By the light...of the silvery moon...

Rye discovered that he can see the full moon from the car...and he watched it out the window, all the way home from Grandma and Grampa's house tonight.

Rye, 5 months

Bathtime fun

Would've looked great in Kodachrome, don'tcha think?

Rye began teething in early January. This has not been fun for any of us. The Hyland's tablets seem to work all right, or sometimes a chilled washcloth. He hasn't seemed to like the frozen silicone teether toys or Nuks, however, he does love his plain Nuby teether (room temp) and his Haba Kringelring. After the days and nights of drama, we have yet to see a tooth.

He has discovered his fingers, and sometimes watches them. He's developing his pinch grasp more finely. He is consistently moving objects (especially the pacifier) from one hand to the other. He can remove his pacifier from his mouth with his thumb and first finger, and often can get it back in. He tries to reach for toys he wants. If he wants to see something close-up, however, he leans his head and whole body towards it until he falls over, rather than bringing the object closer to him. Oftentimes if he drops something, he looks to see where it went.

Rye LOVES the skwish toy the Kormans gave him, and frequently overdoses on it. He tries to put it in his mouth and sucks on the knobs.

Rye is sympathetic to other crying babies, and that makes him cry as well. He talks constantly in some sort of Urdu or foreign language that involves a lot of vowels, M and L sounds. It's very cute.

Rye was excited to return home after being away for several days. He gets excited for certain toys to play with, kicking and smiling. He kicks with joy in the bath tub. He reaches for the cups that pour water in the bath. He LOVES horsey rides.

He likes having a soft cloth on his face when he is settling down to sleep, especially his soft Angel Dear lamb lovey. He covers his face with his hands when he is really tired.

Rye likes to grab for things now. Sitting down to dinner is a new adventure, you have to move everything out of his reach, especially the silverware. He also likes to grabs for books, especially to close the cover while you are reading, or turn the pages. He tries to be in touch with Mommy and Daddy, reaching a hand out whenever they are near.

He can sit with support, like leaning on the couch cushions, and he doesn't fall over as readily as he used to. He often "asks" to be picked up now, by holding up his arms.

He seems to recognize his name, and turns toward you when you say it sometimes. He likes riding in the car, so he can watch the world go by out the window. Well...he can watch the treetops go by, his seat is so low. We have practiced some "object permanence" with peek-a-boo, but he doesn't totally get it, yet..although he sometimes is delighted to see Mommy's face peek out from behind the cloth.

He likes to see what that "other" baby is doing in the mirror (except when that baby is crying), and always is thrilled that Mommy is in there, too!

He was quite upset this week that he wasn't allowed out of the carseat to play with a flock of pigeons eating crumbs in a parking lot. I tried to explain that birds are for looking at with your eyes, but he wasn't buying it.

Rye reads "Big Dog...Little Dog" with Daddy.

We currently are using The Wonder Years by Tanya Altmann and The Baby Book by the Sears family to see how Rye is progressing developmentally.

Everybody was kung fu fighting...

...those cats were fast as lightning..

in fact it was a little bit frightening,

but they fought with expert timing...

(with apologies to Carl Douglas)

You've got a friend in me...

Rye plays with his pal Jack James on a rainy Tuesday.

Baby prop-up tool

Rye tried out a Bumbo chair at Jack's house. It lasted about four minutes before it ticked him off. Then I had to peel the thing off his behind.

First bottle

We got a last minute opportunity to attend a great parenting class offered by the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting, through the private school where Greg's sister works and our nieces attend. Also luckily, Grandma and Grandpa stepped in to watch Rye so we could participate.

Rye is such a prolific milk drinker, I wasn't worried about his taking a bottle for the first time, despite a lot of (good) advice about giving him one between weeks three and six or potentially missing a window of opportunity (...which we didn't do...).

Grandma said it took him about two seconds to figure out what it was all about.

Lots of video of Rye rolling around*

Rye has been working on his large motor skills. Here is some looong video of him trying very hard to roll over, but not making it at the last minute.

But today he rolled over four times in a row! He has rolled twice while we weren't looking, and once yesterday, then four times today....okay, he kept going after the camera stopped.

Here's rollin' number five, six and seven. He's a total pro now. (And he's such a big boy, we had to unbutton his outfit so it wouldn't be tight at the neck.)

So now he wants to get places. Here's some belabored video of Rye trying to get to the bell toy, sort of making crawling attempts to do it. He reaches the elastic pull a few times, but is working on the concept of pulling things toward him.

*I just realized that some of the links didn't take, and I just updated this post with them at the end of February. Sorry!

Practicing his giggle

Daddy gives Rye a horsey ride. Giggles ensue. Infectious.

Rye meets his Grandpop and Sitti*

Lunch al fresco with Grandpop.

Rye will never get to wear his socks with Sitti around.

Hiking the soggy trail in Elysian Park, between storms.

Tourist shot. Most people pick the Hollywood sign, but we didn't get out that way. Besides, where else can you hike a trail with a city view?

Uncle Bill, Rye and Aunt Colleen listen to a good story about doggies.

Our own Smitty Baby.

*updated with more pictures sent by Grandpop, in February

Say Cheese

Celebrating the toothless grin for as long as we can!

Rollin', rollin', rollin', git dem babies rollin'.....

I left Rye on his back to play under his gym while I cleaned his diaper and straightened a few things up. After a few minutes of rather efforted grunting, I figured I should save him from whatever it was that was frustrating him. When I got back, Rye was on his belly, looking around the room, plotting an adventure route.

I feel that we are on the brink of lives ever-changed.

Rye cracks up

Daddy gets Rye's giggle going, just goofing around. Of course we missed the really funny stuff, but this isn't bad.

New Video

Rye attempts a common magic trick—but fails at making the ribbon disappear when he realizes he does not have any sleeves. The full impact of this reaches him at the end of the video.

Rye gets his dose of baby crack with his new skwish toy, which, while we watch him, is anchored to the bouncer seat with a strap so it doesn't get away from him.

Elephant Seals near Hearst Castle

In the winter, the elephant seals birth their pups on the beach at San Simeon, and fight over the wimmin' folk. We hike out from the northern pullout, avoiding massive crowds at the first boardwalk.

Mommy and Rye with the Moby wrap and a drool-catcher

Hiking out

Elephant seal. Hangin'.

We think this is a harbor seal.

Ben, Robin, Noah, and Jakob, playing shy

Mama and new pup.

Elephant seals. Usually the males have a harem of females, and they fight for dominance.

Seal fight. The big boy on the right won and the other guy had to sun himself somewhere else...until a bigger seal kicked him out of that area.

Hiking back

Mutual carseat meltdown on the way home.

New Year's weekend celebration in Korlandia

We spent New Year's with Ben, Robin, Jakob and baby Noah in Cayucos, eating fine, hiking their ranch, and visiting the elephant seals.

The ranch walk at Rancho Azul in Korlandia begins at the Meyer lemons.

Robin and Noah

Socializing in the modern age.

Noah, who is 11 days younger than Rye

Going mano a mano during tummy time

Rye and Daddy

Jakob watches the PBS picture shows before bedtime.

The infamous Terducken Roulade Sous Vide, as well as

the next day's Turducken Roulade Reuben Sandwich with Cole Slaw

(...Not to be outdone by the Tail of Lobster sous vide with

passionfruit-dressed greens the following night.)

Ranch walk with bébés prepared for the windy avocado grove.

Family photo near Morro Rock, at San Simeon State Park.