Cedric's First Lockdown

Friday morning we woke up to our city being on lockdown. The two suspects from the marathon bombing were on the run over night, one still on the loose in Watertown. Newton is just south of Watertown and so we were told to stay inside with the doors locked. They shut down the T so Bob couldn't get in to work. Later, Boston was told to "shelter in place" and Copley Place was closed. Again. 

Cedric is obviously worried.  

Don't worry Cedric, Grandpa is here to keep you safe. 

In the morning is seemed like they had cornered the suspect but things fizzled and by the afternoon it seemed the police were grabbing at straws. We stayed inside and tried to keep Cedric and Siena busy. Turns out newspaper is fun to play with. 

By 5 PM we were all stir crazy and decided to venture south to Needham for dinner (the Royals vs Red Sox had been postponed). By the time we were back we heard that the lockdown had been lifted. I put Cedric down to sleep and we heard the suspect was cornered in a boat. So, Dad and I found a local restaurant that was opening up for the evening and headed out for drinks. 

It took another hour or two but they got the guy out of the boat and the restaurant cheered. We toasted to the whole thing being over and to a promising weekend of fun. 

8 Months!

Cedric is 8 months old today. I'm so amazed at all the little things he can do! It feels like I only just had him some days and like an eternity on others. Today I spoke with a woman at Target who was out with her baby for the first time. Cedric was chilling in his new umbrella stroller and seemed so big. 

Cedric loves playing with his toys. He likes to dig them out of boxes and spread them all over the room. He likes rings, knocking things over and anything with a rattling sound. Cedric is also getting better at pushing buttons. It is cute to watch him figure it out. He gets happy when he realizes he is in control. 

Talking is getting better. He rambles a lot and sometimes I think he is figuring out mama/dada mean something. He still spends a lot of time "roaring". I think he has learned that from the dog. I really think he is trying to speak her language too!

We've moved to two naps and, while he sometimes sneaks in a cat nap due to an early wake up, the firm schedule is helping us a lot. We are able to get out more and make plans. Sunday we took the T to Fenway for lunch. Cedric seemed to enjoy the ride. 

Eating is going well. There are still some foods he won't eat but he is getting better at trying new foods and textures. He likes these rice crackers (Mum-mums) but won't put anything small in his mouth. He has also been doing well with the sippy cup. He doesn't get the idea of tipping it back himself, so he still needs a little help. I feel he is cutting back on the milk in favor of food. I know he doesn't eat as much food as some babies but he is getting the idea. We like to give him tastes of our food whenever we can. He still likes pickles. 

Cedric figured out how to crawl on the wood floor last weekend. Not even 8 months and he was cruising all over the house. Today he followed me from his bedroom to the living room without stopping. It is weird for me to watch him crawl around so much. Where did my baby go? He also pulled himself up on Bob while he was laying on the ground. He seems to want to stand on his own, I don't think walking will be far off. 

All this crawling means he has been a little more cranky in the evenings and much more mischievous. 

It didn't take him long to find the dogs food and water bowls and the stairs. We have to finish baby proofing asap!

Cedric does have his first tooth popping through. I felt it yesterday and it is so sharp! He has been napping poorly the past week or so, I'm hoping it is related to the teething and the crawling. Also, yesterday he was scratching the back of his head, it was so cute!

Keep growing, little man. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next!

2013 Boston Marathon

I feel this year's marathon will not soon be forgotten after two bombs when off in Boston, one at the finish line and one in front of one of my favorite restaurants, Atlantic Fish Co. 

Many people called, texted, emailed and facebooked me on Monday to see how we were fairing and what information we had on the day. Bostonians LOVE the marathon and it is hard not to get caught up in the excitement. I decided to give Cedric his afternoon nap in the stroller and walk down to Walnut and Comm Ave to watch a bit of the race as it came through Newton. It is surprising to see how many runners there are, just a continuous see of people cheering and running. 

I felt like it was important for Cedric to go to his first marathon, even though he was asleep. 

We were out walking most of the afternoon and it wasn't until much later when I checked my phone I realized something was amiss. Bob had texted me about the explosions and I called him back first. His office is in Copley Place, one block from the finish line. He didn't know anything but that they weren't letting anyone in the building and that the green line was shut in Back Bay. Once I made it home I turned on the news and saw the horror of the day. Bob called again and said that his building was being evacuated and he was going to try to find a way home. With thousands of people fleeing the city, it was going to be a long walk to Longwood to pick up the train. He walked for about an hour and had to go out of his way to avoid the police barricades. I was very glad to have him home, I didn't like him out walking on the streets. 

Later, Bob told me about hearing the explosions and thinking they were construction related. He watched people running and panicking in the streets from his work window. I know it was more traumatic for Bob than for me, though he was very calm at the time. I was happy to hear all the people I knew going to and running in the marathon were safe. 

It has been a crazy year here - we've seen a hurricane, blizzard and a bombing. What's next? Hopefully something good, like a lottery win. 

Crawling and General Growing Up

Cedric has been working on crawling pretty seriously over the past two weeks. He is now able to move a few paces forward fairly regularly, enough I finally captured a decent video!

 

It is hard for him to practice on the wood floor, so on warm days we take off his socks and pants to give him more traction. I have foam mats coming in the mail soon, hopefully that will give him a soft place to practice. He also has started trying to pull himself up on me. We practice standing and sitting, he can do both on command. I'm always amazed at how much he understands. He also can lift flaps in his interactive books. Such a smart baby!

Eating has been going well, though he still isn't wanting large volumes of food. I do find we do better with regular "adult" food. That is, food with sugar and salt. I do want him to experience lots of different textures and flavors, so sometimes I bend the rules a little. Two weeks ago we let him taste a pickle and he actually complained when we took it out of his mouth. 

On another note, a Pinkberry opened a new location about 5 minutes away from here. It is going to be a tasty summer!

Cedric's First Easter

Yesterday was Cedric's first Easter, complete with his first church service (we kept him with us rather than put him in the nursery) and visit from the Easter Bunny!

Cedric seems to be getting a lot of toys lately, so I don't think he was that enthralled with the basket of new toys. Lucky baby has been spoiled (thanks Grandma Michaelyn)! Here are a few of the choice shots - 

I put coins in the eggs so they would rattle. I then took them out after I realized he could choke on them. Oh well, will save the eggs for next year

Cedric enjoyed the paper "grass" and played with it a bit. I thought he'd tear it up a bit more than this, he basically left it in two large chunks. 

After his morning nap we headed off to church. Cedric was a bit too small for the egg hunts and activities they had planned so we just showed up for the service. I am liking this new church we've been going to, they had lilies and trumpets for Easter :). 

I didn't proof the photos when we took them and my face looks strained in all of them. I think it was the stress of running out the door and the fact I was wearing a skirt for the first time in almost 7 months. I was going to get Cedric more dressed up but weather was much warmer than expected so I kept him casual. 

I meant to get the tripod out for a family photo, but we were all bushed after church and lunch at the new vegetarian restaurant around the corner. For dinner I made my grandma's chicken noodles with homemade egg noodles and Barbara's nutty salad. It used to be called Lori's nutty salad but I never met "Lori" so I used chopped walnuts instead of pecans making it a new recipe and named it after my grandma. It was tasty, as always!

It was a nice weekend but we are very tired today. I need to do a little less cooking everything from scratch on the weekends. It takes up too much of my napping time. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!