (without pulling or holding anything) for the first time.  We are pretty sure he learned it by watching Colin.

So overall it was a very successful trip.  Of course, now we are ACTUALLY on vacation - home and recuperating from our week of living like gypsies.  Rowan is spending his days playing with his toys, playing in his little backyard "beach" (a sandbox and plastic pool), and constantly practicing walking.

In other news, Rowan continues to meet his cohorts - it seems like everyone I know had a baby in the past year or so.  My friend Adrienne and her son Eden happened to be in Fredonia when we were a few weeks ago and the adults got to visit while the boys played together (sort of - Rowan is about three months older than Eden.)  It always cracks me up how beefy Rowan seems next to other babies.

It is hard to get two little boys to look :)

Rowan, the Miami Mob Boss

Rowan's Likes: Swimming, Puffs, graham crackers, dogs, meeting new animals (friendly ones), meeting new kids and friendly adults, ice cream (salted caramel appears to be his favorite)
Rowan's Dislikes: Diaper changes, getting dressed, most table food, being hot, being bored, not getting enough undivided attention

10 months old + barreling towards toddlerhood

Wow, looking back I see I deemed April "crazy" ... I don't even really remember April.  May officially set the new gold standard for crazy and definitely set the record for most changes for our little boy in his life thus far.  We kicked off May with strabismus surgery to correct Rowan's misaligned eyes.  We took him to the surgical center at dawn on May 2 and while I teetered on the edge of nervous collapse, his surgeon adjusted his eye muscles while Rowan was under general anesthesia.  The whole surgery including anesthesia only took about 30 minutes and Rowan was awake almost immediately afterwards.  He was definitely not happy in immediate recovery, but overall he was a real champ.  When we got home he drank most of a bottle and then conked out for about three hours.  When he awoke he was his old self, plenty happy and eager to eat and play with his toys.  Of course, his eyes took quite awhile to heal and at first they were very startling and rather unsettling to look at ...

Passed out post-op

What?  Is there something on my face?

Lots of visitors for Red Eye Rowan

We went to Ithaca for Mother's Day weekend to visit Ben's family and attend our nephew Geoffrey's birthday party in Binghampton.  Rowan was surprisingly good the entire trip - far less whining and crying than usual in the car and he even did well sleeping in the different crib.  We even got to stop in at our friend Abbey's barn sale and catch up with her, too.  Overall, it was a really wonderful weekend, topped off with a Mother's Day picnic lunch of Viva Taqueria at Taughannock State Park.

9 days post-op and starting to look healed!

Yup, we are so cool.

Oh, hello.  Just hanging out.

This is The Rowan Face.

I LOVE this picture! Great Mom's Day :)

We had already cleared out the living room before his surgery by moving the coffee table to a corner and moving one of the corner tables upstairs - and it's a good thing, too, because once he started to heal, Rowan needed some serious room to play.  He had already become very adept at sitting up and using his fine motor skills to play independently, but he was lagging slightly in gross motor skills (he had only rolled over a couple times and showed no interest in any kind of creeping or crawling.)  I suppose it is possible that his misaligned eyes were playing a role in that slight delay - he might have felt unsure of his depth perception or something.  Anywho, not long after his surgery Rowan became a cruising and crawling machine.  I wasn't surprised that he took to cruising - after all, it allows him to stand up and feel like the adult man he seems to think he is - but he was very resistant to crawling at first.  He could do it, but he would complain and cry the whole time, like it was paining him.  But, of course, he quickly realized he could get around much faster and to more parts of the house on all fours.  Then he decided he liked crawling.  But he still would prefer if he could walk ...

And, of course, this fun new skill was not far behind:

May was a great month for visiting with great people - Rowan even got to meet Avi, the boy who is destined to be his BFF.  Well, maybe not, but I sure do love his mom, Erin. :)  Avi is only a little less than two months older than Rowan and I'm sure they will love to play together someday.  They did have fun checking each other out this visit, but I'm sure they will come up with all sorts of clever ways to play once they get a little older and a little more mobile.

Aw, I love how sweetly Rowan is looking at Avi!

This spring was one of the all-time hottest we have ever had in WNY and we have been struggling to keep cool.  Rowan is like me - he definitely gets cranky when he is hot.  One night we decided to take dinner to the lake so we could enjoy the breeze and dip our toes in the water.  It was surprisingly warm - it has been hot, but Lake Ontario is super deep, so the water must have been very still lately.  It was nice that it was so warm, though, because Rowan loved splashing around.  I can't wait to take him swimming this summer.

Oh, hi.

Such a flirt!

GRRRAAAHHH!

