Ronan meets a friend!

Our wonderful friends from Husky Band, Dave and Katie, welcomed their son Evan on May 22nd.  He is 6 months and 1 week younger than Ronan!  Evan and his mom and dad just moved to Milwaukee for 3 years so Katie can do her Residency in Pediatrics.  We’re sad to see them go.  When they come back to visit at Christmas, Evan will be about the age Ronan is now!  It’s amazing to think about how quickly they change and grow.

 

 
With friend Annelise!

Baby Smash!

Ronan loves to play Baby Smash!  Baby Smash is a free game that shows colorful letters and shapes as Ronan smashes on the keyboard!  I’m not sure what kind of monster we are creating…

Father’s Day at the Dog Park

We spent Ricky’s first Father’s Day at Marymoor Dog Park.  It’s one of our favorite places to go, and we all really enjoy it.

 

Obie got to run, play and make friends, and Ronan got to see a TON of dogs!  He even found a little friend to pet:

There was a big thunderstorm a'brewin’, so we didn’t stay very long.  We had a nice romp around the dog park, though!

   

Ronan - 7 Months!

The past month has been a busy one for Ronan! So many new things; so many milestones.

On his 6-month birthday, Ronan began eating solid food. He's done REALLY well with it, and now eats both breakfast and dinner each day. He usually eats about 5 cubes of food (I freeze it in ice cube trays) - one day he ate 6 cubes for breakfast! I was amazed!!

He switched from sucking his fingers to sucking his thumb almost exclusively. I think it started because he would gnaw on his thumb to maybe relieve some teething pressure, and he realized it's easier to get one big thumb in his mouth than two fingers. Sometimes when he's reeeeeally sleepy, he'll start to put the fingers in, but then he'll switch to the thumb, almost like he forgot. :)

We had adventures to Indianola and Seattle's Folklife festival over Memorial Day weekend, and had a TON of fun being out and about. Ronan really loves people and action!

We've been active in our PEPS group, often meeting outside at the beach or parks. It's so fun to see all the kids really grow and develop. We're going to miss them when school starts again this fall. We've also enjoyed our Kindermusik Sign and Sing class, and we've been learning and practicing a lot of sign language! We've met some fun friends in that class, too.

Ronan has started sitting up, which has made play time more fun for both of us. He's learned to take the toys out of his toybox... now I just have to work on getting him to put them back in...

Now that he sits, he also holds out his arms to be picked up. I think this is one of the cutest things any baby does, and it's a way of communicating a need, which I think is a huge developmental milestone.

I caught some great faces in his 7-month photo shoot...

These next three I may put into a triple frame:

And classic Ronan:

Ronan Swings!

On Monday, Ronan's 7mo birthday, we went to the park with friends Jessi and Emerson! Ronan got to swing for the very first time! He enjoyed himself, but didn't like to swing too high!

Emerson likes to sit back and relax in the swing...

Ronan Eats!

You've seen the video of Ronan eating peas - now see how it all began!

This was on May 15th, Ronan's 6mo birthday. Ricky got to be the first to feed him solid food! We started with rice cereal, but Ronan made his feelings about that very clear...

The next day, we tried apples. Wasn't a fan of those, either...

(Later we realized we kept trying to feed him when he was tired.
When we fed him in a better mood, we got a much better result:)

And now I can't feed this kid enough! He easily eats half a cup of fruit or veggies each meal, and has liked almost everything he's tried. Apricots were NOT a hit, but he eats green things!





I've made all of his food so far, and I really enjoy doing it. I steam, puree, then freeze it in ice cube trays. Pop the cubes out and voila! Breakfast! Makes it easy to mix flavors, too!


Down the columns, l-r:
peas, cherries, carrot, avocado
plums, parsnip, banana, broccoli
butternut squash, green beans, pear, apple
sweet potato, peaches, apricots

not pictured: mango, papaya

Ronan Sits!

Ronan has a new skill! He has learned to sit up! He can't get himself to the sitting position, but if you put him there, he will sit and play for quite a while! He's very happy and very proud of himself!

Ronan eats peas!

Ronan's Food!

Ronan has been eating food for a couple weeks now! He's tried a few things (rice cereal, apple, carrot, sweet potato, parsnip, butternut squash), and he likes almost everything (not a fan of parsnip!). We decided to discontinue the rice cereal for now, and focus more on fresh, organic veggies and fruits. I've been making all of his food, and it's been really fun for me. We have a nice stash stored up. It's been fun for Ricky to be able to feed Ronan, too, as nursing him is just a Mommy job. :)