The Chair Project: Ten Months

Brooks at Ten Months!

Wings

On the knees

At nine months, Brooks is like a bird with wings. His crawl is commando style, where he uses his right arm and leg to scoot his large body across the room. His stomach may not get off the ground, but the crawl is effective, and Brooks will gladly race you to the bookshelves or the little table where he isn't supposed to be. It's his favorite game, getting a head start, looking back until Mommy comes running after him and then turning back around and taking off to beat her. Sometimes Mommy lets him win, but always scoops him up before he gets into trouble.

Sliding doors

It seemed like it took Brooks no time at all to go from the basic rock to crawl. Mommy started using the sliding doors in the living room to keep him contained, but that only lasted days. Soon, Brooks mastered opening those doors, and again, he was off. The world opened up and Brooks became our little explorer. The kitchen, the hallway, the dining room. Wherever he can scoot, Brooks will go.

Standing on the stairs

Then came the knees. Brooks quickly learned how to scoot his chubby knees under him so he could kneel. The kneel became a high kneel. The high kneel became a stand. And like that, our boy was instantly transformed into a toddler. (While he isn't in fact a toddler yet, seeing him stand at 31inches while being almost ten months is alarming!)

Piles of books

Now, Mommy's days are spent on patrol, following Brooksie on his adventures around the house. Upstairs we explore the laundry room, the bedroom, the nursery, Dad's study and the playroom. Downstairs, we are often in the kitchen opening and shutting drawers and cabinets, playing with the pots and pans, or in the living room pulling books off the shelf, or on the stairs practicing our stand.

As Brooks explores, his mind is absorbing so much. He copies Daddy and Mommy, but mainly Daddy and says "Ohhh" and "Dadda" and "Momma" although not always in context. He says "Mmmmm" after a bite of food, and waves, and high fives. He squints his little face and crinkles his eyes as he smiles.

His new favorite book is Baby Hugs, a rip off of Pat the Bunny. He loves to smell the flowers, kiss Hugs the bear, and find Tiny Pup under the blanket. And he loves Where the Wild Things Are, which he should as we have 3 copies!

Swinging

Bath time

Playtime includes fun at the playground, where Brooks swings and then takes a few turns down the slide with Mommy's help. At home, fun is found in the bath with squirt toys, and with Lila, who is such a good sport and let's Brooks play fetch with her bone.

Waving

Fall, Family, and Fairy Princesses

Watching the games with Daddy

 Fall came quickly at St. Georges and yet Tropical Storm Irene took away much of the fall foliage. But that's ok, we found fall in other ways, Such as in the brisk days watching the Fall sports on the fields by our house. Field Hockey, Football, Soccer, our choice. Brooks loved being part of the fun!

Brooks's sick face, poor guy

And with fall came the first cold. First it was Mommy, who quickly passed it on to Brooksie and then Daddy, who caught it worst of all. What a meanie she is. In fact, it was the first cold that helped Mommy make the hard decision to attempt "Cry It Out" with Brooks. Mommy hoped to never have to resort to this method, but after many nights of waking in the middle of night, and a final bout with Brooks not wanting to be put in his crib, Mommy had enough and realized it was now or never. The first night, Brooks cried for twenty minutes. The next night for six, and after that, only minutes. I guess we were both ready for some growing up and separation. Since then, Brooks has slept through the night with no fuss.

Grandma!

Mid October, Brooks was again showered by love from family, this time by his Grandma Pat and Ian. Grandma brought Mommy bibs that she made and there was even a Halloween bib! She played with Brooks, fed him, and read to him, and got lots of avocado kisses!

Percussionist

Brooks showed off many new skills, including his new favorite game called "where is Brooksie?". Brooks also showed how he loves to pull everything out of his toy basket or every book off the book shelf. It's a wonderfully terrible mess!

Mommy went to the Be Green Consignment sale and brought home many, many winter clothes and new musical toys for Brooks. Brooks has shown great interest in music since he started Music Together, and one his favorite things to do at home is bang on his "drums" which are: Lila's steel dog bowl, plastic mixing bowl, strainer and of course, the wooden spoon.

Yoda

After Grandma left, it was Halloween and Brooks donned his first Halloween costume imagined by his Daddy - Yoda! Mommy found the costume at Target but had to buy the toddler size for Brooks's head. Thus the robe was quite large and may make this a costume used for years to come. First came his Halloween themed music class where he got to come in costume and to top it off it was picture day! On the real Halloween day, Brooks got to dress up and have pictures taken with other faculty kids, who were all dressed as fairy princesses, except for his two best friends, Tigger (Nina) and Sophie the Giraffe (Luca). While all the princesses trick-or-treated, Brooks was home helping pass out the candy. 

The Chair Project: 8 Months

Ok here is Mr. Brooksie at 8 months! So much bigger!!!

Catching Up (Part 2)

You Are My Sunshine

Visitors
Since the big move, Brooks has had many visitors. His first visitor was from mother nature. Hurricane Irene threatened Newport and closed down the airport and beaches. By the time it got to St. Georges it was a tropical storm, and Brooks was in the safest spot on the island (and one of the few spots left with power). But it was still exciting and stormy. Not to mention, it seemed to be followed by the first fire alarm, and boy was it loud. So loud that Brooks cried and cried until he was outside.

With Caroline

The first REAL visitor, though, was from Mommy's best friend and Brooks's honorary Godmother, Caroline. After two attempts, Caroline made it to Rhode Island and met Brooks for the first time. Brooks got to see pictures and cute videos of his godsister, Salley!

