I'm 3/4 years old

I'm no longer content just sitting next to Sock Monkey.

I made it to nine months! That means I've been in the outside world as long as I was in mommy's tummy. This fresh air has sure been nice.

A ton has happened in the last few weeks. In just that short period, I went from sitting to crawling to crawling all over the place. Then I started pulling myself up while on my knees, and now I'm trying to stand as much as possible. It scares my parents sometimes because I haven't fully figured out the balance thing, but I'm getting there.

Now that I'm upright, I plan to run a marathon this fall.

The crawling has been fun. I often crawl around to find my parents (except when they're in the kitchen, because they put a gate up that I can't get past). At school, I often crawl after other kids. And when my parents come to pick me up, I crawl to the door to greet them.

Mom Edition: Wunderkind

We started taking music classes through Kindermusik in February. It's been a lot of fun. We get to play with balls, hoops and scarves. We also dance, sing and play different instruments like egg shakers and drums. There's usually some puppet time or a story, too.

Finn loves to make some noise.

Finn wants to play with all of the toys.

This story was really good!

Mom Edition: Our little science experiment

Last week Finn participated in two studies for the UC Davis Infant Cognition Lab. We thought it would be a good idea to expose Finn to the scientific process early on in life. Though he does show a natural aptitude for experimenting on his own. He loves to test gravity by dropping food and utensils from the high chair or throwing some of his toys around the living room. He is also likes to examine the world with all of his senses, especially taste. An avid explorer, Finn is interested in every nook and cranny of the house now since he can pretty much get anywhere he wants by crawling now.

Here are a few photos from the lab day:

Finn wears a cornea tracker to record what infants are focusing on while I'm blindfolded.

In this study Finn looks at different objects on a screen to understand how babies learn about their surroundings.

Mom Edition: Finn's 8 months old!

Finn turned 8 months old on February 2nd. He's really rolling, scooting and moving around these days, and it's hard to get a good snapshot of him laying still. We'll see how many more months these sock monkey photos will last. Here's the latest installment:

Finn's not content to let sock monkey just lay around anymore.

Grandma Emi's friend Nancy knitted Finn this cool sock monkey hat.

Also in the past month Finn has been starting to crawl (this means we really need to start babyproofing) and to really enjoy playing with (i.e. making a mess of) all of his toys...

He's gotten to visit with his friend Brooke in Davis who was born just a few days after he was. She seems amused by Finn's antics...

We've also taken a trip to the Sacramento Zoo. Though we've been bogged down in a lot of fog this past month, we've also had some sunny days when we can get outside and enjoy the warmth. The zoo animals and Finn seemed to like the nice weather...

Off-roading

An apple a day ...

My parents and I went for a little adventure two weekends ago in Briones Regional Park near Pleasant Hill. It was supposed to be a gentle stroll on a trail open to bicycles. But once the trail started going up, up, up, things got a little dirty. At least for my parents and my stroller. We had to slog through a muddy mess. I was clean as a whistle the whole time. (Except for my diaper, perhaps.)

My stroller is an off-road vehicle.

We also saw my Bay Area friends and grandparents over the weekend. It was a fun time.

So much for keeping the doctor away.

What is Grandpa doing on the floor?

Mom Edition: 7-months old!

Here's Finn posing for his 7-month photo with sock monkey. This was taken on January 2nd.



As you can see by this belated post, both mom and Finn have been super busy in the last week. Mom has started working on the day shift at the hospital (6:45am - 7:15pm), which means Finn has been in daycare for full 8-hour days. Dad has been a champ in getting Finn to Discovery Tree in the morning and picking him up in the evening, and even putting him to bed.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I stayed up until the wee hour of 6:30 p.m. last night and celebrated by watching the ball drop. Granted, it was a toy ball that I play with at home, and it just fell from a shelf accidentally, but it was nonetheless a ball drop.

I liked 2010 a lot. More than most years. In fact, more than any year, considering it was the only one I know. It was the year in which I was born, and it was the year in which the Giants won the World Series. It doesn't get any better than that. 2011, you have a lot to live up to. I don't think you can match 2010.

Here is a collection of photos detailing my holiday season. I hope you enjoy them. I got a lot of great gifts, but none better than wrapping paper, tissue paper, ribbons and bows.

They named a whale after me!

I celebrated New Year's by playing with Isaiah's train.

I hitched a ride with Mom at Point Lobos.

The sound of ocean waves put me to sleep.

Hanging out with second cousin Vince.

Waiting for Christmas dinner.