Head reading

Recently I've become aware of a couple of behaviours that I'm exhibiting that seem slightly strange. The first and most noticeable one is that I count. All the time. Not things, specifically. Just random counting. For example, when walking from my car to the office building (or the other way 'round), my mind is processing the usual stuff - what I have to do today, going over conversations, pulling up images. But in the very corner, there's a metronome. It's ticking and I'm keeping track of the ticks. Sometimes each tick corresponds with a step, sometimes I'm off beat. It doesn't bother me when I'm off beat. Sometimes the current count fades and I start over, but at a random number. I'm completely unaware that I'm doing it for a while and then I notice it. Usually between numbers 60 and 80. I also count what appears to be heart beats. Sometimes I find my self counting nothing at all. Sometimes I find I'm counting in different languages, sometimes it's Spanish, sometimes it's French, sometimes it's German, sometimes it's a combo of three or four languages. I took a moment to google this discovery this morning. It seems that subconscious counting is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). That's not to say I have OCD. No, OCD would also be accompanied by other behaviours and it probably would bother me to be off beat. It might also be a response to anxiety. A way to control SOMETHING in a situation where I might not have any control. I guess that makes sense. I do prefer to be in control of situations. I think most people do. But why would I feel anxiety walking to or from my car? Does anyone else do this, or am I just a weirdo?

Another strange thing I've noticed lately is random words get stuck in my head. Usually new words or phrases. I generally don't know how they got there. For example, over the past 2 days the words Ogg Vorbis have been floating around in there. For the life of me I couldn't imagine why and I certainly didn't know what it meant. They're not words I've ever heard before. I dismissed them as words I'd made up. But it kept popping back up. Last night I just couldn't stand it, so I asked Brian if those words meant anything to him. They didn't. So I googled it. Turns out that Ogg Vorbis is an audio format, like how MP3 is an audio format. But Ogg Vorbis is open source. So then I started to connect the dots... I recently have been using an audio recording software for some narration on a software demo. I opened it up, and sure enough, there is a menu option for exporting to Ogg Vorbis format. My mind had subconsciously picked up that word while I was exporting to .wav format. Weird, huh?

And one final trick I've noticed that my mind plays on me, and I imagine this is quite common - songs. They get stuck in there. But usually 2 days after I've heard the song. Does this mean I'm SLOW?? LOL Sometimes more than one track is playing in my head at the same time. They never blend together, they're distinctly separate but playing in parallel. I find that very odd because I'm unable to process multiple sounds in actuality.

Anyway, I felt compelled to put those thoughts on to paper in an effort to help me process and makes some sense of it. I guess it worked, to some degree. I haven't come to any solid conclusions regarding the counting. I think the random words and songs are just a symptom of me absorbing things around me and subconsciously processing them. Strange that it's all related to the auditory sense. I guess I could conclude that my primary mode of communicating with the world is through auditory channels, rather than visual or tactile methods. Maybe if I understand this, it'll help me to better connect with the world around me?

Pet health updates

You might recall several months ago I talked about Prince William and how I found him floating in his tank. Since then, Prince William has been doing very well. Every couple of weeks, Prince William gets a few frozen peas to keep his swim bladder in check. A week or so ago I noticed that Prince Harry II was having some buoyancy issues as well, so I administered the pea treatment and I'm happy to say that he's also doing very well. I've had William and Harry for almost 5 years now and I know they're just fish, but I am quite fond of my fish boys.

Onyx spent the day with the doctor yesterday because she's been having some issues using the bathroom. Specifically, she's been squatting in random places in the house and leaving a few drops of blood-streaked urine, accompanied by a low-pitched, creepy wailing, which indicates she's in pain. It brings back awful memories of Ember's last day with us, and the realization that I'm still not over him, and I'm also harboring a bit of resentment for our vet. Not because I think she did anything wrong, but because we subjected Ember to many tests and indignities during his last few weeks with us, which yielded exactly the same outcome as if we just left him alone, plus it cost us a crap load of money. I find myself wishing I hadn't done all the testing, and just let him be. Focused on comfort.

I refuse to do this to Onyx. She's 15 years old and has had a fantastic life. I have to weigh the quality of life we can give her against trying to prolong her life with invasive tests and procedures.

It's a really tough decision because without a definitive diagnosis, we're just guessing what the problem is and hoping treatment works, but a definitive diagnosis will require an ultrasound, which I know will be traumatic for Onyx because they'll have to shave her and pin her down, and they won't sedate her because she's old and they can't guarantee she'll come out of sedation. Do I really want to put her through that?

