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Well, Keegan waited more than 9 months to show us his teeth, but now there is no stopping him! A few days after the first tooth erupted, a second one, next to the first came out. Now, the bottom ones cut through as well. So, he left San Diego three weeks ago without any teeth and he comes back with 3 or four! This kid is doing everything his own way.

We also tried to weigh him: mom got on the scale alone and then, holding Keegan and it looks like he is now 9.5 kg. So he gained 1.5kg in three weeks. He is also talking a lot more…maybe it is something they put in the water here. If we didn’t have to leave, he would be walking, taking and potty train himself in a few weeks. (-:

Unfortunately, it is already time to go back to San Diego: we had a wonderful time and Tizi’s parents were absolutely fantastic: the played and entertained the little guy and really took great care of him, giving Matt and Tizi some much needed rest (especially in the morning).

a nice family photo with Tizi’s parents, and her sister Cinzia, her husband Sandro and Keegan’s cousins, Naraiana and Samuele

…things are definitely different here. Some of the interesting differences I noticed, came in the baby food department. It is difficult to find ready made dinners in a jar, or veggies in a jar, but we have a full assortment of the most unusual stuff; any meat you can think of: rabbit, veal, beef, chicken, horse(!), ostrich(!!!!), ham, pork; you have to see to believe it, so I took some pictures. I am not sure what is more disturbing, the cute illustration of the animal (Mellin brand) or the pinkish chunks of meat in different sizes (Plasmon brand). I am sure the image needs no translation…

At least they do have quite a large assortment of fish,which is pretty much absent from most US stores. We could also find many cheese in a jar as well. And check out the cute pig illustration for ham!

While in Milan, we also had the chance to visit the official Chicco store: three stories of Chicco goodness. Pretty cool. We didn’t buy all that much, but it was fun to look.

one of the Chicco stores in Milano

It was definitely somewhat unexpected and took many by surprise, (it was even surprising for us) but we did decide to baptize Keegan. It may have been the Catholic guilt, or maybe “the fear or the weight of tradition” (as the little Baptism book they gave us mentioned), or maybe the full immersion in the Italian culture; whatever the case may be we thought it would have been good for Keegan to have a religion to belong to. When he is old enough, he can then choose himself. This may not sound very warm and fuzzy, but we are “tepid Catholics” after all…a term Italian priests use to refer to non practicing Catholics. Surprisingly enough, the Italian church, as in the actual parishes and priests not the Vatican, has become very tolerant and open, facing dwindling numbers, and it has adopted an open door policy to accept into its embrace even the least devoted or practicing, the so called tepid Catholics. After all, both Tizi and Matt were raised Catholics, and we both subscribe to its basic moral values. Now, the church’s interpretation is what we have some issues with…but we digress again.

The ceremony was arranged quickly: we asked the priest who married us in Italy 4 years ago to baptize Keegan. He was happy to do it, and he remembered us well. The day was September 22, 2008. The church is the same church where Tizi’s parents got married in 1964 and of course where we got married in 2004. It is a small, intimate place, with a cute courtyard. We only had a few people attending: Tizi’s parents, who were also the Godparents, Tizi’s sister, with her family, including the “Grandmother in law” (the mother of Tizi’s sister’s husband…can anyone think of a better name?) and two very close friends of Tizi’s parents. Even Tizi’s maternal cousin, who she had not seen in many many years, came. It was great to see all.

The ceremony was very nice. Usually, in Italy, the Baptism is a community event, celebrated during mess with many childrend being baptized together. Because of the time constraints, we were the only one in the Church. We really enjoyed this more intimate celebration. Keegan was absolutely perfect. He enjoyed all the confusion, and the people, and of course the attention. With two video cameras and two regular cameras, he seemed like a rockstar, as the priest remarked.

Keegan was wearing the same baptism dress that Tizi’s mom knitted for her own baptism…a few years ago. A well used dress at that: Keegan is the 5th child to wear it. Keegan did not cry, even when his head was submerged in the water, and was attentively following all that was going on.

