A Non-Joe Post

It occurred to me recently that this blog has become “All Joe, All the Time.”  It’s understandable — he’s the most interesting thing we’ve ever done, and the camera loves him! But I’m going to attempt one post here that isn’t all about the baby.

First, we saw the most amazing movie over the weekend. “Man On Wire” is a documentary about the French daredevil who walked on a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, shortly after it opened in the 1970s.

Never mind the actual walking part — the amount of planning and preparation and trickery that went into setting up the wire was just breathtaking. He came up with this plan while the twin towers were still under construction, so there’s lots of footage of that. It’s odd to see the innards of those buildings as they were going up — we’re so used to seeing them when they came down.

Netflix users — get it!

Tonight, as part of the National Day of Service, I’m making chicken for 40 and helping to serve dinner at the Petersburg Salvation Army Men’s Shelter. It’s a project my Obama campaign friends signed us all up for, and fits in with one of my new year’s resolutions — to volunteer more. It could become a regular thing!

I’m excited about tomorrow’s inauguration. No matter who you supported in the presidential race, you’ve got to admit it’s kind of cool to see this happening in our lifetime. And I’ll admit, I am dying to see what Michelle Obama wears!

Stander-Upper

Joe’s not breaking any records in upper-body strength (he might get that from me), but he could kick down doors with those little legs of his!

His new favorite thing is standing up on tables. He needs some help with balance, of course, but he gets a kick out of seeing me eye-to-eye on the changing table, or surveying the kitchen from high up on the counter.

Tonight he was so excited about standing up on the dining room table, I thought he was going to break away from Patrick and run laps on it.

This is great!

Seven Months Old!

Joe celebrated his 7-month birthday among friends yesterday. All three of us went for lunch at a friend’s house, where all the babies in his play group were gathered with their parents.

Baby Gang

He also discovered a new least-favorite food (spinach) and a new way to make him laugh (tweak his nose and say “noooose!” in a high-pitched voice).

Seven Months Old

He seems to be working on yet another tooth. We haven’t located it yet — but judging from his grumpy attitude this afternoon, it’s coming!

This Just In: A Tooth!

Two days ago, Joe was drooling even more than usual and chewing on his fingers a lot. I offered him one of my knuckles, and as soon as he got it in there, I felt something sharp scraping my skin. I pried his mouth open and got just the slightest glimpse of a tooth coming through.

Today it’s finally grown enough to photograph:

First tooth!

Click here for a closer inspection.

Our boy is growing up!