Rolling

There have been several mentions so far of Q rolling. I appreciate Uncle Jason's comment, supporting the eye witness account of what he and Elena saw. Q has continued to regularly roll from his back to his belly, and then he seems to get very perturbed that he is not moving anywhere else. He seems to have completely forgotten that his first roll was from his belly to his back, so he is kind like a reverse turtle, flipping onto his belly and getting stuck.

I am still working on trying to get a belly to back video, but I finally got the back to belly one, so here, for everyone's viewing pleasure, is Q rolling, yet again.



The one major change this has created is sleeping. Q is now a very conflicted side/belly sleeper. He generally will not fall asleep on his belly, so when he flips to his belly, and is tired and in bed, he yells in hopes that someone will come along to flip him over. He will roll up onto his side and fall asleep there, and then in his slumber, finish the roll, waking up with face lines and the not so happy "I'm on my belly" yell.
The picture was taken in the dark, of him asleep on his belly. Yes, we were bad parents and woke him with the flash. He is getting a lot of movement in bed. When we laid him down his head was centered just above the little green mat and he was facing up.

Mommy Blogging--The Best Toys Can't Be Bought

So, this is the second Mommy-blog. It probably would have been a great Father's Day post, but I obviously didn't get it together in time. I have been so amazed watching Jared and Quinlan play together. The bond they share is incredible--it's been 20 weeks (today!) since Q was born, and our lives have changed immensely, but watching Jared be a father has been one of the best parts. He's done several posts about Quin's milestones and changes and stuff, but so rarely do you, the viewing audience, get to see them together. I grabbed the camera a few days ago while they were playing, because you could really see the sheer joy on BOTH of their faces. We have been very blessed with our little one, and I know he feels the same way about his Daddy. :)

FOOD!

I don't know how it happened, but everything seems much more exiting in the world of having a child. Look at the last post - "Toys!" - and this one - "FOOD!" - clearly a sign that life's little simple moments are amplified greatly with the little dude. Of course, I might always respond to food that way, but that is just me.

I am not sure if I would have been quite as excited about eating the brown rice cereal that we fed Q on Sunday morning. It is mushy and runny (1 to 4 ratio of cereal to milk), but after a long time of him eying whomever was eating around him, and gumming his lips expectantly, it seemed like this would be fairly good time to try.

Day one was pretty eventful, with some of the mush getting in his mouth, and some running down his neck. He seemed pretty interested in the spoon and the sippy cup that he uses to get a swallow of water (also a first) to wash the few mouthfuls of cereal down. In, what is becoming classic Quin mode of chill and relaxed baby, he merely sat and opened up his mouth while Mom spoon-fed him a few bits.

I'm ready -


Hmmm....not too bad.....


Water, this is interesting


And here's the video of the whole event. Just an advance warning, the narration here is so titillating, you may not be able to contain yourself. The one lesson learned by the big people was that filming and baby activity is much easier after that first cup of coffee.




Day 2 - After Coffee, Dad gets a try.


Just hand me the spoon, I am ready for this eating thing.


Rolling update - Q is rolling frequently, but seems to be camera shy. When either Mom or Dad pull the camera out, even sneakily, he becomes very set in staying on his back. However, we do have witnesses at this point, after Q rolled over while Skyping with his Aunt Elena and Uncle Jason. Just another reason to Skype with Q--you might see his famous roll!

Toys!

Everything is so much fun when it is a first new experience. As Q grows and becomes more interactive, it is fun to see him explore and figure stuff out. The stuff in question this week has been some exciting new toys.

The first, a "Johnny Jump-Up", was a present from his Mossil. He seems to really have fun in it, but is still working out the jumping part of the jump-up. He has been using it by standing and walking in circles, or pivoting around one foot as he moves the other one. (Maybe he has a future in basketball or more likely, ultimate frisbee, with that pivot move.) He does seem to enjoy bouncing, if someone else does the bouncing for him.




The second was a spectacular craigslist purchase. The Graco Baby Einstein Exersaucer. This is baby heaven, with more plastic stuff that spins and can be chewed on than Q knows what to do with. He is at the very beginning of developmentally being able to use it, but after the first two times out, I think it will be a winner. The seat part spins in a circle, so he can get to and reach all of the different components. He is working on using his feet and his hands to move around, and he did pretty well so far.