We've opted to treat the most common cause of her symptoms, which is a UTI. This requires antibiotics twice a day. Onyx may be a small cat, but she is freakishly strong and when cornered, extremely vicious! I have to sit on her, pry her mouth open, squirt the meds in, and hold her mouth closed so she'll swallow it, all while trying not to get bit, scratched, or peed on. All of which she's done.

If she doesn't respond to the treatment, then we'll have no choice but to do an ultrasound. The two possible outcomes of that are a) we find a stone and can dissolve it with a special diet b) we'll find a tumor and because she's too old for surgery, we can just manage the pain.

It's so awful when a loved one is going through health problems, even if that loved one is a pet, it hurts your heart just the same as any other family member.

Indy 500 weekend... in Austin :-(

This weekend Brian is enjoying his birthday present, which is a Trip to Indiana from me, and being hooked up phat with a badass view of the Indy race, plus a place to stay strolling distance from the track, from Kevin. He sounds like he's having a blast, unfortunately, he forgot to take the camera so there won't be any pictures from his experience.
Meanwhile here in Austin, we've been having a mixture of fun and frustration. Our weekend included happy hour with Mike, Tara, Nick & Jethro, painting Barbie's office with Andrea. Hanging with Brian, Michelle & Aria, Andrea, Barbie & Scott. A visit with Mike while he removed the dog run from our back yard. Some shopping with Barbie to find outfits for me and Trent for Jenn's upcoming wedding! a 12K run, several naps, and a visit to the pool.
Trent's had a bit of a rough weekend and has been more difficult than usual. At first I thought he was testing boundaries because his daddy's away, but when he bit me on Sunday morning I realized the root of all my frustrations was a little tooth! poor Trent had been trying to tell me he was in pain and I wasn't listening! In a last ditch effort to get through to me, he grabbed my finger and stuck it in his mouth! OUCH!
Today Trent learned how to walk behind a his toy lawn mower... well, it's not really a lawn mower, but that's the closest thing it resembles. He'd been too afraid to let go of my hands in the past but today with a little coaching he pulled himself up on it and took off! GO SPEED RACER! the kid's FAST!
Onyx isn't feeling well. In addition to Trent keeping me up all night on Saturday night, Onyx woke me up with a low-pitched meowing. She's peeing outside the cat box, so I suspect she's got another UT infection. Probably not bad enough to go to the emergency vet, but certainly we need to get her on some meds first thing Tuesday morning. I've been feeding her soft food in an effort to hydrate her a bit more. I figure the more fluid she gets, the faster it'll flush things out of her.
I'm looking forward to Brian getting home. We all missed him, especially me :-)

Idol finale!

Last night after Trent went to bed, I watched yesterday's final performances show, then, because I knew somebody would let the cat out of the bag during the course of the day today, I stayed up and watched the results show. And it's a good thing I did, too because Mike Chapel popped up this morning to talk about it!

I thought both guys did a terrific job on their performances, though I had some mixed feelings about David Archuleta doing "Imagine" because he's already done it once, to that was a safe performance, a bit of a cheap trick. Having said that, though, I loved the performance and his rendition of it is by far the best I've ever heard.

The thing I like about having both the Davids in the Finale is the contrast between the two styles. I absolutely think that David Archuleta has an amazing voice, but we don't really hear him sing anything that rocks out. Mostly ballads and boy-band kinda material, which is nice, but it's very single-track. Conversely, David Cook seems more versatile. He is able to pull off a ballad, but really brings the house down when he rocks. As a recording artist, I think David Cook will do much better than David Archuleta.

So now I've aired my opinions, let me tell you what happened during the results show. And I imagine my situation isn't unique. Ryan was just about to announce the winner, envelope in hand... and the DVR cut off!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!

Luckily, the news sites had already posted who won, but it's not the same as seeing it yourself!

I'm not going to mention which David won because in England they see the show a few days after we do here in the US, and I don't want to spoil it for my mum :-)

I'll just say this. For the first time in American Idol history, the person who should have won the competition did win the competition. Way to go, America! Way to do the right thing. Now if only you can do the right thing and get those damn republicans out of the White House! :-P

Parlez vous Francais?

Oui! Je parle un peu du francais!

