Early Summer

We had one of those freak warm spells recently, when San Francisco suddenly decides it's going to be summer for 4 or 5 random days in the middle of April.  We break out the shorts and start eating outside, sleep poorly in our suddenly stuffy little apartments, and head to the beaches in droves.  And then just as suddenly, the wind and/or fog return, the temperature drops 40 degrees in a day, and it's back to normal.  Brennan's 8 month photo was taken in the middle of the heat wave, so he's sporting his summer look.

Despite the pose, it wasn't really a somber occasion.  It's just becoming increasingly difficult to actually GET a picture of Brennan sitting still in his spot. Here are some of my other attempts:

Best of all, here is his alter-ego, Danger Baby.  He doesn't fight much in the way of crime yet, but he certainly likes to seek out danger.  He's starting to crawl, a few little steps at a time, interspersed with some inchworm and elephant seal moves. He generally heads towards the edge of the bed or couch, and on the floor, towards the nearest electric cord, although sometimes he contents himself with coating himself with as much dog hair as possible before tipping over Laika's water bowl.

Finally, for everyone who's wondered just how Brennan & his Daddy spend their Saturdays together while I'm at work, here's a video:

Funny Faces

First, Happy Easter!  I didn't think we had to celebrate, since a) Brennan can't eat candy; b) doesn't know the meaning of the words "easter", "bunny", "basket", etc; c) the last time we went to church was for a wedding; d) I was working.  But a certain someone made another certain someone feel guilty about it, so the second certain someone spent her lunch break searching for Easter crap on one of the posher shopping streets in San Francisco - luckily, there's a Walgreen's down where the posh starts to taper off.  So what do you put in a basket for an almost 8 month old?  Empty plastic eggs, bubbles, bunny ears, and the bunnies he's already received over the past 8 months.  What does he like the most?  The paper grass in bottom.  Boy, that was a mess.

A brief aside, for anyone who didn't believe what I said about Baby Rhyme Time at the library:

Now that Bren's getting a bit older and more consistent about eating solids, we're branching out a bit.  While fruit of any sort is a big hit, I'm trying to be sure I introduce green veggies as well, to avoid junk food addiction, childhood obesity, blah blah blah.  There's a frozen organic spinach and something blend called "super greens" that's going over really well:

Here he is, plotting revenge for the super greens - 

He's discovering his lips and tongue can do a lot of funny things, and is developing quite the repertoire of raspberries.  Past few days, he's been favoring the spitty, tongue-out version, but he still likes to come back to this style - 

And finally, one giggly face, since he knows he's funny -

Introducing...Sophie!

For months, I've noticed this little giraffe in the strollers and grubby little hands of what seems like all the babies in San Francisco.  I finally asked one of the mommies at boot camp what it was all about, and she told me it was a sort of teething toy called a "Sophie", and babies just love it.  So when I saw it in the store, I thought, well, all the other kids have one, and Brennan's teething, so I guess I better get it.  There's this twee little story in the box about all the poor French babies who only had rubber farm animals to play with back in 1961, so Monsieur RAMPEAU (his name is capitalized in the little book - why? - not sure) invented a new molding process to make these very special giraffes for babies to gnaw on and squeak.  This only briefly distracts you from the realization that you have just dropped 25 bucks on what is, essentially, a dog toy. Although I guess you could call it an artisanal dog toy.  Brennan's opinion?  Mildly diverting.  OK to gnaw on for a minute or two.  He's just not that interested in toys.  He would rather:

Wave his hands and/or feet like a maniac, sometimes in response to something particularly funny his Daddy has said, such as "plah-plah".  (This is his 7 month photo, although taken about a week late, but I guess better late than never.)

Inspect all the blades of grass at the park, and pull it out of the ground.  He's not eating it yet, but I'm sure that's coming soon.

Swing!  Pay no attention to the funny face, he really does like the swing.  It's just hard to manage pushing the swing, making sure the camera doesn't autofocus on the crap in the background, and catch him laughing.

Visiting the Academy of Sciences - I have a membership, and it's a nice walk from our place, so we'll pop in for a little fish & frog watching.  I practice not acting on my impulses to strangle 11 year olds on science class field trips, as I will have my very own obnoxious 11 year old some day.

Most of all, I think he likes getting out of the house to have a look around.  Now that the rain seems to be about done, we're getting out and about a lot more, both in the stroller and the ergo carrier.  He still seems to be a fairly contemplative little guy, not saying much, just sort of turning that steady blue gaze on the world and taking it in.  It's a sure way to stop unhappy crabbing, at the very least.