Today Walker is 8 months old. He’s such a very big boy and he graduated from his bucket car seat to his big boy (and let me emphasize BIG) seat. The thing is HUGE but he seems to like sitting up straight. There are so many straps and pads and folds — it’s a bit intimidating and it is taking us a little while to get used to getting him in and out. The ordeal started out taking 5 minutes or so but we’re getting it down to half the time now. Walker is trying to be patient with us but he’s wondering how smart his mother is if she’s stumped by his seatbelt.

Poor little guy has an ear infection, although, on the bright side, he really likes his medicine. He takes his anitbiotics through a syringe and you can see a light in his little eye when he sees the bright pink liquid. He smacks his lips in anticipation and when he’s finished, he looks around for some more.

This past week was a bit of a trial. Sofiya called me a few times and I could hear Walker in the background, voicing his displeasure — not sure about what but he certainly wasn’t happy. Thursday was the worst and I went to pick him up. Walker was a perfect angel when I got there so I took him to work. He was so very polite when sitting in meetings with me. He sat on the couch and played quietly while in a meeting with my team and my boss, and rolled around on the floor while I conducted a phone interview. He’s been to work a few times so perhaps I should contact HR and get him put on the payroll. (Friday he was wonderful so I have high hopes for this coming week.)

Walker has forsaken his bottle this week. Not sure why — because of his infection or because he’s just done with them — and not sure if he’s planning on going back. Poor Sofiya didn’t know what to do. She gave him jar after jar of food (he LOVES squash) because he would only chew on the bottle rather than actually suck anything down. On Friday, Sofiya resorted to delivering two full servings of milk through a syringe — 2ml at a time. The patience of a saint! Obviously this is an unsustainable milk delivery system (and I’m not willing to supplement with feedings all night since Walker has not forsaken milk directly from the tap…) so Larry and I went out and purchased faster flow nipples and every type of sippy cup possible. Walker is attracted to an Avent sippy nipple-and-handles attachment we can put on his bottle. He’s also trying his sippy straw cup. It’s shocking how excited Larry and I get over a few small sips of water.

In addition to the sippy cup shopping, we had a very busy weekend. There was a big comic convention called WonderCon at Moscone so many of our friends were in town. Adam, a great friend of ours, came to stay and was very understanding about Walker’s late night antics and the germ factory we call “home.” While healthy when he arrived, Adam left with a sniffle or two… Larry has known Adam as long as he’s known me so he’s really family — a quirky and hysterical brother. As Adam makes his living writing for comics and animation, I never know what’s going to come out of his mouth but generally, it makes me giggle. The three of us tend to build the comedy pyramid together, often riffing on obscure entertainment of some kind, but shortly, Larry and Adam leave me in the dust while I sit back and enjoy the comedy. Both of them are so darn funny. With Walker now in the mix, the comedy topics changed slightly — this weekend they were riffing off “Old MacDonald.” I guess you had to be there. But take my word for it — it was knee-slappingly funny.

We didn’t spend any time at the convention because, speaking of knees, Larry hurt his. Poor guy was bested by our spiral staircase on Friday night. He was moving very slowly on Saturday so we just went to the show long enough to pick up our friend and lawyer, Ken Levin, for a nice lunch. Walker was very well-behaved, eating a whole jar of squash, and banging his spoon on the table. It wasn’t until an hour later when he signaled his desire to get the show on the road with a few ear-piercing squeals. The folks behind us were not amused (but they were cranky comics pros who didn’t appreciate the musing of a future comics fan).

I’ve forgotten to mention that Walker has lost his shoe and sock privileges at Sofiya’s. He’s figured out how to remove all shoe types — Robeez moccasins (advertised as “stay-on”), boots tied with double knots, and loafers secured with velcro. So, he’s had to wear his footed jammies every day. It’s so sad to have all these adorable outfits stay in a drawer while he outgrows them. Each weekend I put him in regular clothes and see how often Walker gets out of his shoes. This weekend he didn’t get out of them once so we’ll try some overalls tomorrow (and of course, pack a few pairs of jammies just in case…)

I have a cold again so I’m going to get some shut eye and fight off these nasty germs.