So far, one of the coolest things about being a parent has been watching Griff’s little brain develop. Two or three weeks ago, he was starting to grab soft objects like clothes, squishy toys, and blankets. Now he’s developed enough hand-eye coordination that we can hand him hard objects (like the wooden teether/rattle below, from FinnsandFlowers on Etsy), and he’ll take them from us with both hands. It’s just amazing to see how quickly he’s gained the physical and mental skills to do this. His little brain must be churning away nonstop in there!

Griff has always preferred being held upright, and he’s really wanting to sit up (with help) as much as possible. His head control has improved a ton lately, so the Bumbo chair will be seeing some real use soon.

I had my Wednesday at home today, so along with taking Griff out grocery shopping and spending a lot of time playing with him (and trying unsuccessfully to get him to nap, sigh) I was able to do some cooking. Jenn posted a link to a tantalizing biscuit recipe on Facebook today, so I was inspired to make some to go with dinner. My biscuits didn’t turn out to be as perfect and food-porn-y as the originals, but they were sure tasty! (And they used up some cheddar cheese that was on the verge of getting tossed.)

Biscuits might seem like a weird accompaniment to something as carbtastic as red beans and rice, but YOU WOULD BE WRONG.

I gave notice at my job today. I’m going to be staying home with Griff for a few years. Either this is the best decision I’ve ever made, or I’m out of my freaking mind. 🙂

Jag had his first Father’s Day today, and I hope it was a good one. He got his first gift from little Griff in the form of a foot impression in clay that the day care center sent home as a surprise. His teacher told me that they had quite a struggle trying to get these done with Griff and the other slightly younger baby in his infant room.

Griff was in a good mood today, and we had lots of fun playtime with him.

Jag had some good Daddy time with Griff as well. He had to do a long stretch of baby-wrangling so I could make him the dinner he requested: chicken pot pie.

Yum yum. It was really great be able to make something complicated for dinner, since we have so little time for cooking during the work week.

No cream of anything soup or canned biscuits here. The roux for the sauce had a whole stick of butter in it. Omomnomnom!

Jag really is an amazing dad. He always does his share of the baby care and then some, and he is always so patient and loving with Griff. I could not ask for a better partner in raising our little boy!

Griffin is 13 weeks old today, and will be 3 “calendar” months old tomorrow, the 17th. To me and Jag, he’s still the cutest baby in the world. All 15lb11oz of him!

I’m taking Wednesdays off this month using some of my remaining FMLA time, and I’m so glad I have this time to be home with Griff. I might have missed his epic battle with Severus Snakey, otherwise!

I think Griffin won. Or…did he?

Two weeks ago, Griffin was pretty indifferent to his toys, except for batting at them if they were dangling overhead. Over the past several days, he’s taken a real interest in grabbing soft things, starting with his clothes and the cut-up diapers we use to block any misfires of the “pee cannon” while changing him. (We’ll look down after getting rid of his dirty diaper and find him gleefully waving the “pee cloth” in the air over his head or chewing on it.) At daycare, he’s been spending a lot of time playing with their collection of cloth books.

Today, if you put a soft toy in front of him, he’ll often grab at it, shake it around, and stuff it into his mouth. It’s so amazing how fast these new skills develop!

Here he’s nomming on the soft bunny toy our friend Jamie made for him:

And here he is with Mr. Severus Snakey:

…but someone has to be The Cutest Baby in the World. Luckily, Griffin is up to the challenge.

About 3 months ago, I decided to make the “Curly Snake” pattern from Itty-Bitty Toys, a collection of adorable knitted animals, dolls, and other projects for kids. I picked it because it’s basically just a 2-foot knitted tube with some shaping at either end, about as brain-dead simple a project as you can get. The eyes are embroidered and there’s nothing to pull off and choke on, so it’s also a very baby-safe project.

It’s taken me weeks and weeks of free moments snatched here and there, but I’ve FINALLY FINISHED IT!!!! Behold, the Semi-Arboreal Green-Tongued Wool Snake, commonly found in residential areas in central North Carolina.

Now that Griffin has a regular bedtime routine, I actually have about an hour and a half in the evenings between the time we put him down to sleep and the time we collapse into bed, so I’m hopeful that my next project may go a little quicker. Of course, that hour and a half is also taken up by laundry and other chores, getting bottles labeled for daycare, paying bills, reading email, etc etc. Still, things are a lot better now than they were a month ago!

The past two weeks have been mind-bogglingly awful. I’m still trying to shake off a sinus infection that has me coughing uncontrollably every time I lie down or even think about horizontal objects. If I’m up yet again tonight hacking up a lung instead of sleeping, I’ll probably segue into the “hallucination” phase of sleep deprivation. I’m kind of looking forward to chatting with the purple plaid platypi.

At least one person in the family is well-rested and chipper! He’s also recently become quite drooly and enthused about gumming his clothes, paci, toys, and peoples’ hands, so we’re suspecting some early teething action is going on.

Griff is definitely a Playtex Binky man.

This morning after Jag came back into the house with the Sunday papers, he told me that the flowers were gone from the planter on the porch. “Well, they don’t get very much direct sunlight there, so they’re probably not blooming at the moment,” I said. Jag replied, “No, I mean they’re completely GONE.”

I went outside, and lo and behold, all three plants were really really GONE. Removed. Disappeared. Just stumps left, and a few scraps of leaves. What on earth would climb up into a planter to eat impatiens? And leave the extra plant that didn’t fit still sitting right next to the planter in its little plastic pot???

Here’s a closeup of the stumps. We have rabbits, we have chipmunks, but would they completely devour 3 plants like this??? It’s just so bizarre!

Griffin’s been showing some pretty good head control lately, so we decided to try him out in the Bumbo chair his great-grandma bought him. He definitely can sit up in it…

…but his little neck muscles are not quite there yet. Maybe in a month!

Today was Griffin’s first experience with day care. In fact, it was the first time he’s ever been separated from both me and Jag for more than about 20 minutes. He’s used to being held a lot and napping while snuggled up in our various slings, the mei tai, etc and has just recently gotten used to sleeping in a crib, so I was pretty worried that he would spend the entire time crying.

We dropped him off for a half day and hoped for the best. (And got teary in the parking lot afterward.) Luckily for all of us, he did better than expected: he napped a bit, drank a ton of milk (eep), and reportedly played with some toys and cooed at the staff. And cried some, too. 😉

It’s really weird. Two months ago I only knew Griffin as an ultrasound image and a hiccuping, kicking presence in my tummy. After almost 9 intense weeks of learning how to care for him, seeing him develop and grow, and watching the first glimmers of his personality emerge, I won’t be spending my days with him any more. It’s going to be a very tough week.