Sunday, April 24, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

Stay-at-Home Baby

We were stoked to have our friend Mandy visiting from Reno last week. She works with preschoolers, so is no stranger to diapers. We took the obligatory Mall of America trip and discovered that Bloomingdale's had a whole lounge area for nursing and changing your kid, including bottled water. Props to them.

All the outfits featured this week are newly culled from the box of 3-to-6-month stuff that I recently remembered I'd packed away in the closet before Tor arrived, except the red-and-blue one at the bottom. Consider this its last hurrah.

"Weg gegangen, platz gefangen!"*

Sit-ups with the drill sergeant
Gripping that rattle like he's done it his whole life
Since Tor's not big on lap-sitting, we recently discovered that he likes lying down and reading along with us. We took a break from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which has turned out to be surprisingly grim, to read a cool cut-out book about Easter (thanks, Oma and Opa!).




















And even while working his tail off to meet a deadline this week, Lars still had time to horse around.



These parallettes will be great when the kid starts standing on his own!
One of him in his happy place to finish up. Tor turned 16 weeks old on 4/20, so the next post will have an update from his four-month doctor's visit, which takes place on 4/27. You're excited!



*"Move your feet, lose your seat!"

Friday, April 15, 2011

Playthings

The spring weather held until today, and now we're back to mid-forties and clouds. So I'm inside posting instead of outside reading. The theme: toys. The jogging stroller is really one for us, not for Tor, but we did hang his bird on it. 


This picture would have been cooler if I'd actually taken Tor out of the stroller and posed him next to the door. The squirrels are hungry this time of year, though.


Last weekend, I went to Once Upon a Child, a secondhand store near our house, and traded in some newborn-size clothes for a wooden arch with danglers. Tor has been working on his dexterity for several hours a day now, and it must be tiring labor because it's the only thing that's ever made him fall asleep just lying on the floor.



Here's some footage of him awake and at it. He's just swatting here but I swear he grabs and mouths things too.


Next up is this bumblebee mirror. I cannot for the life of me figure out who got it for Tor, even after going back over all my lists, but whoever it was, you hit the jackpot. The fledgling narcissist loves it. Prop that against his arch and you've got yourself time for a shower.



Finally, a new favorite pastime is talking. We anticipate consonants will emerge shortly...

Thursday, April 7, 2011

You Are Our Sunshine

This week will be remembered as the week we finally thought to put up blackout curtains in the nursery. Now instead of waking up for a 6:15 feeding and then getting up for good at 7:15, Tor'll go until 8:45. This is life-changing for days when I don't have to get up early anyway (and it's probably good for the baby too).

"Oh, I thought you said you wanted a neckless for your birthday, Mother."
"Our lips feel different somehow..."
Last Sunday, I took Tor to church for the first time in his sling. He slept through the service but woke up for coffee hour (typical). We've scheduled his baptism for May 15--mark those calendars, folks.
Decked out in a Nordic sweater from Tante Christina

This week, we got out a molded plastic baby seat that some buddies handed down to us. Tor nails it at times, but he's pretty wobbly at others. Once he's really solid in the neck, we'll be able to start thinking about giving him people food.
A tableau of Hansen masculinity
Air guitar!

Blue Steel
Trying to blend into his natural habitat
Now that Spring has begun to tease us with a smattering of buds and t-shirt weather, it's time for Tor to start learning how much he enjoys being outside. We bred it into him, now we just have to acculturate the boy. If anyone runs across a John Muir action figure, buy it and we'll get you back (but only if it has moveable parts).

Grading papers on the porch