Come on. I've gotten to wake up to this dude every day for the last half a year. I am feeling pretty lucky.

In the last six months of Perry, we've discovered:

- His sneaky, demanding sense of humor. If it's not actually funny, he won't laugh. And if you reuse old material too much, forget about it. He can and will heckle you until you cry.

- He is a cuddle bug, through and through. The best feeling in the entire world is slow dancing with his head on your shoulder and his little hand rubbing your back.

- That his favorite way to communicate displeasure is a fake cough that morphs into an indignant, pissed-off yell at the end.

- That he would rather lay in his crib and talk for an hour than actually fall asleep and take a nap. I have hard video monitor evidence.

- That we miss him when he's asleep at night.

- That if you turn on music, he will freeze and get a look on his face much like this.

- That he likes mom's music more than dad's (he drew a line in the sand by choosing his U2 lullaby cd as his favorite).

- That he's easily the best thing ever to happen to us.











We love you kid.

Perry acting cool with his friends at the bus stop.


Growing up, my family had a healthy tradition of family vacations. Come hell or high water, my mom made travel happen, whether it was a camping trip on a shoestring or a family cruise. So I told Jon he could blame her for my constant trip scheming. After enough pestering, Jon made a monumental effort to clear his crazy work schedule and we took our first family vacation to Seattle.

And it was awesome.

We ate like kings. We got unexpectedly upgraded to the top floor of the W. We spent all day long just hanging out, doing fun stuff, taking pictures and talking. Perry was a champ. It was exactly what I needed to sate the travel bug for at least a couple weeks.

We waited to bless this kid until he was four months old so that our out-of-town family could be there. And this four month-old looked like a seven month-old. But he just looks like a total and complete miracle to me. We had to wait a long time for this blessing to become a reality and he honestly is the sweetest happiness that we could have hoped for. All in all, a really special day.

When Perry was born, I wanted to start doing something that would help document how much he would grow over the first year. So every week I have taken these pictures. And it's kind of insane.

This was the first week.



And this is last week.




Aside from the obvious changing light issues (doh), my child has also doubled in size. Holy crap.

There is much love when it comes to the following friends, from both Perry and me.



Perry's makeout sessions with Sophie the Giraffe have been CRAY-ZAY. But seriously.




I had a little stuffed raccoon as a kid that I loved, so I admit some pushing of this one. But it didn't take much. Perry loves falling asleep in his carseat with his little lovey tucked under his chin. He also loves napping with it but he keeps pulling it all the way over his face so we're not quite there yet.



Garishly bright? Check. Lots of plastic? Check. Fits comfortably in your mouth from any number of configurations? Check.



I love watching Perry discover how to play with his play gym. I could just watch him for hours. He realizes that he can create noise and movement and his face lights up. It's the best.



I put a bunch of these b&w illustrations all around his changing table and this is Perry's dude. He smiles at this owl bigger than he smiles at me (but still not nearly as big as he smiles at Jon). Not sure what to think about the fact that he chose the creepiest one of the whole bunch to be obsessed with. That owl looks pretty strung out to me.



I think this puppet is a rabbit? Perry doesn't see species.



Perry starts to giggle every time I say the words "Freight Train!" He has loved this book from day one. I've even done tests with holding up other books and this is clearly his favorite. This book is awesome but I'm a little worried this could lead to an interest in Thomas the Train.

I hate Thomas.



This is a new addition to the fold but it's already one of Perry's favorites. Magda is slowly going insane thinking that we have somehow found a replacement for her. Poor Magda.

This kid is thoroughly obsessed with his feet. Can't get enough. He is shoving them in his mouth any chance he gets.

Perry has had a really hard time getting the whole idea of naps down. I did the same thing as a baby. I think he just doesn't want to miss anything. One of my favorite times of the day, though, is when we play together on the floor as he's starting to wind down. It's pretty special to me-- I feel like it's one of the times that I see him at his very clearest.

For the longest time, Perry refused to participate in "tummy time." He wouldn't fuss-- he'd just lay there and look at you like "really? we're doing this? and you call it 'tummy time'?"

Until this day, when he just popped up and rolled over and the works. He just wanted to buck the expectations. Not sure which parent he picked that up from. Except that I'm pretty sure it was from Jon.

He still looks disgusted with the whole thing sometimes, though.

Part 1:



Concentrate.


Part 1.5:



Naw, for real. Concentrate. This shiz is for real.


Part 2:



Strike.


Part 3:



Allow yourself a moment of smugness.


Part 4:





Plan for the next time under the cloak of adorable innocence.