Loving my Books and Reading with Daddy

Ethan absolutely loves his books. Each evening I "organize" them by stacking them up in small piles underneath his pack n' play, and everyday Ethan loves to crawl over to the books and strew them all over the room. He looks through them as he is dragging them everywhere and usually leaves them open. He's made a habit of doing this nearly everyday since he started to crawl. He really enjoys being read to and also exploring (and sometimes chewing) the books on his own. I hope that he continues to enjoy books and reading as he gets older! Below are "Before Ethan" and "After Ethan" pictures of his book collection as well as some pics of Daddy reading to Ethan.

Before Ethan:


After Ethan:



Reading with Daddy:

I'm Walking (With Assistance :)

Tonight Ethan began walking behind his two "walker" toys. He has a little car that converts to a walker toy and another activity walker. We've seen him make really good progress across most of the great room before plopping down on his rearend. Here is a picture of Ethan walking with his walker and checking out Grandpa's watch.

Ethan's Second Photo Session

We took Ethan to have his pictures taken professionally for the first time at 6 months, and we were really pleased with how the photos turned out and with how well Ethan did at the photography studio. I decided to get his photos taken again at 9 months and a year at the same studio. Mom and I took Ethan today for his 9-month photos, and although we weren't sure how things would go since Ethan enjoys being mobile so much, it actually went really well! At first we had some difficulty getting Ethan to smile, but the photographer grabbed two huge long-stemmed flowers (bright pink and bright yellow) that they use as props and started poking Ethan in the belly with them and making funny noises. Ethan thought this was just hysterical, so he started smiling and laughing and continued to do so throughout the rest of the photo session. The photographer took some profile photos that turned out really great. We got a CD of the photos and some are posted below:

9 Month Check-Up

Ethan had his 9 month check-up with the pediatrician today. He weighed 18 lbs 10 oz (just below the 25th percentile and exactly what I weighed at 9 months!) and was 29 1/2 inches long (between the 75-90th percentile). Looks like he's going to be tall and on the skinny side like mommy and daddy. His check-up went really well: The Dr. did not hear Ethan's heart murmur, his eyes were tracking together as they should, and he is ahead on his developmental skills (particular mobility!) as he met the milestones that the Dr. asked about today many weeks ago. We thought that we were going to get out of the Dr.'s office without a hitch until the nurse checked his hemoglobin. It should be about 10.5, and his was slightly low (they ran it 3 times: 9.9, 10.0, and 9.5). It's not dramatically low, but the Dr. does want to do a CBC just to be sure that it is fine. He said that nearly every time that the reading comes up slightly low in his office, a serum blood draw CBC indicates that the hemoglobin/iron level is actually normal. So we'll be scheduling a blood draw for Ethan sometime in the near future (which I'm sure will be very challenging!)

I'm 9 Months Old and Crawling up the Stairs!

Today Ethan turned 9 months old! Hard to believe how fast time has flown... He also got the hang of the stairs this evening. Previously he would climb up just on the first step, but tonight he figured out how to scale the entire staircase. He made it all the way up the first flight (7 steps) to the landing and then up the rest of the way (8 more steps) to our second floor. Dan was right behind him in case he lost his balance, but he mastered the technique very quickly. Somehow he also managed to carry one of his favorite toys with him the whole way.

He has also started teething on our furniture. I found toothmarks (yes, from the one tooth that has emerged a decent amount from his gums) on our coffee table and also many toothmarks on his crib rail. We'll try to head off this damage in the future. I was surprised at how much damage one little tooth could do!

Despite not taking his second nap, Ethan was in a great mood tonight. He played "tackle the couch pillow" for quite awhile and enjoyed a tickle session with Daddy.

Dave's Retirement Luncheon and Crawling out of my Pants

Ethan is very tall for his age, but he is definitely skinny. Although he is almost 9 months old, he crawls right out of 6-9 month pants. That is often why he is dressed in overalls and rompers that stay on him! For example, please see the photos below of what happened when he wore this three-piece outfit with pants today.

He wore this cute outfit today because I brought him to a retirement luncheon for Dave (who I worked with in Greenfield), and he got to meet nearly all of my co-workers from our GenTox group. He did really well, just watching everyone from his carseat and playing with his ladybug for nearly an hour!

My Ladybug and Cute Red Shoes

As mentioned in a previous blog, here is Ethan holding onto his favorite carseat toy (the ladybug) that he has twisted around and around. He is also wearing his cute red shoes that a friend gave him (thanks Julie L.!) Once I put his shoes on, he promptly started chewing on them...

So Much for Cabinet Locks

In babyproofing the house, Dan and I put cabinet locks anywhere that Ethan may have access to our cabinets. Apparently I did not tighten this one enough because Ethan removed it from the cabinet fairly easily and decided to use it as a teether.

