Bottle Schmottle, Give Me FOOD!

The bottle days may not be over, but we feel great to know our boy is eating regular human food (well, not regular in the sense of rice powder and breastmilk, but we like to equate it to Rice Chex and 2%)! Where has the time gone?!? Here is Wilken eating his first taste of rice cereal. He loved it, and even grabbed the spoon to shovel it in even fasterHere he is eating bananas and rice cereal mixed together. His favorite so far.

He loves to use his fingers to savor the taste.If he's anything like his father, not only will he enjoy food (and a lot of it), but he'll enjoy a variety of items. We're thinking at this rate a good ol' Ribeye is around the corner!

Happy Belated 5 Month Birthday!

Wilken has been 5 months old for just over one week and so much has happened. He is starting to smile so much more readily, although something or someone needs to be really funny to make him laugh aloud. He received his newest toy, a Bumbo chair. Ryan wasn't pleased with the yellow, but the selection was limited. Wilken doesn't seem to mind. We captured a few shots of Wilken in his final days of sleeping on the couch. During one of those days, he decided to morph into a half baby/half feline creature. Why are the days of napping on the couch over you may ask? Because little Wil is rolling over! He has rolled over 5 times over the last month (yes, Elanor has observed each and every occurrence). As of yesterday (10/21), he is officially a baby who can roll over from both stomach to back and back to stomach. Elanor found him in many different positions yesterday from where she originally left him. At one point, he was rolled up against the rails of the crib with his arm stuck underneath his body as he cried out for a little assistance. Most of the time, he is thrilled with his new found ability. Here he is after he made his way off of his blanket onto the rug...he is very pleased with himself has you can see. Wil's friend Aden and his mom Julie came to visit for a few nights this past week. The little guys took an interest in one another, played side by side, and annoyed one another with their whining and crying during one particularly long day in the car with their moms (see Aden's blogs for further details). It was a very fun visit overall, although the boys got a bit out of their normal routine. Here's a shot of Wil and Aden at Rory's parents' house. Coming soon...the most amazing part of the week yet. Pictures and video (courtesy of Julie) of little Wil eating rice cereal. Yes, that's right. As of 10/17, Wil has eaten 6 meals of organic brown rice cereal.

Wilken Cooper and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

It all started with the pizza. The night before "the day," Mom decided to eat pizza. She says she always forgets that pizza doesn't agree with me, but I think it is all related to her lack of will power. She says one day I will discover the joys of pizza, but as of now, all I know is that I spit up all day long after a night of her indulgence. Here is a picture of me and my buddy Megan, as she consoles me, on the night of mommy's binge. As you can see by my wet onesie, I have already begun to have some problems.

I decided to get back at mommy by getting up every one to two hours that night to fuss and complain. Once she came to pick me up, I would fake like I was fast asleep and as soon as she put me down in my crib, I would open my eyes wide and fuss some more. So there! Sometimes, I would wait until I heard her just get into her warm bed and start to fall asleep and then I would start my fussing. I then decided to get up at 3:00 a.m. and pretend like it was morning. I chatted away and squealed with glee in my crib, which mom could hear on the monitor, so that she would come and bring me to her bed so that I could get some rest for crying out loud. It's funny how long it has taken her to figure me out. Finally I decided to get up at 5:00 in the morning for the day, instead of my usual 6:30 to 7:30...spitting up all the while.

Well, I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed....so mommy decided to take me on a walk with daddy early in the morning. If you think I have a touch of a smile in this picture,
you are wrong. I am not happy one bit. I didn't like my bouncy chair or my jumperoo. I let her know by whining all day if I wasn't held just so, and if she wasn't standing up.

By 3:00 in the afternoon, mommy was getting to her wits end so she brought out my new green blanket...satiny on one side and velvety on the other...oooohhh it was NICE! I got to be naked (for longer than just 10-15 mintues) and I got a wet washrag to chew on and that was just the trick I needed. I had a blast and the rest of the day was cake.

Just Sittin' Around The House

Granted he's not REALLY sitting up yet, but here are some shots of Wilken kind of propping himself up by his arms and mostly by the fact that he has incredible flexibility and because he's not made of jelly. We're excited to post a blog of him actually sitting up with a straight back and him holding a toy with both hands, but that may be a few more weeks/months.

Bottom's Up

Not once. Not even twice. Wilken has now taken a bottle 3 times within the last week. We were so overjoyed that we totally forgot about all the times he wailed and refused to take Mommy's breastmilk from any other source than it's natural one. Since 6 weeks of age (that's what we thought the books said. Only after his constant refusal did we re-read the sections and realizedthey actually recommended 4 weeks) we have been struggling to accomplish this feat.

Movie theatre...HERE WE COME!!!