Frankie Outside

Frankie Outside 4
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

Frankie & Malcolm

Frankie & Malcolm 3
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

Frankie, Malcolm & His New Toy

Frankie & Activity Center 2
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

Grandma B bought Frankie an “Activity Center”. His feet don’t quite touch the bottom (we used a stack of books for him to stand on), but he seems to like it, though I think it’s still very overwhelming for him. As you can see, most baby toys double as cat toys. Both Malcolm and Frankie like to play with plastic rings. It’s an addition to what we call “the rotation” – the series of things activities one switches between to keep Frankie constantly amused: play mat, swing, bouncer, book, walk outside, look at mobile in crib, practice standing/baby sit ups, activity center…and back to the beginning.

Our Apologies...

Frankis Outside 2
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

to those of you freezing in other parts of the country. It was a beautiful weekend in Austin. Saturday brought rain (hooray!) before clearing up and revealing a picture perfect Sunday – blue skies, 70 degrees and pleasantly sunny. Despite all the bad things about living in the red state of Texas, there are some benefits. Frankie loves the outdoors. When he is upset, nothing calms him like a walk outside (most of our stroller trips put him to sleep). He is fascinated by birds, trees and the endless variety of colors and shapes to focus on. Here are some pictures we took while in our backyard.

Grandma B & Frankie

Grandma B & Frankie
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

This weekend we went to Houston to support Gina, whose Mom unfortunately passed away last week, and saw Grandma and Grandpa B.

Grandpa B & Frankie Watch Basketball

Grandpa B & Frankie Watch Basketball
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

Frankie in His New Seat

Frankie in Seat
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

His legs barely fit into the holes.

Frankie Eats!

Frankie Eats 2
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

Sort of.

A Much Needed Update!

My apologies for not posting sooner! Our mutual work schedules have us tied up and after the holidays, we embarked on a kitchen remodel. During the past week, we’ve had new Corian countertops and a sink installed, picked out tile for a backsplash, purchased a new table and chairs and met with a possible tile installation dude/electrician. Though I very much enjoyed our faded, scratched and stained goldenrod yellow laminate, removing it has made a huge difference. Now Frankie will have a much more pleasant environment in which to fling his food! Here are some pictures of our first experiences with mashed fruits. Though Frankie has not taken to eating solid foods, he doesn’t seem to hate them either. Generally, he pushes it around and right back out of his mouth. But he has been observing Dave and I eat and seems to understand the concept. I was worried that he wasn’t taking to it much, but our pediatrician assured us that he still gets all the nutrition he needs from his liquid diet for the time being. Adventures with rice cereal have left him feeling constipated, so we haven’t been using that much either. Dr. Sears advises against overfeeding before bedtime with rice cereal. Apparently, there have been studies that this type of feeding can lead to obesity and diabetes later on (and yes, we are all aware now that for every “study” there is an equal and opposite “study”). Any feeding tips from other moms, dads or kid feeders of all varieties are appreciated.

Frankie is now grabbing with conviction and greater accuracy. He can amuse himself for longer periods of time and he can almost fit his entire hand into his mouth. We’ve seen him sucking his thumb on a few occasions, but he doesn’t seem to immediately go for it in times of distress; he rarely wants a pacifier anymore. He makes frequent and prolonged eye contact, squeals and talks quite a bit and recognizes people he sees often. He can turn over on his side and is this close to being able to roll over on his stomach. We bought him a really neat little seat that supports his legs and back (it’s sort of like a bucket) so he can sit up (see picture). His favorite toys right now are blankets, rags and small, soft animals and toys that he can grab hold of. We’ve overcome our bath time fears and now, while Frankie doesn’t love the activity, he doesn’t scream and cry the entire time either. He just turned six months old and developmentally, I would say he’s just a bit ahead of his gestational age (4 months).

The Silver Zephyr is Back!

FYI: For those of you wanting non baby-related news, I've returned to posting my own personal blog, The Return of The Silzer Zephyr. I'm not saying there will NEVER be a Frankie post, but most of the cute pics will stay right here.

Time Marchs On...

Frankie Holds Bottle 1
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

New tricks! Frankie is just started to try and hold his bottle. He can do it near the end of the feeding, when it's much lighter.

Frankie's First Christmas

Dave and Frankie Xmas 2
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

Though he had no idea what all the presents were for...and what the presents actually *were* we had a pretty good Christmas.

Grandma and Grandpa B & Frankie

Grandma and Pa B Frankie 1
Originally uploaded by silverzephyr.

...at the Breshears homestead in El Lago.