7 Months

Basil has made it to seven months, but he doesn’t look too happy about it.

He has changed quite a bit, however, from the days of his youth.

As you may be able to see from the photo above, he has finally become a capable sitter.
Here he is demonstrating in a homemade diaper cover.

Recently he has gained the tip of one of his top front teeth.  He has been using it on several items:

Papa’s baseball

Homemade sourdough bread

Avocado

And his first meat – chicken

Basil was heard saying, “Breastfeeding?  Who needs breast when you can have thigh!”

Tonight our plan is to try beef.

It also seems that Basil recently discovered his tongue.  Days after this video he continues sticking his tongue out at our friendly visitors.

Recently, we purchased a new baby carrier because he has become a little too heavy for Tara’s wonderful Baby Bjorn.  We went for an Ergo carrier, even though it can’t be work with Basil facing out.  Here we are modeling it:

What is that in my hand?  Oh yes, it’s the Ferber method.  We have adopted this after progressively later nights with Basil who simultaneously refused to sleep without breast feeding and refused to breast feed when he was tired.  Since we started it we have all been sleeping better and been generally kinder to one another. It has been difficult, however, listening to him cry before sleep.  Hopefully the cry periods will, indeed, become shorter and shorter.

One exciting outing we had recently was to the birthday party of one of Basil’s friends.  He knows Aidan from play group, and we were all invited to Aidan’s traditional Korean 1st birthday party.

The birthday boy or girl is supposed to grab items laid out on a table, which will show what will happen to him or her later in life.  There are several items representing things such as wealth, academics, and athleticism.  Aidan was supposed to choose three items.  His parents illegally snuck in a stethoscope, but he ended up choosing $100 bills, coins, and rice – all of which represent wealth.

We had a great time and were thankful for the invite.

Over and out.

~Eric

Baby Food

Basil has started an educational diet.  He appears to have covered foods at the beginning of the alphabet with great gusto.  On Thursday, he enjoyed Broccoli (we have evidence this was truly consumed) and had another run-in with a Banana—this time successful.  On Friday, he ate Avocado and Apple.  Unlike the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Basil’s Saturday plans do not include a piece of cake, an ice cream cone, a pickle, a piece of Swiss cheese, salami, a lollipop, a piece of cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake, or a piece of watermelon.

He’ll probably stick with healthy vegetables.  Perhaps Carrots or Cucumbers…

See his munching skills below.

You can see one of his teeth in the second picture above.

He really got into the broccoli

“Hey, where’s my broc… ooooh, this tastes different.”

With apple waiting, the avocado was suspect until Momma tried to take some away!

Did you like it, Basil?

Yeah, it sure was a mess, but he enjoyed the post-bath cuddling.

~Elizabeth

Ed.’s Note: Basil has been on the go since he’s learned to crawl.  He hasn’t even stopped to learn how to sit up on his own.  However he has learned something else:

~Eric

Half a Year!

Our six month update is rather overdue.  But here’s a couple photos in the “chair of the months”.

Basil weighed in at 17.3 pounds and continues to grow longer, reaching 26(?) inches.  Unfortunately Basil’s 6 month appointment included a lot of injections.  In addition to the usual 6 month vaccinations, Basil had one “catch up” shot because he didn’t start the Hep B vaccination at birth AND two flu vaccines (seasonal and H1N1).  That’s five shots in two little thighs.  (Well, not that little… proportionately speaking.)  Poor Basil ran quite a fever and was not a happy camper afterwards.  He is fully recovered now and back to playing vigorously.  He seems particularly fond of canisters

Basil is also fond of his cousin Stella.  Her picture is (usually) on the refrigerator and he likes to pat it and babble at it.  We can’t wait to see Stella in person again!!!

The week after our return from Kansas was spent in the apartment… entirely.  I caught an infection and snow poured down, so we snuggled in.  Basil didn’t seem too phased.

And Eric brought some “outside” in for me.

Basil liked it too.

I’ve never been so excited for springtime in all the long winters of my Midwestern existence. Basil’s crawling skills are also improving and it will be so much fun to see him maneuvering the outside world when it’s warm outside.

~Elizabeth

Ed.’s Note: Elizabeth failed to mention that we have recently given Basil the chance to taste some of his first solid foods.  The first choice was not a success.

