First swim

On the way to Kenosha for Thanksgiving, E had enough of the car about the time we hit Madison, so after letting him scream for about 90 minutes we decided to stop in Milwaukee and make the rest of the trip in the morning. One of the benefits was that the hotel had a pool, so we took E for his first swim. I don't know if he loved it, but I think he liked it. At a minimum, he didn't cry :-)

Grabbing

E is really starting to grab things now. It is so fun! For awhile he would see something new and root towards it, wanting so badly to put it in his mouth. Now he can grab it and get it there.

Car seat

I have been hesitant to post this lest I jinx myself, but ever since the first snowfall, E has been sooooo much happier in the carseat. It's like he saw the snow on the ground and decided all of a sudden the car wasn't so bad after all. He still isn't perfect, and he still needs the vacuum cleaner sound track (which we listened to for 5 hours on the way home from Kenosha), but he only screams about 25% of the time now. It is a huge improvement. And the other day he fell asleep on the way to the mall and I was able to take him in in the stroller. I remember thinking, "Oh. This is what it's like for most moms. I get the advantage of the stroller!"

It only lasted the 10 minutes until he woke up. I just remind myself how much I will miss it when he no longer wants to cuddle so close to me all the time!

Bedtime routine

In a vain attempt to improve sleeping patterns, we are trying to establish a little more of a bedtime routine for E. We often start as early as 6:30, because he is cranky and I am out of songs to sing!
We start with a bath. . .

 

. . . then dry him off with his duck towel. . . 

 . . . and give him a baby massage when he will tolerate it. He has started liking it much more once his dad started giving him a heater :-)

We swaddle him up, and then off to bed!

E's first snow!

So it snowed for the first time just over 2 weeks ago. It was a warm day, with super wet and heavy snow, and we took E out to play in it. He wasn't quite sure what to think. . .

 . . . until we set him down to make a snow angel. . .

. . . he hasn't played in the snow since :-)

All in all, though, E fared much better than the tree in our back yard. And the power cord, the fence, and the pergola, for that matter. These branches are from the gigantic pine tree in our back yard.

My favorite baby fashion accesory

I have fallen in love with baby leg warmers! They are super cute, and super functional.
Benefits of baby leg warmers:

1. They help the socks stay on
2. When worn without pants they make diaper changes a breeze
3. When worn with pants they keep E's legs extra warm 
4. Either way, they are super cute!
5. I'm sure they will make E a super 80's dancer! Which will be like the 60's to him.

Here is a pair of my favorites. I'm sure you will see more in upcoming photos!

Highland Park Library

Fridays at 10:30 the Highland Park Library, which is less than a mile from our house, has a story time. I kind of knew this existed, but didn't have high expectations so hadn't made it a priority. Boy was I wrong. I'm starting to realize that you can estimate the quality of the story time by the number of parking spaces available, and I had a to park half a block away for this one.
We arrived a little bit late, and the place was packed. Up front were two women with stuffed animals and puppets. Instead of reading books, they would act them out with the animals. Maybe the idea was that you could then get the books to take home and read with your child? There was music and singing, audience participation, funny voices. The kids were absolutely enthralled. We will definitely be back to this one!