Eston Walks

Here is a video compiling several clips over 4 weeks of Eston learning to walk, and he does some chattering along the way.

12 months old

Our baby boy completed his first year a couple of weeks ago! We still say his age in months since a 12-month-old and a 23-month-old are such different creatures that they can't be lumped into one group. Two seems to be the magic transition point for going to the next bigger category. 7 week-old babies become 2-months old, and 23-month old babies become 2 years old. Following this pattern, for a couple more years, I'm going to say that I'm two decades old.

Eston is hilarious. His facial expressions and babbles are progressing, and he loves to laugh. He has been on the verge of walking for several weeks, but he's been resistant to let go of our hands. Sometimes he would take a few little steps and then plop down to crawl. Today, he made a lot of progress and walked about 20 steps across our family room, slowly to make sure he kept his balance. He's observant and is starting to imitate. He reaches for the garage door button and wants to push it himself. He playfully shakes his head "no", whether he means yes or no. And today, he mocked Randy's and my coughs we've had for a couple of weeks. Eston made a little hacking noise and then giggled, several times in a row. He also likes to pick out books for us to read to him, and he's very opinionated about which ones he likes.

Here are some recent photos of Eston eating birthday cake, walking with Daddy, and meeting a little owl named Goliath at Amicalola Falls State Park where we spent Thanksgiving.

Priceless shrug, and a quick throw

Here are two short video clips combined into one. The first shows a super-cute shrug by Eston about 14 seconds in. The second shows Eston throwing the ball and then crawling over to the camera woman.

11 months - He's happy and he knows it

Eston is 11 months old and is really on the move. He crawls quickly and with purpose, but he's still dependent on hand-holding for walking. Eston has very clear opinions on things and signals by pointing his arm and saying, "dee. dee." or "da da" at everything he wants. He loves opening and closing drawers and doors, and he can give high-five to anyone who requests it. Favorite toys right now include keys, cell phones, and remote controls. He has some hilarious dance moves, and you can check out some of his bucking and clapping in this video.

Eston Walking

October info

Rain-Ready!

It's been raining, raining, and raining in Atlanta all week, with no signs of stopping. Eston is ready for it, thanks to some items on loan from cousin Luis. This rain coat has been keeping Eston's four cousins dry since 2001.

88 keys to Grandmary's heart

Here is a video of Eston going over to the piano, standing up, and maneuvering to use both hands (albeit at different times) on the piano, playing different notes. His maternal grandmother would be on cloud nine if he kept up his playing. ;-)

Sticking the dismount

I've been trying to teach Eston to get off the bed feet-first rather than head-first. He's figured out how to get down safely, but he won't do it on his own--yet.

He's so much more mobile now, army-crawling, some normal crawling, walking while holding my hands, etc.

9 months old

Eston turned 9 months old last week, and his new tricks include: an army crawl (belly sliding on the floor, pulling with his arms, pushing with one foot), pulling up to a standing position, and recognizing a few words (i.e. when we say "elephant", he looks toward our fireplace where the elephant figurine lives). We go to the pediatrician on Tuesday, so I'll post his new stats then. At 6 months, he was 90th percentile in height and 10th percentile in weight. I'm confident we've beefed him up some since then with the variety of foods he eats. He has a poochy belly and some thigh rolls now!

Here are some photos from this weekend, taken by the Stovall family. We visited a park near the home of Eston's friend Jay (baby Stovall). Jay fell asleep in his stroller walking to the park, but Eston stayed awake and giggled through his first experience in a park swing. Eston also enjoyed the sliding board.

First Zoo Trip

Eston adores animals. He carefully observes our dog Shadow every chance he gets, and one of his favorite activities is to visit the animal figurines on our mantle. We took Eston to the zoo today to see those animals life-size. We took the baby backpack so we could easily navigate the crowds and so Eston could have a great view. We were somewhat of an exhibit ourselves because many zoo visitors commented on the backpack and had never seen one before.

