Basil has made it to 5 months of age. I have cropped his chair portraits a bit for better comparison and added a couple of outtakes from this time around.
As you can see, his stomach muscles are developing, and he is nearly sitting up by his own strength.
Birthday
Going back in time, on the day following my birthday, Nov 21st, Basil spent his second evening with babysitters. These were the Selkings, and I believe there are photos of his first kiss (from Evangeline), but that will have to come later after we’ve seen and potentially censored it.
Sort of at the last moment I chose a Puerto Rican restaurant that I thought we’d been to before. It was called La Palma, but it’s now clear I was thinking of Las Palmas, a fancy Mexican restaurant.
When we drove by I was not impressed
but the people were super friendly, and the food was much, much better than the Ukrainian food we had tried the night before.
Lizzy kept the E-phone handy in case there were any major E’s (besides me, that is). And this time I think she really enjoyed herself – she wasn’t just pretending or she became really good at pretending.
Thanksgiving
In excitement to meet his Aunt Katina and her family at Thanksgiving, Basil donned a cute hooded bath towel she made him before he had a name.
LC = Little Cap
Once in Minneapolis, Basil wasted little time in making his acquaintance with cousin Stella!
They were really bosom buddies from the start.
Basil met lots of new friends:
Proyiayia Stella
Propapou Mike
Great Aunt Katina
Uncle Jeff
Great Aunt Jude
His future cross-country coach, Zhao
Our friend Betty
Great Uncle Bill
Proyiayia Stella and Papou Chris made a great Thanksgiving dinner that satisfied me until the next morning, though the Boosalis clan somehow saved room for more pasta at suppertime that I passed up.
While I was in Minneapolis, I noticed a really cool fashion trend and decided it was time to jump on the bandwagon. Supposedly it helps keep your neck warm. I present to you my new hair-do:
Whatever you want to call this haircut, it is definitely “Achy Breaky.”
Really, that became this
It was just time for my 1.5 year cut, but with my newfound freedom I’ve been wearing hats like crazy, which is a plus in cold winter weather.
When we got back to Chicago, we were thrilled to spend some time with our friends, John, Lila, Claire, and Mark. We had dinner, and Lila gave Basil a very fun book. He’s already reading it on his own.
One last piece of news: the rheumatologists at UIC have informed me that I do not have lupus but do still have lupus anticoagulant. So I’ll be a rat poison man for life. It’s better than failing organs!
~Eric












































































