In preparation for our upcoming trip to Switzerland and Spain, I've been trying to dust off my very limited French language skills so that I can converse with Ben and Nadia's family, and so that we can get around more easily and not make any major cultural faux pas. It's interesting because in Switzerland, they speak both French and German, both of which I have a basic understanding, neither of which I am very fluent in, but based on the fact that Nadia speaks French only, or at least that's her primary language, I thought I'd work on French.

I've been listening to some free podcasts on my iPod whenever I get the chance, and I actually really like it. The woman who does the lessons has such a great French accent when she speaks English and she sounds so nice, that you just can't help but enjoy listening.

I've found that it's far more easy to understand French than to speak it. I hope that by the time we go for out trip that I will be able to hold a basic conversation about where I can introduce my family members, talk about where we live, talk about what our plans are while in Switzerland, and our plans to go to Spain.

So of course, I also have been learning Spanish, which makes 3 languages I'm not very good at :-P. Of the three, Spanish is the most difficult for me, I think because I learned a little French and German as a child, when learning is easier.

I'd dearly love to have Trent speak more than one language, and the only real way to do that is to talk to him in a foreign language all the time, which isn't feasible since I'm not fluent in anything. I really admire Marie's children, Amelia and Emily, who both speak Swedish, English, and French, and all at such an early age. What a huge advantage they will have over their peers.

Anyway, me souhaiter la bonne chance!

2 amazing years!

Tomorrow (well, actually 23 minutes) marks our 2nd anniversary. I can't believe it's already been 2 years since our amazing wedding in the Dominican Republic. We recall moments from that trip all the time and feel so very lucky to have been surrounded by all the people we love on such a special occasion. On Saturday evening Joan reminded me that right about that time 2 years ago I was swinging on a trapeze, and right about this afternoon I was discovering a very black ankle and a jelly fish sting! And despite the injuries, it was the most amazing trip we've ever taken.

Reflecting on the past year, once again this is a year full of firsts and moments that are hard to beat. This past year we've faced more challenges than we ever thought possible, and those challenges have tested our patience and our relationship, but we both agree that those challenges have also brought us even closer together. We are husband and wife, but we're also best friends, and family. Now we have a wonderful new addition to that family. Our little Trent is such a joy to be around. And we look back on those early months of sleepless nights and evenings full of colic and crying, and leaning on each other to get through it with a sense of pride because we got through it. Not only did we get through it, we blazed through is with flying colours and learned a lot along the way. We really did earn our parenting stripes with this kid. And now we feel prepared and ready to tackle anything.

We spent this past weekend celebrating our two year milestone with a trip to Houston to visit Trent's grandparents. Trent was the perfect baby on our trip. Sleeping all the way to Houston, waking up at the appropriate time for food, and behaving like a little angel at dinner on Friday evening.
Grandpa had spent a lot of time baby proofing the house. More so than we have even done at our own house. There wasn't much that Trent could get into to cause him harm, which was so very sweet of him to do. It's so cool to see how much Trent's grandparents love him. He may never quite understand these little acts of love that they do for him, but they're certainly not lost on me and Brian :-)

On Saturday, Joan made French toast, which Trent seemed to really enjoy, then he spent the whole day with grandma and grandpa, who took him to the splash park nearby. Brian and I took the opportunity to spend the whole day by ourselves and we went to the Houston Zoo. The Houston Zoo is pretty awesome and we spent at least 5 hours there. I used my Nikon zoom lens, which I rarely get to use, and took som really great pictures of the animals. Brian was so patient as I lingered over all the animals looking for the perfect shot. I had such a great day. You can see pictures here: zoo pics

I know going to the zoo isn't classically a romantic day, but it was something we wouldn't get to do ordinarily, and we got to bum around, just the two of us. There were many baby animals at the zoo, though, and they seemed to remind us of Trent somehow. Their manorisms, the way the parents interacted with them, or sometimes just their physical appearance. It made us appreciate our little guy and miss him.

A side note, we just recently bought a lightweight stroller for when we go to Switzerland/Spain, and so I found myself oogling other people's strollers to see if there was something better out there. I don't think so, though. The one we got is pretty perfect I think.

After the zoo we headed back home to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Churrascos. A Latin American restaurant. We had high hopes based on the reviesws on city search and were not disappointed by any means. I had a fillet and Brian had their signature dish. Afterwards we went to the Black Labrador, an English pub, where we sat at the bar and finished off the evening with a nighcap.

Joan got me the most thoughtful present for no reason at all, which is my favourite kind of present :-) She gave me an LCD picture frame keychain that you can load photos onto. Today I filled it up with 60 pictures of Trent. I can't wait to show people my cool new gadget and show off my very photogenic little munchkin!