The ripe banana was a bit too slipper for him to hold, but the little tastes he did get told us he wasn’t yet ready for it.  The little bit of orange he tasted the next day gave us a happier face, and he had no problem grasping onto a once-bitten apple and gnawing on the open flesh.  Slowly but surely we’ll try more, but I don’t think he’s ready for ice cream yet, Yiayia and Papou!

~Eric

More on Toys

Our good friends, John and Lila, recently sent us a book for Christmas, called The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections by Amanda Blake Soule.

Elizabeth just read to me the passage below about toys (pp. 29-33), and it really brought a lot to mind.

Firstly, it reminds me of the Rousseau-influenced post about toys I wrote sometime last year, and this may be part of the reason they thought the book would be well suited to us.

It also follows well both Erika’s comment regarding the best toy being a water bottle partly filled with beans as well as Basil’s newfound fascination with kitchen items.

Excerpt:

THE BEST TOYS

Our lives today are full of more and more “stuff.”  The things we have around us and the things we see in our daily lives all greatly affect the way in which we create.  Before you bring toys into your home, I encourage you to think about the following questions and apply them not only to new toys coming in, but the toys already in your home as well.

Is It Beautiful?

Do the tools and toys around you evoke a feeling of beauty?  By choosing carefully what toys you bring into your home, you can encourage a love and appreciation for good design and craftsmanship.  Choosing to surround ourselves with beautiful design can be a great source of inspiration.  Choose toys that are handcrafted, when possible.  Search out toys that feel good to touch and hold and are visually pleasing.  Think beyond the big-box store for your children’s toys and look to antique shops, thrift shops, your local woodworker, and “natural” toy catalogs (see links below).  Finding toys that will hold up to lots of use and play—versus poorly made toys that will break easily—will encourage your children to value human work and experience over consumption.

Is It Simple?

Many modern toys are sophisticated and technologically complicated, which certainly have their place and importance in our lives.  But the downside is that they can often eliminate a need for imagination when playing.  If there’s a toy that does it all for you, there’s little room left for creativity.  Think about selecting toys that can be used in a multitude of ways and that evoke imagination and creative expression.  Many classic, simple toys of the past are full of these creative possibilities.  Look beyond the plastic dolls that “do everything” and head toward a simple cloth doll that can grow with a child or a big basket of wooden blocks that can be a toddler’s stacking tower or a child’s fort.  Toys that grow with a child will encourage even more imaginative play; the way they use the toys will change over the years.

What Is It Made Of?

Can you tell how a toy is made?  While there is certainly room and a need for some manufactured plastic in our lives, we also need to make much more room for simple, natural materials.  Does your children’s toy selection show an adequate representation of nature?  Is there wood?  Cloth? Natural fibers?  Not only do these toys feel good to play with and connect children to the outside world, but they are also often strong enough to last a lifetime and even more.  I think we should consider our toy materials in the same way that people talk about whole foods: the closer to the original source, the better.  Can you picture your toy growing somewhere on the earth?  Wooden blocks, felt balls, and cotton dolls are often some of the best toys.

What Senses Does It Use?

Do the toys in your home evoke the use of many senses?  We experience the world through our senses—with our ability to see, hear, feel, touch, and taste—and children are particularly sensitive to this as they discover the world with fresh eyes, ears, and so on.  Try to include at least one toy in your home that represents each of the senses.  And the ones that encourage play while using more than one sense?  Even better!

How Is It Organized?

In our own adult creative lives, it helps the creative spirit tremendously when things are accessible, easy to find, and available.  Beginning a project seems much less like a monumental feat when the materials are readily at hand.  If too much time is spent looking for what you need, creativity often goes by the wayside.  Keeping toys organized in baskets, boxes, and on shelves (all within easy reach for little ones) helps so that children know just where they are when inspiration strikes.

Is There Too Much?

When it comes to playthings for our children, I can’t emphasize enough that for creative play, less really is more in regard to toys.  Between generous gifts from family members, hand-me-downs, and accessible inexpensive toys, it is quite likely that our homes are cluttered and full of playthings.  A sad product of our modern world is that our children are taught early on to over-consume and to want more, more, and more.  Chances are that they do not need more toys, but fewer.  When there are too many things around, there’s little room for imagination.  Clean out some of the toys you have now that are not used often, and think more critically about the ones you let into your home.  Tell family members your philosophy and ask them to share it when they make purchases for your children.  Rotating toys in and out of the play space can also be a helpful way to use fewer at a time, and it can provide a “new” way of looking at and “old” toy.

