Daily Micah, Late Edition: Felt book

Our friend Becca made Micah a gorgeous felt book. The book is an acrostic, with each beautifully hand-stitched page depicting something that starts with one of the letters of his name.


What a cute face to go with such a cute book!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: A different side of Micah

Our pediatrician, Dr. Anderson of East Liberty Family Health Care Center says that babies hit middle age before they're toddlers: they go bald and develop a gut. Micah is no exception. You can't tell from the front, but Micah is losing his hair. And we have proof that can be produced for the benefit of future girlfriends.

Action Action News Flash Update Extreme!

Micah "ate" "solid" food for the first time today. By "ate" I mean lapped out of a spoon and on to his bib, and by "solid" I mean a little bit of rice cereal mixed with defrosted breast milk ... more like soup, really. Micah seemed to like it. Sarina tried it too. She said it was good.

We didn't get any pictures, but that's okay. You can wait. It builds character, you know.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Drinking (water) is so cool!

I've mentioned previously that Micah has taken an interest in the drinking of things (e.g., water, for the sake of clarity). Not that he's interested in drinking himself-- he's still a lapping kind of guy-- but rather that he is intrigued by the process when Sarina and I engage in it.


What's funny is the way he expresses his interest. When you pick up your glass, he fixes his eyes on it, and then tracks it all the way to your mouth and back down again. The funny comes in if he is sitting on your lap-- he cranes his neck and leans as far as necessary (sometimes very far) so as to not lose sight of the glass.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Apple Baby

Sometimes I ask for Micah's assistance with this or that with respect to my Ph.D. He's very insightful and articulate, you know?

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Say Cheese, Part 2

In a previous post I commented on how Micah has learned to smile for the camera. Sarina took a two pictures separated by five seconds that capture this very well.

"What's mom doing?"


"Oh, she has a camera!"

Daily Micah: Farmer Brown

I don't know why I think "Farmer Brown" when I see Micah in these pictures, but I do.






Be sure to vote in the new poll!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Going (if not jumping)

Micah has graduated to going (but not jumping) from not going (see a previous post).


It's a lot of fun watching Micah grow into his toys and watching how the way he interacts with them changes over time.

Daily Micah: The blinds!

The great thing about being a baby is being easily entertained. Everything (yes, everything) is new, amazing, and worth staring at. Even window blinds.


Micah trivia: in this picture he is wearing a pair of overalls that I wore when I was his size. I think he might look better in them, however.

Daily Micah: Cup, again

This is a cute picture, isn't it?



There's nothing in Micah's cup. He's been paying very close attention to us as we've been drinking things of late, and just like with the spoon, he's mimicking us. Micah doesn't really understand the purpose of a cup yet, I don't think ... he just likes chewing on and running his tongue over the edge of it.

It reminds me of a sweet little girl who I once helped drink from a cup. She hadn't yet worked out that her bottom lip had to act sort of like a seal ... the result was "Ooops! All wet! It's okay." Very cute.

We actually got Micah to lap milk out of a medicine cup at one point. He did it once, and made a royal mess. All subsequent attempts have failed. Micah is generally a very easy going baby ... but knows what he likes, and he's not afraid to tell us his opinion.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Lil Engineer

Parents, whether they know it or not, love to project onto their kids. Just so I don't feel left out, when I look at this picture I see Micah as an engineer. He's staring so intently at this cleverly designed toy: surely he's trying to figure out what it is about.


Or, maybe we just caught him between attempts at getting it in his mouth.

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Turtles are tasty

Are you noticing a ... theme?

Micah is getting his chew on old-school style. This was one of my toys way back when!

Daily Micah, Late Edition: Look Mom, no arms

Micah has this thing called a "Jump and Go." When we first put him in it, he didn't do much going. He just sort of sat there. In a cute sort of way, of course.


Because he's still sort of small for this thing, he puts his arms down inside to stabilize himself ... his arms just sort of disappear.

Daily Micah: Micah, Spoon-bane

Micah can get aggressive with the things he's chewing on. He can even seem to be attacking them. The most hilarious bit of this is his facial expressions. Observe the following sequence.

"Oh, I have a spoon."


"Oh spoon, I'll show you who's boss!"


"Spoon, you've met your match!"

Daily Micah: Look mom, two hands!

Another recent development: Micah is grabbing things with two hands. This has expanded dramatically the things that he can hold ...


... and therefore chew!


Incidentally, he really likes this little bird. It's a "Western Blue Bird" and when you squeeze it it makes the call of a Western Blue Bird. Apparently. We aren't bird people, and so it could be anything and we wouldn't know any better.

The survey! The survey! For more information, see November 14th Daily Micah.

Daily Micah: Baby limerick

There is this small boy we call honey.
He's cute and he's sweet and he's funny.
He wiggles and squirms,
and giggles and worms,
and costs us a whole bunch of money.


This picture was taken just eight hours after Micah was born.

Don't forget to vote in my survey on the right! For more information, see the November 14th Daily Micah.

Daily Micah: Cup

You must have been thinking, where is my Daily Micah!? Well, the day isn't over yet!

In addition to spoons, Micah also likes cups. Go figure! (Sorry, I'm all out of insight; it's all being dumped into a research paper I'm writing for Nov. 19)



Also, please complete the brief survey on the right. Only one response per person, please! (Note: the poll is a trick question and is simply a ploy on my part to determine how many different people actually visit the blog in a given week)

Daily Micah: Spoon

As you might have surmised from yesterday's picture, Micah has recently taken to holding and, you guessed it, chewing on, little spoons. He's really pretty funny about it. I think he's been watching us eat with utensils, because he has a tendency to take the spoon in and out of his mouth at regular intervals; he doesn't do this with anything else he puts in his mouth.


