Scaling great heights

I am fascinated by the iPod, and I'm big enough now that I can actually touch the bottom of the sound dock if I stretch really, really tall. Note my ability to multi-task, as I have my raspberry teether in my mouth. Who needs hands to hold things when you have teeth? Anyway, I hope Mom and Dad don't get any ideas about moving the iPod up another shelf. What a bummer that would be...though it might be only another month before I could reach that since I'm growing so fast!

Bottoms up!

I've recently discovered that looking upside down is a hoot! Mommy looks so wacky upside down. Well, she is wacky anyway, but I think you know what I'm saying.

The more that you read...

... the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go!

Story time with Daddy is the greatest. He has just the right size lap for me to fit in.

A ham I am

I'm starting to figure out that I'm the star of the show, the main attraction and the celebrity of the house...particularly once mom points that big lens my way. I don't want to disappoint her, so I throw her a bone now and again with one of my giggle fits.

Doggone it

Grandpa's dog, Lucky, loves to kiss my face, and I think he is the bees knees, but since I've gotten to be a fast mover, he looks like he might try to herd me occasionally. Just to be on the safe side, we had him wait in the hallway while I was getting my groove on with my Learn and Groove Musical Table. Hey, that might have been my first product plug. Can we get some ad revenue here, people? Anyway, I'll be so happy when I'm bigger and can hold my own with him a little better! He's fun!

A room without books is like a body without a soul

If you've been to our house, you know we have a lot of books! One of my favorite things to do lately is to pull up on the window seat in the living room where a bunch of my books are. I pull them down one by one and have either Mommy or Daddy read to me. Sometimes we make it through the whole book, but other times I get too excited about pulling up again and moving on to the next one! So much good reading, so little time!

The sultan of swing

Today Mommy took me to the local playfield to test out the baby swings. It was pretty cool to check out the kiddo on the swing next to me. He sure looked funny going back and forth. I'm sure I didn't look that silly! We found out that the play area is super cool. They even have a nice wading pool that will be perfect for me next summer!

Beach boy

Yesterday Mommy and Daddy took me to Alki Beach! I thought the sand was pretty neat, but I thought the water was WAY too cold. Daddy did a good job getting me all slathered with sun screen. It'll be so great when I'm big enough to get into building sand castles! As always, just click on my picture to see me bigger!

Target practice

I really have gotten the Cheerio thing down, but I had a little mishap today. Just click on my picture to see me bigger!

Fanny ribbon fun

Today I discovered the extra toilet paper roll. Good times!

It's summertime and the living (room) is easy...

After we got home from the zoo, I thought I'd check out what was underneath not only the rug, but the rug pad, too. Then I talked to my fish for a minute. I would have liked to have done more this afternoon, but Mom said I had to go take a nap. Oh, point of interest for you guys, I must be getting ready to get another tooth, because I'm drooling like a champ.

Getting my goat

Today Mommy and Daddy took me back to the zoo since it was a beautiful Seattle summer day. We stopped by the "contact area" which is a very sterile sounding phrase for "petting zoo". I got to pet a goat, which I LOVED, and Mom is hoping this love will translate into a passion for goat cheese so she's not the only one in the house who likes it. We also saw a few hippos, lions, giraffes and more, but I won't keep you. The only bummer of the day is that we lost my groovy sun hat.

Sorry I haven't posted more this week, but I've been on the go! I hung out with new little friends on Wednesday, and yesterday we went over to see Beth and her kiddo, Jack, to go on a walk with them. Of course Mom didn't get it together to take the camera, and she's still working on posting video! Stay tuned!

Bath time goes big time!

That's right, kids...I've moved to the BIG tub! I still fit in the kitchen sink, but it's just not deep enough to contain all of the water from my splashing antics. I think Mom was tired of wearing about half of my bath water, and she and Dad were both thinking that the regular creation of an 8th ocean on our kitchen floor wasn't such a good idea.

Sleepless in Seattle

Ok, you had to know that headline was coming from me sooner or later. Grandpa came over to help us celebrate the 4th of July, and he also brought over a cool new video camera to take pictures of ME! So just as soon as mom figures out how to get the files on here, you'll be able to see me in action. Thanks, Grandpa! It was a big day for me, and in fact, I decided to skip my afternoon nap, so this nice, big yawn and eye rub was the result.

Feeling independent today!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I certainly felt free to express my opinion about being set down in the grass for this silly picture. Mom had to rescue me from the front yard wilderness just after these were taken.

I'm a simple man

Despite having truckloads of cool toys, I prefer to whack a diet Squirt bottle against the grocery bag to playing with those fancy things. When that gets old, I just roll around and see what kind of cool noises the bottle will make when I hit it with my hand. Good times!

Three Cheer...ios...for Rowan!

Ok, so there are four on my tray, but you know what I mean. Now that I'm 9 months old, I've gotten to start finger foods! This is my second go at Cheerios. We would have had pictures from the first go, but Mom got all paranoid about the possibility of me choking or something, so she wanted her hands free...whatev. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure about the whole crunchy thing, and I can't quite get them in my mouth on my own yet, but it's just a matter of time. I'd better get on board though because Daddy bought about 35 lbs. of Cheerios from Costco.