The author cites these websites as sources for natural toys:
www.magiccabin.com
www.novanatural.com
www.rosiehippo.com

We haven’t really explored these sites aside from seeing how incredibly expensive their toys are.  The author’s tack seems a bit more sensible – make the toys yourself.

One of the most memorable toys from my childhood is a Gameboy.  This wasn’t just any Gameboy, though.  My father made it out of wood and nails.  It was painted with fake buttons, and it even had wooden cartridges for the different games that could be inserted.  Talk about using imagination!  I remember taking it to school in 2^nd grade and asking friends if they wanted to try it.

We haven’t made many toys yet for Basil (this book provides lots of suggestions), but we’ve improvised with canisters, Tupperware, and measuring spoons and they are more engaging than many store-bought toys he’s received.

Reflecting upon the gifts received at Christmas, one really stands out as a winner in most of the categories discussed above:

Basil really loves this toy right now, and he doesn’t even understand how he’s “supposed” to play with it yet.  It’s made of wood and is indeed beautiful.  It has bright colors for the visual sense, strong wood for the biting sense, and round surfaces for touching and toppling.  He cannot resist smashing the tower over if he sees it stacked up, and once they’re down he either grabs a circle to chew on or chases the little red ball around the rug (it has a nice little hole in the top to help him pick it up, too).  Once he gets older he’ll learn how to stack them on the pole in different ways – according to sizes and colors – and they will have infinite uses when joined with other blocks or stacking materials.

Thanks, Yiayia Brooke, for the great toy.
Thanks, Erika, for the new toy idea.
And thanks, John and Lila, for the treasure-filled book.  Elizabeth told Basil tonight that as sad as she is to see him growing up already, she is excited for when he’s old enough to explore more of those activities.

~Eric

Part III: Return to Chicago

On our way back to Chicago we decided to spend the night in another motel, and we were glad that we did – Basil was not happy about leaving Kansas.  There were fewer choices of towns based upon when we wanted to stop on the journey.  There was a Girard, IL, but they had no motels.  There was also a town with a bunch of Sears Catalog homes, but it also did not have motels.  We settled on a town called Litchfield, IL, which happened to have the longest running restaurant along Old Route 66, though we chose against going, even if it happened to be open (maybe it finally closed after 80 years).

Since we stopped with only four hours left to Chicago, and since we found out that the Sears homes were closer than we thought, we took a side journey to Carlinville, IL.  According to their tourist info (a town of 5000 has printed tourist info!), Standard Oil opened a couple of mines in the area and needed a quick housing supply.  Where would you turn?  Why, of course – the Sears catalog!  I guess they ordered 156 (apparently 1/3 the size of the town) and 152 remain today, though modified heavily.  When we drove through we were taking guesses as to which houses were actually part of the collection.  People would buy these houses and the Sears company would ship all the parts for a person to build their own home – including the nails.  Wow.

We didn’t take any pictures, but several can be found here.

Eventually we made it safely home, where my back immediately put me out of commission for carrying Basil.  Thus, it didn’t exactly feel like time off for Elizabeth, though I was still helpful as a cook!

Now we’re back to work.

Merry Christmas to our Old Calendar friends!

~Eric

Part II: First Christmas in Kansas

We made it to Kansas just before a heavy ice storm followed by snow, which make the roads very dangerous in a part of the country without city resources for massive road clearing.  Thanks be to God that Evan and his crew made it safely from Lawrence through the thick of it on Christmas Eve.

They brought their dog, Arrow, and took a romp on Christmas morning.

Basil, Dad, and the rest of us stayed warm and toasty inside.

Mom and Dad’s new house in the country looked really great.

Yiayia Brooke and Papou Sam had a great time visiting with baby Basil, who’s almost 6 months old now.

During his time in Kansas he made a lot of progress.  Here’s now doing an “army crawl” almost anywhere he wants to go.

And he has sprouted a tooth or two.  It took some work to get you a photo.

Me – “Can I take a look at your tooth?”

Basil – “Hmm… Let me think about it.”

“Nah, hands off, BUB!”

“Ok, now it’s alright, but take a picture – it’ll last longer!”

While in Kansas, we took time to visit my old teacher, Linda Knoll.

She served us up some homemade minestrone, and we talked about education in Chicago and the Heartland.  Basil hopes to see her again.

