More photos from MLK weekend

Grandpop had sent more pictures from his trip in January, and I finally got around to posting them. Here's a sample; I updated the original post here.

Upside Down

...And as my mind begins to spread its wings

There's no stoppin' curiosity..

I wanna turn the whole thing upside down

I'll find the things they say just can't be found

I'll share this love I find with everyone

We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's song

I don't want this feeling to go away....*

Rye likes to look at things upside down, lately. He was a big hit at the mall today, with his inverted people-watching. It occurs to me, we might be able to beef up his college fund by sitting out in a park with a broken plastic cup and a sign that says, "Cute Baby Needs an Education." I bet he'd clean up.

*Lyrics by Jack Johnson

"Would you like a high chair?"

We tried something new today, a restaurant high chair! Rye still is a little small for it, so I used a bag to prop him up. The chair at home holds him a little better, and actually has a foot rest, which may be a bit more comfortable. It was a fun lunch with Nichola and Jack (who slept through the whole thing) at a favorite spot.

After lunch, Rye and I stuck around for StoryTimeFunLand's CD release party at Stories bookstore and cafe. We were surprised that Wyeth's daddy, Daniel, from our music class, was one of the stars!

Let the games begin

Yesterday afternoon, while changing Rye's diaper, he was quite squirrely. He grabbed onto the clothes stacked on the changing pad near his head, and pulled a pair of pants over his face. Then he lay very still. (He does this before naps, then complains that his face is covered!)

I lifted the pants off of his face to reveal an enormous grin! He had been hiding from me! So I said "Boo!" and we did a little peek-a-boo for a few minutes, which he thought was fun.

Free day at the Arb

Rye and I went with our next-door neighbors, Arrin and Sebastian (11 mos.), to the monthly free day at the Los Angeles Arboretum. The weather was perfect: sunny and warm. We rendezvoused with an LA mom's MeetUp and met some other mommies and cute babies. We traded them tips on diapers and peanut butter cookies for tips on solid foods.

Rye discovered grass and dirt. He grabbed the grass by the handsful and tried to eat it. He dug his fingers into the dirt and caked the mud under his fingernails. He giggled at the feel of cool grass and damp dirt under his feet as I walked him around. He kicked his feet and bare legs with glee at the beautiful outdoors weather. All the while he flirted with the other mommies, who cooed over him.

Mommy forgot her camera, so we have Arrin to thank for loaning us hers!

Sooooo Big!

Rye almost can sit up by himself. He's good for a couple of seconds, then he sort of leeeeaaaans way over and you have to catch him before he crashes. But he can sit up enough to enjoy his new high chair (which we found for almost half off! Score!).

Not that he's eating solid foods yet. And he may have a full set of teeth before we actually get through Super Baby Food. But it's been great having him at the table with us and he loves playing where he can reach everything. Rye also loves to play with cloth, so it looks like the days of having a tablecloth likely are coming to an end!

Rye and Daddy read Sheep in a Shop.

Baby signs!

Rye has made the connection between signing for "milk" and actually getting some milk!

But since babies are natural scientists, he is insisting on running a bevy of tests, to insure his results are statistically significant.

He's had about nineteen meals today.

He hasn't totally figured out that you make the sign out in the air, and often makes the grasping sign on mama's body, scratching the daylights out of me, so he also got a significant nail-trimming today. It turns out he actually clued in yesterday with all of this; I couldn't figure out why he was scratching everything up with his new dexterity (in a restaurant at lunch today, he made the sign by crunching up the paper placemat)...but a few times he held the sign out and I finally realized what he was trying to say.