October-November 2004

In October and November Mom and Papa discovered the meaning of the words "active baby." 

At the beginning of October I had just started crawling, and very soon after that I was pulling myself up.  In fact, before Mom and Papa even knew I could get to my feet, I had pulled myself up and over the side of my crib!  THAT gave them a good scare!!  (I'm okay!)

I love to stand [left], and I look for anything I can find that will give me a handhold: bookshelves, door gates, chair rungs, couch seats, even big people's pant legs. Mom and Papa are scrambling to nail everything down!

Now that I can move around, my curiosity has taken over, and I want to explore everything [right]. 

I had some bumpy nights, especially in October.  The challenge of crawling seemed to disrupt my nighttime routine, and for a couple weeks I was waking every night. In addition, many of my naps were still only 1/2-hour long, so throughout October I most often had three short (and unpredictable) naps a day. I finally started to nap a little longer in November.

In mid-October I got two more teeth (upper front), and in early November my upper incisors appeared, for a total of six. I'm trying more and more kinds of solid foods, and I most like the ones that I can feed myself, like pieces of pancake, toast, and banana. But my absolute favorite are Cheerios; I pick them up carefully with thumb and forefinger, and I like to bite them delicately with my front teeth. Papa is now sorry that he doesn't have stock in General Mills. 

I started having occasional play dates with two friends, Liam Frank, who's a month younger than me, and Joseph, who is my age exactly because we share the same birthday. We babies don't really play together yet, but our moms sure talk a lot.   

Papa and I also go out once a week together; Saturday mornings we attend the Oranjeschool sponsored by the local chapter of the Holland-America Club.  I'm still too little to go to class, but Papa is the volunteer librarian, so I help him hand out books and talk to the children. 

On October 30th I attended a Halloween party at the Oranjeschool. There were lots of games I couldn't play and food I couldn't eat, but I had fun watching. 

That afternoon I went with Mom and Papa to a neighborhood party. Still more games I couldn't play and food I couldn't eat, but I think Mom and Papa enjoyed showing me to the neighbors.

Then on Sunday Mom, Papa, Cameron and I went to Bellevue Square in the late afternoon. I didn't have a costume, but I dressed in my Halloween outfit with orange socks and a "Happy Halloween" hat [left], and I had a special fabric candy basket with my name on it attached to my stroller. Cameron pushed my stroller through the mall and collected candy from the merchants "for me."  (Like I would have been able to eat choke-size candy with four teeth!) It was a mutually beneficial experience:  I had fun observing the trick-or-treat commotion, and Cameron left with a good-sized bag of treats!

1. Hmmm, looks interesting.