Keegan  quietly paying close attention…with a little help from a friend 

Hey: it is not bathtime!

daddy lighting the candle

All together: the godparents, the parents and the celebrated boy

After the ceremony, Tizi’s mom prepared a wonderful party at the house, with tons of goodies, a delicious cake, champagne and of course the typical light blue confetti (the sugar coated almond candy that are a tradition for weddings and baptisms). Two of Tizi’s friends met us there as well as Tizi’s paternal cousin that came from Rome to visit. It was wonderful to see everyone, especially Tizi’s cousins, who we have not seen in years.

all together again: look at all the goodies!

What a wonderful cake

Again, Keegan enjoyed all the attention and he even clapped for the first time in excitement. He definitely loves lots of people around and the confusion…Matt and Tizi are a little worried: how will he get used to the much more mellow life in San Diego????

…the real one. Since our optimistic plans of a two days getaway at the beach got crushed by reality, we figured we could at least get away for a few hours, since Keegan is having a great time being spoiled by Grandpa and Grandma. Luckily there are many places that are close by, so we settled on Como Lake, less than an hour train away.

We didn’t have much planned; we arrived around noon and found a speed boat that would take us around the lake to Bellagio. Having been to Las Vegas quite a few times, and having been at the Hotel Bellagio, we were of course curious of seeing the real thing. The boat trip was pleasant. We passed many beautiful villas, and villages, wondering which one was George Clooney’s. In roughly an hour we were at Bellagio. We grabbed some “piadine” for lunch (basically sandwiches made with grilled tortilla-like bread) and sat on a bench, overlooking the lake. It was very pretty and peaceful. We strolled on the small streets, and up the cobbled stone stairs, and ate a yummy gelato.

Bellagio view

the real Hotel Bellagio

It was fun to be just the two of us, without schedules, without worries. For a few hours we were just a couple not mom and dad. It felt great. Even if quite a few time our conversation veered towards baby stuff, we had the chance to chat about many other tihngs. Just before catching the train back, we wondered around Como and watched his ancient Duomo, so we got some cultural stuff too…

I have to say, though, that Bellagio is not that amazingly great. It is nice, with a cute, short lakeside walk, but it is very crowded and touristy, and it does not have a music synchronized fountain! The lake is wonderful, and very romantic, but I am sure there are other towns just as pretty. We were glad to see it but not sure we will back anytime soon.

romantic view from Bellagio

We made it home just before Keegan’s bed time. He had a great day with grandma and grandpa: he played, ate lots, and slept a bit. He was happy to see us, and so were we. We were very grateful for Tizi’s parents: beside the rocky start, we are really enjoying some much needed rest and a welcome break.

Our little guy is getting around. On Thursday we took him to Parco Sempione, the beautiful park surrounding the Castello Sforzesco. To get there, we braved the subway. We were a little concerned because he usually doesn’t like to be in closed places, plus Milano is not exactly “baby-friendly”, so there are no elevators or such.

We went with Tizi’s friend, Loredana, so among the three of us we managed. Keegan did not mind a bit, and he enjoyed watching the people, including the begging musicians…if you have ever been to Milano subways you know exactly what I mean: one or two guys, usually from eastern Europe, and most likely ROM (the PC term for Gipsies) that show up in the subway car with all sort of instruments, from guitars, to harmonica and play a short song that ends before the next stop or two, and then they go around collecting money. Sometimes they bring children with them, and have some heartbreaking story to go with it. Sorry the cynicism, but begging is their job, and after being here for a little while you realize that most of the time they are just scam artists. At least they do something, instead of just begging, maybe we a scrawny baby at the breast like you see in the stations, but still…It is sad, don’t get me wrong, especially for the children, but there is not much you can do.

on the subway stop Lambrate F.S., where Tizi’s parents live

But I digress. We got off Cadorna F.S. (stands for station), and we stopped to pose in front of the controversial Needle Sculpture. I really like it: it is a huge metal needle with a thread going through it, and emerging in a fountain across the street. It supposed to symbolize the Fashion World, since, as you all know, Milano is the fashion capital of the world. Of course, this being Italy, people have been discussing on its artistic merits since he appeared around 10 years ago.