So it's now 12:12 am on our anniversary! Tonight we are going out to dinner while Trent spends some fun time with Aunt Tara at her new house.

And one final thing before I go to bed: Welcome home mum and dad. I'm so glad you had a great cruise and I'm really happy that I got to talk to you today. Only 16 weeks till we see you, and based on how the first half of this year has gone, that's going to get here in no time flat!

G'night, Y'all!

Idol told ya so

Ok, I called it weeks ago! the battle of the Davids! I was not surpsised at all by the outcome of last night's results show. For the first time in American Idol history, I do not have a clear favourite. Both of the Davids are amazing and I'll be completely happy no matter which one wins because I have confidence that we will hear lots of music from the runner up.

Speaking of past idols and runners up, whatever happened to:
Melinda Doolittle - I thought for sure she'd get a recording contract
Taylor Hicks - Taylor who?
Catherine McPhee - America's McPheever broke!

Even Bucky has a record out. BUCKY! seriously.

A busy week!

This week has been very fun/busy for us and today is really our only day of not having plans. On Friday we had our usual family date night and Brian, Trent and I went to Macaroni Grill. Trent was a perfect little gentleman. He enjoyed some Italian bread and watched the world go by as we ate. Then he politely fell asleep.

On Saturday, Brian had a soccer game and Trent and I spent the afternoon playing in his room, then Aunt Barbie and Uncle Scotty came over and we all went to the pool. We started off in the kiddie pool and Trent wasn't too sure he liked it at first. Then when other kids came in he seemed to take that as a sign that it was ok. Then we took him into the big pool, which was rather a bit colder and he complained about the temperature briefly. He seemed very content to hold on to me tightly as we walked around, but he wasn't down with trying anything adventurous, like floating. I bought an infant float for him, but it seemed like he didn't feel secure enough in it. He seemed to have an OK time, but he wasn't giggling his head off. The pool might take a bit of getting used to.

After we dried off at home and Barbie and Scott left, Brian and Trent ran a few errands while I showered, then we headed off to Renee's house for a backyard BBQ. What a fun evening we had spending time with people we haven't seen in ages. Trent was a huge hit and it made Brian and me feel really good that our friends are so welcoming of Trent and don't see him as an inconvenience.

On sunday, Mother's day, you can read all about that here: Click me

On Monday, I took my MMA class at noon because my regular time on Tuesday was already taken up with other plans. It was just me and the instructor and I got some very good detail on things I need to correct in my stance and in my execution of certain kicks. It wasn't an ass-busting work out, but it was really great to see the difference in a properly executed kick vs. how I had been doing it.

Monday evening we went to Ztejas for dinner with Barbie and Scott - celebrating Barbie's nth birthday ;-). Going back many years now, Barbie bought me a birthday present and didn't have any wrapping paper, so she wrapped it in tin foil. We call it Ghettowrapped. It soon became a tradition for Barbie to give me Ghettowrapped gifts and would crack me up every time. So this year I got her a rather bulky present and Ghettowrapped it for her. We had a great dinner and Trent sat in a high-chair and ate his favourite thing, Cheerios, while we ate.

On Tuesday evening I went down town to join Michelle for happy hour at Cedar Street where Andrea was playing a gig. She did a lot of her original stuff and she and the band sounded so good! Andrea's family were there, too, so it was nice to get to hang out with them for a while. When I got home, Brian was a little frazzled because Trent's been going through a phase since he started crawling. He used to go to bed so nicely, but now, no matter how tired he is, he screams his head off when we put him in his crib because he'd rather be up crawling around and getting into mischief.

On Wednesday evening it was Brian's turn to go out. He had a soccer game and then went downtown with his team afterwards. Meanwhile the storm of the season was bearing down on NW Austin, complete with golf ball sized hail and funnel clouds! The band of storms completely missed downtown where Brian was, though. The news channel said that two tornadoes were spotted on the ground near our house and to go take cover, so I strapped Trent into his car seat and we went under the stairs while the worst of the storm passed. There wasn't really any need to do that in hindsight, but I know that when you hear a tornado, it's too late and so I wanted to make sure and be proactive. So we sat and I read Trent a story while we waited for the storm to pass. And Barbie called me a few times to give me updates since we couldn't see the TV from there, and since they're west of us, they had already seen the same storm come through.
Brian made it home in between the storms without incident and Trent was soundly asleep under the stairs when he got home :-)

So as I said, this evening is our only free evening this week... except that I have MMA class. And tomorrow we're heading to Houston where Trent will spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Brian and I will get a whole day of alone time! YAY!

