Sawyer

Sawyer took a glorious nap the other day having fallen asleep to lullaby renditions of the Beatles. Thanks Aunt Sarah!

Then later that night, Scott gave him the most ridiculous mohawk ever. His hair did not lay down until the next night’s tubbietime.

To be fair, I’m not entirely sure if he knew he was playing with his feet, but he was definitely enthralled by his Gardenbug foot rattles. You may recall that we debuted the wrist rattles in February, and he’s loved those ever since. He clearly recognized the same kind of bugs on his black and white striped socks, and eagerly set out to investigate them.

Of course he wanted to eat them:

And did:

Then we sat him back so that he could see all four bugs at once:

And when he tired of that game, we just let him kick his legs until he wore finally himself out:

He’s sitting up more and more these days, but still needs a little help to keep his balance. He has no problem rolling over in his crib though, which is how he usually wakes us up in the morning, and I am really looking forward to the day when we look over to see him sitting in his crib and staring at us over the railing. It won’t be long, I’m sure. And you can bet we’ll share it with you here when it happens. =)

On Saturday, we went across the Bay Bridge to visit our friends Leslie, Sasha, and Edie. Edie’s blog was the inspiration for Sawyer’s blog. We have always loved that Edie’s friends and family in England and around California have been able to see her daily life and watch her grow. Edie’s blog just posted its 600th post, and we have enjoyed every one!

Edie is just a few months past two years old, and a very good role model for Sawyer. She greeted us on the front porch and opened up the door for us to come in. It was a very lovely welcome. She was very excited to meet the baby.

Sawyer was bit tired and cranky from a day on the go, but he quickly warmed up.

It was perfect popsicle weather in Berkeley, and Edie learned what color her pink tongue turns when she eats a blue one.

Again, no real story, just a great collection of photographs, this time taken right after an unusually spirited tubby-time.

Which of the seven is your favorite one? Let him know in the comments.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

Oh, and, feel free to continue the rhyme in comments too. =)

No real story here. It is just funny to watch him lay on his side.

Many of you may remember when we first sat Sawyer in his Oeuf lounger.

The Oeuf has become a welcome friend throughout the day for a new reason. Now that Sawyer can turn over, he does it constantly. He does it even when he is tired and unable to hold his head up. “Baby down” is repeated over and over throughout the day between me and Scott. It is code for “the baby is stranded and needs a bit of assistance.” As he has only rolled himself back over from his belly once, it is a bit like a turtle on its shell.

He huffs, snorts, and puffs as he fights to keep his head off the ground. After many hours of the game of rolling him over from his belly to his back only to have him immediately go to his belly again, it gets a bit tedious. I have found the Oeuf to be a great savior. It gives him a new perspective and breaks the “must turn over” cycle. He really likes it and can now bounce himself in it while I cook dinner (yes that does happen occasionally).

As you may be able to tell, the mohawk just keeps getting better and better.

I had forgotten up until now to give the updates on his stats from his four month check-up. Sawyer weighed 13 lbs. 12 oz. and was 26 3/4” long. He is in the 80th percentile for height and 25th percentile in weight. He is a long, lean string bean, but as you can see from these pictures, he has been putting on some weight in the last week since the outing in the park.

Does anyone recognize the face he is making in the picture above? I’m pretty sure that I didn’t teach it to him, but I know it is definitely one of mine.

What a little cutie!

Last weekend was exceptionally warm and sunny, which almost never happens in San Francisco during the month of April. To celebrate, Abby and Sawyer took me to their new favorite spot in Golden Gate Park, the Botanical Garden, so we could soak up the good weather.

Sawyer was his usual rambunctious self, constantly flipping over so he could keep better track of everything going on around him, and urping up all of himself in the process. Luckily, Abby had an extra shirt in the diaper bag, which is how he ended up wearing this lovely ensemble:

Note the bucket cap features monkeys, salamanders, and various other jungle animals in a safari scene, the shirt has no less than eleven dinosaur species and erupting volcanoes in a prehistoric setting, and the shorts… well, the shorts are just plain awesome. And I have to admit that Abby’s old flannel blanket (she’s had it as long as I’ve known her, which is going on 17 years now) ties it all together perfectly.

