After spending almost a week and a half in Ohio, where luckily the weather was very mild, he’s home in SF. Now that we are back from vacation, let the posts resume!
This is our new favorite picture of Sawyer taken by his Uncle Michael on the way to visit family.
As some of you may know, Trooper was one of the names on the original list of names (that’s right, he would have been Trooper Truitt). Although I am very glad he is definitely a Sawyer, he was quite a Trooper on this trip! He flew cross country (3 hours 45 mins.), and then enjoyed road trips from Columbus to Bath (2 hours), Bath to Dayton (6 hours to and back), Bath to Wooster (1 hour), Wooster to Spencer then back to Bath (1 and 1/2 hour), Bath to Spencerville (3 hours), Spencerville to Columbus (2 hours), and cross country back to SF (5 hours).
Sawyer was amazing! He slept during most of the trips and was his smiling self when meeting family and friends. What a Trooper!
Just a quick picture from Sawyer’s first airplane ride. Note to parents that not all airlines care whether you are traveling with an infant or not. That does not automatically equal getting on the plane first!
He slept the entire way from San Francisco to Columbus (3 1/2 hours). He didn’t wake up until we arrived at his Grandparent’s house.
Hat…check!
Gloves…check!
Boots…check!
Ready for the cold weather in Ohio…check!
Well…really he is! He just has never experienced weather colder than 45°
Seriously…let’s try this again!
There we go. See, he’s really excited, and I swear the hat is doing that to his ears. No matter what Great Aunt Sally says, Sawyer does not have ears like his mom. Also, I couldn’t get him to stop sucking on his hands long enough to actually put on the gloves.
When I sleep, I like the room very dark. In college, I had to put post-it notes over the time display on my stereo clock, because it was too bright. It would keep me up if I didn’t. Now I use a t-shirt, which I place over my eyes in order to make the room “dark”. It appears that Sawyer is not much different.
I did not place this bear on top of Sawyer while he was sleeping. He did this last week too, but he woke up too quickly to take a picture.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to All! If I had thought ahead, I would have had Sawyer wear his green stripe outfit from yesterday for this post. So, please enjoy the next closest outfit of green that Sawyer owns — his “leprechaun shorts” and “techno animals wearing headphones” shirt — while he plays in his jungle.
Great Aunt Sally and Great Uncle Jack are very loyal viewers of the Sawyer blog, and we are all so excited that they will get to meet Sawyer in person in about a week and a half! Sawyer is sending out a very “Happy Anniversary” to them today! They will have to write exactly how many years in the comments.
I’m guessing that it about 36 or 37 based on convoluted logic from my younger cousin Justin, Sally and Jack’s eldest son. Justin is 3 years younger than I am (33), and when we were kids he used to say that, “My parents were married before your parents, so if my parents would of had me a year after they were married like yours did, I would be older than you!”
I have added below a few surprises for us all to enjoy.
Sally and my Dad when they were little.
Sally in 1968 - so beautiful!
A picture from my Grandparents Doernberg’s 45th wedding anniversary in 1986. My Grandparents, Addie and Doc (Robert), are seated on the couch. Standing left to right - my cousin Justin, Jack, Sally, my Dad, me, and my cousin Seth.
Years from now Sawyer will laugh at my ‘80’s hair, as perhaps some of you are doing now, so two can play at that game. (I can blame the ‘80’s, but it was just a bad haircut and product “to help bring out the natural beauty of curly hair” hadn’t been invented yet.
My friend Laura sent out a wonderful email when her little boy, Ian, turned one year old. The email listed all of the things Ian had learned in his first year like walking and saying many words. The list was very impressive, and it made me excited for all of the things that Sawyer will be doing in the coming year.
So, on Sawyer’s three month birthday he is able to: tell exceptionally good stories with his “words” and very expressive facial expressions, hold his head very still when being pulled up to a sitting position, hold toys and blankets with 2 hands, make his toys jingle or crinkle by himself, ride the horsey on his Dad’s leg, rock an exceptionally good mohawk, suck his fist, thumb or 2 fists at once, sleep through the night, laugh out loud when his Dad makes monkey sounds or when his Mom speaks French to him, and he can make everyone smile, especially when he is wearing his sunglasses (contrary to the look on his face, he really does like the glasses).
So, as a treat to all of us, Sawyer let me tape him having a conversation with himself in the mirror. As I said in a previous post that it is difficult to catch him in the act. He starts to watch the camera instead of the mirror. He was so good at captivating himself this time that he almost forgot the camera completely.
It is so amazing to watch Sawyer grow and understand how to interact with the world around him. One day his arms are oscillating wildly and fwapping himself in the head. The next day he is holding on to his keys, and then overnight he is using both hands to hold blocks and toys. Overnight is of course a relative term in his case, as he figured out to hold the keys when he was about about 9 weeks old. Now, just three weeks later he is holding blocks and duckies. I think the next thing will be rolling over, but we will have to wait and see. Perhaps he is waiting until he get to Ohio to perform that trick for the first time.
He first reacquaints himself with his hands.
Then I hand him the toy, and he grasps it right away.
Then he does what I think all babies do…he puts it in his mouth.
Blocks too.
Sawyer and I are learning all the fun spots to visit in Golden Gate Park. We scope out the park during the week to find the best places to take Scott on the weekends. Today we visited the Botanical Gardens. Sawyer is inthralled at looking up at the leaves on the trees. It is so much fun to see the world through his eyes (when he isn’t napping). Watching his eyes soak it all in makes me appreciate all the contrasting shapes and movement in the wind even more than I did before.
As our family and friends are digging out from under 2 feet of snow, Sawyer and I are sending you a blue sky, 60 degree day in the park, and wishing you could all be here to enjoy it with us. It is just over a week, though, until Scott, Sawyer and I are back in Ohio. We can’t wait!
Some of our family and friends living in Ohio were lucky enough to meet Bailey, Scott’s parent’s dog. Bailey was an amazingly smart and loving Australian Shepherd, who had more stuffed animal friends than I had ever seen. We all loved to play with Bailey and his friends. Sadly Bailey passed away a few years ago after a very long, fun-filled life, but we often think back to the fun times we had with him and his antics.
The other day I was playing with Sawyer, and I decided to see if his stuffed animals were of any interest to him yet. He, of course, loves Zissou, but I wondered if the others would make an impression. The answer was a resounding yes! Having all the animals around Sawyer made me think back to a fun night we had with Bailey and his toys, so Sawyer and I decided (well, a little more me than him) to recreate the fun!
Here is Scott and I with Scott’s sister, Sarah, and brother, Kevin, four years ago. Can you spot Bailey?
Poor Oakley the Octopus saw a lot of love from Bailey!
Here is Sawyer recreating the moment with his friends. I am guessing that in a few years, many of Sawyer’s friends will appear as loved as Oakley.
*Despite Sawyer’s best attempts to erp all over his friends, no animals were harmed in the filming of this production.