Here’s my most exciting news: Falco cut a new tooth on the top! I saw it today when I was hanging him upside down, which he loves and is the only way I can get a glimpse of his top gums. It is the tiniest dot of tooth just barely poking through his gum. It is the far left top incisor, and the area over the left center incisor is very swollen, so I think that one will make its appearance soon. Overall he has been doing well, but he did have a very hard time getting to sleep last night. He usually does great at bedtime, so we’re thinking his mouth was probably sore.

In other news today, he got himself to a sitting position by himself three or four times today. This should be bigger news than the tooth I guess, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to do it anytime he wants so it’s still a work in progress. It’s great that he is starting to get the hang of it because until now the only way he could sit was if we plopped him down that way. When he did it today, he looked so proud of himself and got really excited when I cheered for him.

On Friday he went in for his 9-month well-baby visit, and it was good except the doctor was a little concerned about his weight. On his growth chart, his weight went straight across this time instead of curving upwards. She said he looked good on exam but to try to get extra calories in him where possible. So, we’re trying to give him more high-calorie foods like avocado and cheese and add butter to his sandwiches, things like that. He will only eat as much as he feels like though, so we can only do so much. She said that he wasn’t grossly underweight or anything but to just try to increase his caloric intake if possible. He goes back at the end of September for a weight check.

The kitchen project is ticking along slowly but surely. We had inspections yesterday and today, which kind of held up the work. They are out of the way now though, so tomorrow the insulation will be completed and then sheetrock put up. Cabinets should be up by the end of next week and everything done by early the following week. Everything, that is, except the countertops and backsplash. The counters will be installed after all the other work is completed, and the backsplash will be the very last thing to be done. Hopefully it will all be complete by the end of September and then we will be living like kings in our palace of a kitchen.

Now, here’s for the fun stuff if you made it this far. I took this funny video of Falco yesterday. He thought it was hilarious when I put his hairbrush in an empty box and shook it around. Be sure to have your sound on so that you can hear him laughing.

I’m a little behind on sharing the news here, but Monday started our kitchen remodel. Yesterday and today were demo days, so Falco and I have been out of the house all day. He has done very well with only naps in the car and visiting friends all day. So far everything has gone well with the kitchen project. The contractors found that there was a brick chimney in the wall behind the range, so that added a little extra work to take that out. We won’t be able to use the fireplace anymore because we wanted the chimney knocked out to give us more space in the kitchen. Probably at some point down the road we will have the nonfunctional fireplace taken out of the living room, but we decided not to deal with that right now.

I have a photo album of the project here, which I will update daily. Here is a before and after of the work so far:

In the past two weeks, Falco has changed a lot. First, he started being able to drag himself a couple of feet to a toy, and in the past week he has started doing this combat crawl anywhere he wants to go. He can go pretty fast when he wants something and tries to get into everything. His favorite things to go for are shoes, dog toys, and electrical cords, which are all forbidden. The only child proofing we had really done was plugging empty electrical outlets, but he goes for cords and unplugs them if he has the chance. We’re working on making all cords out of his reach, and I am constantly moving Rosco’s toys out of sight. It is very fun to watch him get around, but I find myself much more exhausted at the end of the day after keeping up with him!

Also in the last two weeks he has started babbling. I think he’s a little late on this, but that’s OK. Now he says babababababa or mamamamama or dadadadadada. Today he looked at me and very clearly said, “Mama,” but I know he doesn’t know what he is saying. Maybe in another month or two he will call us Mama and Dada, which will be so sweet.

He is a very good eater most of the time, and he seems to especially like Asian food. The night before our trip we went out for sushi, and he tried a few things. As soon as he tasted my miso soup, he got very excited and couldn’t get enough of it. Then we fed him sushi rice and avocado from a roll, and he really liked that too. Yesterday I got a BBQ chicken rice plate from a Vietnamese restaurant in our hood, and he shared it with me, eating a heap of rice and chicken. He is getting better at feeding himself, though he still hasn’t mastered the pincer grasp. He does manage to get food in his mouth with his fist or eating directly off the table. His table manners are generally pretty good by 8-month-old standards, and I am usually very proud of how well he does.

Coming soon: Our kitchen is soon to be demolished!