We also took time to visit the famed Chicken Annie’s, part of the group of fried chicken providers in S.E. Kansas.

Zoom in on the page for a history of Chicken Annie’s.  It wasn’t too expensive, but the prices have really gone up from when Annie started the place!  Yiayia and Papou were babysitting for us while we were out.  We didn’t know what we’d find when we came home, but we were surprised to find Basil asleep in Yiayia Brooke’s arms.  What a pleasant evening out.  Thanks, Mom and Dad.

We had a great time in Kansas and look forward to our next visit for grandparent time.

~Eric

Part 1: The Journey to Kansas

We are still in the midst of Christmas break, and there is much to report.  Thus, this may become a multi-part post.

Part 1: The Journey to Kansas

With Basil, traveling isn’t as easy or fast as it used to be.  Elizabeth and I used to disagree about whether we would stop for bathroom breaks between absolutely necessary fuel stops.  Nowadays, she gets frequent opportunities to use the restroom because Basil requires regular stops for diaper changes, feeds, and crying feed-attempts.  So, we’ve taken to planning an extra day of travel for longer trips and a stay at some cheap motel along the way.

Whenever we choose to make such a stop, the question arises – where should we stop?  Of course, this is dictated largely by what proportion of the trip we want to take on the first and second day, but another key to the strategy is Roadside America.

This is a fun website that tells you about quirky things to visit all over rural America – especially along highways.  Sometimes it’s as quick and boring as a smiley-faced water tower.  Other times there are sights as interesting as Big Muskie or a George Washington Carver museum in Minneapolis, KS.

For this trip there were several options for our stay in Iowa, but we settled upon visiting a unique tree.  This tree was outside of Atlantic, IA, where there are apparently special LED Christmas light displays, but we chose rather to spend our free time visiting the tree in the middle of nowhere.  And believe me, it was in the middle of nowhere.  We had to drive down miles of gravel roads, some of which were clearly marked “Low Maintenance Road: Enter at Your Own Risk.”  With Basil crying in the backseat and after nearly giving up, we finally reached our treasured destination:

The Tree in the Middle of the Road

No, your eyes are not deceiving you – the tree is indeed smack in the middle of an intersection.  And, as you can see, the tree is much larger than me and appears to likely predate the intersection.  Regardless of whether the chicken or egg came first, it’s really more of a sight when one considers the kind of people who would leave it there – truly in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately, there was nobody around to ask.

I’m glad we didn’t happen upon the tree in the middle of the night unexpectedly, or we might have spent more time in Atlantic, IA, than planned.  Then again, who would drive through unfamiliar, low-maintenance road, middle of nowhere, IA, in the dark without going specifically to look at this tree?

After our stay in a pleasant motel, we continued on our journey to Superior, NE, to visit my grandma, Birdie.  I was getting tired of driving (Elizabeth is still incapable), so I decided to give Basil a lesson or two.

After tasting the rubberized steering wheel, he appeared apprehensive.

But after trying again and realizing he was keeping pace with the semi drivers out the window, he was quite pleased with himself.

Next, he’ll conquer the gear shifter and leave his Uncle Mikey in the dust!

Many miles later, we arrived in Superior to see Grandma Birdie.  She gave us a hearty dinner with my newly married cousin Nathan and his wife, Lexi.  We were very happy to make the visit and look forward to giving her more Basil time in the future!

Thanks for the apron, Grandma Birdie!

~Eric

Ed.’s Note: Eric failed to mention the fascinating views from some of Basil’s feeding stops.  Loyal blog readers may recall Basil’s preference for stopping near Bob Evan’s restaurants on our travels to DC in the summer.  He’s branched out.  This time we wound up next to what I thought were two big sand piles…

but upon further inspection…

It was corn!  What a surprising surplus.

We also stopped next to an old train engine that I thought was pretty cool.

According to Eric these sights are not so amazing.  I hope all you other city kids disagree like I do.

The view in the backseat was all about Tupperware this trip.  (Or Gladware, I suppose.)  Basil’s new favorite toy – it kept him busy for hours minutes!  And he hasn’t even figured out the interlocking lid feature.

~Elizabeth

Halloween?

We’ve been waiting to talk about our Halloween exploits until we had proper evidence.  Thanks to Bob Walter for taking pictures – we brought our camera but had no time to hand it off.