He also seems to like moving the spoon around in his mouth. Because it is rubber, it makes a cute little squeaking noise against his gums, which I think he enjoys.

Daily Micah: Baby tongue

Sometimes I wish that my eyes were connected to a camera, kind of like Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. That way, I could catch all the hilarious things that Micah does, but does only once, and only for a split second. The pictures we post here only very rarely capture the really special moments, just because it often takes too long (i.e., more than a second) to find our camera, turn it on, and snap a picture. Sometimes, however, we get lucky. This one, for example, was a complete accident, but a very fortunate one. As I was setting this shot up, I had no idea what he was doing. In fact, I don't think I realized he had stuck out his tongue until I reviewed the picture afterward.


Micah has been experimenting with the different sounds he can make, and recently has taken to two different strategies:

1) sticking his tongue out as he talks
2) closing his mouth altogether as he talks

Both are hilarious, and he makes great faces. We're pretty sure that's how we were able to catch this one; he was talking, and we just got lucky. Hopefully sometime soon I'll catch one of his talking-with-his-mouth-closed faces.

Daily Micah: Quilt gazing

Convincing Micah it is fun to be on his stomach is a difficult task. He often prefers chewing on whatever is below him to holding his head up and looking around. As such, we have to work very hard to put entertaining things in front of him. This quilt, cross-stitched by our friend Robin, is an example of one such entertaining thing.

FreeRice

Three essential websites for you to go to:

The story
The game
The crutch

Daily Micah: Eating bugs

Yes, "hands in mouth" has quickly become "anything I can get my hands on in mouth." Fortunately, he doesn't yet grab for everything, and I think his depth perception is still developing; there are many things that he could grab that he doesn't.

He does like this bug, however. It was a "free" toy we were given on Austrian Air, the airline we flew from Frankfurt (worst airport ever) to Salzburg and back again.


Who doesn't like chewing on bugs? Perhaps he's practicing for a remake of the Temple of Doom.

Daily Micah: Tis the season for babies and pumpkins

At this time of year, what's more cute than a baby and a pumpkin? Well, a smiling baby and a pumpkin, of course!

Micah laughing

Micah has laughed essentially since he was born. At first, he only laughed in his sleep. It was this crazy belly chuckle thing, and was very amusing. More recently, he has taken to laughing while awake, though not the same belly chuckle. What's amusing about this is the things he laughs at, and the fact that he infrequently will laugh at the same thing on two different occasions. A while ago, I got him going by saying his name to him. Micah is a funny name, right? Or, as my mom pointed out, maybe Micah just has a funny dad.

Listen to Micah laughing

Daily Micah: Say cheese!

A recent development that you all benefit from is the fact that Micah seems to understand that he should smile for the camera. That doesn't mean he always does. However, he seems to have figured this out, as the pictures today and tomorrow will demonstrate (ooh ooh! foreshadowing!).


Check back later today for some Micah audio, too.

Daily Micah: Yay burpcloth

Realizing that he can hold onto things like burpcloths has been a source of entertainment as well as chewing for Micah, especially when there aren't any fingers or arms available.

Here's a happy baby with a burpcloth.


Micah begins to move the burpcloth into position.


Attack!


Ultimately, hands just get in the way.

Daily Micah: Attack!

About when Micah started sucking his thumb, he started really trying to chew on everything. He had, on occasion, chewed on a finger or knuckle unfortunate enough to pass by his mouth. Now he attacks things when he sees the opportunity to chew. Take, for example, my forearm.

Look out! It's a pterodactyl!

We've discovered that we're living with a pterodactyl. His name is Micah and he makes the best sounds (click to hear!) though he does get tired after screeching for too long (hence the sigh).

We're not the first to find we're living with a dinosaur. Friends of ours recently found they were living with a velociraptor. Who knew?

Daily Micah: Go badgers!

Micah is a very cute Badger fan. Perhaps the cutest. You can be the judge of that.

Daily Micah: 3-month birthday

Micah had his 3-month birthday a couple of weeks ago. Like all 3-month birthdays, his was quite a celebration: we ate cake in his honor.


To be honest, if it wasn't for Sarina's mom, who was in town to help us transition to Sarina starting to work part-time, we probably wouldn't have had cake. The day was extra special, however, because her (Eleanor's) birthday was the next day.

Daily Micah 6: Thumb Sucker

A couple of weeks ago, Micah started consistently sucking his thumb. This is a wonderful thing. When he stirs in the middle of the night now, he can sooth himself with his thumb, and go back to sleep. As a result, he's sleeping for 10-12 hours a night now. Woo hoo! Also, he's really cute when he sucks his thumb.

Daily Micah 5: Kick and Crawl, Part 2

Pictures from the Kick and Crawl yesterday, video today. Perhaps video tomorrow. Who knows? The possibilities are endless!

We think that Micah might be training to be a soccer player. We would both be happy about that. He already has pretty good ball-handling skills; perhaps better than mine! (speed is essentially my only advantage on the soccer field) I think he's taking after his mother.

Daily Micah 4: Kick and Crawl

No, Micah isn't crawling. Yet. However, he does kick, and he does have a toy called the Kick and Crawl. It's perhaps his favorite toy right now. It's easy to tell, because he makes the happiest faces when he's playing in it. Check these out.