With Grammy Sue and Victor

Several weeks later came Grammy Sue and Victor, who stayed for almost a week! We all had much fun eating at yummy new restaurants, and Brooks got to sit in the high chair for the first time (while buckled in of course). When not eating, we were often walking - Sachuest Point, The Cliff Walk, downtown Newport, the beach, and campus. And Grammy Sue bought Brooks many fun toys and books and clothes!


The day after Grammy Sue and Victor left, Papa came back to visit on his way to Maine for two days. Brooks got to show off his new teeth - FIVE pearly whites. Papa was just in time for a Saturday filled with sports games across campus. We watched soccer, football, field hockey and cross country.

Downtown Newport

Changes
As mentioned above, Brooks has five big teeth and a sixth is on its way - two on the bottom and three on top. Brooks has also said his first word - "LILA!" Daddy always said it would be his first word, and it was. He has mimicked words before but Lila was both heard clearly and unprovoked by either parent. As Lila entered the room, Brooks said her name. He will almost say it on command now, but not always. He can also say "uhoh," and "Mamma." We are working on Dadda.

Cracker anyone?

Speaking of mimicking, Brooks is a master at copying his dad. First it was the headshake, which is his favorite move. Then it was the raised hand, and the blinky eyes. Caroline taught him the high five. Daddy taught him the wave. And Mommy taught him the hugs and kisses, and he loves to give kisses. In the bath, he will now splash splash splash with his hands, which he saw mommy do to the water, although Brooks prefers to splash with his bath toys.






Fall
School is back in session, so our home is surrounded by the raucousness of freshmen boys and girls. Daddy is back at work so is often gone during the day. But like school, music class is back on, and Brooks started his class last week to a new group of babies. He cried at the beginning, but quickly settled in to the music and is a master at shaking the maracas.

My new ride - the BOB!

Love my soccer ball

Halloween dress rehearsal

At Sachuest Point 

Flirt

View from our window

First time riding in the seat

Curious

Catching Up! (Part 1)

Mommy love

It's been well over two months since I posted (due to technical issues) and there is SO much to cover.

After our visit with Colin's dad (Papa), we were busy packing up our little apartment. On July 25th we were moved (for the first time ever we had movers) to a bigger apartment on campus! So that means we spent the next few weeks unpacking and settling in to our new home, which takes a lot longer to do with a baby. Brooks's first night was rough but soon he settled in to his new room and home like a champ.

What's new? Well for starters Brooks got a high chair and thus began the real solid feedings and Moms start to homemade baby food. Who knew it would be so much fun?! Among his favorite foods are avocado, banana, oatmeal, sweet potato, apples and pears, blueberries and cherries, plums and squash. What he truly hates are peas. Who can blame him?

Swing time

Brooks took his first spin on the swings at the playground which is right by our new home. And after breaking his jumparoo from so much bouncing, and going without for a week, a newly used one was found and Brooks was happily bouncing again!

Brooks took his first trip to Ikea to get some rugs and toys for his room and he loved the whole Ikea experience, especially the part where Mom walked in to the men's room.

Brooks has mastered sitting, crawling, rolling, and rocking on his knees. Up next - the crawl!

Yummy Food!

Avocado Lipstick

Homemade Applesauce

Peas are YUCK!

IKEA rug and toys

Cuteness

Nakedness

Jedi Mind Games with Mr. Fishy

I see you!

Oh Boy, Toys!

Family picture for dorm bulletin

Too tired to let go

Jungle Gym Daddy

Fathers, Feet, and Farmer's Markets

With a sixth-month birthday looming (in three days to be exact), Brooks has discovered many new things and accomplished much in his short life. With the advent of sitting, has come the discovery of feet! Whether he is sitting up, a new favorite skill of his, or lying on the changing table he is grabbing and moving those little tree climbers. In the crib, when not sleeping, he is swinging his feet up onto the side railings and then rolling over. Yes, he has officially upped the anti and is now rolling over in his crib. But luckily he only does this during the day and not when sleeping at night. Part of what he loves about his feet is the fact he can feel them. Brooks is really into feeling everything around him, different textures add to the excitement of his day, whether he reaches out to feel the couch or your face. Yes, this boys' senses are alive and active!

Brooks's two favorite sounds to make are mmbah, and mah or mmmah! And of course laughing. He loves it when Mommy or Daddy make him laugh too, but he also laughs at Lila. And he talks to Lila. Often in his exersaucer he is found peering around the poles to look for her and talk to her, trying to get her fleeting attention. He loves to peer around when he is held too. Brooks is ever curious about what is going on around him, where people are, and where they are going. He is a little observer soaking up the world. One place he loves is the Saturday farmer's market where he gets lots of compliments while his Mommy gets lots of yummy produce and of course baked goods. Although her favorite find was the Raspberry Chocolate Jam, yum!

This past weekend, Brooks met his Papa, and together there were three generations of Morts represented in our tiny little apartment. He enjoyed showing off his new skills and dining out. And as always he was a good, happy, quiet little trooper.

And now Brooks has a self imposed bedtime of 8pm, with one to two wake ups for feeding during the night, but ultimately he will sleep 5-9 hours straight. It is the best gift for Mom and Dad who are able to have some quiet time together (insert watching the Tour de France or Mad Men or anything at all on TV).

And saving the best for last - Brooks gives us kisses...and hugs. That's right, HE gives US the kisses and hugs. That is pure love.