in front of the needle Sculpture

Keegan really enjoyed the park, and took a nice nap in the stroller, while we chatted and walked. We even got a nice lunch in the elegant Via Dante, people watching. It was hard to window shop without having the chance to actually buy anything: Tizi will have to come back by herself (i.e. without the boys) for that. Keegan had even the chance to taste his first gelato: white chocolate. He really liked it. What a good Italian! Keegan was exceptionally good. Henever complained. He only got tired of sitting towards the end, so Tizi took him out of the stroller and put him in the sling, and he was happy again.

going back home, in Tizi’s sling

Finally, at nine months and 13 days we have our first tooth. The doctor was never concerned, and neither were we, as we have night sleep disturbances, but he definitively took his time. He chose to wait till we were visiting Italy for the big event, so grandma and grandpa were happy to witness such a big “first”. Tizi was the first one to notice, on September 16, when he grabbed her hand and put it into his mouth. Of course, since he always has to take us by surprise, while we had a “tooth watch” on his bottom gum, his first tooth to break through is his top left one. Now this explains why it has been a little more painful to breastfeed. Since his sleep schedule was messed up already, it is hard to say how much teething influenced all the craziness, but here we are. It is still a little difficult to see, but you can definitively feel it.

look closely…the whitish spot on the top left

The next step will be to teach him how to chew, or better gum, properly: he still tends to swallow pieces whole, but he is getting a lot of practice: he tried the classic Plasmon cookies (any self respecting Italian baby HAS to eat those…and mother as well. They are delicious), and peaches and bananas in pieces. We are also working on him feeding himself. We are not recording a huge success yet, but we are starting.

The other tooth seems to be ready to come out, but you never know. And yes he is sleeping better, but sometime still wakes up…should we blame it on the teeth?

Despite mom’s frustration, we have to admit Keegan did pretty well; …sleepless nights do feel neverending, but all considering, he did adjust quickly. In a few days he was once again the social guy we are used to, and he needed to be: he meet so many new people in these few days, and greeted all of them with his signature smile. He particularly like his cousins, Naraiana and Samuele, and he was happy to spend a whole day together with them, mom and his aunt Cinzia and uncle Sandro. By the end of the week, he was totally comfortable with the grandparents, that were more than happy to spoil him rotten, and play with him to no end, giving mom finally a break. They love to play with him, and they can always find new ways to entertain them.

grandpa and Keegan are getting re-acquainted

Cousins Naraiana and Samuele

Having a blast with the little cousins

Aunt Cinzia and Uncle Sandro

He also met one of mom’s best friends, Loredana and her daughter Francesca; he liked them right away. Next weeks will be a busy one, as more people will want to see the little guy….he is now ready for his close ups.

We have only been gone about a week, and he seems to have grown already. He now pulls himself up pretty much anywhere, and he is also able to stand holding on with only one hand (sometimes, for a few brief moments, without hands).

holding on with one hand

He is making his first steps, of course while holding on to our hands and he has learned to get off from couches or beds by himself, if we position him the right way (not head first). He is also trying some new foods, such as salmon and veal, which he hates, and some thicker veggie soups with small pasta. However, bread is definitively a favorite.

Keegan is really Italian: he loves bread

He has also increased somewhat his vocabulary to include NA NA, BA BA, MA, LA LA sounds, and he has became a pro at making raspberries, especially when he is upset (i.e. when he does not want to sleep). Finally he is now banging objects together, and we are all quite surprised by how strong he is: he can move a kitchen chair with one hand while sitting in the highchair, and he was able to hold two of those metal Chinese balls that create melodies, one in each hand, and bang them together. (photo coming soon). Some of the clothes I brought are already too small…maybe the air of Milano has something to do with it.

Daddy finally arrived yesterday, Keegan was very happy to see him, and gave him the most beautiful smile. It is great to be all and we are looking forward to these days together, as soon as he recovers.

Well, while the flight went well beyond mom’s expectations, the first week was surprisingly quite difficult. The changes were just too much for Keegan: a new environment, new language, lots of new people changed our super social guy into a quiet shy (but still super active) boy, who could not stay away from mom for more than a few minutes. The first day, Tizi could not even go to the bathroom without Keegan starting the waterworks. He was still laughing and smiling, but only with mom in sight. It was quite surprising for everyone, but obviously it is pretty normal for a baby this small. Mom and dad, and the grandparents were just a little too naive.

