Ready, Camera, Action, Meltdown!

It's official: Griffin is a star (in my eyes at least), and he was one of the breadwinners of the family today as he had his very first baby model job! He auditioned last week and landed the part of the "Asian Baby". So we went on an adventure this morning to Quixote Studios in Boston, where Griff was photographed for a national print ad for Oreck Vacuums. The part of Griff's Fake Asian Mom was played by the lovely Michelle, who ironically looked more like his Mom than me. Tara, the wardrobe lady dressed Griff in a striped blue long sleeve shirt and some blue PJ bottoms with stars. Griff was shot (eek, that sounds so violent.. restart: Griff was 'photographed'...) being held by his Fake Mom who was told to smile and act like she "loves her baby and her vacuum". Poor Michelle- I could only imagine the pain she must have felt in her arm, as she had to hold our 25 lb(?) sack of potatoes on her right side for about 10 minutes straight while they shot some pics (a vacuum would be pictured in her left hand). Once Griff started melting down, we took a break while Michaela, the backup Asian baby did shots as well. We played and did our thing until we were up again. It was then time to shoot some video, which by the way I was only told we were doing still photos, so this came as a surprise. Funny story.. P.S. Did I mention that Griffin is terrified of vacuums (when they're on)? So, the intended video was to consist of the Fake Asian Mom putting Griff into a high chair, where he'd get excited as he had 2 big bowls of Cheerios to play with/eat and spill everywhere; then the Mom would let him continue to snack while she happily vacuumed the floor. Remember I said Griff was scared of vacuums? Well, here's the video they actually got... (Ready, Camera, Action) Fake Asian Mom put Griff into the high chair, and instead of immediately digging into the majestic piles of free Cheerios in front of him, Griff gave the bowls his classic furrowed brow stare. Even the "baby wranglers" couldn't get him to smile. He eventually picked up a single Cheerio and put it into his mouth. The director then instructed the Mom to just spill the Cheerios onto the ground so they could continue on to shoot the vacuuming part. Disaster ensued! As soon as Griff heard the vacuum turn on, his lower lip trembled, he started miserably crying, and he just lost it. (End Scene) All in all, it was quite hilarious to watch, though I felt bad that Griff got scared, and the crew didn't get the shot they were going for (hopefully the backup baby nailed it). I'm not sure if advertising vacuums that frighten little babes would help the Oreck business prosper.

The day was long but it was good overall. We'll find out if the client chooses Griff or the backup baby's shots to end up in the ads (not feelin' too confident at this point:) ), but it was a fun experience, good to make a few bucks for Griff's college fund, and interesting getting a peek into the advertising/production world. This was definitely a first, for both of us!

Some Fun Firsts...

A few awesome firsts to document:

1. I discovered today that I can say "clap your hands" to Griffin, and he does it!

2. We had our first family pancake breakfast today, partly to celebrate Tom's upcoming 29th birthday.. Griffin got to eat a baby-sized pancake, sans coconut syrup.

3. Griffin successfully fed me a Cheerio (happened a few days ago), which made me gush with that wonderful proud Mom feeling. There have been several failed attempts where I'll open my mouth, Griff will hold a Cheerio right up to my lips and as I'm about to eat it, he tears his hand away, eats the Cheerio himself and laughs. :)

4. Griff ate meat! (organic chicken pureed with sweet potatoes) Yes, it does make the poop more stinky.

5. Griff pulled himself up onto his knees. (This happened while I was trying to undress him for his bath. He excitedly pulled himself up to watch the water fill the tub.)

6. Also, Griff recently started doing the funny Indian (feathers, not dots) pow wow sounds with his hands/mouth. "wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah". When Griff was younger and he'd cry, I would repeatedly tap his lips with my open hand and make the "wah wah wah wah" sound, which distracted him from his crying and made us both laugh. He then went through a phase where I'd start tapping his lips with my hands and then he'd make the sound, and this weekend he started doing it all on his own. He uses both hands closed together in a ball, and laughs while he does it.. what a funny guy.

See this video of Griff's latest bag of tricks:

Itsy Bitsy Spiders

To give you a sense of the pre-Mom/utterly-terrified-by-bugs Vicki, one of my favorite birthday gifts of all time from Tom was a bug vacuum that I proudly display in my kitchen. It has a 4 foot long hose that sucks up bugs and zaps them to ensure they're dead- perfect for when Tom's traveling. Ever since childhood, I've had to trap bugs with cups or tupperware and leave them for someone else to dispose of, and whenever I'd hear something buzzing near me, I'd immediately cover my ears and close my eyes until it went away. The icing on the cake was 6 years ago when I lived with my dear friend Matt in Somerville (wow, time flies), I had a terrifying experience in my bedroom with something that resembled a silverfish except with a ton of legs (I saw it crawl down from the ceiling to the floor while I lay in bed freaking out and then it disappeared). I had to pull all my furniture away from the walls and plug up holes in the floors. For weeks, Matt, my "Bug Hero", had to inspect my room with a flashlight before I felt safe enough to go to bed, and I remember having at least 2 nightmares from the grotesque sighting..