I have lots to write about, so I’m going to have a trilogy of posts to catch up. First, I’ll tell you about our trip. Last week, we went back home to Mississippi for my grandmother’s 95th birthday. We were very nervous about flying with a baby and were kind of dreading the trip, but it actually went pretty well. Air travel was rough because it was a lot of time in an extremely tiny space with an antsy baby, but we managed to keep Falco entertained. He slept a little, but not nearly enough! Matt said repeatedly that we aren’t going anywhere again until Falco turns four.

Once we got into Gulfport, we had to rent our car and car seat. It was the opposite of a smooth operation and took forever. Our car rental company did not have an infant car seat and had to ask three different companies before finding one. The one they finally got us was very old school and was a royal pain to install, which he had to do ourselves without instructions in the hot and humid weather of South Mississippi. After a day of air travel and waiting over half an hour just to get our car, I did not have the patience to fight with a car seat in the heat with a fussy, hungry baby.

Eventually, we got on our way and went to meet Ma-Ma, my aunt and her husband, and mom and Mark for dinner. (Mom and Mark had just flown in that day a couple of hours earlier.) We met them at the very delicious catfish restaurant, Aunt Jenny’s, in Ocean Springs. Mom was beyond excited to see Falco, and Ma-Ma was very happily surprised that we were there. Falco was completely charming and was happy to meet everyone and sat very politely in his high chair while we ate dinner. I was amazed at how well he did after flying all day and hardly napping at all.

After dinner, we went to my aunt’s, where we were staying in the guest house, and got Falco ready for bed. They had a pack and play there for us to use, and we had no idea how he would do sleeping in a strange place. We did his bedtime routine as close to normal as possible, and he went right to bed without a peep. I was so worried that he would get scared or cry and never go to sleep, but he slept all night all three nights we were there without a complaint. I don’t know when I have been more proud of him.

One day, Falco stayed with Mom for about an hour and a half while Matt and I ran an errand, and he did fine with that. He was never afraid of anyone the whole trip. Everyone went on and on about how good and happy he was. One day we took a drive into Ocean Springs to see our old stomping ground. I wanted to show Falco the front porch of our old house where I first met Matt, but he slept through the whole tour and missed all of the highlights.

The night before we left, Ma-Ma’s party started at 6 p.m. This was very sketchy for us because Falco is usually getting ready for bed at 6:30 and never goes out at night or stays up past his bedtime. Mom tried to get him to go to sleep at the party, but he wasn’t having it. He wasn’t in the mood to party either though and was tired and whiney. We ended up leaving at 8:00 to get him to bed, which was fine because we needed to get up early for our flight anyway.

Did I mention that it was miserably hot and humid there? I can’t believe we used to live like that. Despite the sweltering weather, it was nice to go back and see lots of my relatives and have everyone meet Falco. We got back to San Francisco pretty early on Sunday, and we were all very glad to be home. The weather here is great: Foggy at night, sunny during the day, and cool enough to need a hoodie. Perfect!

Up next: Falco is getting around…

Today Falco played peekaboo for the first time! I sat down with him in his glider, and he grabbed his burp cloth and held it over his face. I asked, “Where’s Falco?” and he pulled it down and looked at me. I said, “Peekaboo” and he looked excited and pulled the cloth over his face to do it again. He did it several times in a row and then played it again tonight before bed. I have only tried playing it with him a few times and didn’t think he really understood, so I was so surprised that he started it on his own today!

He still can’t crawl on his hands and knees, but he is getting pretty good at doing the combat crawl, dragging himself on his belly. He can get across the room if he is motivated to get something he wants. I think he doesn’t always remember that he can do it because he still gets frustrated sometimes when he gets on his hands and knees but can’t crawl properly, but he’s definitely figuring out how to go places.

Two different times today while I was holding him and eating a snack, I looked over at him and he opened his mouth wide, asking for a bite. It was so cute! Until today I don’t think he really noticed if I was eating, but I loved that he not only noticed but wanted me to share. He was just all around very cute and smart today, and I can’t believe how much he is growing up.

July photos are up, and here are a few of my favorites. Sorry I’m
behind on updates (as usual), but I’ll remedy that soon!