September

Good day. September is the slowest time in Key West for tourism. This creates a lot of good deals at local restaurants for mommy and daddy. Mommy and a friend of hers trade off baby sitting the others child in exchange for "date nights", so far we have only done this once each but maybe more in the future (its free). Holden is less interested in nursing lately which to me signals his first step towards manhood or this is just a phase. His eye sight and awareness grow sharper each day, noticing airplanes, lizards, birds and dogs. This kid goes crazy for dogs and today he was able to touch the neighbors. He can pull up to standing which he does in his crib and then cries to be put down. However, after only a few days of that he seems to be able to get himself down on his own. He uses a careless technique throwing himself backwards onto blankets and stuffed bears with a large grin about his mug.

 Below are some pictures from around the house.

Loves the fans. Can pull cord for "ON" or "OFF"

Wants to floss if only Aunt Sarah could show him

"UP"

Likes the outdoors, loves his hose.

I call him One Tooth

What did you just call me?

Proud Daddy

.....and he can do this

Hurricane weekend

Holden's Blog is back from a hiatus that was too long. I apologize to the loyal and recreational readers. This break in communication does not signify a lull in Holden's adventures, completed tasks or newly acquired skills, simply a lackadaisical "vacay" by the author. First off I will tell any readers who also have sub one year-olds that Holden has still never slept through the night. Instead of feelings of inadequacy when we hear of other children sleeping soundly I have chosen to think positively.  Meaning, Holden must be so intelligent, so keenly aware that his brain cant take the hours of REM numbness. So, he has that going for him.

Probably the biggest news is that Holden now goes "mimi-mimi-doodoo" into an adult toilet. Now before anyone calls bull, let me assure you that this is true. Mommy is so completely in tune with his bowel movements that she can place him on a toilet, albeit reverse, and he will go almost on command. Daddy has even had success a couple of times.

Holden's style of crawl is still in honor of Daddy, commando style. His style of feeding is in honor of a hyena and his style of affection is a hand to the face in an attempt to remove ones nose. We are always showing him how to be gentle with other humans but he just has one problem, too much love to give.
He also dances now, to anything really. Some sort of salute to a Beyonce hip popping. 
Mommy has been vigilant about getting together with other toddlers and babies. So Holden has a large group of friends to choose from and interact with.

Holden loves playing with Daddy

and reading

Holden can't get enough of Mommy's homemade hummus. It's actually a problem. We have to introduce it last in a meal or he'll reject other foods.

At this writing Hurricane Isaac Cat 1 is south of Cuba and on its way here. Any readers on the Gulf coast though will likely experience a stronger storm that we do. We have all that we need and are expecting high winds with intermittent electricity. Holden says "don't worry".

North Georgia

I don't have much time to type my usual anecdotal essays, so I leave you with some photos of our most recent trip.

North Georgia hills near Dahlonega.

Despite having plenty of toys this remains Holden's most prized possession.

New faces with new foods

A friend of Holden, Ben.

Enjoys the labyrinth of the table.

A rare moment of peace during a feeding.

Gran Gran's cooking was excellent as always.

First time in a swing. Loved it.

Hiking with Daddy

Holden cools his feet after a long walk

Amicolola Falls, GA

BEETS!

Double Rainbow over KW

Summer

An avid reader of biological journals

Born into great wealth, Holden enjoys ONE of his pools.

Holden's first Summer on Earth is going well. Despite two weeks of tropical depression Debbie giving us high winds and much rain the sun has come out again. Holden continues to go to a pool or beach every couple of days and attends Kindermusik with gusto; as he enjoys watching older children behave or misbehave, as the case may be. Aunt Jane came to visit last week as well as Mommy's friend from high school, Samita.

Many updates to discuss so lets get to it. Holden's diet continues to diversify with a small helping of fried egg over hard this morning. By far the biggest news though is Holden's ability to do what we are going to call crawling. On his stomach he will slap the ground in front of him with both hands and pull himself forward. This evening before dinner after two helpings of watermelon (pictured below)

This device has frozen fruit inside a mesh screen which is sucked on by the user resulting in a narcotic like addiction

he crawled a distance of eight feet, a new record. Holden and sleep continue to be the yin and yang of our universe. He has yet to sleep through the night consistently and prefers to call for mothers milk at least twice a night. This has led to an 'end of the beginning' if you will by Daddy getting up to calm him back to sleep.

Aunt Jane

He has outgrown his original car seat and had his second haircut today, just a fresh edge-up. He also babbles and yells baby obscenities at the world around him in wonderment and declaration.

Pulled his "house" down

Last week Daddy signed on "the line which is dotted" (for those Glengarry Glen Ross fans out there) to carry his enlistment until the year 2020. After which he will decide what to do with his life.

Daddy's Re-enlistment gift

Tired guys

Go to the link below to see some of Holden's first crawling. Take care and take time.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKqF7EUWotk