african mama

today i went out onto the deck to sweep all the leaves. dominic came crawling after, as expected - sometimes he's very predictable. he was a little bit hesitant on the deck, possibly because of all the leaves because he has played on the deck before.

i got the broom and started vigorously sweeping the deck, which of course made a nice leafy noise. it must have been the noise. dominic started shouting. he would shout anytime i would sweep and he started shouting louder & louder! he was actually kind of upset, although not crying. it was so funny!

i decided he should be on my back while i worked. i tried the sling but it was a bit loose - i couldn't quite get it right and i didn't want to mess around with it. so i went with good ol' kitenge from kenya. sweet. dominic didn't shout after that, but he definitely was fascinated by being on my back and by everything i was doing.



















i thought, this is great! i think i'll vacuum while i'm at it!

i got out the vacuum and vacuumed the house too. sometimes dominic would shout (at first) when the vacuum was on, but i think that was just to hear his own voice. he also enjoyed that. i got a little video of it, although the quality is not good since i didn't have a film team.  also i muted the sound since it wasn't very pleasant.  

music

dominic really likes music.  here he is enjoying the music from auntie melissa...

today i feel...

(click to enlarge)

jill's visit

jill came from arizona to vacuum my house - SWEET!!  ok, it turns out micah made an animal cracker mess on the floor.  

micah wants to wear the bowl on his head like dominic and sit in his seat too.  unfortunately, neither really fit.  

after a long morning... dominic fell asleep.

jill & dominic hanging out...

pl with micah

mathias wrestled with the boys

the best toys aren't actually toys

shoes + jacket

dominic isn't used to shoes or a jacket anymore

misc cute

couch arm cover:

just woke up:

dominic loves the park (i have a hard time keeping him from putting wood chips in his mouth though)

showers

it's easier just to give dominic a shower than a bath since we don't really have counter space, or a regular bathtub to put his tub in.  plus he just crawls out of it anyways.  so mathias gives him a shower.  it took him a little bit to get used to it, but as you can see by the bottom picture, it's now one of his favorite things.  

mischief

now that dominic can go everywhere, he likes to get into everything.  nothing can really hurt him so i generally let him do his thing and then later i just have to clean it up.  but i have started closing the bathroom door because i really don't like him putting his mouth on the toilet (GROSS!) or crawling around in the shower.    

happy 9-month birthday

two things happened on this day: dominic (1) bled and (2) played with his own poop.  

(1)

he was happily playing on the rowing machine when suddenly he started crying.  i was sitting right next to him but i didn't know why he was crying.  i picked him up and comforted him.  he stopped crying a bit but then cried some more.  suddenly i realized there was BLOOD ALL OVER MY SHIRT.  yes - time for mom to freak out.  it turned out to be a minor cut on his finger but it bled like crazy.  and it was impossible to keep a bandaid on it.  plus he kept bumping it or sucking on it, so it kept opening up again and bleeding.  

(2)

a few hours later, when i had calmed down, i was doing some stuff around the house and dominic was playing happily in the playroom.  in fact, he had been in there so long, and so quietly, that finally i thought i should do a quick check.  as i neared him, i saw he was playing with something on the floor.  at first i thought he had found some dirt by the door.  but then i realized he had SUCH A BIG POOP IT CAME OUT HIS DIAPER AND HE WAS PLAYING WITH IT.  yuck.  shower right away with papa.  

sadly, these traumatic events were too much for me and i did not collect the photographic evidence.  only, here is a picture of the bandaged finger.

  

inspector

mathias calls dominic "the inspector" because he loves to inspect everything.  here he is checking out the rowing machine for any manufacturing defects.  he also likes to make sure mathias' computer is on.  

choco & katrina

dominic LOVES the mayer's cats.  they don't quite have the same affection for him.  choco will tolerate him (although he did scratch dominic a tiny bit once but dominic was trying to pull off his leg).  but katrina just runs away.  dominic gets so excited when he sees them, he has to get down on the ground.  the problem is, he gets so excited, he YELLS and i think that's part of what startles katrina.  also, he's not exactly gentle.  still, it's funny.  but the best is the second picture.  looking out the window (especially if there's a cat there) is as good as any toy.

playroom 2

one of the great things about the playroom is that dominic can look out the door window.  here he's watching mathias... and then inspecting the window glass.

playroom

we turned the sun room into a play room, complete with a baby gate (good thing we got the expensive one - dominic can rattle that thing good). 

sometimes it's neat...

...and sometimes messy.

the gate itself is also a fun toy, as is the rowing machine.  

overall, our little JBU baby likes his playroom.

home again home again jiggity-jig

we head back to siloam springs... nothing like a road trip with a baby.  dominic was pretty patient though.  his favorite toy was an empty water bottle.

dominic in a restaurant:

we stopped at yellowstone on the way...

here's old faithful:

here's a wildfire we saw on the way:

it was a long trip but we made it.