weird stuff

We both love Gordy very much... but he does some weird stuff.  

For instance, ever since he discovered his hands, he's done this bizarre thing with them where he holds them away from his face and turns them side to side.  There have been times where he'd just sit staring at his own hands completely entranced for seconds.  So, we started mimicking him.  At any moment, we can get his attention and make him smile by holding one (or both) hand out in front of him and rotating it back and forth like a pageant girl's wave.

Another weird thing that we noticed recently is how Gordy reacts to whistling.  We were watching something on tv that was talking about George Michael, so Todd started whistling "Freedom!".  Gordy smiled ear to ear and then bowed his head down so his chin was touching his chest like he was being bashful.  We thought it was funny at the moment, but now, every time Todd whistles anything, Gordy reacts the same way... by smiling and bowing his head.

Mele Kalikimaka

just the right mix

From the moment Gordy was born, everyone asks us, "who does he look more like?"  Occasionally, we see a bit more of Todd or a bit more of me in him... but, most of the time, we can't tell.  We feel like he's just a pretty good mix of us both.  Gordy just looks like Gordy!

Here's all of our 6 month baby photos for comparison:

first tooth

Gordy's first tooth popped through today!  It's his lower front one on the right hand side.  It feels like a small, sharp piece of sand that is stuck to his gums.  So exciting!

And, as excited as I am about his first tooth, Gordy is much happier about the fact that he got a new swing for the deck.  Every time we push him, he lets out a crazy squeal of excitement that almost sounds like we are torturing him.

soggy doggy

Gordy has a bit of a mom-attachment problem... which is fine, except that it's hard for anyone else to get him to do things like nap without him crying.  So, we did some research and we read somewhere that it can sometimes be helpful to introduce a stuffed animal that babies can form an attachment with.  We randomly chose a stuffed dog that our friends (Tofu and Kara) gave us, and we think it's working to some extent.  Gordy loves the dog.  He cuddles it, and sucks on it so much that it's ears, tail, and parts of it's face are all crusty from his dried saliva.  We've named him "soggy doggy".

favorite books

One of Gordy's favorite things to do these days is to read books - or really, have us read books to him.  He even has a handful of books that he'd listen to a hundred times in a day if we'd read them that often.  To keep myself sane, I'll occasionally try to slip in a non-favorite book, but he almost never tolerates it.  I usually can't make it past the first page or two before he starts whining/grunting and will start physically searching for one of his favs.  The books on his favorite list at the moment are:  Brown Bear Brown bear what do you see?, The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin, Geckos Surf, Never Touch A Monster, Alphabet Zoo, Little Fish, Diving For Fun in Hawaii, Alligator to Zebra ABCs, Good Morning Engines, and Zoo Babies.

Gogo loves to GO!

Gogo is such a perfect name for our little man.  If he could figure out how to crawl or walk, he would be on the move for sure.  As it stands, his mobility is currently limited by our willingness to GO.  However, we do our best to get him out and about as much as possible.  At the moment, he's not fussed about his mode of transport, but he definitely prefers the front pack or the jogging stroller so that he can look around as he travels.

As exciting as the outing is, he usually ends up passing out...

"whisker pies"

Todd has fond memories of his dad tucking him in at night and giving him a "whisker pie" snuggle with his 9pm shadow.  So, the tradition lives on!... Only, Todd doesn't have to shave every day, so his "whisker pies" are often times more furry and they seem to happen more frequently throughout the day.  Gordy is so lucky ;)

6 months old

Last Friday was Gordy's half birthday and he is turning in to such a little man!

He can almost sit up on his own from laying flat, and once he's sitting up, he has good enough body control to stay there (generally).  He's not super safe to leave unattended anymore because he has taken to rolling.  He's eating a fair bit of solid foods now and there doesn't seem to be anything that he won't eat.  He loves to have books read to him, and he even has favorites that he'd prefer to have read over and over again.  He's been really liking being in the front pack lately - he gets nice and calm and will usually fall asleep while in there.  Cardboard boxes have become fun toys for chewing on, sitting in, and putting toys in.  We have always played "I'm gonna get you" with him, and recently, he's started opening his mouth to "get us" back.  He mostly just slimes us, but we are pretty sure he's "getting us".  

the best noise in the world

I will do almost anything to hear Gogo laugh.  It's truly the most incredible noise in the world.  He opens up his mouth showing off his gummy grin, and this chuckle straight from the gut comes rolling out.  Every time he does it, I spend the next 5 minutes doing whatever it was that made him laugh over and over again, until he's sick of it.

Luckily for me, it seems as though everything is hilarious to him lately... so I don't have to do much to get him to crack up!

teething, but no teeth

At every opportunity, Gordy will find something to gnaw on.  A toy, a blanket, a hand, a chair armrest.. he's not fussed about the item.  He just constantly wants something in his mouth so he can rub his gums all over it.

