Reading is Fun

There's nothing sweeter than when Sasha curls up in my lap and we read sometimes up to a dozen books in one sitting. I thought there was nothing sweeter until I witnessed Sasha sitting and reading to himself. He goes through his whole pile of books and opens and closes each page while examining all the pictures, it's really quite adorable. 


Being an avid reader I am so glad that Sasha also loves books. He's loved books from day one. We continue to grow our home library and expand on the type of books that we read. 


On Monday's we go to the library for story time. We were informed that Sasha needed to have his own library card so he could start taking out books. No joke, here's Sasha's library card. 

Sasha can use this card until he's 13. Hmm, that means he will be 13 some day.

Sasha likes to start the day with light reading. 

This must be a funny one, even funnier upside down. 

We're both fans of Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Catepilar". 

Note: he's so engaged I can't even get him to look at me. 

The Play Area

A major draw of our new apartment was that there was a lot of play space for Sasha. When I first saw the new digs I immediately knew that I was going to create a play area for Sasha in the living room under the bay windows. 


I gave quite a bit of thought to how I wanted to set up the play area. I wanted Sasha to be able to have plenty of room to move around, have a quiet place to read, plenty of standing room and an overall area that would stimulate his imagination as he enters toddler hood next month. 


After many years of teaching early childhood I found myself creating areas much like I would in my class rooms. Sasha seems to be really enjoying his play area as are his friends that have been over since we moved. Let me take you for a little tour.

Sasha's play area. 

Cozy reading area. 

Fun action (loud) toys. 

Thanks for touring Sasha's play area. That was what it looks like at 7am. Nice, right? 

Now this is what Sasha's play area looks like at 7:05am. Nice, right? 

He moves quick. 

Just another day at the office. 

Now that I have everything where I want it I can play. 

Love Me Tender

It's not often that Sasha slows down, so on Sunday when he was in slow motion we knew something was up. The second clue was that he wasn't hungry, this is unusual for our ever growing baby. After some tears and frustration of not being able to communicate what was wrong he finally settled into Daddies arms for a good half house. Take note of the tear on the right eye. 

The Furniture Inspector

My name is Sasha and I'm a baby and a part time furniture inspector . 

It's been far too long since I wrote. Between going on vacation and moving and keeping up with Sasha things have been busy. After moving from our over crowded apartment I hadn't realized how much we lacked doors and wall space. Since we moved Sasha has been scaling the walls, moving furniture and opening and closing doors.


At just about ten and a half months Sasha is active, hilarious, an eating machine, loves music and dancing, adores playing with other babies, is quite the hugger and aspiring kisser. With all this going on in his baby life you may wonder how he has time to be a furniture inspector. Well, please see for yourself below. 

Look Mama, the door works just fine.

Now I'm outside my room.

Mama, did you know this chair rocks and bangs the wall?

Two at a time, the more the merrier. 

Busted in mom's dresser. Yes, Mama, the drawers open and close. 

You may want to lock up these files Papa. 

After a long day of furniture inspections I like to unwind with the remote control...sigh...

Baby Bear takes over Barnes and Noble

Baby Bear first spotted en route to book store. 

Last week when we went for a mid day walk we stopped in the Barnes and Noble. I had originally wanted to get Sasha new lift the flap and touch and feel books since he's obsessed with them. We got so distracted playing and reading in the bookstore I never got new books. When we got to the children's section in the bookstore it was hoping with, well, children. 


First, we hit the baby books and I soon learned that as much as Sasha likes taking books out of the basket at home was as much as he liked taking them off the shelf at the bookstore. Note to self, "be prepared for books at home on low shelves to be a mess".

Baby Bear discovers baby books. 

Of course Baby Bear has to make sure the books taste as good as they do at home.

After we destroyed the book section we decided to move onto the toy section. We discovered a lego table, actually a table for duplos that we hit up. As you can see Sasha went right into tasting the new discovery.

Fortunately someone left this keyboard on the lego table and we had time for a quick jam session. 

Next up we made our way over to toy shelves and looked for what made the most noise.