The worse part was night time. As you all know, Keegan never liked sleeping and with all those changes, his schedule was totally out of whack, meaning mom and baby DID NOT sleep. The first couple of days he woke up basically every hour, and would not go back to sleep without nursing. Sometimes, he would only sleep in Tizi’s bed. This was particularly hard because all this waking up didn’t allow Tizi to adjust to the new time zone especially since she basically stuck at home with Keegan and couldn’t even enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Furthermore, Keegan had perfected the standing up maneuver, and he would stand when he was waking up, and so there was also the fear he would fall out of the bed. It got so stressful, that Tizi was not even able to sleep when Keegan was falling back asleep, so she spent the first few days like a ZOMBIE.

All the wonderful plans of spending the first week visiting old friends and catching up, and enjoying time with her parents pretty much vanished, as she was too tired to do anything. Fortunately, the gradual adjustment came quickly. By Wednesday, two days after landing, Keegan would go out with grandma alone in his stroller. Just like in San Diego, Keegan LOVES going outside and checking everything out; Milano may not be as pretty as San Diego, but there is definitively lots more going on and lots more moving around, so for a curious guy like him it is paradise. As an added bonus, we realized he really like the stroller that Tizi’s good friend gave us, and he was falling asleep fine in it. So the new routine was, after a sleepless night, grandma would take Keegan out for a walk, so mom could sleep a little to regain some strength.

Our new best friend, the stroller

All this new things got me really tired…

Also, after a couple of days, he was eating more normally and getting into the new schedule. By Friday night, he was ready to re-learn to sleep all night by himself. We had to try, AGAIN, the crying out method, but by Saturday night he was sleeping all night again, in his crib. Just in time for daddy’s arrival.

We arrived at the SD airport bright and early and everything went smoothly. It was hard to leave daddy, but it is only a week, after all.

So here I am going through security: a car seat and stroller combo to be disassembled and passed through the x-ray machine, a huge diaper bag and carry-on to be passed through, shoes, belt, necklace to be removed, all to be done while holding a squirming 9 month old babies while trying to show boarding pass and passports. Of course, the “friendly” TSA personnel decided to help me , as in unceremoniously moving some of my things out of the way, only after I went through the x-ray machine, while all my stuff was piling on the machine and creating delays. Anyway, we made it to our gate while the plane was already boarding. I guess this is the advantage of taking an early flight: they usually leave on time. Fortunately the flight was not completely full (just a couple of seats left), so I was allowed to bring the car seat on board. This was great, because it gave us a little more space to put our bags. The genius flight attendant, though, had the brilliant idea of seating us in the row in front of the emergency exit, so we had to be moved, due to federal regulations, after departing and just after Keegan fell asleep. Amazingly enough, the guy sitting next to us was sad we were leaving, as he was worried he would need to sit next some big guy. We moved next to a nice lady who really helped us and the little one did not wake up during the process. Keegan slept for more than an hour, so I could watch some of the movie. We were in one of those cool planes with videos in the headrest and lots of movies to choose from. A little of a waste for a three and a half hours flight. Still, I was able to watch almost a whole movie (the brainless Sex in The City). Once he woke up, he played a little bit and then started flirting with everyone, and laughing and smiling. He had his breakfast on the plane and had a good time playing.

