Hop Hop a Horsey

Terry's grandpa used to bounce him on his knee and sing an old nursery rhyme called "hop hop a horsey." So Terry loves to bounce Liam and sing the same song. And Liam loooooves bouncing (just remember the jumperoo).

So one afternoon Terry was playing with Liam on the couch, bouncing him and playing with him. And whenever Terry would stop their game, Liam would start bouncing himself up and down, as if eager to get back to playing again. I thought it was totally charming, so I grabbed the camera to capture his little eagerness.

Baby "Jokes"

Liam is a wonderful, laughing baby. When he really cracks a huge smile, or lets loose with a hearty giggle, it lights up my whole soul.

I've taken to calling the things that make him laugh "jokes." Often the things that make him laugh seem totally random, with no rhyme or reason. But I suspect there is an underlying logic to them.

For a while Terry would send him into gales of laughter by running his chin across his chest from shoulder to center, and then looking up at him. By accident I got him laughing by looking up and moving my head in a circle until I was looking at him. The theme seemed to be head movement, but it was more specific than that. After a little experimentation, I realized that what he was laughing at was the change in perspective from seeing our faces in profile to seeing them full on. Sure enough, he would repeatedly laugh hysterically simply if you looked left and then looked right at him.

While visiting Kerry and Sara in Virginia, Kerry babysat the baby while we went to the wedding of a friend. As we were leaving, Kerry took Liams little chicken toy and, quite reasonably, started moving it and making a clucking sound. The baby dissolved into crazy laughter. So on the road trip home whenever he got fussy I would repeatedly tell the chicken "joke."

The other day on the bed I was making goofy hand wiggles at him and he was giggling. We did this for nearly five minutes before we were all laughing. Terry got the video to capture the fun.

One of the things I love about this video is that you can see him anticipating the pattern...he knows when the punchline is coming.

Bathtime Fun

Liam is kind of a predictable cut-up in the bath. He seems to love bath time, although it doesn't make him laugh. His face looks all serious, like he's all about getting down to the business of bathtime. And the business of bathtime involves kicking his legs to make waves and chasing one of two floating animals around his little tub. Every time it is the same ritual.




I really wish this video had subtitles. It would go something like "Aquasize. No, hippo. No, ducky. No, hippo again. Ok, aquasize. Wait, hippo. No, ducky. Back to aquasize."

Road trip to Virginia

Early in September we took a road trip from Tennessee to Virginia for the wedding of one of Terry's good college friends, Justin. We were lucky enough to stay at the home of one of our grad school friends Kerry. Kerry and his wife Sarah just moved to Virginia when he finished his PhD and took a position at James Madison University.

They have a lovely home in hilly and rustic Staunton, VA. We enjoyed coffee in the homey downtown area, pizza from the local "it" spot (rosemary and grapes!), and capped off the visit at the semi-famous Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant and Bakery. A no-nonsense waitress takes our order and gently tolerates our requests for some substitutions (you can almost see her thinking "y'all aren't from around here"). We all take her advice and order the biscuits and gravy. It does not come served with a Lipitor, but probably should. Terry and I each get a piece of pie to go, because the pie is, after all, what this place is really famous for (see the cookbook).

Apart from galavanting around darling Staunton, we went to the wedding at the University of Virginia chapel, and then the reception at a stunning Virginia vineyard. While we were out at the wedding, Kerry and Sarah watched Liam. Both of them were totally charmed by the little man's magic. He, in turn, was a big fan of the chicken noises Kerry could make. That one was good for silly giggles for several days after we got home.

On Saturday we went to a tailgate in one of the historic UVa gardens, and then a football game. A good time was had by all, and when we got back, it was the first time I'd walked into our house in Nashville and had that gut reaction, "ahh, it's good to be home."

Wearing Dad's Vandy hat to keep the sun out of Liam's face, eating on the drive to Virginia.

Erin & Terry take on the wedding reception at a gorgeous Virginia vineyard, while grad school friends Sarah and Kerry watch Liam.

Erin with her best friend from childhood, Jenni

Terry gets funky with the man of the hour, Justin

All decked out in UVa gear, in front of the historic Rotunda

We stop off for tomato soup at one of Terry's college haunts.

Father and son kick back at the pregame tailgate hosted by the bride and groom. We take the opportunity to pose a sleepy Liam. No babies were actually harmed in the making of this photo.

Cheering on the 'Hoos.

Liam goes to the pool!

The McDonnell fam joined the YMCA of East Nashville, which apparently has an outdoor pool that is quite the place to be in the summer. Not only do they have a separate kiddie pool, but the main pool has a "zero entry" portion (where you can walk in and it gradually deepens from nothing to pool depth). The main pool also has a cute water fall that looks like a giant mushroom from Mario brothers. The outdoor pool was only open until the end of Labor Day weekend. So we suited up, bought some swim diapers, and headed out to the pool. Thanks to Terry's aunt, he was also outfitted in some awesome swim trunks with matching SPF hat.

The Exersaucer (Video)

Terry's colleague and friend Elizabeth was kind enough to offer us her Exersaucer, which her kids were now too old to use. An Exersaucer seems to be a sort of gold standard toy that, as a parent, you hear about everywhere. We didn't get one before we moved because they are sort of big (as you'll see) and moving it from Chicago just seemed silly.