Car Seat Homework

With so many car seats on the market, it's hard to know which one to choose. Brian and I have been trying to make sense of all the information available and apply it to our situation over the last day or so because Trent is one lb away from outgrowing his infant seat. Which has prompted a mini research project. It's my hope that those of you reading this will find it useful when finding a car seat to match your own situation.

Background:
So a couple of things to consider for new parents when choosing a car seat.

• Convertible car seats can be used from birth to 50lbs (some models) - so this type of car seat means that you only need to buy one. A nice money saver. The down side to this is that you have to take the child out of the seat, which doesn't sound like a big deal, right? until your baby's passed out in the car after a 15 minute screaming session on the highway and your nerves are frayed and all you want is 10 more minutes of silence and a nice cup of tea. This type of car seat isn't conducive to swapping vehicles quickly, either.
  
• Infant seats with a base that stays in the car can be used from birth to 22lbs and one year old - this type of car seat means that you have to buy a new car seat at approximately one year, which is a down-side, however, in the above situation, this car seat is ideal because you can easily move your baby without waking him. You can also snap this car seat into the stroller, so again, no need to wake the baby up. In addition, you can put this car seat onto most shopping carts, making a trip to the store much easier. In addition, if you have multiple cars you can simply buy two bases.
  

We've been very happy with our choice of infant car seat - the Graco Alano Travel System. The infant seat rated quite well on Consumer Reports (Graco snug-ride with ETS) and is a consumer reports best buy. The only complaint I have about it is that the seat doesn't fit perfectly into the carts at HEB, and forces the baby to be too reclined, and it's slightly heavier than other seats.

Narrowing the scope:
Now it's time for us to buy something bigger for Trent. There are a couple of options available. The convertible car seat, and the toddler booster seat. What's the difference? The convertible seat can still be used in a rear-facing position, which is recommended for children under 1 year of age. Some booster seats come with a harness, however, some do not and use the car's existing seat belt system to secure the child. I personally don't recommend this. A 5 point harness is the safest way to transport your precious cargo, and heaven forbid you have to test this theory out - car seat belts have been know to fail in a crash. So we've made the decision to go with a convertible seat. Now that we've narrowed the scope of our search we need to determine what the best option is for us on what's available.

Criteria:
What's important to us (ranked)?

1. safety
2. fit to vehicle
3. comfort
4. ease of use
5. looks
6. cost
   

Analysing the data:
So now we have our criteria, we looked on Consumer Reports to find out which seats ranked highest in those areas. Of the models tested on consumer reports, one clearly stood out for crash protection, which is our number one criteria, however, it ranked marginally lower in Infant fit to vehicle (which is the rear facing position) and ranked high on toddler fit to vehicle (which is the forward facing position) - ok - so we'll only need it to be rear-facing for another month and a half. That's an acceptable concession. For ease of use it rated slightly lower than two others but since that's only #4 in importance, that's another acceptable concession. As far as cost goes, the clear winner in safety also is a lot less expensive than some of the lesser performing models. So I think our decision on which brand and model is made.

Of course, you really do need to go to a local store and actually look at the car seat before buying it. So we went to Target and checked out the top 2 from consumer reports. The colour wasn't ideal for us on our top pick, but that being #5 in importance on our list, we obviously will look for it in a different colour, but will take that one if we can't find a better choice.

And the final step in making the decision - read reviews from actual people who are using the product. You can't go solely by the ratings given, you have to read the review and understand why a person gave it less than 5 stars. For the most part, the seat we've chosen gets great reviews except in fit to vehicle and ease of use in the rear facing position. Again, because this is a very temporary situation for us, it's acceptable. One other thing to note about our choice is that people report that it's bulky and does not easily move between vehicles. This isn't an issue for us because we only have one car that accommodates a child seat anyway. But something to keep in mind for all you people out there that will have multiple cars to choose from.

Conclusion:
So which car seat did we choose?
The Evenflo Triumph Advance LX - Once again we are buying a Consumer Reports best buy :-) Whatever would we do without Joan's subscription to CR?