Just chilling with Daddy

So Rowan's sleep habits started to deteriorate last month - it turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg.  A few nights ago we couldn't put him down at all without him waking up almost immediately and screaming desperately.  We were afraid he was sick or something was wrong - he seemed so ridiculously anguished - so we took him to the doctor.  According to the doctor, there is nothing wrong with him and the doctor believes that Rowan is starting to have separation anxiety.  Basically, we can either hold him for as long as necessary every time he is upset ... or we can let him cry it out and learn to self-soothe.  The latter is heartbreaking and so hard to listen to, but we just can't give up on sleep ourselves indefinitely.  It is frustrating for me because I try to rationalize it - like, how can you have separation anxiety?  You don't even have to go to daycare or basically ever have a baby-sitter!  Sigh.  I know babies aren't rational and our little guy is absolutely no exception.  It is just hard because I have plenty of anxiety of my own right now and it is hard to keep that in check when he gets so sad and angry.  Sometimes I feel like I'm no good at calming him down and I'm sure it is because he can sense how tightly wound I am.  I'm really glad Ben is home more now because I really don't know how I would be holding up otherwise.

Healed eyeballs!

Still a total flirt!

Rowan has always liked music and awhile ago he learned "dancing" (waving his arms and wiggling.)   Now he responds to the word "wiggle" and sometimes he just shakes his little bum.  Also, he has several YouTube favorites and "girlfriends."  See how excited he gets watching Alexa Narvaez:

We don't let him watch too much TV and he doesn't usually stand that close.  But he does like to watch music videos and we usually spend about 15-30 minutes a day doing that with him.  The rest of the day he is cruising and crawling around, playing with his toys, climbing the stairs, going on walks, and exploring outside.  He is also getting more and more talkative - he finally says "Mama" and he has been having a lot of fun experimenting with "G" sounds.  The other day we had a funny back and forth - I kept saying "mama" and he kept yelling "dada!" back to me with increasing volume and forcefulness.  He thinks he is funny.


Rowan's Likes: peekaboo (particularly when a blanket or towel is involved or around corners), ice cream, climbing basically anything he can, graham crackers, Puffs, playing in water, music, examining objects (esp. forbidden ones - he is still obsessed with my glasses :\)


Rowan's Dislikes: going to bed, most solid foods (we keep offering regular foods, per his doctor, but he mostly tosses them aside with disdain ... there have been some funny exceptions though, like the other day when he tore up a buckwheat pancake),  losing his balance (although he is getting a lot better - both at balancing and tolerating very minor falls), getting dressed or changed, and being hot

9 months old + a crazy April

We have had a really busy month.  Rowan keeps getting stronger and more mobile - pulling himself around, some crawling and scooting, and lots of cruising.  A bunch of my family came to visit including my sister and her kids and Rowan took his first trip to Strong Museum of Play.   Unfortunately, my hands were a little too full to snap any pictures, but he had a pretty good time.  At least, he didn't throw any major fits. :)

Big laughs and little teeth!

Happy, giggly boy loves Daddy!

Rowan has always been pretty musically inclined, but seems especially so nowadays.  We listen to music a lot, he has a few favorite music videos, and we just got him a Baby Einstein music table that he loves to play with.  And he loves to dance:

We have also been going to the eye doctor a lot - Rowan's eye surgery (to attempt to correct his strabismus) is scheduled for next Wednesday (May 2.)  I'm nervous and anxious for it to be over ... but we have been told there is a good chance he will need more than one surgery and even then there are no guarantees.  I don't care if he needs glasses someday, I just want his eyes to be healthy and function as well as possible.

We still think his eyes are beautiful!

We just re-arranged the living room so Rowan has more space to play and maneuver ... I'm guessing the ongoing theme for the next few months will be mobility!  He can pull himself up on lots of things (his crib, his bug, the recliner, etc.) and get himself onto all fours, but doesn't actually crawl.  (UPDATE 4/29: He definitely crawled on all fours tonight. He was kind of whiny while doing so, although we weren't pushing him to do it.  But he definitely moved his hands and knees in unison to cross the living room floor.) He has been pulling himself up and often plays while sitting on his knees.  Sometimes he scoots or pulls himself around on his butt.  He is definitely a happier kid now that he can do more things for himself.  But he still needs to know Mom and/or Dad are there - when he is playing at his music table he will seem so absorbed, but he'll still turn every couple of minutes and grab my leg like, oh good, just checking. :)

Rowan has almost always been a fan of water, but for a long time he wasn't ready to give up his bathing recliner despite not really needing it (he has been able to sit up just fine for a long time now.)  I ended up buying him a little inflatable tub to get him used to sitting in the water while feeling a little more secure - that did the trick, he only used it for a couple of weeks and this weekend he graduated to sitting in the tub.  Video of splashing coming soon!

