Daycare

The end of summer not only brings shorter days and cooler nights, but it also brings the end to my part time work schedule and to my mom's job as part time nanny.  While my mom returns to teaching, I return to work full time and Colden starts daycare.

This will be good for him

... He'll learn how to interact with other people

...He'll socialize with other babies

...He'll learn how to share (eventually)

...He'll learn how to sleep in other places other than his familiar house/car/stroller

Aren't you proud?  I came up with 4 reasons why daycare will be good for Colden. 

(Just don't ask me to list all of the reasons why I don't want him to go to daycare!)   

:-(

Last night, I got all of his things together:

Iron-on labels and permanent markers to label all of his clothes

Bottles with his name and contents clearly marked

I had a whole list of things to get together for him - which I nicely packed up into his own little bag

He was all packed and ready to head off to his first day of daycare!

You think the people at the daycare deal with anxiety-ridden parents much?

(Don't look so scared, Colden - inside is a room full of toys and nice, wonderful people)

He had his own little cubby to put his belongings in

And look in the background - "our little artist" is going to make artwork with noodles!!!

At the end of every day, he even comes home with a little report card!  

He went for a walk outside, drank all of his bottles, took a couple of naps, had 4 wet diapers and 1 dirty diaper...good job!

He had story-time, learned sign language, made an art project (I can't wait to see what my 5 month old made!), had fun on the floor and played with a ball. 

What a fun day!

I can't wait to see what he does tomorrow! 

This will be good for him...
This will be good for him...

This will be good for him...

This will be good for him...

This will be good for him...

This will be good for him...

 

Sitting and Reaching

Each day, Colden is showing more and more interest in the world around him.  He is very alert and aware of his surroundings and is constantly looking around and reaching for things. 

We have been putting him in the Bumbo seat for a while now to offer him a change of scenery from lying down all of the time.  But now that he loves to play with toys, we discovered it was best to put the tray on the Bumbo. 

At least that helps him hang on to his toys a little bit longer
(now 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds)...

After the toys inevitably fall off the tray, it's fun to see him look for them on the floor

And then reach for the one that he wants

What I'm not looking forward to is the "I drop, mommy retrieves" game that we will soon play from his highchair.  I have a feeling that suction cup toys are in our future.

But who needs the Bumbo seat when you can sit by yourself?!?  Colden is getting so close to being able to sit unassisted.  He can sit by himself for a couple of seconds (~10 seconds) and can stay up even longer if he has a toy to lean on:

He no longer needs to be propped up in the corner of the couch or wedged between pillows to stay upright:

And being able to sit up by himself allows him to explore things that he couldn't before...

...like cups...

...and water pouring out of cups.


And now that Colden is more aware of those around him, he has taken quite a liking to dogs.  And if one is within reaching distance, he will go straight for the nose.  Lucky for him, Josie is never far away:

And while we usually discourage Josie from licking, I guess we can't blame her when Colden is the instigator:

Even though Colden is sitting and reaching all by himself now, I know that he will always be my baby...

...Speaking of babies...  :-)

Family Reunion

Last week we had an east coast, extended family reunion (including the Karls, Nisgors, Browns, Mains, Gallins, Kornfelds, Dzubows, Willers and Blasks).  Needless to say, it was quite a full household!

(Unfortunately, we were only able to scrounge up the Karls, Nisgors, half of the Gallins and half of the Browns for the family picture). 

The reason for the gathering (as if we ever need a reason to get together) was that it was the first time my cousins Craig and Lauren were flying in from Arizona with their son, Julian and also the first time my other cousins Shana, James and their daughter, Chaya came up from Washington D.C.  So, we drove down with Colden and the family convened just north of Philly for the "baby convention".  

It was so great to have all of the babies in the same house.  

(Colden was born on April 2nd and both Chaya and Julian were born on May 25th)

Howard even made special onesies just for the occasion.  I'm holding Colden's "CO", Shana is holding Chaya's "USI" and Lauren is holding Julian's "NS".  Put them together and you spell.... 

...(Come on babies, look at the camera)...

 

 ...(No punching each other in the face)...

...(Colden, we can't get the full effect if you eat your toes)...

...and you spell, "COUSINS".

Below is a short clip just to give you an idea of how my family goes "gaga" over babies (honestly, you would think that none of us had ever seen a baby before).  See if you can count the number of camera flashes:

(left to right:  Colden, Chaya and Julian)

Here is Colden (on the right) meeting his cousin, Julian (on the left)

While Colden wasn't so sure about the face-to-face meeting, he certainly loved eating Julian's feet!

(until Colden made Julian cry by biting his toes - sorry Julian)

 Throughout the day and night, we (the parents of the babies) often found ourselves asking, "does anyone know where my child is"?  Of course we knew they were in good hands...

Cousin Caroline rocking Colden to sleep (thanks, Caroline!)

Aunt Nancy holding Colden

Cousin Craig playing the piano with Colden 

(while Colden plays with his feet)

Uncle Gil laughing with Colden

Uncle Andy cuddling with Julian

 Mom hanging out with Chaya

Everyone did manage to find the babies again when it was tummy time, aka: "baby performance time"

Who would ever think that watching two babies lie (or sit) on the floor would be so amusing?  But we all watched!

Everyone had such a great time at the family reunion!  Although I think Chaya's shirt asks the question that I'm sure everyone in the family has asked themselves at one time or another:

Yes, Chaya - you are related to these people!  And all I can say is...

..."smile"...

...and enjoy the craziness that is our family, because you'd be hard-pressed to find a more loyal and loving family out there.

My little star

There is no doubt that Colden is the little star in our family (Mike and I have taken the back burner).  But now my little star has it in for his little star...

I put the stars above his changing table thinking that the music they played would help keep him occupied while I changed his diaper.  Little did I know that he would try to abuse the poor star that is unfortunately placed by his feet.

Johnny Jumper

Colden loves it when we hold him in a standing position and make him jump in our laps, so we figured why not let him try to jump on his own?

Enter the Johnny Jumper:

It looks like it will be a learning process for both of us - he needs to learn how to jump and not spin in circles, and I need to learn which way he will be facing so that I can take better pictures/videos:

4 Months Old

4 month checkup at the doctor's office:

Weight: 13 pounds, 14 ounces

Length: 25.5 inches

(3 days)

(1 month)

 (2 months)

                                           (3 months)

(4 months)

During his 4th month, Colden discovered the fun of putting everything into his mouth.  It's rare to see him without his fingers in his mouth.  Whether he is sitting on the couch (like in his 4 month old picture above)...

...Relaxing after a bath...

...Hanging out with Josie...

...Or playing with toys.

The above picture was taken 2 days ago.  I put the toy just out of reach, as you can see in the picture.  Using a combination of rolling and kicking he managed to move himself to the toy - which he grabbed and promptly put in his mouth.  He has yet to repeat this feat, but don't worry little man - I know you can do it!

If he isn't chewing on his fingers, he's chewing on his feet:

Or chewing on a toy.

He also loves to grab onto whatever is in reach.  (Sorry about the hair, mom)

As always, Colden loves to smile!  Because I couldn't resist, here are a couple more pictures of my smiley little boy: