Swimming at the Y

We went swimming at the YMCA again today, which makes two weekends in a row. We're becoming regulars (which was part of the idea behind joining the Y in the first place). You can't really tell from this picture, but Evan had a great time:

Steph worked out while I swam with the boy, but unfortunately she waited too long before coming back to the pool with the camera. By the time she got there he was pretty much done with water (he just looks a little worried in the picture, but you should have heard him in the shower - that was an unhappy little guy). For the first 15 or 20 minutes he couldn't get enough of it, though. He was splashing his arms all over the place, and he figured out that if you splash both arms at once you get a big gout of water in your face, which he seems to enjoy (although it also surprises him a bit each time). He also doesn't mind putting his face in the water when I "swim" him around, although I think he's trying to drink the pool water. We'll have to work on that.

Anyway, next weekend we'll make sure Steph takes pictures at the beginning of our swim instead of the end so you get to see a happier baby.

More Jumparoo

We took another video of Evan in his Jumparoo today. As you can see, he's catching on to the Jumparoo concept (there's a reason it's not called the Runaroo or Dancearoo, after all):

Also, Steph wanted me to point out that what I called an orange "bear" in my first post on the topic is actually a kangaroo ("Ya know, jumparoo, kangaroo... duh!"). Seeing as how I received no comments or complaints about this travesty I'm guessing I'm not the only one who couldn't tell the difference.

Tech Support

It's possible Evan has a future in the tech support industry:


He already seems to understand the appropriate relationship between his keyboard and his hammer.

Easter

We spent most of Easter Sunday gardening, so we threw out a blanket in the shade so Evan could hang out with us:

We didn't dye eggs or have an Easter egg hunt (neither Steph or I are big fans of establishing traditions that Evan isn't even going to be able to participate in yet, let alone appreciate, especially when they require planning and effort on our part), but we did let Evan play with the only Easter-themed toys we have. Many, many moons ago my mom crocheted several chickees that fit inside L'eggs eggs (I didn't even realize they haven't sold L'eggs in the plastic egg packaging for a few decades... I guess it's been a while since I bought pantyhose) along with dyed egg covers for them. I found them a few weeks ago in one of the boxes of my old toys that was passed down to us when my parents moved to New York, and this seemed like the perfect time to introduce Evan to them (you can see the chickees around his feet, and the 3 eggs forming a perimeter to keep him centered on the blanket). They didn't make the same great sound his cups do when he smashed them together, but I think he liked them anyway.

Book Club

Steph is in a book club of moms of '07 babies. While Steph is very diligent about reading the assigned book each month (a commitment that is made easier by the fact that she is a crazy-fast reader), she will readily admit that the book discussion is at best a side show to the group's real purpose: talking about babies. Here's Evan at their most-recent book club meeting with some of his new friends:

I don't know who any of the other kids in this picture are, but I thought Evan was pretty cute in it.

Lunch with Penny and Loren

We went over to Steph's friend Penny's new house this weekend to have lunch with Penny and Loren. Besides enjoying a delicious lunch, Evan got to play in a baby walker for the first time, which he thought was pretty cool:

Now, you may wonder why Penny would be in possession of a baby walker when she has no children yet. I'm good at making up explanations for things, but I'm not touching that one.

Standing Practice

Evan has been very interested in trying to stand up recently. For the last few weeks, the standard procedure for getting him out of his crib (in the morning or after a nap) has been:

1. Sing the wakeup song as you walk in the room so he knows it's time to get up (as opposed to a visit while he's supposed to be asleep to address whatever it is that's causing him to not be asleep). Steph and I each have our own version of the wakeup song.
2. Spin him around (while he's still on his back) so his feet are facing you. We've had to introduce this step recently because Evan has taken to pivoting around during the night, to the point where his head has almost always rotated at least 90° from the orientation we laid him down in by morning. Getting him facing the right way is important for the next step.
3. Hold a finger from each hand out to him and say "Up up up!" He then grabs your fingers and pulls himself up to a standing position. It's hard to say exactly what the division of labor is in this process, but he's certainly doing more than half the work. He basically does a chin up and sticks his belly way out to shift his center of gravity forward, then waits for you to pull your fingers towards you (and thus the crib rail) to bring his head and shoulders back over his hips (I'm trying to describe this the way I'm sure he's thinking it while it happens).
4. Try to talk him into letting go of your fingers and hold on to the crib rail. The idea here is to show him what he might do if you weren't there to help him up, and free up a hand to try and work the camera. I'm not sure if Steph even bothers with this step, and I haven't been very successful with it. He's physically able to balance and stay standing once he's holding on to the railing (and for a couple of seconds without it), but he doesn't seem interested in letting go of your fingers in the first place. This step should probably be considered optional.
5. Say "1, 2, 3" and pick him up. I can't remember exactly why we count to 3 before picking him up, but there's some reason for it, and it's part of the ritual.
   

Here's a photo of step 4 that I took with my phone:

As you can see, I coerced him into holding the rail with one hand, but he would just not let go of my thumb.

While he hasn't really taken to my crib rail project, Evan is a big fan of standing practice in general (as I mentioned to start off this post). In fact, if given his druthers I think it might be his only form of recreation right now. Here he is in one session, dropping a book and picking it up again:

He loves picking things up, turning them around, and dropping them on the ground again. I'm not sure which he enjoys more, the pick-up-and-drop-things game or the stand-and-hold-things game, but pretty soon he'll be able to play both games at the same time all by himself!