Where Are the Wild Things?

Here they are - sitting on a Lay-Z-Boy reading a book together. Ian is a fantastic reader - loves to turn the pages and even does so on cue: "Turn the page!" We line his books up on the sofa like a display and he goes one by one, picking it up, flipping the pages, tossing it aside. He has such a great attention span, and listens intently as a story is read to him. He stares at the illustrations and turns the page when he hears the reader stop.

Speaking of wild things, Jason and I went to our first movie alone together since having Ian. We saw Where the Wild Things Are while Ian stayed with Gigi and Mimi. I suspect it will be another 10 months before J and I get out to the theater again sans baby.

[Anyone see One-Sock Ian?]

My Days at Guela's and Grandy's

There aren't enough words to express how grateful, blessed and lucky we are to have Ian spend his week days in the care of my mom and Randy.

Hello World!

The Tornado

Baby's First Harley

Fun At Lunchtime

And Finally - a Nap!

Scenes of a Texas Winter

Thanksgiving at Possum Kingdom

Playing in the Leaves

Bed Head from a Winter Nap

New Winter Hat

Self Feeding (Oliver Celebrates)

This week Ian has begun feeding himself successfully. And by "successfully" I mean picking up a piece of puff cereal and putting it into his mouth. Before that, he would pick it up, close his fist, then attempt to put the cereal into his mouth with his closed-up fist hiding the food. Duh!

He has now taken it a step further by dropping puffs on the floor and delighting in watching Oliver scramble to eat it up. I've even caught Ian feeding Oliver from his hand. So cute and such a waste of good baby food!

Cliff Fest 2009

I did my first art/craft show in months and had a blast! I shared with my pal Larry (a.k.a. The Kessler Craftsman) and we really enjoyed the event, which celebrated all things Oak Cliff - food, art, music and culture. Mami, Randy, Ian and Jason came out to play and I made some killer jewelry sales. Enjoy the photos!

A Natural Historian in the Making

--- On Tue, 10/20/09, Constanza Ward wrote:

From: Constanza Ward
Subject: Chunklinis
To: "Tefi" , "Jason"
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 3:18 PM

Today has been a day for outside exploration and also lunch al fresco. For the first time, Chunkletines went outside by himself (crawling) to the patio – we left the kitchen door open to see what he would do. Once outside, he touched pebbles, dirt, twigs, rocks, snails, bark, etc., and of course, played with the fountain’s water. Then we opened the gate and he crawled like Speedy Gonzales all the way to the curb –don’t worry, we watch him like hawks. He loves to play with dry leaves and grass. He also kind of touch the tree, found it a little bit rough for his delicate hands.

Since the day is so beautiful, we took his high chair to the patio and had his lunch there. :)

--- On Tue, 10/20/09, Stephanie wrote:

From: Stephanie
Subject: Re: Chunklinis
To: "Jason", "Mami"
Cc: "GRandy"
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 3:49 PM

That's awesome! On Sunday we were both getting VERY BORED being inside the sun room so I scooped him up and we sat on the sidewalk in the front lawn watching Jason do yard work. He made special friends with a petrified piece of wood mulch and enjoyed starring at the black ants crawling around and birds in the trees.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the next John James Audobon.

Wave Hello, Wave Good-Bye

Wave Hello!

Wave Good-Bye!

...and then there's Power to the People

Ian Loves Babo

Ian is crazy about his Babo. He's got a lot of plushies that he loves (esp. the green frog that cousin Jenn gave him on his diaper cake), but Babo is number one. Ian takes Babo everywhere with him: in the car, to the State Fair, the park, in his crib...


Maybe it's his little arms that fit perfectly into Ian's little hand. Or maybe it's the two bitty ears on top of Babo's head that Ian loves to chew on. Whatever the reason, Babo is Ian's BFF.

