Joe didn't have a full day off from late August until last week... so once his fall break was officially underway last Saturday, the first thing he wanted to do was get away from campus and pretend it didn't exist for awhile. So, we invited Grandma and Uncle John along, and brought little John for his first trip to the zoo. If we'd been looking for reactions of awe and wonder from the baby we would all have been rather disappointed. ;-) Luckily we were mostly interested in spending a beautiful day outside and seeing the new rainforest exhibit that just opened (which was pretty cool, I thought!). John's favorite thing about the zoo was all the railings and fences. I think the only animals he actually noticed were the sea lions and the bats, both of which were scary. I think the zoo, like most of the other things we've been to this year, will be a bit more interesting for him next year. :-)
The next day we visited Joe's parents, and Grandpa taught John to kick a soccer ball. I have video! Eventually I might even get around to sharing it.
For the most part it was a pretty low-key week. There was much watching of movies and shows from Netflix, which we are continuing to enjoy. I have to laugh at the "movies you may enjoy" -- it suggests things for you based on other things you've watched, and it's actually really good at it. Our current top category is "Family Sci-Fi/Fantasy from the 1980's" if that tells you anything about us. :-D One day last week Joe had borrowed a projector to use for a presentation, so he hooked it up to his computer and made us a 92-inch screen on the wall. That was cool. The cat was very confused by it and tried to chase the cursor.
We did a little shopping during the week. I brought John to Babies R Us while Joe was giving the aforementioned presentation. I'm starting to do research on strollers, realizing that John is big enough to sit in one now, and we will not want to be lugging the car seat in and out much longer. Our current stroller is just a frame that the car seat attaches to. We knew that would mean needing to get another stroller eventually, but I'm glad we did it that way to start out because now I have a better idea of what I want in a stroller. As always, baby crap costs a fortune and there are so many options it can be overwhelming. I like to do things right in one shot. :-P
We also picked up our digital tuner thingy for the TV with the handy $40 coupon from the government. So we still only get 5 channels, but now they look really good! Makes for much nicer football-watching. One of Joe's students is supposedly making us a better antenna (this is what happens at a boarding school when someone is bored and asks Joe for something to do). :-)
Of course as you've no doubt seen, the week ended with me lopping off about a foot of hair. The reason I did actually had little to do with grabby baby fingers (which still grab even though it's short). Rather, 2 things: eczema necessitating expensive shampoo that I would like to last; and besides that I just needed a change. I am really liking it, hadn't realized how much the long hair was weighing me down. It's so freeing not having to do much with it. :-)
I think Joe appreciated having some more time to spend with his son... although it was a bit depressing for him when John would get upset anytime I left the room. Sigh, he's such a mama's boy. ;-) He is at such a fun age though. Have I said that before? Hehe. For the most part he is just a happy little man, usually with a great big smile on his face. He smiles for the camera now which means lots more cute pictures. We took him in last week for pictures in his Halloween costume and he was just darn charming! (After that Joe and I walked around the mall and laughed at the ridiculousness of trying to make a mall look like a city street, because we are evil. But it was fun.)
Let's see, what else is new in the world of John. I noticed him picking up a pebble with his thumb and forefinger (pincer grasp). We bought him some "baby puffs" to practice that... next time I think I'll skip those and go right to Cheerios. He has a ways to go with that yet but every so often one gets to his mouth (and less often than that it even stays there). On the food front our latest addition was applesauce, another winner. We have taken to being mean parents at meal time: we discovered that he can't get his hands out from under the tray on his high chair, so a lot of times we'll trap them underneath it, which keeps meals a whole lot cleaner and faster. But I try to let him have his hands often too, so he can grab the spoon and make a gigantic mess. :-)
In the skills department, well I already mentioned that he was kicking a ball. ;-) He's getting better at doing things with his feet, kicking at things from the changing pad and so on. Of course he still loves to stand and walk around with our help. I noticed a subtle change there: it used to be that I would hold his hands while he walked, but now he'll hang on to my fingers. He does forget that he can't stand on his own yet though, so we'll be walking around and he'll let go to grab something, but I'm right there to catch him. He can pull up to standing pretty much on his own, holding my fingers, but hasn't pulled up on anything else yet. In the past few days he's started rocking forward to his hands and knees, so he might crawl after all. He also scoots while he's sitting... not on purpose, but I'll look down and realize he's sitting about a foot away from where I left him. Joe and I are getting prepped for mobility.
His favorite things to [attempt to] play with these days are cords. Sigh. He's started sticking his tongue out on purpose, and blowing raspberries. If I put something over his face (playing peek-a-boo) he can now pull it off by himself. His second front tooth broke through today. He flaps his arms when he's excited which is the cutest thing. He brings so much joy. So often I'll just look at him and smile... even when he refuses to nap in his crib and is only content to sleep in my arms. He'll only be this small for so long, will I really look back and regret that I held him too much?
I posted the pictures (all of them, including the ones I didn't buy) from our session at JC Penney last month, in the "5Months" album in case anyone missed them. :-)