By the way, I went for my 9-month check-up yesterday, and I'm fit as a fiddle. No shots on this visit...woohoo! I'm 30 and 1/4 inches long, which puts me in the 95th percentile, and I'm 23 lbs. which puts me in the 80th percentile, for those of you keeping score at home. Just call me a lean, mean, crawling machine!

Do NOT try this at home

A professional stunt baby was used in the shooting of this picture. It takes a lot of skill and talent to drive a truck over your own leg, so don't head out to your driveway to fire up the Chevy with this trick in mind.

The upside of upside down

...is that it's really fun! I love looking upside down at people, especially when I'm wiggling around on daddy!

You can't top this!

Grandma brought me a super-cool, old-fashioned top from the Toymaker in Williamsburg, and I love it! It whirrrs and spins and delights me to no end! As always, you can click my picture to see me bigger!

A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines

That Ben Franklin was a smart guy to come up with such a wise little saying. I've got the shadow thing about nailed down since it continues to fascinate me. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for those false friends though...I certainly don't want to be sharing my blocks with somebody who shows up only when the sun shines...especially in this town!

My future's so bright...

...I've gotta wear shades!

Check Seattle and me out! There was so much sun today that I got to wear shorts, shades and a sun hat!

Walk this way...

And here Grandma and I are on that walk I was telling you about. We had a great time talking to all sorts of people in the neighborhood and visiting the local poochie-mutts that happened to be outside. We even met a man who used to work at John Deere in Canada, so he thought my hat was tops! The sun has finally come out in Seattle and Junuary seems to be coming to an end. Thank goodness!

I look good in John Deere green!

This is the first time I've worn a ball cap, so I thought it'd be appropriate if I busted out my John Deere hat. I love it! I'm ready for a visit out on the farm with my cousins, but first I'm going to head out on a walk with Grandma while Mom works.

Me and my shadow

I started out with being intrigued by my toy, but then I saw something following me...my shadow! He's a tricky little bugger to catch.

One way or another, I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha

Lately I've become intrigued with the camera, so Mom is going to have to get with the program if she wants to catch me doing anything without being camera aware. Hey, I just want to make sure I look good for my close-up!

No-go on the Mojo

Daddy and I love to watch some baseball on the sofa! However, I think the Mariners need to change their slogan from "Mojo rising" to "we stink".

Army of one

Yup, that's me doing the pseudo army crawl and getting up on my elbows and knees now and again. It's amazing how much ground I can cover doing this!

This little kiddie went to market

Lately I've been riding IN the grocery cart like a big boy since I have outgrown my infant car seat. (For all of you germ-o-phobes, fear not, they have sanitizing wipes next to the carts.) I have a much better view from here. It's amazing how many more things I can grab from this spot, too!

You don't know Jack

My nanny, Christina, and I had a great time playing with my Jack-in-the-box yesterday! On Friday I was playing with it with Mom, and I thought Jack was hilarious. Yesterday, however, I was intent on trying to figure out how to put him back in his box. That's what he gets for surprising me like that!

Cookie Monster!

Can someone please explain the big deal about cookies? As far as I can tell, it's a magazine for impossibly skinny moms in their 30s with too much time and money on their hands. Yeah, I'm not sure why Mom subscribes to that one.

Oh, you say there is another kind of cookie? Sugar is involved? Hmmm...what is this sugar you speak of? It'll keep me up for hours? Sounds intriguing!

Freaky Friday

Today I discovered making a new, funny face by sucking my cheeks in!

Flipping my lids

I love playing with my lids and cups after I eat my yummies. I like to flick the lids and then scoot everything around on my highchair tray like they are hockey pucks. Also, in the past couple of days I have figured out how to bang them together to make some great noise! As always, you can click on my picture to make it bigger!

Petal power

Mom and I were on our way out to the grocery store when we noticed what a pretty carpet of petals our neighbors' cherry trees had left on their lawn. So of course Mom had to run back in the house, get the camera and proceed to take pictures until several people in the neighborhood stopped to ooh and ahh over me. I hope she is enjoying this now, because this kind of attention is so not going to fly when I'm 16.

By the way, Mom would have worked more with sitting me up, but I started grabbing the petals and trying to put them in my mouth, which maybe wasn't such a good idea. I'll have to wait til I'm a little bigger and then maybe I can at least try dandelion greens in a salad.

Table for seven

Last Friday we went to dinner at the Woods' house where we saw Kara, Matt, Charlotte and Ryan. I had a great time meeting my new little amigos...they were very nice to share some toys with me, so I think I'd like to hang out with them again!

I'm strong to the finish when I eats me spinach

Yes, Popeye would be proud of me. I really took to my first tastes of spinach! Unfortunately our house smells like a big toot since mom steamed the green stuff for me. Oh well, a small price to pay for big muscles. Oh, and you can see here, I really do have two teeth. I think a top one might be trying to come in because I've been a little grumpy the past few days.

How does your garden grow?

Today Mom and I went to the Japanese Gardens and met up with Sarah and her daughter Zoe. We had a nice walk around, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the ducks! We think we missed part of it though, so we'll have to go back.