Here's Babo's story:

Babo will protect you. Having a bad day? Someone giving you a hard time? Babo's got your back. What Babo lacks in mind power, he makes up for in love. He's everybody's best friend. He will stick with you to the end and when something scary happens, he will send you a nice greeting card from wherever it is he runs away to. A very curious, mischievous creature, Babo may need some guidance and parenting, so make sure to bring him with you to as many places as possible. Leaving him at home is fine, but please put all cookies and money on the highest shelf.

Fair Day!

Our big gypsy group went to the State Fair today - me, Jason, Ian, Randy, Mami and Jen. We had big fun eating TONS of really healthy food and walking walking walking.



Ian just loved the car expo. We found a quiet carpeted corner and let him crawl to his heart's content. It was very "gyspy" only we didn't steal anything or get persecuted.

Some New Pictures

Grandma Mimi Feeding the Ian Monster

Fun in the Grass

New Toys!

Funny Squinty Face

Mami's Birthday "Brunch" at Desperados

Crawling and Clapping

Oh, long time no post. Shame on me! Mama's been busy losing sleep...

For about 3 weeks now, Ian has decided that sleeping a consecutive chunk of time (7+ hours, as before) is no longer en vogue. So the Ian monster has decided to fall asleep quite easily at 9pm (we're keeping him up later since he seems to enjoy playing in the evening), then snoozes until about midnight, wakes up for some nom-noms, then won't go back down easily. Every couple hours it's whaaa, whaaaa. Lord!

He's still got just the two teeth, but more may be on the way, hence the sleeplessness. Or, he's going through some major growth developments. Or both! Last week he began full-on crawling. It just sort of happened like that! *snaps fingers*

He also loves to clap. Ian will crawl around *shuffle shuffle*, go straight into a sitting up position, clap for a few seconds, then he's off again crawling around. He loves to open doors, especially the ones to the laundry area.


A few nights ago he did the cutest thing. He really struggles with the transition from awake>asleep. I let him fret and loll about on the bed as he tires himself out and drifts off. No amount of rocking or nursing will work these days. So the other night as he finally gave in, laid back and began to drift, he lifted both hands into the air and *clap clap* (pause) *clap clap*. He silently and slowly "clapped" himself to sleep.

It. Was. Precious.

New Syllables

Ian's mouth has been uttering some adorable babble lately. Out little linguistic giant is starting to say his "i"s and "th"s. These past few days have been (phonetically): "eye eye eye, dye dye dye, bye bye bye." Yesterday he started with the: "thuh, thuh, thuh" with his tongue under his top gums and resting on his lower lip. And he's still going strong with the: "da da da da." So cute! He'll be speaking Japanese, Spanish and English by next month.

Hooked On Phonics

If I smell like maple syrup...

It's the fenugreek! I've begun taking this supplement since milky moms swear that it helps boost milk production. Sleep has been a declining commodity lately in the Hindall-Wright household, so this tends to make my supply dip. According to the angels at La Leche and the moms on the LLL forums, fenugreek is an herb with a proven track record. The best part is, it smells like maple syrup and people who take it also end up smelling like a stack of hotcakes. Yum!

Etsy Dallas Beer-B-Q

A few weeks back I helped organize a team BBQ with Etsy Dallas, the local craft collective that I founded back in 2007. We had a blast and Ian was the hit of the gathering:

Me and the Chunks, chillin' in the Texas heat
Ian charms my friend Cheyne
Jason, Ian in the Baby Bjorn, Jenna, and her boyfriend chillaxin' in the kitchen
Oh, that's a good-lookin' boy
We swear it was the Texas heat, not the Shiner Bock

7 Months - Hard to Believe

Our little guy turned 7 months old yesterday AND I got my period after a nice 17-month reprieve (boo! hiss! TMI?).

Aaaaanyway. So Ian is laughing and semi-crawling all over the place. Just look at this video I took the other day. How cute is he? Scoot scoot scoot...

Almost Crawling!

