Playing with 'Lift off!' with you as a baby

Yesterday as going through my photos of you, I got to thinking about the time when you were about three or four months. One thing we always used to do together was I'd hold you out in front of me, my hands cupped just below your arms, your little toes playfully digging into the warm spring air, and say in my most serious news voice, “We’re 15 seconds to launching the first baby to the moon, and Baby Kieran is that baby!”

Then I’d start a countdown, and after “1” go “Lift off!” and raise you superquick high into the air then hold you over my head so you were flying like Superman. You’d break into a giggle as your flabby tummy pressed against my palms and would start moving your arms and legs like you were swimming. I’d shift you around from side to side, going, “Quick, fast, zoom, we’re on our way to the moon!” and the scent of baby powder would waft down toward me on the currents of air created by the motion.

After we’d done that a few times, whenever we got to “3” in the countdown, you’d ball up your tiny fists, close your eyes tight, and tense up, as if to ward off the sudden stomach-in-my-throat feeling you must have got from liftoff. But you always giggled with glee once I got you above my head.

 

A baby picture of you at 12 weeks old

Here's another baby picture that Grandma Bignell gave me of you! You are 12 weeks old in the photo and laying in your crib in your nursery. At that time in 2007, we lived in Crescent City, Calif.

You had the most beautiful nursery. It was all Classic Pooh - pictures, calendar, bedding, decorative storage boxes, etc.

One of the Classic pooh items you liked a lot was a mobile that hung above your crib. When turning it on, it would slowly spin about with each of the classic Pooh characters hanging on it and play the Winnie the Pooh theme song. You loved to watch it go around and around!

It was during that time that you took to the classic Eyeore stuffie. Until your stuffie bunnies came along a couple of years later, you and your stuffie Eyeore were inseperable! And yes, I still have that stuffie Eyeore!

A picture of you at 10 weeks old

You might remember that I mentioned Grandma Bignell gave me all kinds of pictures of you from when you were a baby and when you stayed with them. Here's one of those pictures at right!

You are 10 weeks old and laying on the bed in the master bedroom at our house in Crescent City, California. That would have been at the beginning of May 2007.

Crescent City gets a lot of rain, so sunshine there is rare. I remember coming home one night from work when it was one of those rare days in which the entire sky was cloud-free. It was about the time you were 8-12 weeks or so.

I took you outside and pointed at the sky. Your eyes followed my arm, looked up at the blue sky, and you gasped in awe! You couldn't stop looking at it!

A baby picture of you at 11 weeks

Here's a photo of you when you were about 10-12 weeks old. You are in a bouncy baby carrier that you absolutely loved to sit and sleep in. You especially loved the blue bunny rabbit hanging from the handle bar. In fact, I still have that blue bunny rabbit; I cut it off for you because you wanted to play with it when you'd outgrown the carrier!

The picture is taken at our house in Crescent City, Calif. You are on the bed in the master bedroom. To the left of the bed would have been your bassinet where you would sleep at night during the first few weeks of your life before you moved on to the nursery.

The white and brown cat sleeping on the bed was named Merlin. He was a little skittish but always liked being around he. Should you start crying, he'd get very agitated and coming looking for me to help you! That's one loyal cat!

"3, 2,1, Blast off!"...Playing "Countdown"

When you were a baby, one of my favorite things to play with you was "Countdown". I'd hold you in front of me and then count backward from 10, and after reaching one would go "Blast off!" and lift you really fast above me then hold you up there and say "And baby is on his way to the moon!" You'd laugh gleefully every time!

After a few times of playing the game, though, when I'd get to three in the countdown you'd shut your eyes really tight and tense up in anticipation of the quick blast off! Once I got you in the air, though, you'd open your eyes and giggle as wiggling your hands and feet in the open air!

You always were disappointed when I brought you back to Earth - I think you wanted to fly!

A baby picture of you from 2007!

Here's a baby picture of you I found! Though I don't remember the exact date, but it was taken sometime in spring or summer of 2007, the year you were born. It is in the living room at our house in Crescent City, Calif.

You loved sitting and playing in this activity center - it had like a 100+ different toys on it and you could spin around in it so that you could play with different ones.

You were not a big one for the play pen behind it. You just didn't like being in it and would cry when put in, so we almost never used it. You were pefectly content to sit on the rug in the living room and play.

The swing next the play pen also wasn't one of your favorite things. I think you just didn't like to be cooped up!

Baby picture along Pacific Ocean

Stumbled across this great baby picture of you and had to share it! The picture was taken in September 2007 when we lived in Crescent City, Calif. We traveled north into southwestern Oregon and took this in the very early evening while driving by the Pacific Ocean. It's looking south with California behind us. You always had a binkie in your mouth, it seemed - and always demanded that you have one handy! It got to the point where we tied a string to it and clipped it to whatever you wearing so that you could put it in and take it out whenever you liked!