Super Ren Crawling Video

One of the tough things about gathering Ren videos is that she tends to shut down whenever the camera comes out. If you're trying to capture an activity, instead you get a video of Ren looking at the camera. I've tried to practice the ninja skill of surreptitious shots.

But this film is the exception. We took this probably about two months ago, when we were still excited about Ren crawling...now it's a constant thing. She's a lot more skilled at it, as well. Here she's using her thighs to push her along and flailing her arms forward. Now she can walk on all fours, fully use her legs, and push herself up.

We have a gate over the doorway in the background now, so the two front rooms belong to Ren.

Anyway, great video, with a cute ending:


This particular one, I could watch over and over.

Ren, Indian Brave

Good news, grandparents! It's new videos week again. I've got about five new ones. There are also a few pictures.

Hiroko has declared this video to be her favorite. Watch for the look on Ren's face at the end, as if she's saying, "Oh, why did you stop?" Answer: because my hand is covered in drool.

Ren is Sick

Hi all,

I know I'm way behind in posting "daily" again, but Friday I was zoned, yesterday I was very busy and today...well...Ren is sick. I'll spare you the gory details but really it'll pass. All three of us are very tired, and Ren is one very miserable baby. But I think it's nothing to worry about.

Aaaaanyway...

This is the last video I've got uploaded, but we've made a couple more since then that I haven't yet transferred. This is a vid of Ren making an amusing tongue noise, endlessly. She picks up and drops habits like this all the time. Very comfortable expressing herself.

Kawaii, ne?

Pepsi Bottle

Ren loves to lie on her back and manipulate larger objects with both feet, both hands, and mouth, at the same time. This is a picture of her playing with an empty Pepsi bottle. Right after I shot this, she lifted it up and banged herself in the head.

It's a good example of the lack of necessity of toys. We get her toys (or they're given to us) and Ren ignores them to play with empty bottles and bags, slick advertisements, pens, spoons, coat hangers, our phones, and remote controls.

Ren Clapping!

This awesome video is the product of what happens when your baby learns she can slam her hands together and make noise.



But the very coolest part for me is not the clapping, but the imitation. If I put Ren in my lap and clap several times in front of her, she will stop what she's doing and start clapping when I finish. Imitation! It's col and encouraging to see. But now that she's learned to mimic me, I feel a little responsible for her behavior. I guess I should stop drinking and swearing in front of her all the time. Ha, I kid of course.

What time is it?

Ren has a toy that depicts the head of a red monkey, and wraps around her wrist. I call it the monkey watch. We like to joke like,

"Hey, what time is it?" "Umm...oh! Monkey!"

Or we order her that she'll have to do things or take baths "when it's monkey."

Just a typical Ren day

Here's a video of a typical Ren day. This was pre-crawl, so we could just leave her on the sofa to play like this. If we did this now, she'd be falling to the floor in about a half second. It's after the time, though, when she learned to play autonomously. You can sort of get an idea of just how independent she is here. Give Ren some toys and she'd rather just be left alone to play.

Her favorite toy for a long while was the flat blue one seen here. It's a matter of toy attrition that we don't know where this one is anymore. But there are new ones.

Videos: Ren in Action

Hi all. I'm still very busy today and tomorrow (plus I have to write about the Cubs at my blog) so I don't have a lot of words for you today.

When Hiroko got back from Japan in mid-summer, she brought a toy cell phone with her. This is certainly something I never had as a kid. It plays music and says "ohayo", "oyasumi", "konnichi wa". Nowadays Ren is a lot more alert and can hit the buttons and open and close it. But back then, she did with it what she does with everything:

The background sound is me laughing.

Here's a brief video of Ren slapping her hand on a table, which she loves to do, especially when not provided with toys. The other hand belongs to our friend Carmela, who was visiting to help me with one of my long Sundays, when I take care of the kid alone all day and into the next morning. She is great.


Okay, that's it. Get back to work.

Teeth!

I'm not going to get a video or pictures posted today because I'm too busy. Tomorrow for sure. Also be sure to check out my blog tomorrow for my evaluation of the Cubs v. Diamondbacks.

The big news is that Ren has two teeth now. It happened so fast and with so little complaint by her that we didn't realize they'd broken the surface until yesterday. She was chewing on my finger, I felt two sharp points, and I checked it out and made the discovery.