Darrick's mom visited over the past few days, leaving this morning. She'd just had some major dental work done, so she was in a lot of pain, but she was a trooper during the visit, and Alexander was thrilled to have someone to share his baby food with.



And finally, after several months, we finished Alexander's room. Long ago (last year), Case helped Darrick put up the wallpaper and mural:



And during my mom's visit before Alexander was born, she created slipcovers for our glider.



Mom and Tom also provided several other elements in the room: tiki mask, beautiful armoire, Hawaii postcards, wall outfit (doesn't the wall look handsome?), bunny picture frame, mobile, and other stuff I know I'm forgetting because there is so much, not to mention all the books, toys, and animals about the room that Alex received from friends and other family members--thanks everybody! If you click on the last picture to enlarge it, you can examine the documentation from Alexander's travels.

So without further ado, Alexander's room:

Roll over, Beethoven

On Monday morning, I go to get him up and he's on his hands and knees in his crib. He had rolled over himself. (Before, he'd rolled over only tummy to back, so this is the first time going the other way.) Now, since that first time on Monday, he's been doing it like crazy. He rolls onto his tummy, then onto his back, then onto his tummy. He's still too young to crawl, but he gets around by rolling and by wiggling around on his back and stomach. I didn't think to have a camera that first morning, of course, but I took this another time when he'd rolled over in the crib.

(As always, more photos are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mallons)

Later that day, he decided to write a composition to express his feelings about the whole experience. His audience, the dogs, were a bit distracting, apparently suggesting that he play more in the lower register.

Hey!

This has to count as his first word.