We frequently feel like we are slime receptacles.  And, even without teeth, he seems to be able to chomp down hard enough to hurt us.  Let just hope that he doesn't get too carried away (especially once those teeth start poking through), otherwise, he might not be allowed his/my milk anymore.

such a piglet

Invariably, Gordy wants to eat/drink anything and everything that we are munching on, even if he's just finished eating himself.  We take a bite of food and look down to see his big eyes staring at us, mouth open, saliva making it's way down his chin.  And, even though we know he couldn't possibly be hungry, we always feel guilty and either give him a sample of our food, or find something else that he can enjoy while we eat.  Although we may be positively reinforcing his begging habit, it's worth it to see the smile on his face and to hear the "mmm" and "yum" sounds that he makes after EVERY bite!

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Gordy celebrated his holiday by meeting his first horse ever (which he really liked), hanging out with Nana and Misha (Nana's dog), playing in a huge pond up at Ehukai, and eating a feast of blueberries, taro, and milk.

He finally passed out at about 8pm and slept (with a few wake-ups during the night) until 8am!  As happy as we were about our holiday, we may have been more excited about the sleep in :)

bye bye bucket

We are sad to say that Gordy has outgrown his bucket days.  The upside is that he seems to like the bathtub just as well :)  He splashes around and will even relax while laying on his back!  

5 months old

This week, Gordy made 5 months old:

In addition to getting taller and becoming more dexterous, Go Go has done some serious developing.  He has learned to sit up by himself (for short periods of time) so we have had to start belting/buckling him into his chairs, swings, etc. to prevent face dives onto the floor.  We have been feeding him baby cereal about once a day and he loves it so much that he makes a "mmmm" noise after each bite.  Anytime we are drinking out of a cup, he sticks his hands out and opens his mouth for a taste (about 50% of the water actually makes it past his lips).  Before we dunk him underwater, we count down by saying "1,2,3" and then we blow into his face.  Now, when we get to 3, he closes his eyes and gets ready for the dunking!  And, possibly the biggest deal, he put himself to sleep (by crying for 10 minutes) all by himself!  Hopefully, there aren't too many more of those crying sessions, but we thing it was a pretty good step.

UPDATE TO A PREVIOUS POST - Earlier this week, we blogged about Gordy shoveling a ridiculous amount of sand into his mouth.  Although at the time it didn't seem like a big deal to me, apparently, it was.  Gordy spent the entire night puking all over the place and had a pretty red bum for days after while he poo'd sand.  Take-home message: maybe babies shouldn't be allowed to do everything that they want to do.  Also, maybe we need to get one of those cones that you put around a dog's neck for Gordy while at the beach.

seeking political asylum!

November 8th, 2016 started off so well... 
Gordy and I did some solid cuddling while Todd caught a few extra zzz's.

Gordy was by far the most vocal he's ever been.

The three of us enjoyed a nice evening down at our beach where Gordy ingested about a pound of sand.  

Gordy actually ate so much sand that Todd tried to bury him up to his shoulders so he couldn't shovel any more into his mouth... Gordy resorted to plunging his face directly into the sand - no hands required.

And, we got to hang out with one of my favorite people, my mom, for a few hours.

It all went south when we turned on CNBC and watched as their map of the United States turned more and more red.  Our last shred of hope for our nation dwindled when Hilary Clinton conceded to Donald just before he walked onstage and puked a bunch of meaningless words all over the place.  So, our family is now seeking political asylum in ANY other country.  If anyone has any suggestions of a place that will take us, please don't hesitate to reach out.  We are very much open to ideas.

Before we finish up this post we'd like to give a shout out there to all of you Donald Trump supporters.  (Please keep in mind that we are a bottle of Sangria in and are pretty riled up.)  We couldn't be more disappointed that there are so many people in this country who could vote to elect a racist, sexist, xenophobic, hate-crime encouraging narcissist to be our next president.  He is a disgusting human being and you are all selfish idiots if you think that he's going to do anything "great" for this country.  

More than anything, we are sad for Gordy.  How is he supposed to learn right from wrong when you all have decided that it's perfectly acceptable behavior for our newly elected president to talk about how he sexually assaults women because he can.  Real cool.  I hope you gun-loving, monster-truck-driving, Bud-swilling, fear-mongering, homophobic, global-warming denying morons are proud of yourselves - and, when (not if) things unravel, you have no one but yourselves to blame.  Gordy and the rest of his generation will be the ones who will really suffer and will have to pick up the pieces of your horrible mistake.

"energy"?