Everyone was impressed for his behavior. We arrived in Atlanta just in time. Not much time between flights, so we called daddy and ate some lunch. This is when the only real crisis happened. 10 minutes before boarding, we went to restroom to freshen up and as I looked down at the stroller…

WARNING: TMI following

….I saw suspicious yellow spots on his blankie. As in the best mommie horror movies I lift the blankie, and here it is, my smiling little guy completely covered in vomit. Vomit on his sweater, onesie, blankie, toys and pooling in his car seat. So here I am, trying to wash him, change him, clean and disinfect the car seat, disinfect and wash his toys, and again, while I am holding the squirming guy. Of course, no one offered any help, (even after I changed him) even if a few women in the restroom stopped to smile at us: were they commiserating? Teasing? Making fun of us or simply enjoying the misery? We will never know. Fortunately I did packed some extra onesies. To top it off, as I am frantically trying not to miss the flight, the cereals that I had in a small tupperware completely poured inside my bag, covering everything from my wallet to the camera to the moist bottles, creating a nice paste. Finally I placed the stroller blankie I brought on the car seat to keep him warm, and we run to the boarding area. We are basically the last one, which actually works out OK, since I have already asked to block the seat next to me for his car seat, and we got to spend less time on the plane.He ended up looking very stylish, as the last onesie and oants I had clean was actually matching the bib I had for him.

The flight to Italy was 8 and half hours…a lifetime. They grouped all the kids at the back of the plane…which is fine because most kids like each other so they calm each other as well. Of course, the three young ones, Keegan and two more babies, were fine. On the other hand, we had the devil’s spawn sitting next to us, in the same row. He must have been around 2 and he SCREAMED most of the time. The genius parents brought for his entertainment….a stuffed dolphin! That’s it, a freaking stuffed animal for a 8.5.hours flight. They didn’t forget the noise canceling headsets and magazines for themselves, though, and that is what they did when he started screaming. Only after about 6 hours, the father decided that MAYBE he could walk him up and down the aisle. He was only quiet when he was playing with the baby behind him.

eating his night night mik on his flight to Italy

I really don’t get it. How can you be such a jerk? As soon as Keegan was cranky I got up and TRIED to calm him. For the worse case scenario I bought air plugs for the fellow passengers. Fortunately there was no need. While Keegan didn’t really sleep much, he didn’t fuss much either. He flirted with the flight attendants who we visited quite a bit and the other babies. In a way, actually, the flight went by almost faster than usual with him. Lots of passengers helped me to carry bags in and out of the plane and made my life easier. We landed almost 45 minutes early, and we got the bags quite quickly.

We are finally here

Keegan he is Italian, after all, so we are using the European Community Exit

So, all and all a pretty easy trip, despite the little vomit incident. Grandma and grandpa were of course at the airport waiting anxiously for us. They were so happy to see him: he has grown so much. It was great to be finally here, and we are looking forward to many days of relax, good food and family time.

Keegan is 9 months old: he spent as much time outside of the womb as he did inside…I wonder where did he have more fun??? Jokes aside, he has obviously grown quite a bit since December. We have finally started (the keyword here is <started>) transferring the videos to computer and eventually DVD and so we have been revisiting those first days: it is amazing to notice how much he has changed in those few months, and how different he looks now.

yes, I am the cutest dude around

We had our standard 9 months check up. It was supposed to be shots-free, but since they had run out of one of the vaccines last time, he did get one shot. Other than that, the doctor found him extremely well. He is now 17.11 lb (8kg) and 28 3/4 inch (73cm) . It looks like he moved up a couple of percent points on his growth curve, still remaining a “tall”, skinny guy. We had our chance to ask questions, and Tizi’s first one was:” Do all babies his age move as much as he does?” The doctor reassured us that he would be worried otherwise, but then he must have repeated the same comment, “How active and how curious this little guy is (and how smiley).” a good 6 times in a 2o minutes period. This made us think that, obviously not ALL babies move as much, if he feels the need to say it so many times. besides, EVERYONE comments on how curious, active and smiley he is, from the daycare people, to total strangers on the street. And we did narrowed down the cause: yes, it is Tizi’s fault. Tizi’s mom reminded her that she also could not stay still a second (still can’t). Oh well…this will make for an interesting flight.

Other than that, he is well, and very strong (also another repeated comment). All his vitals are what they should be and he has hit every major developmental milestones. He seems happy, well fed and alert. He has been cleared to eat pretty much everything, even finger food ( he is not showing much interest in that yet) so… grandma’s cooking here we come! It will be soon pasta time! He doesn’t seem to show any stranger anxiety, at least not yet, so hopefully he will continue to be a very social baby.

