One Week

Today marks the first week that I return to full-time classes (as a TA, while dissertating), and the last week that I star in the dual roll of full-time student, full-time mom. Yes, Holden is going off to day care next week. How do I feel? Depends on when you ask, but mostly...ready for it.

Yes, I'm sad that our days together will come to an end, but I'm also excited, so very very excited to have uninterrupted work time. The kind of writing-related work time in which you can--if you want--sit alone at your desk reciting your words out loud, to see if they sound as good as they look, and not have to worry about waking anyone up. The kind of work time that involves being able to dive into a theoretically dense text and really, really, spend time wrestling with and conquering it. I'm sure that Mike is ready too--there were some days this summer, when I was trying to balance teaching and parenting, that I think I drove him mad.

I'm also grateful. I'm grateful that I had the rare opportunity to be full-time academic and mom (even it was hard to maintain that balance sometimes), and to be able to fully experience the wondrous thing that is Holden. This was thanks mainly to a husband who wanted to be more than your average dad. The work-life balance is a big messy unresolved issue in academia. There's no way I could have written an article and proposal in the spring, or taught a class in the summer, without him.

So now we wait, excited, nervous about how it will all go for next week.

Evil Prints = Evil Baby ?

This week, Holden has been hanging out with daddy at work a bunch -- a trend that began with an accident in the kitchen in which a pot of hot water slipped out of my hands and landed on Bryna's leg, sending her to the Emergency Room with a 2nd degree burn (and making it a bit difficult to watch Holden at home for a couple days). Needless to say (or perhaps very needed to say), I feel terrible and extremely guilty. So Holden trekked into the Museum with me on Tuesday and Thursday of this week to let mommy rest and stay off her feet. As you can tell from the photographic evidence, Holden had a blast! And he got to play with all his friends at the Museum, and all of their trash and papers.

Today, Holden was fortunate enough to go with me to visit the studio of printmaker Tom Huck, whose studio is called Evil Prints. And right away, we were making jokes about Holden, the evil print baby (I feel like the evil references are a-plenty given his namesake, Holden Caulfield). Some people might think I am crazy bringing a little one with me to Huck's studio (just check out evilprints.com to find out why), but I guess I just don't get all caught up in what he can and cannot see. He's an "art baby," and is going to see a heck of a lot worse than that at some point in his repeat visits to art museums and gallery openings. Perhaps he will get desensitized at a young age, and have a much more mature attitude towards these types of images and content while the rest of his friends just boorishly giggle (and maybe he'll even use the word "boorish" sometimes).

Anyway, Holden loved visiting Huck's studio, and perhaps he's now on the road to becoming a tattooed, underground artist/printmaker who loves Motorhead ... or not.

Cat-and-Mouse games

Holden has quite an imagination nowadays. Often, he pretends that daddy, or sometimes mommy, is chasing him and he'll giggle and crawl as fast as he can to the other parent. Recently he's decided to let the cats join in on this game, even if they have no idea they're involved. So when they start to walk to him he pretends he's being chased (like a mouse I suppose), and skampers away towards mom or dad. When we pick him up he continues to giggle, look back anxiously, and then tries to hide in our laps. We're working on getting a video of it because it's just so darn cute.

New Baby Carrier: Ergo

Have we talked yet about our newest baby carrier obsession, the Ergo? The Ergo is based on the philosophy that a baby should face inward (in other words, opposite of the bjorn), and babies basically 'sit' in them, with their legs wrapped around the parent, snug as a little bug. And the best part? They have lower-lumbar support, so they don't tend to weigh you down the way that bjorns can.
Although we have friends who swear by them, we were a little worried Holden wouldn't enjoy facing inward as much as he loves to face outward in the bjorn. But this new little carrier worked like a charm on our trip to Tennessee. Sure, there were times that he wanted to twist his head around, but when he got sleepy...he had a nice cozy place to fall to sleep. The ergo even has a hood that you can snap over your child's head when they start to nap, so that they can sleep peacefully in the darkness. The carrier seemed perfect for a 9-month old, who is big enough to wrap his legs around our waists, and perfect for us, who miss those days when the little guy would fold into our bodies to fall asleep. He only fell asleep once in the ergo during the trip--when Mike was wearing it, but it was perhaps the most adorable event of the entire vacation.
Yes, we've become those parents who own way-too-many carriers. But each seems to have served a different role at a different developmental period. And we don't regret buying any of them because Holden has loved them (and so have we). Already, we covet those backpack carriers people wear when they hike with toddlers--so I'm sure we'll end up with one of those next. We brought the Ergo on our vacation instead of the stroller because we just couldn't fit our wonderful--yet unwieldy--BOB in the car with everything else. And the wonderful thing about carriers (as opposed to strollers) is that you can hike, or walk in crowded spaces, with them. Which made hiking to "Laurel Falls" and "Clingmans Dome" a possibility.