The Favored Ladybug and My First Mother's Day

Ethan has three toys attached to the handle of his carseat that have been there since before he was even born! They are a butterfly that squeaks, a ladybug that jingles, and a chick that makes crinkly sounds. Ever since Ethan began to notice and interact with the toys, he has favored the ladybug. He loves to hold it and twist it around and around and around until it is wound so tightly that he can't spin it any further. He lets it go and watches it whirl around. He even falls asleep holding onto the ladybug (unfortunately we don't have this captured on film yet). The ladybug is so well-loved that the elastic holding it onto the carseat handle is now totally shot (so the ladybug hangs lower than the other two toys). See below.I enjoyed my first Mother's Day, celebrating it with Ethan and Dan at my parent's house. It still seems strange to me to be so "grown up" as to have someone call me Mom :) Dan got a card for me from Ethan and wrote a sweet note in it that had Ethan's latest random sounds interjected here and there in the note... like "I love you mom! Gee! Maa Maa! Thanks for playing with me. Na!" It was very very cute. There are some pics of me and Ethan below. Notice his new sandals that Grandma Gilbert bought him. These are the first real shoes that he has worn; Up until now he's been in just socks or barefoot!

Tackling Pillows, Sticking out my Tongue, and Trilling Rs

Who knew that the accent pillows on our couch could be so much fun? Ethan has been pulling up on our furniture, and lately a favorite activity of his is to pull the accent pillows off the furniture and onto the floor. Once on the floor, he proceeds to "tackle" the pillows and laugh and laugh and laugh (apparently this is great fun!) Here are some pictures of him playing with the pillows this evening.

He also seemed to be really into sticking out his tongue for awhile this evening...

Ethan started something new today when I had him in the shopping cart at Target. For those of you who have taken Spanish classes, you know what I am referring to when I say that Ethan was "trilling his Rs". Out of the blue he started making this noise that sounds like trilling his Rs, and he continued to do this throughout our trip up and down the aisles at Target :) Apparently (like tackling pillows), making this noise is also a lot of fun as it has become the primary sound that he makes!

Dilated Eyes and Groundhogs

Today was Ethan's appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist to see whether or not he has exotropia (our pediatrician was concerned at his 6-month check-up that his eyes may not be tracking together correctly). A nurse gave Ethan eye drops to dilate his eyes before the exam, and he did really well with them (no crying or fussing at all). Fortunately the Dr. did not think that there is any problem with the alignment of Ethan's eyes. He scheduled a follow-up appointment though because his left tear duct is still partially blocked. If it continues to "goop up" as we get closer to his first birthday, the Dr. will schedule a procedure (under anesthesia) to open the tear duct. Poor Ethan's eyes are still dilated at 7pm! The Dr. warned us that they may stay dilated for the entire day.

When we got home from the appt., Waggles was going absolutely nuts at the back door (he usually only does this when our neighbor's little dog wanders into our yard). I took a look outside, and there was an enormous groundhog making its way across our backyard! I tried to get a picture of it, but it scampered off before I could get the camera. The picture to the left is from a wildlife website (I looked up a pic of a groundhog to make sure that is what I saw today). We have had all sorts of other interesting wildlife in our backyard/neighborhood since we moved in: deer, a large hoot owl, a gigantic toad, many decent sized snakes, woodpeckers, coyotes, moles, and we had both a snake and an opossum in our garage (on separate occasions). You wouldn't guess it from the wildlife, but our neighborhood is completely residential. A very small part of it borders an open field, so the wildlife must "visit" our neighborhood from there.

First time blogging

Hello everyone... so this is my first attempt at blogging. Several friends have recently started their own blogs, and I have enjoyed reading them. So I decided to try one out too. It'll be a fun way to keep you all posted on what's going on in our lives and especially Ethan's as he continues to grow and change so quickly! I found that starting a blog is pretty simple; The biggest step was selecting the URL that the blog would be posted at. I thought that I would try Ethan's nickname that Dan gave him "Boo Bah". Oddly enough, both boobah and boo-bah had already been taken as URLs, so I settled on "littleboo-bah". So now you know where the URL came from! Speaking of, here are two pictures of Ethan (taken today) who has recently become a pro at pulling up to standing all over the furniture in our house.

He is also cutting his first tooth. (If you look very closely, you can see the tip of it on the bottom right side of his gums). I think that the tooth beside it to the left will be coming in shortly as well.
He's been really happy since his tooth finally broke the gumline. He enjoys spending his day playing with toys, getting into mischief (pulling on curtains and trying to get to lamp cords), practicing cruising along furniture, and napping (which he is doing right now!) He'll actually be getting up shortly, so I'll wrap up this first blog with a couple of smiley pics from today.