We marked any big achievement in previous posts, but to recap Keegan now:

– sleeps through the night
– has a slightly more regular schedule of three naps a day
– rolls over both sides with no problem
– crawls properly
– goes from sitting to crawling and viceversa
– laughs when he sees something funny (we are still not really getting his sens of humor, though)
– grabs objects and pass them from one hand to another
– start understanding the meaning of words: his name, NO (not that he respond to it), milk, nanna, food, mom and dad
– start pulling himself up to a standing position, grabbing onto something (the crib rails, our legs, etc.)
– tries to pull himself up from his back to sitting
– notice when a toy is taken away from him, and looks for it
– makes DA DA DA and LA LA noises and screeches
– lights up when he sees mom or dad
– fold his legs in turn (making little steps) when we are holding him up
– holds himself up momentarily
– moves his legs up and down when he is happy or very angry
– still puts everything in his mouth
– still has no teeth
– is still amazingly cute (OK, OK, we are biased..but he has a cute smile) Una faccia simpatica, (a likable face) as they would say in Italy

Another funny little thing he has been doing lately: he usually gets a snack of milk in the mid afternoon. Now that he can crawl, he is trying new breastfeeding positions: I usually sit him on the couch as I position the breastfeeding pillow and get ready. He is so impatient when he sees the pillow, that he starts giggling, and he crawls towards me, get on his knees and latch on right then and there, while on his knees…We should try to capture it on camera. Of course, this would be for our eyes only.

So, our next post will be from Italy: I am sure we will have many interesting (a posteriori) stories to tell. Keep Tizi in your thoughts as she embark in this great adventure: 18+ hours with Keegan in a small plane (1 connection).

Well, our little hero is now getting better and better at pulling himself up. He has been tentatively doing it for a few weeks, but over Labor Day weekend, he really showed us that he is quite capable.

ready, set…

up! Look at me! I am standing

That means that, even with constant supervision, the bassinettes he used to play, are not a safe option anymore. So we stripped them down to their play yard state: he now enjoys the mesh sides and he constantly crawls, pulls himself up, falls down again, rolls over and start again. And, of course he won’t stay in it for more than a few minutes, but it is a start.

Keegan has also been pulling himself up using us as props. He has not started using furniture, but it is a questions of days, I am sure. He is also practicing walking: when we are holding him by his hands, he is bending one knee at at a time and putting them in front of each other. We know it doesn’t mean he is ready to walk: he is still pretty wobbly. He has been able to support himself while standing holding on mommy’s necklace before… We will see. Grandma and grandpa are betting he will be walking within a month. Of course they are a little biased, as they would really like him to take his first steps while we are visiting. Mom and dad, on the other hand, are in no hurry!

Happy Labor Day everyone. We spent the day cleaning up…how pathetic is that! However, we had fun on the weekend. We went to a BBQ on Saturday, and we ate some awesome, fresh caught tuna, that the host fished in Mexico. Outstanding! Keegan was a big hit: very well behaved, and smiley, and a few of the kids took turns entertaining him. And Sunday we went for a nice pic-nic at Balboa park.

Most of all, beside today, we took it easy: we had a tough week. Keegan got sick over last weekend. We are still not sure what it was exactly, as he had any possible symptom: he started by being irritable on Friday. On Saturday, he was great all day till the late afternoon, when he didn’t want to nap. We have just lowered his crib, so we figured he didn’t like it much. It does feel a little like falling in a bottomless pit,  as it is quite a bit lower, after all. We went out for a date, and when we got back around 10.30 (yes, we are living the life!) he was up, crying. The babysitter who usually has a magic touch couldn’t get him back to sleep, even after feeding him. We took over, but he kept on waking up quite often during the night. The next day, he was obviously quite cranky, but he seemed almost normal…we went to an outdoor concert in Coronado, and he was happy, playing and crawling till dinner time, when he threw up his whole dinner. Another difficult night: he kept on waking up, and he felt warm, so we gave him some Tylenol.