DUCK FACE! :)

This weekend we are visiting Fredonia and today we celebrated Austin's 7th birthday.  Rowan is quickly becoming more interested in playing and engaging with the other kids.  He definitely favors Ella - of course, she makes sure to spend as much time with Baby Rowan as possible and she is always excited to "help" and play with him as much as possible. :) 

No idea what color his hair will be ... looks red here!

Rowan's Likes: Belly raspberries, riding dad's shoulders, examining objects by turning them over and over, sleeping on his side (new and so cute!), pulling himself to a standing position, cruising, petting the cat, being outside, eating Puffs (he has mastered the pincer grip), jumping, taking a bath, Mom or Dad talking in a funny high voice
Rowan's Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed (usually), being hot, crowded/loud/stuffy places, being on his tummy (for more than a few minutes), being bored

8 months going on 8 years ...

This kid thinks he is a kid.  Our "baby" is almost in toddler sizes (18 months) and although he can army crawl (and roll over, both ways) he prefers that we help him walk or fly.  I say "fly" because although he wants us to carry him everywhere, he's not interested in holding on.  Like a baby.  He twists himself around and launches himself forward as though he will somehow magically hover in front of us so that he is free to examine whatever tickles his fancy.

Loves "walking" around in his crib while holding on

Rowan now has two teeth (the bottom front two) and we are pretty sure he just started cutting a third.  He has continued to deal with the pain reasonably well and he loves those new teeth - one of his absolute favorite things these days is to "chew" on a glass and sip cold water.  He taps his new teeth on the glass, takes a swig of water, then gives me the biggest grin.  Obviously, I help him.   I have to get a really, really tight grip on the glass, though, because he is strong.

Just coolin' my gums ...

I was DYING when he was wearing just this hat ...

Speaking of his strength, it can be painful at times.  He hits, smacks, pulls hair, and grabs for my glasses constantly.  It is tough because he is still a little young to really learn "no" - we are trying, but he just laughs and thinks it's all part of the Fun Motor Skills Game.  I'm trying to teach him "nice touch" - I stroke his cheek and say "nice" or "nice touch" when he gets really riled up and flail-y.  It's actually kind of spooky - it sort of puts him into a trance.  But it relaxes him and occasionally he'll do his own version of "nice touch" back to me.  We also practice on the cats.  (Hey, they need to earn their keep.)

This is my life now.

We got Rowan a jumper a few weeks ago and it has been a hit.  He doesn't always like it, but he usually does and really gets going with his jumping and swinging.  Usually he will be content to jump for 10-15 minutes, but on occasion he'll really get into it and go for a half hour or so.

This only happened once, but SO funny. :)

Rowan still prefers his Bumbo over the high chair.  I think he likes to have relatively unrestricted movement from the waist up.  He likes to be able to look all around - the Bumbo must always be placed in the center of the action. :)  He also likes to "dance" in the Bumbo - he does this cute little wiggle from the waist and it cracks us up.  The best part is if we do it first, he will do it back.  (Video coming soon!)

We don't have a really strict routine with Rowan, but we try to keep his feeding fairly regular.  He still has 4-5 bottles a day (he has been getting up in the night for another bottle - unusual for him), a bowl of cereal mid-morning and mid-afternoon (occasionally with extra fruit), and a protein and vegetable combo around dinnertime.  I have been buying all of his food, but he seemed to like a lentils and rice mix that I got him, so I might try making that from scratch.

LOVE that sweet face!

I'm not sure I like this ...

Rowan is now fluent in sitting up and playing independently.  He sits on the living room floor and enjoys pulling over his toy basket, picking through his toys, playing with them (particularly a pop-up toy), and playing with the basket itself.  We make sure we are still close by though, and position him away from the coffee table just in case he does topple over.  Sometimes I'll watch quietly from the kitchen - if he doesn't know that I'm right there, sometimes he will slide onto his tummy or side and not even complain about it. :)

Is that curly hair??

So sweet.

Rowan's Likes: Food (especially bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, squash, and green beans), jumping, dancing, standing/pretending to walk, being outside (thank you weird warm streak last week!), taking a bath, anything he can chew on

Rowan's Dislikes: Having his diaper changed (mostly just because he is SO mad that he can't quite sit up from laying down yet), long car rides (short ones have gotten mostly manageable), a bottle when he doesn't want one, waking up from a nap to find that we've managed to lay him down in his crib (it's weird - he doesn't wake up in a bad mood in the morning, but if we manage to put him down for a nap rather than just hold him he wakes up inconsolable.)