Now that I have Griffin, I seem to have acquired a new super human mom ability, where I can kill small (ok they're tiny), not too gross looking spiders (with non thick & non hairy legs) and other little critters without having a mini heart attack, screaming, crying, or feeling mentally damaged from the experience. The new and improved me can now somewhat stay in control at the sight of an unwanted pest. I find myself thinking that I have to protect Griffin from it, and I'm empowered to fix the situation rather than freak out about it. This is not to say that I am miraculously cured of my severe arachnophobia (I still use a wad of at least 8 tissues to snag a spider the size of my pinky nail), but it is still a change in me worth blogging about. :)

10 TEN 10, & Griff Turns 9 Months!

"to post..."

UPDATE:  April 23 2011:  Vicki left "to post" on the top of a few entries over these first 10 or so months of the blog.  I think blogs are supposed to be chronilogical and all, but these were great events in Griff's first 15 months, so I'm going back to fill them in.  Besides, we don't want any holes in history, if, say, this whole thing ends up bound and printed, sitting on a shelf 50 years from now...    We love you Griff!  -Dad

Oh yeah... 10-10-10 was Jacob and Youngna's wedding.  The pictures tell the whole thing.  Worth noting that Vicki carved the 10-Ten-10 pumpkin, that it was a gorgeously crisp fall weekend in the countryside, and Griffin had his first dance floor experience (in the baby bjorn, but, stilll....)

Dad's Favorite

I asked Tom if there was anything he wanted me to document in the blog for him. He wanted me to mention how he (Dad) loves it when he holds Griffin in his arms over his shoulder, and Griff starts bouncing up and down, bending at his knees and sticking his butt out. Tom's Mom used to call Tom "Tigger" when he was little. I feel like this crazy bouncing that Griffin does is very Tom/Tigger like. I love how Griffin is such a mini-Tom.

Applause for a Great Family Weekend

A new first: Tom, Griff and I were laying in bed yesterday morning, when Griffin clapped his hands! (10/3/10) It was so freaking adorable- a great new trick to add to his collection. We've been practicing clapping forever; his ability evolved from closed fists knocking together with full assistance from Mom and Dad, to one open hand and one closed one, and finally he got both hands open and clapped by himself. Also, a hysterical moment to remember was Saturday morning, I coughed and Griff fake coughed to imitate me and then he'd laugh. It became a game where I'd cough and laugh, and then he would. What a little joker!

We had the most beautiful fall family weekend. On Saturday we took Griffin to Connor's Farm in Danvers, where we walked through a corn maze and spent time at the farm taking pictures, checking out pumpkins, and just enjoying the beautiful October weather. This was the same farm that Tom and I bought our wedding pumpkins at- the ones we used to carve out "Tom & Vicki ", which coincidentally also spelled "Ick Vomit" and "Victim OK"...

On Sunday we used our Groupons and went to the Stone Zoo. Our favorite animals were the coatis, 2-toed sloth, baby goats, meerkats, and gibbons! We kept trying to point out the various animals to Griffin, hold him up so he could see, or position his stroller so he'd have a direct view, but I have no idea if he really saw all of them. I like to believe he did anyway.

Moose Sighting in Marblehead

I'm pretty sure there was a moose in Griff's crib earlier today... yep, sighting confirmed. I also spotted the moose in our living room a little while ago. Props to Unkie Bri and "Hot" Jaime for the best onsie ever.

4 Firsts: My Creepy Crawler, Sit-up, "Da Da", and A Weekend Away

Holy crap.. It's been a big week. Griffin is 8.5 months old and he's officially crawling. He said "Da Da" on Sunday 9/26, and just a few minutes (Friday 10/1) ago I watched him sit up from a crawling position. Also, I had my first weekend away from Griffin!

The details:
History was made when Griff went a few crawls forward last Thursday night 9/23/10, and since then he has been perfecting his skills. During his practice sessions, there were a few face plants and wobbly tumbles, but today a mere week later, he confidently traveled across the living room floor, with the motivation of eating/grabbing my dangling camera case luring him to me. Witnessing this amazing feat brought tears to my eyes as I cheered him on like a proud Mom watching her son cross the finish line of the Kona Ironman. (will post the video soon!)

Although I'm basking in the joy of this proud parent moment, I do however have to pause to mourn the loss of my ability to leave Griff in a room by himself. Gone are the simple days of putting him on the floor while I use the bathroom, and knowing that he'll still be there safe and sound when I return... my baby is officially mobile.

Ok, I'm over it.

On Sunday night after I returned rejuvenated but also exhausted from a crazzzy girls' weekend in NYC for Youngna's Bridal Shower/Bachelorette Extravaganza, Griffin said "Da Da" in the company of his "Da Da" and me! It was both heart warming and a perfect family moment. :)

The icing on the cake (rainbow chip icing on my funfetti cake, of course) was the fact that Griffin has also managed to figure out how to sit up from a crawling position. Earlier this week with Grandma, we thought we saw him do it, but never had that "official first" grand moment. I watched it happen today, in what looked like slow motion. Once he was sitting, he looked at me and gave me one of those, "Hey Mom, did you see what I just did?" looks... I proudly smiled at him and then burst into an "Eeeeeeee", my signature excited noise.