The next morning it was clear he was really sick: he was hot, and not very active. We had to keep him home. Matt stayed with him in the morning. When Tizi got back from work he was not doing any better: he was just limp and whiny in daddy’s arm. Poor little guy: we felt so bad for him, and there was nothing really we could do. We have never seen him like this, so calm and mellow. We called the doctor and scheduled an appointment. Tylenol was not really helping, and we measured a 102 + fever (we had to do the anal probe, just to be sure). Of course he was not eating, and started having some diarrhea, so we simply tried to keep him hydrated with milk, water and Pedialite.

The doctor visit was  an ordeal: afternoons are busy, and the doctor was late so Tizi really had her hands full, literally, trying to keep him entertained, or at least to soothe him through it. It took two hours, and a few back and forth between the nurse and the doctor: first they didn’t weight him, then the nurse tried to weight him on a non-digital scale and she obviously was not able to use it: she tried to say he was 5 kg, when we weighted him two weeks ago and he was more than 7 kg. Finally she got to the digital scale and he was about 7.8 kg. Now, this is important, because the weight determine how much Tylenol we should give him.

Anyway, after all that what genius advice did we get? “Keep him hydrated, and give him Tylenol every 4 hours”.  That was two hours well spent! At least we ruled out any serious infection. The doctor seems to think he had some kind of GI infections (for the ones like me that don’t know, GI stands for gastro-Intestinal). he seems to be quite susceptible to those, since it is the second one on three months. I know it is the seasons for it, still…Plus someone HAS to put everything in his mouth. We should probably start baby yogurt.

Fortunately the next day he was a lot better. We still kept him at home, and it was mommie’s turn to stay with him… and of course she got somewhat sick too. By the end of the day, she was exhausted, and achy all over. He was active again, but also wanting more attention than usual and not eating much…which meant he was waking up again in the middle of the night and had to eat. Grueling.

We finally got him back on track towards the end of the week, not without having to let him cry (while giving him water) for his night wakings. It is amazing how fast babies revert to bad habits (i.e. night feedings and cuddling). More than a month of sleeping through the night undone in a couple of days!!! Fortunately now he is back to normal. He is the same smiling, laughing, hyperactive self, and we are the same exhausted, sleepy and whiny selves. He sleeps once again through the night: yeah!!! We are keeping our fingers crossed he will stay that way for the long trip ahead.

It was a little bit of a scare: he really seemed in pain, and the high fever got him good, but as they say, he is building up his immune system. Researches do say that babies that go at daycare and get colds and various illnesses early, will do better later in life and will be stronger…let’s hope it is true. That would be a nice silver lining.

We have been enjoying the end of summer here, in beautiful San Diego. We had been taking our little guy on walks and pic-nics and he LOVES it. He is a real San Diegan, outdoorsy and social. He is very happy in the fresh air. He started early, when being outside, even in the evening, was is favorite way to fall asleep. Now he is not missing any time sleeping: he is active, very curious (he has been called “curious george” at daycare) and taking it all in. Being a boy, he is particularly drawn to the dirtiest, most disgusting things he can crawl to and trying to stop him from eating them is quite a challenge.

We had the chance to take him at a live afternoon concert in a Coronado park, and he enjoyed the infant swing. Daddy was being very cautious, and not pushing him too hard, but I am sure Keegan wished he could go faster. He is also very intrigued by grass and leaves, and now that he is crawling efficiently, there is no stopping him. It took us quite a while to get him to stop, and pose for the camera.

faster, daddy, faster

why sitting on a blanket, when you can sit on the grass and eat leaves?

 Sometimes it is hard to remember, at least for Tizi, but Keegan has already double nationality:lucky him! In preparation for our trip to Italy, we requested both passports, to make things easier at both customs. Of course, even if we requested them both at the same time, the Italian one took a couple of extra months…and they printed a wrong birth date. So we had to send it back, and hope. Amazingly enough, depite the fact it was the middle of summer, a notorious non-productive time in Italy, we got it back in a few days. So, now we are all set to go.What is really amazing is that, for both passports,we had to provide a photo and specific info such as heigth…and the passport is good for 5 to 10 years!! Like he is going to be looking anything like it in a few months…abd we sure hope he will be taller.

Let’s me see if this is authentic…

Yup, it is the real deal