Katharine shot some video the first time Q got to sit in his new(ly cleaned) toy.



Baby Einstein is the same brand as Q's tunnel, which has been a long-standing favorite. Only now that he are starting to roll, when Q is playing, he will lift his feet up and scoot around. He gets himself wedged into the tunnel sideways and laughs while he kicks the sides of it and watches everything wave around.



Of course, the best toys are free, and Q loves to hang out in the air above his Mom (and his Dad), who artfully dodge drool and love seeing him smile.



Dad is working tirelessly to catch Q rolling over on video. We have about 10 hours of tummy time video, in hopes that he might roll. Of course, he has successfully rolled from his stomach to his back before, and recently made a back to stomach roll, and he's more than willing to roll--just never for the camera. This morning, instead of sleeping, the little dude rolled onto his belly, and then was very unhappy about the unsupervised tummy time. I tried explaining to him that he simply needed to roll back onto his back, but he wanted the assistance.

Road Trip

Okay, so the North Dallas suburbs really aren't far enough to be considered a road trip, but Q made his first trip longer than an airport run. Airport runs are really one good nap time, so Katharine and I were prepared for this to be quite an adventure. The trip was planned to visit with Katharine's parents, Quin's Grandma MJ and Grandpa Roy, but it also served as a traveling dry run, so that we will be ready to trek to Pennsylvania (via airplane) at the end of July, where we will introduce Q to his 3 great-Grandparents.

We left P-Ville around 10, Wednesday morning, after keeping Q up from his morning nap, which he usually takes somewhere between 9 and 9:30. The little man was asleep by the time we drove past Hutto and didn't wake up until we stopped in Italy, a little past two-thirds of the way. We were very impressed. I was especially surprised that he slept through the 10 minute stop we made without waking up.

The visit was a huge success. Q is much loved by his grandparents and they got to spend some good face time with him.



He got to meet his Grandparents' very good friends, Steve and Mary, who brought him a very interesting toy (interesting because of the way he scrutinizes it).



Plus, we happened to be in the area for Jenni's birthday, and Quin wouldn't want to miss a chance to wish Jenni a happy birthday.



Q adjusted well to sleeping in a different room in his pack 'n play (portable crib) and even napped a little bit some of the time. He used his first disposable diapers (the Huggies Pure and Natural, partially organic not the nice cloth ones he is used to) and didn't seem to mind one bit. All in all, Q turned out to be pretty good at the whole traveling thing, and we are looking forward to our next mini-trip with him. Anyone want some visitors?

Q enjoys visit with Pops

It has been so fun for us to watch as Quin gets more and more interactive with people and things around him. When you call to him, he often turns his head until he locates the voice. He also has started talking quite a bit, and though we are not sure what he is saying, we are encouraging him and trying to listen closely.

With his Pops here, Q got quite a bit of attention. They sat and had lengthy conversations together, with mostly Pops making noises and Q laughing.



Sometimes they played with toys. Q loves his monkey, but when Pops makes it come to life, and make noises and dance in front of him, he really likes it.



They discussed his teething progress and the pleasures of having something plastic to chew on. Q likes to hold onto things, and his strength and grip are incredible; his ability to actually move things to where he wants them is still be perfected though.



On his third swim, Q showed that he does like the pool. He had a great time splashing around with both his Mom and his Pops. Katharine even had him kicking his feet. Here he was bobbing up and down with Pops and laughing, even while getting some water splashed up into his face.



They tried reading together, but Q was sleepy and more interested in fitting his entire hand into his mouth.

The Four Month Birthday

With the summer here, it's been awesome just to spend time with Quinlan.
It is fun to just sit and read a book.



Sometimes the little man just hangs out, looking quite dapper.

On Friday, Q got dressed up for the airport trip to pick up Pops, and then he made a visit to the camp where Dad was working for the week. We all liked his new turtle outfit.



Saturday is Little Q's official four month birthday. He has been excited about spending the day with his Mom, Dad, and his Pops - who came down to visit for the weekend. It has been an exciting day so far, with a trip to the grocery store and some time spent watching golf on TV with his Pops.


Of course, we had to take the obligatory birthday photos with the monkeys.




Q clearly had a good time.


With Pops here to visit, Q can't deny his familial resemblance.