Cuteness defined

When Grandma Marx says "He's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen, except for you, of course." that doesn't move me. When Grandma Boitmann says "Isn't he the cutest baby in the world?" it's expected. But when Kristie Schweyer says to her cat Zoe "What's wrong Zoe? Are you upset that you're not the cutest thing in the apartment anymore?" we have arrived at a new, rarified, level of cuteness.

Edification

Some important firsts happened yesterday. Justin went to his first museum, his first restaurant, and went to Haslam's for the first time.

My friend Beau was visiting and he is a big Salvadore Dali fan so we went down to the Dali museum in St. Petersburg. Justin could appreciate the skill and thought that went into the works of Dali, but surrealism just doesn't move him emotionally. Maybe he'll come around one day.

After meeting us at the museum, Denis accompanied us to lunch at The Garden, a very nice downtown restaurant. I had the catch of the day, mahi mahi, and Justin had milk. He was flirting with the old ladies at the next table, then he took a nap.

We made a very quick stop (for our family) at Haslam's Bookstore, an evil establishment with black magic laid on its very aisles that causes anyone with the last name Marx to find one book that we simply have to buy every five minutes. We were in the store for twenty minutes. . . Justin liked the children's section, if you can believe it.

Many pictures were taken on Christmas day and the days immediately prior and after. Of these, the majority are in Louisiana and I will endevour to get a good sample online in the next day or two.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Winter Solstice

We just got home from Justin's first winter solstice stargazing night. He was a bit upset when we got to the field, but after Jenny and I walked him around for a while he settled down and napped while we looked at the stars, ate chocolate-penut butter balls, and drank hot chocolate (thank you Chris and Kristie). Maybe next year Justin will look at the stars a bit.

He's Going To Be Famous

PurpleStork.com, the company that made Justin's birth announcements, sent me an email today asking if it would be alright if they used his announcement in the card portfolio on their website. They said "We thought your card turned out so nice...in fact, it was one of our favorites!" So I'll let you know when they update their website.

A Day In the Life

Justin had his first trip to H&R Trains (the #1 train store in the Tampa Bay area) today. He hung out and looked around while I worked on his LGB train with help from the friendly employee Dave. When he started getting fussy, one of the other employees picked him up and quieted him a little bit.

The epic battle: Man vs. Sheep continues. We will prevail. . .yes, we . will . prevail. (Justin likes dramatic repetition).

You Can't Trust Sheep You Know. . .

Justin is sitting in his chair right now locked in mortal combat with his sheep toy. Staring with furrowed brow at the sheep toy hanging from the toy bar, he's beating the sheep repeatedly with his left hand, then turning to face the pig, which he can't figure out how to hit because it's on his right side. He's getting frustrated, but you can see him trying to work out why he can hit the sheep, but not the pig. OK, he got very frustrated and now I have to go wrap him up.

One New Picture

I added one picture to the gallery.

Grabby McGraberton

Justin has started grabbing onto any object that his hand happens to hit. Right now he's sitting on my lap, gripping my watch in one hand and his clothes in the other. He's also become pretty adept at getting his fist up by his mouth where he can try to eat it.

Last night when I wrapped him up for bed I left one of his arms free so he could comfrt himself during the night. It worked great! I hope he's this easy to potty train.

He can see clearly now. . .

Justin can now track Jenny and I as we move around the room. He can even keep track of us when we are up to fifteen feet away from him. He's staring at us a lot more now that he can keep us in sight.

2 month well baby visit

We just got back from Justin's 2 month check-up and everything is looking good. He is now 24 and 1/4 inches tall (95 percentile!), weighs 13 lbs. 4 oz. (88 percentile), and his head size is 15 inches (20 percentile). As you can see from the stats, he's going to be very tall, right on target with regard to weight vs. height, and his head will be very small. Don't tell Jenny I said that.

At this visit he also got 4 imunization shots. After the shots he cried for about two minutes, then went back to sleep in his car seat.

He's starting to drool a lot so we keep burp cloths handy at all times. One of the best new things is that he seems to be aware of Jenny and I and there are times when he gets upset unless he can see one or the other of us.

I've uploaded 5 new pictures. Sorry for the delay.

First Weekday Outing

Well, Justin and I went down to hang out at Emerald City for the first time yesterday. We had to set up the Christmas LEGO train display and teach some of the employees how to play Ticket to Ride. This was an important milestone because we were going to be out of the house long enough that he would require some food before we got home. This was the first time I've fed him outside the house and things went very smoothly. He was calm while I set up the display, then got hungry and fussy so I fed him, then he took a nap while we played the game, waking up in time to give me really poor advice on which cards to draw. Thanks a lot son! He even smiled and laughed (or as close to laughing as he gets right now) when Paul and Colin were giving him some attention. What a happy baby.

I know that many of you are clamoring for more pictures, especially from his two month birthday. I should be able to get two or three pictures online tonight, but it may be pretty late.