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.