Biting

A few weeks ago Holden's top two teeth finally popped out, and have been slowly growing since, while his 5th and 6th teeth began their own process of emerging. And since then, Holden's taken to biting not just teething toys, but--on occasion--his mommy and daddy. We think these are mainly 'love bites' probably due in part to our own 'love nibbles' when he was younger, but man does it hurt! He's probably also becoming accustomed to these new top teeth of his which seem far more useful than the first set of teeth.

This biting issue came to a fruition during our vacation, on a trip where he was otherwise perfectly pleasant, and thankfully--we think anyway--we've been able to stop it. How? A simple firm, but unalarming "no biting" whenever he does it. And if we're at home, we also put him down on the ground. We've also been trying to teach him "kisses" and "tickles" instead of bites--and he seems to be learning (he presses his mouth against our arm now instead of biting it.) Our first experience with disciplining seems to be working!

One more note on this biting issue--my mom claims that she used to 'bite me back' when I'd bite. To each there own, I guess, but I think this approach only teaches more bad habits and confuses them. To me, the best way to handle these kinds of situations, especially when they are this young and don't understand what they're doing, is to be firm but not angry, and to provide them with other alternative ways to playfully express themselves. And to give them chances to practice using those new teeth with food. Because new top teeth? How can a baby not be excited about that one?

Pool Shark

One of the more fantastic features in our Gatlinburg, TN, cabin was a billiard table in the second floor loft area. I'm sure this space provides loads of entertainment for groups of adult friends who surely turn this space--complete with balcony and flat-screen TV--into a party area. But for us, it provided a chance to introduce Holden to fine art of pool. The little H-bomb got a huge kick out of watching us hit the balls about, and enjoyed his own time playing a little billiards himself:

He was, of course, of course, fascinated by the sound the balls made when he dropped them:

And like most objects in this world, they were apparently, delicious:

Mountain Man

This week, we took out first official summer vacation with Holden, heading to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to cool off some and relax. We rented a cabin outside of Gatlinburg, and used that as our home base to take short trips to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and downtown Gatlinburg (which is kind of cheesy, but also very beautiful). Holden had a blast in the mountains (probably because it was 20-30 degrees cooler there than it had been in St. Louis before we left). Here are some photo highlights of our trip:

First off, the cabin was very nice (rented through Jackson Mountain Homes), with a deck that had a stunning view of the Smoky Mountains...Holden seemed to really like the cabin, but not as much as he liked his trips to the National Park. I think we drove over to the park (which was super close to Gatlinburg) about every day, either taking a short hike with Holden or simply driving around to see the sights. Our first jaunt into the national park took us to the highest point -- Clingman's Dome -- where it was raining (that became a daily event during our trip, as with most trips to the mountains). But we trekked up to the very top with Holden in his new Ergo carrier, and we all smiled triumphantly as we gazed down over the tree tops and surrounding clouds. On our way up, we got a whole range of comments from fellow hikers -- mostly accolades for hiking with a baby strapped to our chest, but one old lady made a super sarcastic comment that "Oh, 'cause he'll remember this." That was a stupid thing for her to say -- all of a baby's experiences have a very significant impact on who they become, especially at this age. Anyway, Holden really loved it when we got to the top, as this photo proves...
Over the next few days, we spent a lot of time hanging at the cabin, relaxing and enjoying the mountain air. We also went back to the park to visit the Cades Cove district and to take a hike to a waterfall (Laurel Falls, to be exact). Holden continued to enjoy his time in the mountains, and he especially seemed to like the hike to the falls (a bit tougher of a hike than the walk to Clingman's Dome, since unlike all the waterfall hikes at Shenandoah National Park, this trail went UP to the waterfall). During our drives around the park, we would stop to take breaks and see the views, rivers, and wildlife (the latter of which we didn't see much, unfortunately). In the Cades Cove area, Holden got to meet his first horse up close -- that was about all the wildlife we got.
Overall, the trip was lots of fun, and Holden was so good (even on the long drive there and back). I would definitely say now that "babies can travel," which still seems to be an issue of debate out there in the parenting community. I say that you should get your baby out there to experience trips like this, so that they can get used to traveling more. And hiking with Holden was much easier than we anticipated, so there will definitely be more of that in his future.

