Fathers

I'm just getting back to reality after a nice loooong weekend. I took Sunday off work to celebrate Father's Day, this being an important one for Mike.

My folks came on Wednesday evening to visit, so it feels like my weekend started early. They stayed with Greyson on Thursday and really enjoyed their time with him. My dad got to feed Greyson, his long-held desire. I think he gave him mommy's milk, carrots, and oatmeal. Frank's been dying to give the kid ice cream and all sorts of goodies, but we made him stick to the basics. My parents are just giddy with grandparent-hood, and I think Grey is at the perfect age. He's interacting with them, he's playing with toys, sitting up, and doing tricks on command sometimes - great fun for other people to enjoy finally. But not yet mobile and requiring constant running after. This really is a magical age. It was fun to have them laugh and exclaim and tell me about all of the cute things the baby is doing - isn't he grand?! Usually I'm the one bragging.

Their visit was quick but full of good times and good food. The nicest part was still having a full weekend to enjoy even after they left. I love having visitors but need time to recover and get some things done around the house afterwards. Saturday we did our usual running around, and we decided to visit with friends in the evening. Greyson had to sleep in a pack-n-play because Veronica is now occupying her crib (she finally outgrew her snoopy bassinet) and I guess it wasn't too comfortable, or something else kept waking him up. Finally, we packed him up and headed home and he slept much better in his own crib.

Sunday morning we let The Father sleep in a bit while Greyson and I played and got some things together. We headed out for the beach a little later than planned, but we had a nice trip anyways. Mike and I have always said that canoeing is the true test of a relationship. I just found our wedding vows the other day, and I even mentioned a successful canoe trip there as testament to our compatability. Well, taking a 7-month-old to the beach on a 90+ degree day is another test. And we survived. Humor intact. It was really the fault of the beach tent and the scorching sand, and Mike only cussed when we were out of earshot.

We learned that Greyson loves our portable ipod player and the Beatles. We learned not to kneel in the ocean with the baby when big waves are coming. We learned that wearing your crocs in the water makes for serious drag when trying to walk back into shore. We learned it's hard to apply spray sunblock in the wind. We learned it's possible to spend $700 on fireworks in about 15 minutes (ok, I exaggerate).

Greyson acted the same way about the ocean as he did about the pool. He's not thrilled and giggling, but he's not crying either. The water felt great, even I went in up to my waist (and I HATE the beach+salt water+sand+sun equation). Grey enjoyed digging into the sand and examining it, although we were a little worried he'd try to eat it. He got his first taste of watermelon, but wasn't impressed, and he thoroughly enjoyed his naked-baby public shower afterwards. All in all the day was a success, we returned home tired and were in bed asleep by 10pm. We postponed our Father's Day lasagne until Monday so we didn't have to do any work after our tiring day of driving and eating and soaking up sun.

We finally installed the big-boy car seat in my car this weekend, so Grey has to be taken in and out of the buckles every time we go anywhere. No more snapping the infant car seat out of the base and shopping or eating with him safely tucked in. Now he's on the loose, riding in shopping carts like a big kid - or begging to be carried instead. He did pretty good in the cart at Whole Foods with me on Monday. We got some new fresh fruits and veggies for him to try. I'll be cooking up some baby food later this week.

He's still not crawling, but he is sitting up, getting on all fours, rocking, and lunging at things that he really wants - like the cat! He's much more interested in pulling up to standing than he is in crawling at this point. So who knows, maybe he'll skip it altogether. Still eagerly waiting to see what he does next!