First Blood Snow.

I never posted about this when it actually happened a month and a half ago, but I really want to have it up here, so beter laat dan nooit, right?


Wan smile.


Total confusion.


Face-plant!


Had ENOUGH of this, thank you.


A little shell-shocked.
So, in case the pictures didn't make it clear... No, Mr. Jim did not particularly enjoy his first snow.

A few odds and ends.

• Noah is going on first shift in a couple weeks! I am so freaking excited. Night shift is kind of soul-destroying, you know, what with the odd sleep cycles, and unpredictability, and lack of time together. Now we'll be able to actually, y'know, DO shit together. YAY!
  
• Jim and I went for a walk here yesterday and saw an armadillo! A real live one. I've never seen one before, so I was terribly excited. Weird little creature.
  
• Jim has his first top tooth! It just cut through last night. Now he's got two bottom teeth and one top tooth. Maybe soon he'll have enough to eat lettuce rather than gumming it frantically then throwing it on the floor for the uninterested cats.

And just to give you a quick Jim picture fix, here's Jim having a bath at my parents' house over New Years.

Gratuitous baby picture.

All and sundry.

• Bruce seems to have resigned himself to the existence of a new cat in his home. There have been very few squabbles and no blood at all in the last 24 hours, so I'm hoping this means a truce is in existence.
  
  Bruce the Cat Esq. versus the Right Hon. Deloofah Jones.
  
• I now have to pin Jim to the ground with my leg in order to change his diaper. Otherwise he just crawls away, leaving nothing but a trail of sorrow and bodily fluids.
  
• Thrifting! For $50, we got a dozen books, twenty pieces of clothing for Jim, three skirts for me, a pair of pants for Noah, a very nice purse, and this:
  
  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I'm not sure I could have forgiven myself for ignoring the opportunity to have my very own dried frog on a string.
  
• Morning runs are really surreal when you do them on base while the Army is doing PT. Pros: Cadence is entertaining (I swear I heard one squad/platoon/what-the-hell-ever yelling 'one (ONE!) two (TWO!) three (THREE!) black pride (BLACK PRIDE!)' this morning), and it's fun to watch them do calisthenics. Cons: It sucks getting trampled by thirty guys blindly following their backwards-running leader, sometimes you get yelled at by a well-meaning but extremely scary sergeant.
  
• Jim has decided that he will now get up at five every.single.morning. This is very hard to take ("No. No no no. Nononononono. Still sleeeeeeeeping. Urgh."), but he's so freaking chipper that I wake up pretty fast.
  
  This is a lot less cute at 5:00 am.

General trouble-making.

Attack of the Jim.


Ghost-Jim coming around the bend...


Hurray, DVD cases!


Enough of the DVD cases. On to find more interesting things to dismantle.


Oh hey, a lamp. Let's knock it over.


Reeeeeally need to find an extra-long baby gate for that door...

WW: Strawberry Smoothie.

Cookie thief.

So there I was, minding my own business, trying to eat the remaining half of my freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie, when Jim storms up, snatches it out of my hand, and eats the whole damned thing.

Dammit, baby, I wanted that cookie.


No remorse.

I suck at this. But hey, Jim is 8 months old!

I do have his monthly pictures, I swear. Unfortunately they're on my camera, which is somewhere behind Jim's bookshelf. You'll see them eventually. Fortunately, there are plenty more pictures of Jim to post (of course), so this post will not be unillustrated!


Flying is confusing.
So, Jim turned eight months a week ago, and he is big and mighty. He's a pretty personable little bugger this month. He's not super talkative - much more of a physical guy, really. But he does do some interactive stuff. He holds up his arms to be held, and if you're not fast enough with the holding, he tries to climb up your leg. Well, my leg, anyway. If I try to do something like, say, wash the dishes (or update my blog), he will stand clinging to my skirt and fussing until I attend to his loneliness. He also tries to imitate movements somewhat. If I wave my arm at him, he'll wave his back (up and down - hasn't quite figured out side-to-side).

Physically, he's a monster. Still teeny, of course, but he's now crawling on all fours like a stereotypical baby. If we're outside, he switches to bear crawling (hands and feet instead of hands and knees) because he hates the grass on his knees. He got his first grass-stain on his jeans in the park a few days ago - a proud, proud day. He can stand on his own, a little. He pulls up on everything (the couch, the fireplace, my hair) and then lets go to stand independently. Typically he looks astounded at his own prowess for about four seconds and then plops down on his butt.


Still one of his favorite foods.
He eats a ton. He gets lunch and dinner every day, and breakfast sometimes. He accidentally had a peanut butter cookie over Christmas and it did him no harm, so we've continued giving it to him. His favorite food of the week is a whole-wheat bagel with a little peanut butter on it. He likes his veggies, too, but with his tragic lack of teeth, they're a little tough to eat when raw. Oh, speaking of teeth - his second one just came in! It cut through yesterday right next to the other one.

I'll try to locate my camera and upload the recent pictures for your amusement. Until then, be amazed at Jim's ferocity.


Fear not, it's just barbecue sauce.

Edited to add OFFICIAL monthly pictures! I tried to be all cute and take the pictures in the comfort of his crib, but...


Either I stood close to the crib and he got all up in my face...

...or I stood far away and it was depressingly prison-y.
So here's what you get:

Fine. I'll pose with the damn bear.