7 months old, what?!

It is a little known fact that I have a mixed family.  I have a white Uncle Jim and a black Uncle Jim -

  Well I used to, now I just have two bald Uncle Jims  - of which the used to be white one came to the Twin Cities for a robotics conference thanks to his cool publishing job at MIT.  Anyway, Mino got to meet his first member of the extended family.  Unfortunately he just learned how to excrete boogers through his eyes and had a mild case of pink eye so wasn't the happiest little camper. 

 Here is is the next morning, it almost looks like Bells Palsy.   Poor little guy. . .

 But it didn't keep him from getting out on the town.  We went to Minnehaha Falls with my coworkers and Mino took in his first waterfall.  I briefly considered a solo shot but then quickly remembered the flack that Michael Jackson got holding his baby out over a ledge so changed my mind.  Yes, because I do consider MJ and Myself on the same plane.  I even capitalize our names the same.

 So I have Fridays off so Min and I get some good time together.  Martin is very against this hat, and I can see why, it is kinda girly.  Like I would wear it on a beach vacation no questions asked.  But it was hot (93 degrees - record high) and sunny so he needed extra super sun protection when we went outside and I thought he looked too cute for words so had to document.  But he probably won't wear the hat too often on the other days of the week.

 And last but not least, Minos 7 month photos!  I can't believe he cooperated, he isn't feeling well at all and we had a late night getting home but the kid is a champ and pulled it together.

Happy 7 months little boy, you are growing up in front of my eyes and I am so proud of your ability to ham it up no matter how you are feeling!

Starting off big with his first Mother's Day

Benjamin went all out for his first mother's day.  First he flew big momma to Colorado to visit with his aunties Caitlin and Emily.  Then he flew me back in and had a hand made card (thanks Kindercare!) and flowers for me.  What a little pumpkin!    I don't know if he just wanted a little dude time with his daddy (and Portos and Wallace) or wanted his Mom to get her bearings straight and catch up with her buddies, but either way it was amazing.   He and Martin did just fine without the boob around.  I guess they had a little impromptu play session from midnight til 2 am but it was dude weekend and that is what they wanted to do.
Well this week the beautiful spring weather returned so every evening we have been going for walks or just hanging out outside.  The Maple tree in the front yard has been shedding its helicopters (yes, official term) and when we were out one bonked Min on the head and he was facinated with it.

We also went to the park and (without his fathers consent) tried out a swing.  I always thought this kind of swing was for the teeny tiny guys but the fine print said 2-3 years old.  I only had him in for a second, but he didn't seem to mind.

 

Mino really is enjoying paper at this phase of his life.  He loves to rip it up and listen to the crinkling sound it makes when his grubby little fists grab on to it.  It is actually pretty funny but we have to be careful if we have anything important around because he is reaching out and lunging for things and grabbing them pretty skillfully. 

I managed to capture a picture of his head that kind of shows this misshapenness that I have been referring to, it is still kinda hard to see, he needs his flat top poof to be wet to really see it but you can kind of see the trapezoid shape his head has form the top here:

And this one Martin pointed out to me as far as normal baby but funny looking porportions:

His head looks HUGE and his trunk looks super long and his legs look more like little stumps.  Poor guy, so goofy looking.
We also got a couple family pictures when we were outside with the camera.

 

Mino has been continuing his eating adventure and is into food, Big Time.  He loves it.  Until he is full then he is over it.  But the kid can eat a jar at a time. 

And bath time.  Mino loves his baths.  When he is cranky we whip out that inflatable duck tub and he is happy as a clam.  And here is demonstrating his new double fisting technique.  Literally, not like his mom with her gin and tonics this weekend.  Two fists.  One mouth. 

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

 

So we survived our six month check up - shots and all.  Mino has fallen off the chunkster bandwagon and now weighs 19lbs (8.6 kg) which is the 70%; is 28.5 inches(.724m)  tall which is 98% and his head is 17.7 inches (45cm) around 96%.  He is still up there and doc says that everything is looking good.  He did give us a referral to the head shape guru however he said that it is looking a bit better, but isn't resolved so just wants to cross his t's and dot his i's with the referral because if we need to do something about it, now is the time.  We didn't do a whole lot this week, we were going to go to the festival of nations today but impending storms and rain curtailed our plans.  Maybe tomorrow.

 Spring is back in the metro and we have been enjoying the great outdoors.  Mino loves to be outside to the point that I am scared for next winter when we can't use that as entertainment for a good chunk of the day.

 Martin thought it would be funny to sit Mino on my shoulders when I was talking to my mom, it was cute for a while then he attacked!!

Also Mino got to have fun during his first Tornado Watch.  We got some rain and that is it.  We quickly followed up with a viewing of Twister so Mino appreciated the danger of Tornadoes (and the coolness that is storm chasing. . )

The biggest change is that Mino is eating food now!  We got the go ahead nod from the doc at his 6 month appointment and he basically said go for it!  He said that they usually recommend starting with rice cereal but our little guy has a slow system and rice slows things more so we opted for some fibrous foods.

 

 

He's like come on guys, food now!  I think he probably has been ready for some time but we were scared to start because we didn't know how it worked exactly.

 

 

 

First food was sweet potatoes!  He loved love loved them and gobbled an entire jar in two days.  Next was peas.

 

 Those aren't going as well.  In the same amount of time he probably has gotten a 1/4 of the jar down.  So the next one will probably be pears and we will revisit the peas later.

Changing Mino has become a bit of a challenge as of late.  He twists and turns and steals diapers and tries to eat the diaper cream.  He pounds on the wipes box and wiggles out of the fresh diaper we have lined up.  And hot off the press, as I was typing this up he had his first official solo roll from back to tummy!  We have a mobile child on our hands!