Yet another first!

All the drooling and chewing and pain is finally starting to pay off - Rowan's first tooth broke through yesterday!  It is in the front lower gums and it's just barely poking out.  He has been more interested in his cold teething ring lately and we just introduced rice rusks (Mum-Mums) for him to chew on.  We try not to give him Tylenol too often, but sometimes he gets really upset when his gums are really sore and distraction just doesn't cut it.

Rowan showed us another fun new "trick" earlier today - he seemed to be intentionally trying to make us laugh.  For some reason he really likes hanging out in the laundry room and today while in there he was cracking us up with his "growling."  He also seemed to find it really funny when Ben was talking about poop.

Almost 7 months old + not slowing down

Our little baby is becoming a little boy so fast!  Big & strong barely begin to describe Rowan - he doubled his birth weight by 6 months old and now weighs in around 22 pounds!  His height has grown less steadily than his weight, but he recently had a growth spurt and now he is almost 29 inches tall.  We're starting to retire some 12 month clothes and getting out 18 months already!

Our happy little guy!

Rowan eats lots of cereal and purees now.  He loves sweet potatoes, apples, pears, and bananas, but he is not super fond of vegetables just yet.  We have tried some green vegetables, but they seem to bug his belly so his doc said to hold off on those for now.  Rowan is also working on his fine motor skills with Puffs and Mum-Mums (new today!)

Rowan sits up as well as a 9 month old, according to his doctor, and his motor skills are great, too.  He is starting to spend a fair amount of time playing with various toys while sitting up unassisted.  He isn't doing everything early, though - we finally hit a slightly overdue milestone when he rolled over all by himself the other night.  I still think he's just not all that interested in being on his stomach ...

We were disappointed to find out Rowan might need eye surgery - his eyes still aren't aligning.  We had hoped he would just outgrow it.  For now we are using an eye patch - 2 hours a day alternating eyes.  It seems like it might be helping - and we get some really fun pictures.

Rocking the eye patch while hanging out at Grandma's

Well, helloooooo!

BEST goofy face!

Rowan is very proud of all the stuff he can do now and seems to respond well to praise.  He is especially proud when he pulls himself into a squat at the end of his changing table.  He's too little to reach and pull himself up in the crib, but the lower bar on the changing table is just right for practice (with mom or dad's arms ready just in case!)

One of Rowan's very favorite places!

We love to snuggle our little boy and play with him, too.  I"m glad he is starting to have a wider range of interests because as much as I love holding him, my arms and back need a rest occasionally!

Rowan's Likes: Cereal (and most solid foods that he is allowed to have), Puffs or Mum-Mums, Peek-a-boo, Changing table time (but not always getting changed), bouncing (most of the time), singing, looking at books, most toys

Rowan's Dislikes: The car (sigh, still),  being tired (but he still sleeps well at night), tummy discomfort

Six months old + baptized

Rowan is just about six months now and he is a little bruiser.  He is basically off the charts for weight, nearly 21 pounds now, and he is pretty tall at 27 1/2 inches.  He wears 12-18 month size clothing.  He is a beast.

A beast? Moi??

We are very fortunate that overall Rowan is a healthy little boy.  He does sneeze a lot - I wonder if he has allergies like me.  We're also managing his baby eczema - a common winter ailment with infants.  We are constantly slathering his forehead with Aquafor and unfortunately he tends to attack his head with his little baby nails when he is agitated.  And we are going to an eye doctor next week - his eyes still tend to cross (as evident in the photo above.)  They don't cross all the time and his vision and hand-eye coordination seem great, so we're hoping it will be an easy fix.  But there may be some baby eye patch photos in the future ...

We call these his "nose ring" toys ...

Rowan continues to find solace in his bedroom.  He still loves to stretch and play on his changing table.  He can put his feet in his mouth and frequently does.  I'm glad we've made his room such a positive place for him - we're currently transitioning to the crib and it has been difficult, but at least he enjoys being in his room and is used to it.

Rowan and his out-of-control eyelashes

Rowan has also become quite the flirt.  He is still quite serious a lot of the time, but we get a lot more grins, giggles, and coy little glances now.  He has a somewhat new move where puts his chin down then turns his head to the side while giving an innocent, wide-eyed stare.  It kills us every time.

