Eric and Griffin have a similar stylist it seems. Only one of these incidents was an accident. Eric likes his little mini-me.

We took a trip to Montana a couple weeks ago to visit Grandma and Grandpa Summers, and I'm just now posting those pictures. Griffin enjoys the attention of being fawned over and carried everywhere, so he had a good time. The pictures to the right are pictures after a new game I invented called "The sheet game". The sheet game is playing under a sheet, basically, so that baby stays in bed in the morning while I try to sleep a few more minutes. It can be played in the afternoon in the hopes that baby takes a nap because he's playing under a sheet, gets tired, and in effect is already in bed. It doesn't work too often though. Griffin is cheesing it up for that top right picture I think. He knows what his fans want.





We took a little hike with Griffin as well. He actually seems to like his new baby backpack (he was getting too heavy for his front-carrier) and fell asleep on the trail twice.

































While Griffin's head is in the 55th percentile for his age in circumference, this picture (above Right) appears as if perhaps his body is therefore in the 5th percentile. Alien monster baby.

We have more fun pictures of Griffin playing dress-up for Halloween and for a wedding the next day. Those will be posted shortly! Hopefully tonight...

I had these photos sitting on my computer with no time to post for the past couple weeks. Griffin is still a pretty good on-camera baby. He seems to pose for the camera as if he knows what it is.
Not too long ago, I dreaded giving Griffin his bath, but now he can't get enough of the water and the faucet. If you are carrying him around and he spots a faucet, he'll kick his legs in excitement and reach for it. He likes to play in the water, and gets upset when we turn the faucet off.
Griffin is also sitting now. He is still a little wobbly, but getting better each day. He is beginning to inspect people a little bit more, so we are fearing that stranger anxiety will soon take effect.  He starts at a new daycare on Monday, so hopefully it won't happen before then!

Griffin is now officially six months old, and he's working on some new skills. He's trying to roll from his back to his stomach, and getting pretty close there. Tonight he sat up by himself on the floor with no support and held it there for a good two minutes or so before the weight of his head got the best of him.
He still generally humors me taking his picture. Here he's sitting in the same place he was in previous pictures.  Our couch cover came in, so now his backdrop is tan instead of white. We could start our own little portrait studio in the living room with our very own bland brown backdrop.

All smiles, Griffin is quite social. He is a good little performance baby, as if he knows exactly when to put on a show. He was giving me a serious look all morning, but when a lady in the elevator so much as looked at him, he started beaming and laughing, cooing and making happy sounds like I flipped on his show pony switch. Aunt Jenni made him a "show pony" onesie, and now it's coming true.  

Griffin continues to get food all over his face while eating. He is hardly civilized just yet. He's now on to green beans. The first time he tried them he did not seem particularly pleased, but now he seems to actually like them.
Griffin sharing the good times and bad with his glowing seahorse friend.
Fin wearing the shirt and converse knitted booties that aunt Jenni made.

Fin McCool is a fictional friendly giant in old Irish tales. When we knew we wanted to call him "Fin" we briefly (very briefly) entertained the middle name "Mc Cool" but vetoed it when we considered how it would look on a license.
Fin likes reacting to the camera. Too bad we don't live in LA anymore ;)
More of the same. Are you tired of pictures yet? While I can take the same picture 100 times and look at each one differently, I hear not everyone is as interested in other people's babies. They are starting to feel like repeats, but we'll keep taking them nonetheless. 

Here are a few of the pool pictures we had to have developed from a few weeks back. Griffin is sporting his sunglasses and striped hat.
Griffin seems to like the camera.
Griffin sporting our friend Michelle's homemade "Z" shirt. I thought the striped socks were a nice touch.
Griffin likes his soft little mini stuffed-animal-slash-blanket-thing. He likes putting these types of things in his mouth constantly.
This week Griffin started eating a little bit of oatmeal. Yes, it was a mess. The doctor said he may or may not go for it, but to at least try feeding it to him once a day. He took to it well, grabbing the spoon himself and shoving it in his mouth and trying to drink from the bowl. Mommy was not fast enough at shoveling it in already. Baby still likes his mobile, but seems to prefer sitting up a bit (middle picture). Day care says he is constantly trying to sit up, and should be mastering the skill before we know it.

Just lounging around...
It seems Fin knows how to ham it up.
Griffin stalks and attacks his prey. That stuffed monkey never had a chance.
Who doesn't love a grid of baby faces?

cute hoodie.

So it has been awhile since the last post. I was still in Montana after the time I last posted, and then got a bit behind with things once back in Baltimore. So hopefully we'll be better about getting new pictures posted here on out. Griffin is changing at a rapid pace. He is definitely growing an extra chin or two, and has become way more alert and observant. His "tummy time" is going much better too.

More pictures of him with Aunt Kristin in Montana. The bottom one is his reflection in a mirror. He enjoys looking at the baby in the mirror, often laughing and "talking" to him.
Griffin has taken to a rag he discovered at Grandma and Grandpa Zollars' house. He likes to chew on it and apparently hug it too. He puts anything and everything in his mouth these days.
Most pictures we snap have him with his hand in his mouth, or in the process of putting it there. The top right photo here was taken when Griffin got home from the pool, and still had his baby sunglasses on his head.  We tried to take him in for the free baby swim lesson at the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance pool party, but it was a no go with such chilly water . He did enjoy watching the other babies and taking in the scenery though. We have a couple pictures of him at the pool, but I'll post those next time because they are on a film camera that actually has to be developed the old-fashioned way. Until then...

Week 18 was eventful. Griffin and I have been in Montana with his Grandma and Grandpa Summers and Aunt Kristin. I had an art booth at the arts festival here in Bozeman, so it has been busy, but we managed to get some pictures in.  We have definitely seen some changes in Griffin in the past couple of weeks. He is responding much more to things going on around him, grabbing at toys, and doing well with tummy time. He loves Kristin's bouncing Tigger toy (above).
Dark Blue seems to be Griffin's color. His eyes are currently a very dark blue to match.
Griffin continues to enjoy being outside. If he is fussy, taking him out is one of our first moves. It seems he never fails to stick anything we hand him into his mouth. He's using both hands quite effectively for this purpose now.
Here he is on his stomach and not crying! Bouncing Tigger helps him stay in this position a bit longer without complaining. Aunt Kristin has been doing some babysitting since we've been here as well.
Griffin is now a little bit ticklish. He laughs when we tickle his tummy as long as he is in a good mood.