Escaping the house

Yesterday was day 8 of "arctic blast 2008". We don't have television any longer, so we're counting on others for the appropriate name for this year's storm. All I know is that by yesterday we just needed to get out of the house and move. Fortunately, the strong east wind had died down and we were able to get out without worrying about causing Saul too much discomfort.

We packed him up in the hiking backpack, all bundled in his warm snow suit, and marched off to Jim & Patty's for coffee and a pig newton (modern version of pig-in-a-blanket). Jim and Patty are the original owners of Coffee People, a classic Portland coffee spot from before Starbuck's, and provide tasty coffee drinks and treats like coffee cake. After getting fully caffeinated and rested, we moved on to Marian's to drop off a little gift and the check for Saul's day care. As we were leaving Marian took these pictures:

And we then made our way to the local market for a few groceries and the walk back home. Saul did great! He talked, he kicked his heels, he rubbed my head and he took a nap. Then, the last three blocks he final cried and let us know that he was done. When I got him all unbundled and his diaper changed I found that his poor feet were red and colder than I would have liked, so he got a nice bath to warm him up. Maybe we should go do it all again today -- he slept six hours straight last night, the longest he's gone in weeks!

Saul in a sweater

In keeping with the intended play on words, it's finally time to post a picture of something yarn-related. Of course, Saul's also involved. Here's a picture of him in early October wearing a newborn-sized sweater I made for him before we knew just what a big kid he would be. I only forced him to wear this long enough for me to take a few pictures as proof that he actually wore it. I have a larger version in the same pattern that I'll need to be sure to document soon.

(Note to self: don't make super warm sweaters in newborn sizes for June babies!)

Contrast II

Another example of Saul's growth as seen through the position in which he sits in his high chair. This top picture is from Saturday (12/13)--the kid probably thought he was being followed by the paparrazzi this weekend! The bottom picture is from mid-August. I think it's time to remove the little infant head rest from the chair.

Contrast I

Proof that our son is growing and we change our sheets at least every five months! The top picture is from last week and the bottom picture is from mid-July.

The pacifier

We have a few pacifiers in the house -- two or three are just loose and one has wooden beads on a rope attached to it so we can clasp it to something (like his shirt) to keep it from hitting the ground. Saul discovered last week that the pacifiers without the string are great for more than sucking or teething. They also make for silly faces! Below are pictures of his new "trick".

Daycare fun

I've noticed in the last few days that Saul is really in tune with older kids. He loves to watch them at the coffee shop and was particularly interested in neighbor Ella (almost 5) and Jessica's little girl Sophie (almost 3) today. It made me realize that he's around two older kids at day care three times a week and is paying close attention to them. Oscar turns two soon and Violet is about 18 months. Corbin-a June 2 baby-is there, too. Corbin's moving around a little more than Saul right now. Of course, we found Saul spending some very determined floor time this last weekend trying to figure out how to keep up! This involved laying on his belly, arching his back and moving his arms and legs as quickly as possible ("swimming") with deep gutteral noises for full effect.

All of these thoughts reminded me that Marian, Saul's daycare provider, has kindly sent us pictures on a number of occasions so I thought I'd post some to share.

Playing on his 5-month birthday.

Playing outside on a cool afternoon.

The happy guy at play.

A teething baby

Saul is teething . . . again. It feels like we just got through his bottom two teeth making their way up and now he is definitely working on his top two teeth. Before we were fine with him using our fingers to gum but now he has more than gums and his teeth are sharp! Uncle Jeff can attest to this. He rode in the back seat with Saul the other afternoon and loudly hollered, "Ouch!" after kindly (and ignorantly) letting Saul nosh on his finger.

We keep finding ourselves comparing Saul to a puppy. But it's true! Between the whimpering, chewing on anything in sight and the cuteness-factor, the comparison is definitely there. Here are a few picture of Saul chewing on anything in sight this weekend.

Chewing on his book

Chewing on his pacifier.

Chewing on his chew toy . . . I mean teething toy!