Eston's "Broadway" Debut

My mom's musical this summer featured the 10 plagues (cows, knats, flies, frogs, etc), all played by kids, during one song. Eston has a little frog costume/outfit, so my mom decided he needed to be in the musical. Since he needed transportation, I was a mommy frog. I would NEVER have agreed to be a frog in a musical, except to transport my precious little tadpole. Eston really doesn't spit up that much anymore, and if he does, it's just dribble on his clothes. Wellllllll.... he saved a BIG ONE for the show. I fed him a bottle while we were waiting for our song in the musical, so he'd be calm and satisfied on stage. When it was our turn, we ran out on stage and started bouncing/singing like good musical frogs do, and I suddenly heard a burp and saw a LONG spray of projectile (seriously, it had a huge arc to it!) baby spit-up. The cute little 5-year-old girl who was playing the red nile beside us missed one of her solo lines because she was stunned by the out-of-control tadpole. I had to try REALLY hard to not fall off the stage laughing. Here's a picture of us with our frog family.

Second Clip of Eston's great-grandfather

Here is the second clip.

Eston's Great-grandfather

Eston's great-grandfather, Randy Whitfield, did some interviews with the Georgia Tech Living History program in the Alumni Association. I have two clips to share with you from that.

Eston in July

8 months old

Eston is thinking about crawling but hasn't actually done it yet. From a sitting position, he leans forward onto his hands, but he flattens out on his belly instead of keeping his knees under him for a crawl. He has four teeth coming in on the top and two on the bottom. He's babbling more and more every day. We've been taking a lot of family walks in the summer evenings, trying different routes around our hilly neighborhood. As long as Eston stays well-fed, he is still a really happy little guy.

Eston Laughing

Here is Eston, halfway through dinner, laughing at Lauren as she breathes through her nose loudly, which Eston finds hilarious.

MJ Tribute

Lauren, Eston, and I had a dance party on Saturday morning. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" was playing. Fortunately/unfortunately, we only have footage of Eston. :-)

See Eston in Motion

Here are some videos of Eston over the last month or so.

This week, Eston's Bibi (Randy's mom) was here, and she suggested that we encourage crawling by tucking Eston's legs under him in crawling position. We did not anticipate how funny Eston would think this is. Check out his laughter here. Also, you can hear his babbling and a clear "da da" at the end.



While Eston isn't crawling yet, he seems interested in learning soon so he can reach things like my cell phone. Here's his horizontal pull-up move.



In Dallas a couple of weeks ago, Eston's cousin Luis played and sang "Ring Around the Rosie" with Eston.

General Update

Eston is seven months old. He's a really happy guy, as long as he is well-fed and well-rested. He smiles a lot and giggles occasionally. He is eating pureed squash, carrots, corn, and bananas. For a month or two, he's been sleeping about 10 hours at night (hooray!). He is starting to show a slight preference for people he knows well. He sits up very well and can do a little push-up, but he isn't making any other crawling-like movements yet. He has two bottom teeth, and one is beginning to poke through on the top. When he gets excited, he rocks his head and upper torso front-and-back like a little bucking bronco.

Eston loves Texas

Eston, Randy, and I spent Tuesday night through this morning in Dallas and Austin. Randy had a conference in Dallas, and we all three visited Randy's sister Mary and her family there. Mary documented our visit very well on her blog here. You can read the details and see more pictures there, but I'll post this one photo of Eston playing with his cousin Luis. Two-year-old Luis was very sweet with Eston, and Mary introduced Eston to mushed bananas, a bath in a big-person tub, and his first dip in a swimming pool. We all enjoyed seeing their new lives in Dallas!

On Friday afternoon, we drove to Austin for a wedding. While there, we stayed with Randy's friend Suzy from 9th grade and her family. Her 4- and 7-year-old children Isaac and Sydney entertained Eston and sweetly shared their toys and house with us. In Austin, we also had the chance to see Randy's cousin Ashley, Elizabeth Costner, and Kate and Matt Woodruff.

Eston seemed to love his whole Texas experience! He's now been to Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, and Texas.

Walk with Eston

We took Eston for a walk around the neighborhood in a baby backpack for the first time.  I wanted to make sure he liked it, as I am planning to go hiking with him some later in June in N. Georgia, while Lauren is at a conference.  No, we won't do overnights; that'll come later.  He seemed happy in the 'pack, and I think he liked the view!

Eston @ Play

Had fun taking pictures of Eston tonight while Lauren was in class.  Eston is able to stay sitting up for so much longer now, minutes instead of a few seconds.  

May Photos

Here is Eston putting his arm around his great-grandfather, all on his own!  Then we have some pictures of Eston before we went to a formal event at GT.  :-)

Mother's Day Photos

24 Weeks

Does Eston look 4 times older than he was here?