I have no idea if Sawyer will appreciate this look when he’s older, or if he’ll rue the day we dressed him so ridiculously, but for now I toast his ability to pull it all off. He’s truly one-of-a-kind.

Just before Sawyer learned to turn over, he mastered laying on his side. He was quite comfortable there.

That was also just about the time he got really good at holding on to his binkie, pulling it out of his mouth, and then putting it back in…usually in the right direction.

Well, it’s most certainly mine, and I’ve only seen a few short clips on YouTube. Judging from the way Sawyer craned his neck to see what Abby and I were laughing at while he bounced along with the music, I think he’ll love it too. Here’s a song called “Party in my Tummy” to get you started:

The show is called “Yo Gabba Gabba” and I owe a colleague at work a big thanks for the tip. Turns out this show features guest appearances by Mark Mothersbaugh (co-founder of Devo, Wes Anderson’s preferred composer) and Biz Markie (he has a segment called Biz’s Beats where he teaches kids how to beat box — are you kidding me?!!) as well as bands like The Shins and legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk.

And, as if that weren’t enough, my favorite store on Haight Street — Kid Robot — makes a line of Yo Gabba Gabba! clothing and toys. Look at this Brobee sweatshirt (glad to see that it has elbows, unlike the character on which it is based — I almost threw my back out trying to reenact his movements for Sawyer):

At any rate, I’ve always wondered which shows Sawyer will like (and cringed at the thought of one of them being Barney & Friends). It’s a relief to see that people are still making clever and highly creative shows for us adults and our children. Yo Gabba Gabba has a new season of shows this year, so there will be a healthy backlog of “life lessons with a beat” by the time Sawyer turns 1 year old in December. I am so excited to share this with him.

This story is just too funny not to write about. My very close friend Malisha, who gave Sawyer his Pancake Bear, Balou, ordered the absolute cutest gift for Sawyer. They are little monsters with each of the letters in his name.

I am in love! The website, whimsypatch, is amazing! Kimmie, the person who makes them, is a friend of Malisha’s. All the toys are one-of-a-kind, and she also writes a story for each of her creations. I have included the links to the stories that go with each of the letters in the name - Slinky, Averly, Wacky, Yappie, Ellory, and Rowdy.

Malisha emailed me today to let me know that somehow the “w” is missing from the box that was in her office!

She put up these flyers in her office building in hopes of finding the little guy. If I didn’t know Malisha as well as I do, I would have thought that this is her way of having me change Sawyer’s name to Sayer.

Just before her first son, Rowan, was born six years ago, she and I were discussing baby names. I had always been very protective of the names that I would one day use, so I had never discussed this before. Malisha said the name that she was thinking of using was Rowan, and I immediately said, “that’s the name I’ve always wanted to use!” Being that I was not pregnant, and that Rowan means “little red haired boy”, and that I dearly love my friend, I was happy that she was going to use this name. I was pretty darn positive that I would not have a red-haired baby, but I knew that she would as both she and her husband, Tavis have red hair. (Sawyer’s hair color is still a bit surprising to Scott and I.)

Here are Malisha and I at my baby shower last August.

Here is Malisha with Rowan.

Ironically when I was discussing names for Sawyer, I said that we weren’t sure what to name him. I told her how Scott’s mom, Penny, had come up with Sawyer - “S” for Scott, “A” for Abby, and “W” for Woggy (Sawyer’s nickname up until that time), and that we were really starting to get attached to that name. That was the name that Malisha had picked up for her next baby to be…if she should have #3…sometime in the future (Lucas is the name of her second son).

Rowan is definitely a Rowan, and Sawyer is definitely a Sawyer, so it all worked out just as it should. Hopefully someone, however, will locate that pesky “w” so Sa yer can once again be himself!