Every Halloween for 30 years, the All Saints parish has had a celebration on the eve of the Western feast day of All Saints.  Among other things, this celebration consists of having the children dress up as mystery saints and reading limericks or riddles for the audience to guess who they are.  Last year I went and saw this celebration with John Stiff, though neither of us were fathers or participated in any way.

This year, Elizabeth and I helped Basil dress up and perform his riddle.  So here goes it:

The saint was born as a slave
That’s not how he went to his grave
The master had too much
His bad actions were such
He was freed cause he could not behave

He became a murdering thief
With everyone he had a beef
He was big, rough, and buff
But took a monk’s stuff
Whose loving kindness inspired belief

In the monastery he did remain
For his past sins he had great disdain
Though a real pious guy
He remained not that shy
And strong robbers he once did detain

When asked to judge a poor fellow
He wished rather to stay and be mellow
But forced to go
Indeed he did show
And his quiet lesson did bellow

On his back was a basket of sand
That behind him had spilled on the land
Each granule a past sin
His lesson settled the din
And those poor sinners could not lay a hand

In old age he chose not to flee
When robbers came for booty
He stayed with some friends
Martyrs crowns were their ends
Save one who told the story

Can you guess who it is?
Actually, I think anyone who might guess already knows who it is.

~Eric

Month 5 = 1 + 4 and Whole Lot More

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 21^st, 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

Videos…

Howdy there fellow travelers,

Basil just settled in for his afternoon nap after a marathon eating session.  Since our last posting Basil has learned to take naps and to keep his mama up all night.  This results in a semi-productive, zombie-like state, which is not conducive to blog writing, but things have been happening.  Some of Basil’s lack of sleep seems to be from his overabundance of boogers.  Eric picked up a humidifier today, and hopefully that will help liquefy the contents of his nostrils.

At the beginning of the month we received a Minnesotan visitor when Bridget met Basil.  Both Basil and I are rooting for her job search to end in Chicago.

On the 10^th Basil got vaccinated for the second time.  It was far less traumatic.  The wails were as strong but subsided far more quickly.  Dr. Osta confirmed that Basil remains wonderfully average.  He weighed in at 15lbs 5oz, and was 25in long.  Apparently his head is proportionate to these measures.

Basil and I have been attending a Hyde Park playgroup.  There are two boys very close in age to Basil (one born on July 2!) and both of them are much, much bigger than Basil.  It’s been a lot of fun to meet their mamas and to watch them grow.  Hopefully there will be photos soon.

On the 20^th Eric turned old.  We attempted to celebrate with a family date to Sak’s restaurant and lounge in Ukrainian Village.  Unfortunately, we were thwarted by a group of Jamaicans, who were in the process of opening a new restaurant were Sak’s used to be.  After consulting our trusty Magellan®  navigation device, we walked to another restaurant, called Old Lviv.  The restaurant appears to be the front room to a catering business, serving a buffet.  The three of us were the only customers aside from one man who came in to pick up some varenyky (?).  The hostess and cook spent the entire time staring at a Ukrainian (or Russian?) soap opera and then the Ukrainian Jerry Springer while we enjoyed our dinner in the opposite corner.  The food was sub par, but the borscht, which began the meal, was quite tasty.

Tonight two-thirds of the family will reprise date night at a different locale (we hope!).  Basil will be joining his friend Evangeline for the evening.  Don’t worry, they will be chaperoned.  This will be Basil’s second time without a parent for more than what it takes to get a bath in the hospital nursery.  He seems unconcerned and perhaps excited for the event, especially since he’s learning to get along with all sorts of characters and expanding his world.

Eric is also excited for the event.  And his recently trimmed facial hair has him looking quite sharp for date night.

I, on the other hand, am not sure what I’ll do if I can’t catch spit up.  Hopefully, there will be a projectile vomiting baby at the next table who I can catch for and I won’t feel too out of sorts.

On Wednesday, the Stiffs are flying into our fair city.  Basil and I will have a few moments with them before we all meet Eric at school, greet his class, and go our separate ways – Saathoffs to Minneapolis and Stiffs back to Hyde Park to keep the home fire burning.  We can’t wait to meet Stella in Minnesota.

And for those of you unlucky people who will not be spying Basil in the immediate future, here’s a collection of recent pictures of extreme cuteness.

Be sure to scroll down to catch LIVE ACTION BASIL (sorry, not Ukrainian television).

~Elizabeth