Neither one of us has ever been a strong believer in "energy".  However, it's hard to ignore that Gordy picks up on many different types and forms of "energy" and that this "energy" has an impact on him.  I'm going to stop using quotes on energy... but you get the idea.

Generally, he prefers people who are relatively calm and happy, he's not super stoked on dogs or other animals that make too much noise, and he LOVES the ocean.  Each time we arrive at the beach and pull him out of his car seat, it's like he already knows the smell of the salty water and can feel some kind of energy from the ocean waves.  I'm sure he also picks up on the fact that we are both excited to be there, but there must also be an energy from the ocean itself that makes his eyes light up.  Once we gather up all of our bags, fins, etc. and start heading down to the water, he throws his arms down audibly slapping them to his sides over and over again (his most recent form of showing happiness/excitement) while kicking his feel around wildly.  It almost looks like he's trying to do jumping jacks in our arms :)

We aren't too sure what it all means, but we are interested in figuring it out.  In the meantime, here are some photos from Gordy's weekend beach adventures:

counting cars

One of Gordy's favorite things to do is to sit (or stand) on our lanai and watch the cars go by.  He particularly likes the buses and the ridiculous trucks that are all jacked up with huge mufflers and sound systems. He turns his head left and right as each one passes, and when one goes by that tickles his fancy, he kicks his legs and violently throws his arms up and down.  We aren't sure what it means exactly... maybe he's going to be a civic planer, a race car driver?  Regardless, it's a great way to entertain him for now.

"Go vote on November 28th"

Our friend was celebrating his 50th birthday with a Halloween costume party about 3 miles from our house.  So, we decided to go as Donald and Melania Trump and made Gordy into a vote for Trump sign.  

Gordy's homemade onsie costume was definitely the best  out of the three of us - I was limited to a dress that allowed me to breast feed, and Todd's face paint ended up being way to red.  But, the party was too dark and Gordy fell asleep halfway through, so his costume ended up hidden in my front pack.  Ultimately, we hope our campaign was as successful as Donald's hopefully will be :)

a night of firsts

After a nice day of lounging around the house, we decided to take a quick trip to the beach before the sun went down.  The ocean was a bit dirty on our street, so we packed up the soft top board and headed to Ali'i Beach Park to enjoy the last few minutes of daylight.  We were in luck!  The winds weren't too bad and the surf was perfect for a Gordy and Daddy tandem session.  Honestly, Todd only planned to paddle him around out there, but Gordy was being so mellow that when a perfect sized little bump came along, he decided to go for it.  The two of them rode it all the way to the sand and Gordy was all smiles from the fun ride :)

It was almost as if his first surf session riled him all up because when we got home, he sat up for the first time all by himself!

Todd thought it would be a good idea to celebrate with a coldie... so he let Go Go have a sip.  And, being the little piglet that he is, Gordy seemed to like the beer.  Quite a day.

frozen fruits

Everyone has said that we should wait until Gordy is 6 months old before we give him any foods other than breast milk.  Initially, I had no problems with this.  It sounded like a good (and cost effective) plan.  However, it's becoming quite difficult to ignore his requests to have some of whatever we're having.  Also, even if we refused him any food, there's almost nothing that we can do to keep him from eating sand and drinking his bucket water.

So, I've given in and have started putting some frozen fruit (papayas, mangoes, and bananas) into this awesome little mesh "nibbler" for him to suck/gnaw on.  He LOVES it!

1st class 1st trip

Last week, we took our first trip off of the rock... to another rock... the Big Island.  We booked two days working our favorite job (The Four Seasons) and my wonderful mom was available to watch Gordy while we worked, so we packed up the family and made the trip.  

As expected, the Four Seasons did not disappoint!  Our room was equipped with a diaper genie, a crib, and a basket with all kinds of baby goodies which included a bib with Gordy's name embroidered on it.  It should be mentioned that there was a miscommunication somewhere at the hotel because the bib actually read "Gordo", but it was the thought that counted :)  The bathtub also had a cute note welcoming "Gordo" to the hotel.

Turns out, the hotel was spot on.  "Gordo" is a much more appropriate name for him.  In preparation for the trip, I spent weeks saving up 5 bags of 3oz of milk so that my mom would have plenty of food for Gordy during the time that we were working.  Boy was I a rookie...  Gordy polished off 4 of the 5 bags before dinnertime the first day.  So, I spent that night hand-pumping (I didn't pack the electric pump) my milk into a plastic water bottle so that he would have enough milk to tide him over the next day.  Thankfully, as Todd so eloquently puts it, I'm "a cow", so the manual pumping only took about an hour to store up another 8oz.

In the end, the trip went really well.  Todd and I were able to work our favorite job, and Gordy and my mom seemed to have a great time together.  Thanks Mom!