The one Liam inherited has a circus theme with lots of bells and whistles and fun things to chew on. He loves rocking out in it. And by rocking, I mean that literally. The Exersaucer is intentionally designed to rock a bit to help babies practice balance while standing.

He coos like crazy in this video, and you'll also hear me try to coo back at him. The whole exchange sounds like some crazy foreigner trying to mimic an intricate tonal tribal language...or beluga whales communicating.

Sits, Blocks and Flops

It may take a little while for the video to load. Terry got me a new camera that takes great digital videos. The only problem is that the blog has some issues with big file sizes, so I'm trying the youtube route. We'll see how it goes.

This video really captures his developmental moment. Within the space of about three days he went from a hesitant sitter who flopped over a lot to a really great independent sitter who only occasionally falls when he over-reaches himself.

This video also shows him reaching further and further and really intentionally grabbing for particular toys. I love that the new independence of sitting is also allowing him to express more of his own emerging preferences.

That over-reaching and flopping is supposedly the middle step towards kids learning how to crawl. The flopping transforms into more purposive belly flops, that eventually morph into him realizing he can tuck his feet under himself and support himself more on his hands. So that is the direction we're heading, but so far no action on the crawling yet.

Bath time with Liam

Liam has the best Ducky robe. Enjoy!









PS-What Terry didn't mention is that this ducky bathrobe is the very first thing we ever bought for the baby. I bought it right after I took the pregnancy test and before I even told Terry. It was on the breakfast tray the morning I told him we were having a baby.

Nashville Sounds

Granted, this isn't baby-related material, but this is our way to keep y'all in the loop. Last Wednesday we took a "get to know Nashville" day and went to see our new minor-league team, the Sounds. Apparently Erin's classmate from high school played for them just two weeks ago before he was called up to the Dodgers. Despite the fact we missed seeing him play, Erin's an instant Sounds fan.


Enjoying our date out.


We bought tickets a few weeks ago ($12!) and got the best seats in the house...front row, directly behind home plate. Check out all the hot in-your-face baseball action!


Why the Sounds mascot isn't some dancing ukulele or Garth Brooks, we don't know. This is Ozzie the generic feline creature whooping up the crowd. If you come to visit during their season, we'll treat you to a home game!

A Day in the Park

Erin took Liam out to enjoy Shelby Park, the vast greenspace just a half block from our house. Liam got into the spirit of things on the swings and with his fancy sunglasses.





This swinging thing rules!


Scoping for ladies...


The paparazzi won't recognize me in these glasses and hat.

Sippy Cup

When we started introducing solids our pediatrician recommended we also begin offering Liam a sippy cup with plain water every day to get him some more hydration and to get him used to the taste of plain water. Because he had already been showing interest in holding or manipulating his bottles, we have been working with letting him hold the sippy handles himself. He is not great at guiding the sippy to his mouth. Once he gets it in two hands he can usually get it close, but he tends to poke his cheek. Then, rather than adjusting his hands so that he gets his mouth, he moves his head and lips until he can get the sippy nub into his mouth.

He really likes mouthing it and chewing on it. He will drink from it from time to time (never more than an ounce at a time), but he hasn't figured out how to lift it high enough to drink himself. So usually I let him experiment with guiding it in, and I help hold the bottom, stabilizing the jerky flight of the sippy and help tip it high enough to drink.

The sippy is still an experiment in progress. But lately Liam seems to be learning things so quickly lately!

Deep Thoughts by Liam

Grandma Schultz likes to "talk" to Liam and say "I'm Dr Fraiser Crane and I'm listening..." Pops McDonnell talks to him with little Daffy quacks and Liam talks back.

Lately he has been getting more and more vocal. Sometimes it is sweet little babbling. Sometimes it is experimenting with different consonant sounds. He already does "ba" "ma" "na" and "pa." Sometimes it is crazy screeching. This video captures a cute little baby lecture by Dr. Liam (and ends with him characteristically yanking on Terry's arm hair).

Liam goes Jump Crazy

Shortly after arriving in Nashville we were trolling Craigslist to see if there were any fun things we could pick up for Liam and we found an add for a gently used Jumperoo for just $15. The jumperoo seemed kind of fun, like a little seat suspended by four bungees. We thought it would give Liam a little sense of independent movement.

Before anyone gets on their high horse to warn us, we are aware that the use of walkers and to a certain extent jumpers has been associated with infants who tend to walk on their toes rather than on their heels, and that prolonged suspension from such seats is bad for hip formation. The world is just one big giant hazard for babies some days. At any rate, our policy is that he gets about 15 minutes a day if he seems to be enjoying it (and we don't even do that every day), and we just don't think those 15 minutes are going to kill anybody. When he stands (with support) he stands nice and flat footed.

For a while I would even sit on the floor in front of him and feed him his lunch of pureed solids while he was in the jumper. It was pretty hysterical, because whenever he would get really excited or impatient for the food he would, of course, jump. So if I wasn't careful with my spoon flight my timing would be off. And lets just say I had to swab food out of his nostrils a few times.

At any rate, check him out. Does that not look like a kid having a good time? So here is a little bite of baby joie de vivre for ya...