Thoughtful Rowan

Rowan is continuing to try different foods.   He has moved on from rice cereal to multigrain and usually loves it.  He has also tried purees of prune, apple, banana, and carrots.  So far apple and banana are his favorites.  He mastered eating with a spoon pretty quickly, but sometimes he makes a mess anyway, especially when he's losing interest.  And sometimes he makes a mess because he's showing us a new trick:

 We had Rowan baptized on January 21 at St. Joseph's, my home parish in Fredonia.  I was nervous about how he would handle the ceremony since he gets bored easily and isn't always a fan about changing clothes.  To our happy surprise, Rowan was a total champ - he didn't have a single meltdown and he did extremely well during the actual ceremony.  Most of Ben's family made the trip to Fredonia and we had a great time packing into my parent's house afterward for dinner.  It was a lot of fun to have an event that got everyone together.

Rowan's Likes: Cereal (usually), peek-a-boo, playing with his feet, being held/walking around, "bicycling" his legs, bath time, bananas, apples
Rowan's Dislikes: Riding in the car (still, but getting a little better), being bored, waiting

The boy wizard

I try really hard not to laugh too loud or talk too much in videos - but Rowan's newest "trick" just cracks me up way too much.  This is now what we do after bath time.

Five months old + holiday times

The holidays always stress me out, though I try to remain calm and cool.  I know it's all about family and friends and relaxing and ultimately that is all that ends up mattering - but I can't seem to help getting wound up as the holidays approach.  So of course I was extra concerned about coping with all the travel and whatnot with a five month old baby.  Then a whole bunch of unforeseen stuff happened resulting in our staying in Rochester until late Christmas day.  It ended up being kind of nice to have a quiet Christmas Eve at home, just the three of us.  I made a fancy dinner with duck cassoulet and we exchanged gifts and watched Christmas specials while Rowan treated it just like any other evening. :)

*grin*

We went to Fredonia first, arriving in time for a late Christmas dinner.  Rowan also attended his first Boxing Day party and was fairly sociable.  We stopped back in Rochester to regroup (and unexpectedly replace our broken thermostat) before heading to Ithaca.  Rowan seemed very content with all of the family love.

Rowan in his favorite sleeping position with Matt.

Rowan actually did pretty well overall considering all the unfamiliar places, sights, and smells.  This kid is really a homebody.  He was visibly excited to get home, looking everywhere with a big smile and talking up a storm (see below for more on "talking.")

This is basically where he was at by the end of the week.

So we made it through the holidays in a rental Hyundai sedan whilst my van remains at a collision shop for going on three weeks now.  This kid does not travel light and it was hard to pack without the roominess of my beloved Caravan.  He just upgraded to a conversion car seat (after outgrowing his super-sized birth-one year infant car seat) and that helped make all the rides a little smoother.  In fact he rode all the way to Rachael's house on New Year's Day without much complaint at all - and then he was super good and social the whole time we were there.  And then he fell asleep on the way home - AND THEN he continued to nap for nearly an hour after I set him in his bed.  I was afraid I had the wrong kid ... :)

But Rowan's passionate hatred of auto travel is old news - in new news, he's eating rice cereal and doing very well with it.  He basically mastered eating from a spoon in one day.  We make it a little on the thick side - it seems to make it easier for him to get it down his gullet - and sometimes we add a little pear juice or prune juice to sweeten it up a bit.  We'll probably start introducing baby food in a week or so - and Aunt Lauren (our close friend, Ben's "best man", soon to be Rowan's godmother, former pastry chef, and current farm dweller) is SO excited to start making him some purees!

Perfunctory messy-baby-trying-to-eat-with-spoon shot

And one more for the road

Rowan started cooing weeks ago, but this month he has gotten MUCH more talkative and expressive.  I remember being kind of disappointed in the second and third months because it seemed like he never smiled.  Now we can get him to smile all the time.  Giggles are still a little rare, but much more common.  It's hard to catch his awesome expressions on camera, though, because he is the most expressive when face-to-face with me or Ben.  As soon as we get the camera out he just stops and stares, as evidenced by this video where I sneak up on him during a lengthy diatribe:

He makes the best faces and Ben and I are constantly cracking up.  His eyebrows are always moving and he frequently arched just one, making an utterly bemused face.  I'm not sure whether he is doing it on purpose.  He seems to be rapidly developing a very wry sense of humor ... [side note: the video looks old-timey because I had accidentally smeared Aquafor ointment on the lens and didn't notice until afterward. Oops.]

Rowan's Likes: Either of us rubbing our head on his belly (but esp. Ben), baths, talking, "raspberries" (on his belly or just seeing us do it), standing with help, being tossed (very gently) in the air, looking at pictures or video of himself or other kids, looking at still pictures of kids, rice cereal, being naked
Rowan's Dislikes: The car (usually), being bored, any kind of discomfort (causing him to scratch violently at his head), waking up from a nap (often), getting dressed