sleeping in my crib?

Mommy thinks I should practice sleeping in my crib. Ha! I think I should lay in there and watch the mobile for 15 minutes, pretend to be asleep for about 5 minutes and then cry really loudly. (Maybe she'll turn the mobile back on.)

The sling thing

Here's how Thomas and I travel most of the time - we love our sling!

Baby, look at me now!

Thomas is now 12 weeks old & 12 lbs heavy - no more Mr. newborn! He's changed so much in the last two weeks that it's a little mind-boggling. Where to start?

Well, last weekend we stopped swaddling him at night - we'd noticed that he wasn't relaxing into the swaddle the way he did at first, and he was clearly fighting it in the morning. To our great delight, Thomas slept wonderfully without the swaddle - guess that newborn startle reflex is gone. Yippee!

While we're on the subject of sleep, Thomas has started - slowly but surely - to fall asleep on his own & to nap in his bassinet. Don't get too excited - he's still not sleeping through the night - but he is sleeping better and better and I can almost imagine that someday soon we'll have a schedule and be sleeping five or six hours in a row...

Maybe all this sleep is helping with coordination, too. Two weeks ago I wrote that Thomas could intentionally (sort of) hit things. Now he grabs them & pulls them towards him - and he is starting to grab things and put them in his mouth. I figure I should celebrate that milestone now while it's exciting because I hear that soon enough his desire to put everything in his mouth will be the bane of our existence! Here's Thomas playing in his Gymini (he loves the horse, if you can't tell):

Thomas has also tried out his Jolly Jumper - witness his first attempt below. He's not quite tall enough - or maybe he's not quite heavy enough - to get both of his feet on the floor simultaneously. I would have waited a little longer to try it - babies are supposed to be able to hold their heads up before they use it - but André was convinced Thomas was ready & I have to say that I think he was right.

And that's all the news for now - it's taken me a couple of days to get this written & now I've got even more to write about - in another post!

D'Arcy's Birthday

Yesterday was D'Arcy's birthday. We all went down to Kingston where Leslie had organized a beautiful small burial service followed by dinner at D'Arcy's favourite restaurant, Curry Original.

The day was sunny and warm. Just before the ceremony, a hawk flew down and lit on a gravestone near D'Arcy's - beautiful and appropriate. About 25 of us gathered and listened some of Leslie's lovely poems for D'Arcy and a beautiful a capella song. A few people shared thoughts of D'Arcy since his death and a lot of us shared some tears.

The dinner afterwards was a tribute to D'Arcy's love of good food and companionship. Curry Original did itself proud and we reveled in butter chicken, lamb korma, saag paneer and much more.

We miss D'Arcy more than I know how to say in a blog, but I didn't want to let the day go by unmarked. D'Arcy was fun and warm, challenging and loving. Thomas is already hearing stories of his uncle, and we plan to tell him many more over the years - we'll want to remember this day, too.

Thomas' First Trip to the Pub

Last night we took Thomas out to a local bar, not because we wanted to role model bad behaviour, but to join others to watch my childhood friend Simon Whitfield compete in the triathlon at the Beijing Olympics. Any of you who know triathlons will know him as the man who won the gold medal in this event in Sydney in 2000. When we were growing up a bunch of us would play pick-up soccer together fairly regularly. Simon always wanted the game to keep going, no matter how late or dark it was ("Come on, come on, next goal wins ... okay, now next goal wins ... that one doesn't count, next goal wins.")

The gathering had been organized by Simon's sister Kate and we were thrilled to see the place packed with his fans. Once the race started, Simon moved strategically through the swim and bike (aided by his teammate Colin Jenkins). Near the end of the run he began to pick up the pace, and then, at a critical moment, just as the commentators were saying that he was fading, he pulled ahead of the lead pack in the last stretch (vintage Simon). The place went absolutely wild, with screaming and clapping, and Thomas wasn't quite sure that he liked it. Mandy pointed out to him that I was clapping too and that seemed to convince him that a complete meltdown wasn't necessary. Anyhow, at the very last moment Simon was overtaken by Jan Frodeno of Germany and he crossed the line shortly after, earning himself a well-deserved silver. I laughed and cried at the same time, just like I did when Simon won in Sydney. We stayed through to the end of the medal ceremony, and then beat a hasty retreat to get Thomas to bed since by that point he was getting increasingly out of sorts.

Anyhow, it was a new experience for Thomas and we told him that he could learn lots from what Simon did that night by showing patience, determination, class, and good sportsmanship.

What we actually call Thomas

Here are the names we actually call this child (in no particular order - and I challenge you to figure out which ones come from André and which ones come from me):

Baby Boy
Babycakes
Sweet One
T Rex
T Man
Squirt Beast
Sprout
Squeaker bait
Mister Mister
Sweetie Bear
Thomas Mohandas
Thomas Amongus

and the most common - in fact, the way we refer to him most of the time: "Squeaker". ("How's the squeaker?" "The squeaker's asleep.")

Talking to Mommy

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Shirley are up for a visit as they wend their way homeward at the end of the summer. Jim filmed this Tuesday after Thomas's first visit to the art museum. ("Nose, mouth, chin, cheeks" is one of our favorite games.)