When the Baby Bear realized he couldn't get into the goods he moved onto to his next culprit. 

After winding down Baby Bear and Mama Bear made their way home for afternoon nap. 

Nine Month Check Up

Look at me, I'm 9 months old.

Somehow my little guy is three quarters of the way through his first year of life. Or as my pediatrician just mentioned, he's about four to six months away from having toddler tantrums. Oy. Well, for now, he's a sweet infant so we'll table toddler-hood for now.


After our nine month check up I'm happy to report that Sasha is perfect, yes, there you have it, he's perfect. At least in my eyes he is. In all seriousness, his health is perfect and that's huge, what more could we want as parents. 


When you get to the doctors office they make you strip down the baby to a diaper. Between the paper on the table and the mirrors at the end of the table Sasha thought he scored the baby jackpot party. He giggled and growled at himself in the mirrors while ripping the paper to shreds. I kept thinking "why do I buy toys", I should get a ream of paper, more mirrors and call it  a day. 


Sasha is now 28.75 inches, up from 26.5 inches at 6 months and he weighs 18lbs 6oz, up from 15lbs 5oz. According to the national charts he's 56% for his height, so there's hope for someone in our family to be a wee bit taller and 17% for weight, that sounds about right. 


In other news.....
Sasha has never been a fan of tummy time, even though he sleeps on his belly. It's no surprise that he hasn't been the most adventurous of crawlers. He has been on his hand and knees for about three weeks now, but chooses to rock back and forth in place. So our little guy doesn't want to crawl, no big deal, he's amazing at everything else and will get to walking when he's ready. I didn't know this, but the pediatrician told me that crawling is not considered a milestone. Who knew? 


About a week ago we noticed Sasha started to take steps when we held his hands. As you can see from this photo he loves to stand. I started to put toys on our couch so he could play while standing, which he loves. A remote control caught his eye and he started to cruise on over to get it. I had been placing remote controls, iPhone, at one point cold hard cash on the floor to get him to crawl, but no such luck. Now anything on the couch out of his reach he seems to manage to side step on over. Yesterday while playing with friends he lifted his arms away from the play table on two occasions and was standing by his lonesome. Look ma, no hands!

I like it up here.....

Whatever Sasha decides to do is fine with us. He drums to his his own baby beat and we like it just fine. 


And on a final note I wanted to mention he has been saying 'Mamamamama" for about a week now. It's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. He also says "pa", so we think "Papa" will be happening anytime soon. 

Look at Those Chompers!

Four teeth, count em'.....

I know this is not the best photo but it's been near impossible to capture all four teeth. So here it, Sasha's four teeth, top and bottom. As you know from an earlier post his bottom teeth came in just shy of five months. The first top tooth made a debut over the holidays and before we knew it there were two giant teeth coming in strong. Sasha's hair, teeth and now his belly tend to grow at lightening speed. 


Every where we go I constantly here "look at those chompers". Waiting in the line at the drug store the ladies behind me are saying "look at those teeth". I turn around to find my little flirt grinning at the pretty ladies all four chompers in full view. We go to music class, "look at those chompers", again I turn around to find Mr. Flirty Pants flashing those pearly whites to another parent. 


At a recent dentist appointment of mine I asked my dentist if I need to do any sort of maintenance on said teeth. He said to use a soft toothbrush with some water at the end of the day. I never saw Sasha so proud as when I brush his teeth, he admires himself in the bathroom mirror for a good five minutes. He takes dental hygiene very seriously as he has seen mommy and daddy sticking this mysterious plastic stick in our mouths and now he too gets to participate.


We've been so lucky that Sasha has not suffered from teething pain, which came was a big surprise when his top teeth arrived. He showed no signs of crankiness, just a little extra drool, which I have become quite accustomed to. He continues to explore chomping those little teeth and making click clack noises that he finds amusing and finding new ways to eat his crunchy snacks. 


Sasha will be nine months old on Sunday. He continues to be a happy, silly, giggly, wanting to jump non stop, adorable baby as his little, er "giant" personality is coming into play.