I'll end this post with another view of the "smoky" mountains from our cabin ... ahhhhhhh.

Holden Dancing ... OMG!

Cat vs. Baby: ain't no big thing

After months of trepidation, followed by curiosity on the cats' part, then curiosity on Holden's part--the relationship seems to have balanced out. Holden no longer feels the need touch (er, grab and pull...) Fred or Tim, and the two cats have decided that the baby is nothing to fear. In fact, they often enjoy sharing the same stretch of land as though he is one of them. I'm curious to see how this relationship will continue to evolve as time passes, especially once Holden learns to walk.

Puzzle Pieces ... It's What's for Dinner!

Holden has certainly been growing and changing so quickly recently, and it's been hard to keep up with the bloggin'. So I'm going to try and catch up here in the next week or so, posting some of Holden's finest summer moments that have gone by without the proper blog attention (which every baby needs, of course).

Holden's favorite toy for quite some time now has been these animal puzzles he has (one makes animal sounds, and one doesn't). He is so good at grabbing the pieces out of the puzzle, and inspecting them in a most curious way. And, yes, sometimes they end up in his mouth -- but most often we just stares at them, perhaps trying to figure out how these zebras, elephants, lions, and tigers got so small.

He's been intentionally eating a lot of other new things as he continues to experience new foods. Recently, he's been introduced to lentils, tofu, onions, baked sweet potatoes with apple and cinnamon, and CHEERIOS! Yes, for some reason, one of the most anticipated snack foods for babies has always been Cheerios, and Holden finally added that to his menu this past week. He seems to really like them (maybe that's why parents are always so excited to add Cheerios to the diet, besides the fact that they are really convenient). He's not quite feeding them to himself, but we're working on that one.
More posts on their way...

Morning meet and greet

Mike often gets Holden in the mornings when he wakes up and brings him into our room. Here's one best morning greetings, in quite possibly the cutest pj's ever. A wonderful way to start the day.

Touch and Feel

Holden's been really into textures recently--soft, smooth, rough, you name it. Textures like brick or concrete make him especially happy. In the picture above, for instance, he's mesmerized by the outdoor concrete walls of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts building, designed by Tadeo Ando. A reaction that made us laugh, since the Foundation itself tends to treat the building as though it is a divinely inspired space. Hmm...perhaps they should use this photograph on their promotional website.

To satiate Holden's texture fetish, we've been spending a lot of time reading "touch and feel" books. He loves the two pictured below. Especially poor old "Pat the Bunny," a cheaply constructed book that has fallen apart from one-too-many "pats." It's not such a bad thing though--despite my own fondness for this classic that I too owned as a child, the book is quite traditional in its parental gender constructions.

I've also become a bit more creative, using the rice cereal we have--but rarely use--as edible play dough/wonderful squishiness. Holden loved it, but spent most of his time simply picking up pieces, looking at them intensely, and then (of course) dropping them in his lap. I love watching him in these moments taking in the sensory experiences that we all take for granted. To imagine feeling things for the first time.

9 months in, 9 months out

Out the womb as long as he was in. Holden is 9, months, 3/4 of a year, big enough to fill his car seat, and can you tell that we've been busy? We actually have lots of videos to show of the little man-on-the-move, but both of us have been far too crazed with work to post anything. And the H-meister is quite the active one now, crawling, pulling-up, cruising, playing with anything that can be dropped and picked up again. It's getting hard to get a good picture that's not of the boy in a highchair (see picture, exhibit A), because he just won't stop bouncing or squirming. It's fun to watch him explore the world around him, and study each object he picks up, as if to wonder, 'what's this for?'

Next week Holden has his 9-month doctor's appointment in which we find out whether he's still hitting the bottom of the growth chart. Everyone tells us he's 'getting big,' but I still think he's probably on the light side. Behind those chubby cheeks and round belly is a tiny derriere that can barely hold up his diapers.

Ted Drewes: A St. Louis Classic

Not yet Holden, but soon...very soon....