Holy cow, batten down the hatches! Put away the figurines! Lock up your girls!

Ian is THIS CLOSE to crawling. He's a scootin' machine and has perfected the "sidewinder." It's just a matter of time before he's up on his knees. Stay tuned!

(If you hear a crash, you know he's finally crawling.)

New Pool, New Face

A few days ago Ian started making a special new face. It's a cross between a grimace and a smile. Yesterday at Gigi's he was entertaining the heck out of all of us with his new face and today he continues the grimace at Mami's. Here's my little monster playing in his new pool:

Tooth! Tooth!

Just got a call from Mami that Ian has his first tooth! It must have come in overnight, or possibly this morning because I don't remember seeing it yesterday. How exciting! They are coming up to my office shortly so I can see it. :)

Ian is such a cool, easygoing baby that I just knew cutting his first tooth would be no big deal for him. He's been slightly fussy at night, but nothing major. No real crying, nothing a few nom-noms and a pacifier can't fix. I ignored all of those negative, "Oh just you wait until he teeths" bullcaca that people felt so inclined to tell me. That's not to say that he won't have a future teething freak-out...anything is possible.

Ian is also putting together syllables in his language development. Yesteday, the word of the day was "Hey-Teh." It almost sounded Swedish. Today it's "May-teh." He's loving his T's right now!

Can you believe this was him a year ago? What a miracle:

My Travellin' T-Shirt Man

Colombia - from Mami
Greece - from Tia Sylvia

Goodbye, George

Our family just got a little smaller. Here's a message I sent to family and friends about George's death yesterday evening. He was almost 15 years old and had been my companion nearly his entire life.



"The procedure was quick, peaceful and humane. It took about 2 seconds from the moment the doctor put the needle into George for his little heart to stop beating. He took two final breaths and that was it. His eyes remained open so I was able to stare into those beautiful deep blue eyes. Cousin Jennifer was with me in the room and she was also able to witness the silent passing of one of this life's most beautiful creatures.

His body itself had given up growing several days/weeks earlier. For example, I cannot remember the last time I had clipped his little toenails and they had not grown back at all. He also stopped eating and grooming himself, but was still a gentleman to his final moment: Right before leaving for the clinic last night, George picked himself up off the floor, hobbled to his litter box, and urinated. Even on his deathbed, he was gracious.

Last week if you had asked me how George was doing, I would have responded that he is doing well! Eating, sleeping, talking talking talking. But just a few days ago his health and behavior plummeted. The change in him was instant. Yesterday morning I knew things were grave, but I had hope. Then when I got home from work, I was greeted by a completely different animal. It was time, and I knew it instantly.

The house is so quiet now. What I wouldn't give to hear that little thud of him jumping over the gate to talk to me at 3 in the morning."

Jason shot this video a couple years ago in our backyard. George was so plump and healthy. This is how I'd like to remember him:

The Two Ians

Jason's old college friend Ian Bjornstadt finally got to meet Ian the Younger this past weekend in Austin. Big Ian was on tour and happened to be passing through Austin on the same exact weekend that we were vacationing there. Small world! The stars aligned for the two Ians to meet:

Hard to Believe

Hard to believe this is the same child. What a difference (almost) six months makes!

6 days old

5 1/2 months old

Homemade peas, please!

Today I rushed home with Ian and got right down to the business of making peas. It was just about as easy as popping open a jar of Gerber. Here's how I did it:


1. Buy fresh or frozen peas.


2. Steam the little suckers for about 10 minutes on a low boil.


3. Puree with a cup or so of distilled water. You can also use the pea water from the pan; it's loaded with vitamins!


4. Work the puree through a sieve, if you please. This is optional and honestly not worth the time.


5. Feed fresh to baby.


6. Then freeze the rest. This bag made enough for two trays full - that's about 18 jars of the factory stuff. And it took less than 20 minutes. Easy peasy!