camera experiments and omens of things to come

i am experimenting with the settings on my camera. i am determined to make full use of all (or most, anyway) of its features instead of just leaving it on auto and getting pissed off when pictures are blurry or too dark or washed out or whatever. so here are some black and white shots that, if i do say so myself, came out pretty awesome! i mean, you can see the individual droplets of water. and since i am becoming a pro at photographing wildlife (and by wildlife i mean sullivan james), i am thinking national geographic is going to be knocking on my door any minute.

these shots are from sully's bath this evening. now, where ever you are, (dad, i'm mostly talking to you here), do a little mouth trumpet 'taps.' the days of bathing sullivan in the kitchen sink are numbered. he is just getting too big and curious, as you will see below. i'll narrate a little, but the photos pretty much speak for themselves.




once again, as soon as sullivan heard the little 'beep' the camera makes when it focuses, his head snapped up and he flashed me a smile. i think i can turn all the little sounds off, i just need to figure out how to do it. but as you can see, his little hands are gripped FIRMLY on the faucet hose.

he loves trying to grab the falling water. left hand still planted firmly on the hose.

i was able to distract him with the bath book. and while i appreciate the concept of keeping a baby happy and diverting his attention during bath time (it did work here), i can't imagine actually reading a book while bathing. i get boats, and squirt toys...but doesn't reading sound like a weird thing to do?

and here he is, chewing on the hose.

here i am trying to button up his pajamas after it proved to be too problematic to do in his crib or on the changing table; he was rolling EVERYWHERE. i thought i'd be able to keep him in one place on my lap. well, he wasn't able to roll over, but he did arch his back and try to use my shins as a slide. this started a slow drip of thoughts that started to come faster and faster until they were like dominoes, ticking into one another before the first thought was even finished. it went something like this. *ahem*

this is really hard! good grief little guy, sit still for a moment so i can snap these buttons. don't hit your head on my knee okay there! i got a snap. i think that was the last one...why does this look so weird? i messed up the snaps some where. okay, if i go really fast i can just get it done. snap snap snap. phew. he's so squrimy! well, he always has a lot of energy right before bedtime, kind of the build up before the crash....but he also has a lot of energy first thing in the morning. huh. and now that i think about it, he is always very animated in his high chair during meals. and when we play on the blue mats he is always rolling and/or trying to crawl. very little sitting. huh. well, there's always naps, at least he isn't moving then. but he really doesn't nap a lot. maybe he'll nap more as he gets older. i've never heard of a toddler napping more than an infant. what is he going to be like as a toddler? oh, man. this is karma coming around to bite ryan (and thus me by proxy), in the butt for being such an active kid himself. i think we're in for it. our pathetic attempt at baby proofing is going to be like having a squirt gun to put out wildfire. he is going to be like calvin. of calvin and hobbes. he kind of already LOOKS like calvin, especially when he squints a little...i even call it the calvin stinkeye! one of these years i'll have to dress him up as calvin for halloween. stripey shirt, spikey hair and a stuffed tiger. perfection!

seriously, though, we are in for a wild ride with this one.

yogurt day and the blue treaty

today seemed like as good a day as any to expand sullivan's diet a little, so i busted out the yogurt. and i must say, baby yogurt is pretty delicious! it is made with whole milk, so it's very rich, and the flavor we had was pear. why don't they make pear yogurt for adults?

the yogurt is pretty runny and created quite a mess. halfway, sullivan started refusing it so we switched to bananas, ate that for a while, and went back to yogurt. all in all, he ate half a banana and almost a full container of yogurt. AND some watered down juice. bravo!

sullivan is fascinated with blue, and has really started grabbing at him. blue tolerates it pretty well, but has learned to stay out of arm's reach.

except in the kitchen.

from when we first put sullivan in the high chair, it took blue all of two seconds to realize that there was an opportunity there. this little creature will be eating! i wonder if he'll be as stingy with his food as the other two are...

blue did some casual recon for a while, scoping out the baby feeding from the comfort of the rug in front of the oven, and eventually he crept closer and closer until he was sitting right next to the high chair. sully was delighted of course, and immediately reached his hand out to grab some of blue's scruff. this was exactly what blue was waiting for. before sully's hand could grab anything, blue licked all the peas and brown rice off his pudgy little fingers.

sullivan loved it. he squealed and smiled and leaned farther over so blue would like more of his hand, which of course he did. what a fun game! puppy!

now i have to either send blue out of the kitchen or make him lay down on his bed so sullivan can't see him. but i let their little routine unfold today so i could get some pictures, and here they are:






ahh, my ham of a son. as soon as i whip out the camera, he stops what he is doing to smile. he seriously LOVES the camera. it is very hard to get any candid shots, so the following series, once again, took forever. once i finally got him all excited about blue, i was able to get some shots.

here, sullivan did his first reach out. see the apprehensive look on blue's face? he isn't too sure, but he knows that little hand is covered in pureed goodness.

blue is finally getting what he came for, and sullivan is getting some blue attention that does not involve him grabbing at ears, tail, paws, etc.

everyone is happy! sullivan gets some serious blue kisses (and a thorough hand washing afterwards), and blue gets to sample some mashed bananas. i love this photo.

sully's diaper trick

yesterday, sullivan peed on me. TWICE. both times he was fully clothed, and it was not a slow seep that took me a while to notice, but a definite trickle. how could this be possible? have i become a lazy diaperer? are the diapers themselves defective or something? so many possibilities, none of which made sense. and then, as i was holding sully on my hip later in the day, i saw him perform a sneaky little manuver. i have documented it in photographs below.

note: when sullivan sees the camera come out, he turns into quite the ham. all smiles and giggles and wiggles. this took forever; i felt like a wildlife photographer allowing my subject to become familiar with the camera so he would forget it was there and just act naturally. i will let him explain it in his words:

'here i am, casually relaxing on my changing table. or am i? note the position of my right hand.'

'here, i have a grip on the velcro of my diaper, pinky extended for proper form.'

'as you see mother dear, i just take the velcro like this, make sure i have a good grip, and....'

'TAH DAH!'

'i will demonstrate fully clothed, since it is much sneakier this way. next time you think i am patting my belly, i will really be prepping to share a little pee with you. enjoy.'

the ear phenomenon

i just couldn't resist getting a shot of him with the sun shining through his ears. as meredith put it, 'they're quite something.'

day at the park

today we went to the park and enjoyed the lovely weather. it is a bit warm, but under the shade of a liquid amber tree, with a little breeze, it was heaven. sullivan sat happily on the blanket, playing with his toys and occasionally lifting his head to feel the wind on his face. he went on the swings for the first time and was very underwhelmed. i don't know that i was expecting squeals of joy, but maybe some wide 'this is crazy!' eyes?!? instead i got a stink eye and one smile. but i DID catch that smile on camera. :)

and how beautiful is this baby boy? it crushes me sometimes.

photos!

I am back with photos, as promised. These are not from the aforementioned zoo visit, but a more recent trip we took with auntie mere.

Sullivan was exhausted after a few hours and found a comfortable spot to crash in meredith's arms.

my favorite zoo creature, the okapi.

camels chewing their frothy saliva. delicious!

mom and babe eating a little mid morning snack.