Five Months Old!

Sorry for the delay in writing this post, but we spent last week in Naperville with John's family. We had a wonderful time and John is working on a blog posting worthy of the trip.

Delia was five months old on the 19th and she continues to amaze us. At five months, Delia:

• Sits up on her own! For the first week or so, she was hunched over but can now sit straight up without any assistance. She loves to sit on a blanket and play with her toys.
  
• Flew on an airplane for the first time! She was a great traveler and played quietly or slept on both flights.
  
• Ate solid food for the first time! Right now we're just feeding her rice cereal, but she seems to enjoy it even though it is pretty much flavorless. We'll slowly introduce new foods over the next several months.
  
• Smiles all the time. Delia loves it when people talk to her and her entire face lights up with a huge smile. Laughs are few and far between but the smiles let you know that she's happy.
  
• Sleeps on her tummy. Delia still isn't a great sleeper (although we're working on it), but she seems much more content now that she can roll over and get comfortable on her tummy.
  
• Talks, a lot! Actually, she started talking the day of our flight to Chicago. It figures that she'd find her voice on the day when it would have been easier for her to be invisible. Good thing she used her happy voice for our fellow travelers.
  
• Loves it when you sing to her and is particularly fond of John Grayson's music.
  
• Grabs toys, including big brother's monster trucks. JGray isn't exactly thrilled about sharing his things, but hopefully he'll improve.

Here are a few pictures of Delia that I took this morning. She continues to look just like her big brother :-)

A Day at the Smithsonian and Solid Food

A couple weeks ago Allison, JGray and I ventured up to our nations Capitol to visit the Smithsonian. For those who have been around our son in the past year you recognize the obsession this boy has with dinosaurs. While he was excited to see the fossilized remains of his favorite T. Rex, I think that Allison and I had expected him to be more excited. He ran into the room, pointed and said "there's T.Rex" and continued running to the next exhibit. I was barely able to catch him so we could get this photo.

We continued to look at prehistoric bones for the next hour and realized the best exhibits to show him were those encased behind glass. For some reason the 'DO NOT TOUCH' signs don't resonate with youngsters who have yet to master reading.

We did find a children's area at he museum where they encouraged the handling of exhibits. JGray was fascinated with pulling the jaw off of this human skull. He did get quite upset each time that he pulled it off so Daddy became quite skilled at resetting a jaw bone.

It was quite a successful trip to the museum. We chose not to dine at one of the museums cafeterias (we realized very quickly the there where about 80 different 8th grade school trips that would be utlizing those fine dining establishments) and chose instead the ESPN Zone Restaurant that right near our parking space (I might have influenced a bit). While the meal was good, the highlight for our son was the desert.

On the trip back we made our annual pilgramage to IKEA to pick up a bunch of household stuff we'd rather not pay more for in Richmond. I know we were pushing it but we didn't expect JGray to attempt naptime in one of the stores beds. I would have picked a more masculine bed for him, but if my son likes pink beds... I'll support him.

Lately Delia has become a lot more interactive, sitting up has been a game changer in terms of John Grayson's interaction with his sister. I think he is very happy to have an audience for any and all occasions.
Delia has also started on (somewhat) solid foods. Below is a pictoral of her first experience with food coming outside of liquid form. She was in a great mood leading into it....

... but was not really sure to know about it once it got in her mouth. It ended up about 50/5o in terms of food that she actually ate vs. that which she spit up, put in her hair, spread on her face, etc. Each subsequent day the ratio has been better, but for some reason she is very excited about getting a coat of rice cereal in her hair each night.

Continuing Education and Swim School

It has been some time since I have taken the reigns from Allison to make a blog posting, and I was recently told that my presence has been missed (thank you Eric). That said, I have recently found more time on my hands so I will commit to bringing more updates.

Just two weeks ago I had the honor of walking the lawn at the University of Virginia as I graduated from my Masters in the Management of IT program. I am told that I am somewhere in the picture above, I told my family that I was near the purple monkey balloon. Even with the guidance I can't see where I'm at. As you can note, it was quite the mob scene there so our offspring were left at home.


Upon our arrival back home, John Grayson was quite pleased that I put on my 'funny hat and cape' for him. Delia was less than interested. I am quite confident that Allison is quietly convincing her that William and Mary is a better school (notice her disdain being forced to wear the pink Virginia shirt). Nonetheless, it was quite a proud day for me and I was happy to share it with my family.

In the spirit of this continued education, JGray is persistant in his instructing Delia of the art/science of Monster Trucks. I don't know if I am more impressed by his willingness to spend all this time talking to Delia about monster trucks or her attention span concerning the subject. I am giving 10 to 1 odds right now that her first words are Mama, Dada, and Gravedigger.



Speaking of Delia impressing us, note her coy look as she is already trying to sit up. Either that or she was actually posing for the camera. Both scenarios are scaring me a bit that my little girl is growing up. By the way, while many people think it might be cute to mention that Delia will be such a little cute girlfriend for the little boys, I don't find it funny. I have not moved along that change curve yet. She will be nobody's girlfriend until her father is good and ready....there I have said my piece.

Last, but certainly not least, JGray began swim school this week at Morgan Swim School. These are half hour lessons where the parents are not allowed to be present (note the only picture we have is in the back of the van prior). This swim school is meant to be a 'boot camp' to teach kids to swim, and so far it is seeming effective. In just two days our son has gone from refusing to put his chin in the water to being dunked under the water and swimming to the ledge. Given this level of advancement, by the end of this two week program we might have a little Michael Phelps on our hands.