Mum's the word

Well, yesterday was my very first mother's day as a mum. Trent did an awesome job :-) He and daddy made me breakfast, which consisted of delicious orange rolls and a cup of tea. We ate outside on the patio. Trent made me a card at daycare, and the cats and fish sent daddy out to get a card for me as well. Such thoughtful pets I have. Trent's card was sooo cute, it actually made me tear up. What got me was how they had written "mummy" instead of "mommy" on the card. Just another reason why I love his teachers. They are so thoughtful and really pay attention to the little details like that. Homemade cards are the best!


Trent is such a thoughtful son. I had mentioned quite a while ago that I liked garden gnomes because they remind me of home. I guess he was paying attention because he bought me this cute little gnome and put it in the perfect spot in the back garden.



After breakfast Trent and I went for a run while Daddy mowed the yard. It was such a beautiful day, with bright sunshine and a cool breeze. I hadn't ran in a week due to illness, so I needed it. We ran 13.5K! I felt great afterwards.

We spent the rest of the day playing and shopping, two of my favourite passtimes :-)

I got quite a few text messages from my awesome friends wishing me a happy mother's day, and I left a few messages to wish the mommies in my life a happy day.

A very good day. The only thing that could have made it better is if my parents were here. They're currently soaking up the sun in Greece after a 7 day cruise. Only a few more months till we see them, though! I miss them SOOOOOOOOOO much.

I like to move it move it!

This past week has been quite an adventure with the little guy crawling all over the place. He's become a little less high maintenance since he's discovered that he doesn't need us to walk him all over the place, which is a definite bonus for us. However, we've traded one set of issue for a whole new set.
Some thoughts on baby proofing:

• Who knew that a wine rack would be a prime candidate for little hands to grope and grab?
• Fire extinguishers we have posted in key areas upstairs - red and shiny - of course he wants to play with them. Now we have to mount them on the wall.
• The little springy doorstops behind every door - gone.
  
• Chachkas and knick nacks on the bookshelves - all gone.
  
• We now have to even be careful where we set down a glass of water because little tiny hands want to grab everything within reach.
  
• The cat food - I am certain that Trent will deprive the cats of their food in the near future.
• Those little covers you put on all the outlets - they are hard to get off when you actually want to use the outlet, AND worse, we have a tendency to leave the cover on the floor next to the outlet, which is a prime target for a kid to chew on.
  
• The cat box. I dread to think about this one!
  
• The office. oh my! we're just going to have to put a gate across it so he can't get in.
  
• Floor lamps. I'm not sure what to do about this one. He's interested in them. He looks at the bases and then up at the light, but he hasn't made a grab for the actual posts yet.
  
• The trash can. We used to stack things that wouldn't fit in the can, such as cereal boxes, etc, on the side until we were ready to take the trash out. Got to rethink that one.
  
• Things that he could pull on top of himself - like the book shelf - now secured to the wall with anchors and screws.
  

There's probably a whole bunch more things that I haven't discovered/considered yet. But I can't help but wonder how we all managed to grow up without major incident because baby proofing is a relatively new concept, or at least all of the tools and accessories we have today are. Baby proofing is no substitute for discipline, and so I'm hoping that I can use a combination of the two to avert disaster.

Last night, Trent had some trouble getting to sleep, which is quite unusual for him, and after about 10 - 15 minutes of letting him cry it out, I snook upstairs to peek in and see what his problem was, to find him standing up in the crib! this is new. Yesterday morning, Brian went in to his room to get him up, and he was just sitting up in his crib! also new.

Some of the fun things about Trent crawling:

• His face lights up when he does it and he looks really pleased with himself.
  
• It's really cute to see his little butt from behind.
  
• He crawls from the other side of the room just to knock down the tower of blocks we built for him. So playtime is more fun for us, too.
  
• He cracks up when the cats go near and chases them all by himself.
  
• My back hurts less because I don't have to walk him around the house as much.

And one final thing to mention on this very Trent-centric blog - He's mastering the stairs. Going up holding my hands, he knows to lift a leg up and over each step and then mummy pulls him up. On the way down he steps off and giggles when he lands on the next step. I'm not sure if it's good or bad to get him used to the stairs so early. I might be creating a problem for myself when he tries to do it himself, or I might be helping him get comfortable. All I know is we have fun doing it.

Better late than never

Trent crawled today! I mean really crawled. He's been working on it for a while and we thought he was going to skip it all together and go straight to walking, but this morning he struggled to do it and succeeded. When he did, he had the biggest smile on his face! It was like watching a baby deer stand up for the first time. Soooo cute! Our baby's growing up too fast!