Finally, after being here in Austin for over half a year, we finally made it to the highly recommended Magnolia Cafe. We’d tried once a month ago, only to be thwarted by a 45-minute lunchtime wait. So we decided to try for breakfast. That required a weekend day in which Sean was healthy and well-rested and so would only need one nap. And it had to be a day we were all around and didn’t have other plans. We finally got our day, and had a lovely time. Sean was a champ, only getting restless enough to want out of his chair twice (once while waiting for food, and once at the end when Ben and I were finishing our food and Sean was done with his). We went exploring in a playground and park afterwards, so he could happily get out some energy. Here he is devouring his (rather tasty) food. (When I lean over and whisper to him, I’m saying “you have a fork, you know.” He’s pretty good at using it when he wants to, but I guess this food could not wait!)

One of the things I enjoyed about watching Margaret fence was seeing her think her way through a bout. You could see the gears working as she figured out what was going on, both with herself and her opponent. Then she’d put the pieces together and usually she’d win. You could see it happen and it was lots of fun to watch.

Watching Sean is a lot like that, except it’s all the time!

(On a related note, I was biking the other day and discovered that there were a large quantity of unexplained fingerprints on my biking glasses. Anyone know anything about that?)

It’s teeth time again! And it has been for a couple weeks. Sean’s working on 6 teeth this time. That’s right: SIX! Let’s go to the chart:The first eight teeth came in by November; they’re in dark blue. Then we got the first two molars poking through in mid-January; they’re in light blue. These past couple weeks or so, we’ve seen the other two first-year molars and two of the canines poke through; those are in orange. And right now, we’re on the cusp of seeing the other two canines come in; those are in yellow. Meanwhile all the six teeth are pushing and grinding their way through the gums in the way these bigger teeth do. Poor Sean is all drool and gnawing on anything he can find. For the first time in a while, the teething is really disrupting his sleep. And with only one nap, it’s hard to catch up. Poor thing. I keep thinking that maybe if we’re lucky (knock on wood) after a couple more weeks of these six teeth, we’ll get a l-o-n-g teething break before the second year molars. Almost 80% done with baby teeth. Wahoo!

More photos from February:

A gift from Anne!

Ooh. This looks like a fun book.

Hey, hey!

Oh, hi!

So that’s what it looks like on the other side of the camera…

Oh cool! That’s me!

Let me try! Let me try!

Hat off

Hat back on

Listening to Daddy play guitar

Pack ride up to the playground

Oooh, what’s this?

Oh, hi!

I see you down there

Playing with Daddy

La de da

So there’s a tricky medium: I have to take enough pictures so that I get some good ones without squints and blurs and weird mid-flight poses. But I have to take few enough pictures that I can sort through them in a reasonable amount of time. This time I erred on the too-many side of things, and it’s taken a while to get photos up. (Sorry.)

But, you’ve been waiting patiently. Here are some cute Sean pictures. They’re from about a month ago. More to come.

Best beginner jungle-gym ever: a bike rack

Walking with Daddy

Oh, hi!

A plane! (Sean’s his grandfather’s grandchild. He stops and points out all planes, even when he’s indoors and can only hear them.)

Peek-a-boo

Slide! (Sean has become a master slider since this photo. He no longer needs help.)

Walking along

Checking out a wall

Tasting the park’s delicacies

Hanging out with Mommy

Looking around

Clapping “yay!”

“What’s that?”

Hmm…

Let’s go over here!

Daddy’s glasses

Hey, a bird!

And away it flew

I think “we’re in trouble” has become too mild a phrase. So this title is an abbreviation for “We’re in trouble. No, we’re doomed. Doomed!” Saturday night we were getting Sean ready for bed. He, of course, wanted to run around his room and play chase. We got him to settle for a book. I was about to get up and leave so Ben could finish the routine. Sean popped up, walked over to the door, stood on his tiptoes, reaching for the door handle, got a couple finger tips over the top and pulled down, and pulled in. And the door started to open. Ben and I looked at each other wide-eyed. We’re doomed!

Sure, enough, on Sunday we were getting ready to go out. We’d gotten Sean ready and were putting our own shoes on. Sean walks over to the door and pounds on it, as he usually does when he wants to go out. Then he reaches up, pulls down the handle, and opens the door. He sat down and scooted forward on his butt so he could get down the step of the threshold. And he was out! Ack! We’re going to have to start remembering to lock that front door — when we’re on the inside!

“New system!” I yell from the kitchen this morning, as I quickly rinse the breakfast dishes and slide them into the dishwasher. Ben is in the living room getting Sean ready for daycare. “Lobster magnet on the dishwasher! Lobster-face-up is clean! Lobster-face-down is dirty!” I put the magnet on the dishwasher facing down, and pause. “And um, lobster magnet on the floor means Sean’s been there.” We seem to need these third cases these days. I finish up the dishes and hear little feet on the kitchen floor. I look down. Time to lobster-magnet-on-the-floor = 30 seconds.

(Oh, and yes, the lobster is holding a glass of beer.)

A couple weeks ago I watched as Sean rummaged through the recycling bin and pulled out a yogurt container. He carefully placed it right-side-up on the kitchen floor. Then he went back to the bin and pulled out the yogurt container lid. He carefully placed the lid on top of the container, gave me a big smile and started clapping. He was so proud of himself! And, I admit, I was pretty impressed, too. Since then, he’s been regularly matching round lids to cylindrical containers. I finally caught him on video this morning:

A few days old

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

One year!

(Bonus: thirteen months)