Video of Mason Starting to Walk (19 mo.)

Below is a 1 min. video clip of Mason. He is just barely starting to take a few cautious steps. We hope you enjoy it!

Mason Takes First Steps + New Video

THE moment we have all been anxiously waiting for . . . has not yet arrived. Yes, it is true that Mason is taking First Steps. However, First Steps is a state-sponsored program that helps to ensure kids are developing in a timely manner. This coming week a developmental specialist will be coming to our house to help teach Mason how to walk. When Mason went for his check-up a week or two ago, the doctor was concerned that he’s taking so long to walk so she’s sending “Indiana First Steps” to our house. It’s a free service, and they come about once a week, I think.

Mason can stand up just fine on his own, but he has a very cautious personality, and when you combine this with his stubbornness you end up with a baby who is very determined to remain a “quadruped” (a four-footed animal). We’re not sure how much this specialist will actually help (we’ve already tried everything), but we figured it can’t hurt to try. We’re not worried that Mason is taking his time learning to walk; sometimes we just do things at our own pace. As for myself, I didn’t pass kindergarten the first time around :-).

Mason can say a number of things that sound like words: mama, dada, lala, (for “Lola,” his grandma), hi there (this can mean lots of things—sometimes we think it might even mean “hi there”), craka (we think this means “cracker”—the thing you eat, obviously), and chocko (for “chocolate”—probably his favorite thing to eat). Mason also just received a new haircut. His hair really grows fast. Also, the high school girls who Sara coaches really love Mason. He goes to all their games. Before long, he may become their official team mascot. Also, we have uploaded some new pictures of Mason on our online photo album. Below is a short video clip of Mason riding his little cart.

Finally, we just wanted to let Lola know how much Mason misses her. In fact, if he could, I’m sure he would make a trip to Baltimore to see her. He would probably even tell us he was just going to hang out in some distant city with his friends from “First Steps,” just so we wouldn’t suspect his clandestine plans to see his naughty Lola. Until next time! There is only 1.5 weeks left in the semester, so we should be updating our blog more frequently now that summer is almost over.

Our Little Couch Potato

BABY Mason is now over 17 months old and is still as adorable as ever. He sure makes us happy. We just can’t imagine life without him—he will always be part of our family. It’s definitely an honor and a privilege to get to see him grow and develop.

Okay, so Mason is actually way too active to be a couch potato. However, he does love his new “Baby Einstein” DVD. (We actually have 3 “Baby Einstein” DVD’s, but he really only likes the one that teaches him about shapes—we might have a little engineer on our hands.) In the picture, you can see him sitting in his PJ’s and eating his cereal in his favorite blue chair while he watches the DVD. I actually invented this setup a few days ago when Sara had a dentist appointment, and I had to stay home with Mason. I really needed to do some studying that morning. But, as I’m sure many parents have noticed, it can be extremely difficult to perform even some of the most basic daily tasks with a thirty pound ball of energy demanding your undivided attention--and nothing less.

Thankfully, technology came to my rescue, and I was able to finish my reading and keep Mason happy while mommy was at the dentist. I must admit, Sara was rather surprised when she came home and saw Mason hanging out in his PJ’s, watching a DVD—something only dad would let him get away with.

Even with the occasional assistance of “Baby Einstein,” I am truly amazed at Sara for taking care of him all day. I honestly believe I’m not patient enough to do what she does. If anything, when I graduate from school, Sara’s the one who really deserves my degree. And I mean it. (I am going to try to see if I somehow can get her name on my degree—I’ll even pencil it in myself if I have to, since I couldn’t have completed it without her help). What I do pales in comparison to what she does. All I really do is sit in a quiet, temperature-controlled library all day, contemplating the “legal mysteries” of the universe. On the other hand, Sara’s the one doing the real work. To most people, “Mason’s Mom” may not be a very impressive line on a resume, but in my opinion it’s infinitely more important. As my favorite author, Neal A. Maxwell, said, “Women, more quickly than others, will understand the possible dangers when the word self is militantly placed before other words like fulfillment. You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today’s world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms.” (Ensign, May 1978, p. 16.) I will always be thankful for Sara who selflessly—and constantly—gives of herself to help us have a happy family, and it truly is.

Going to Baltimore

Baby Mason is growing up fast. He's almost 17 months old now. He left today for Baltimore to see his Lola (i.e. his grandma) for the weekend. He decided to take Sara with him, but left me here since I wasn't able to get away from my studies.

It's amazing to watch him develop. He is definitely becoming more independent--he can even drink his bottle by himself. If he's playing with a toy, and we take him away from it, he has absolutely no problem telling us how he feels. Any month now, he'll probably start walking. The other day, he took 3 or 4 very small, cautious steps and then immediately went to his knees his safer crawling position.

Mason's molars are also starting to come in. Surprisingly, we haven't really had any trouble with him teething since his teeth began coming in last ~June.

According to Sara (and she's probably right since she spends more time w/ him) Mason has developed to the point where he can can get "time outs" for "inappropriate" behavior. Once, after head-butting Sara several times and after repeated warnings to cease and desist said behavior, he was punitively sentenced to an involuntary incarceration in his crib for no less than 5 to no more than 10 minutes.

In other news, school is going well for me. I finally found a topic for my econ thesis--it's an "econometric" extension of a study published by Dallin H. Oaks in 1970 when he was a law professor at Univ. of Chicago ("Studying the Exclusionary Rule in Search and Seizure"). This was right before he was asked to be president of BYU. His study was cited in 14 Supreme Court decisions and is the second most cited article in the history of The University of Chicago Law Review. Anyway, I'm pretty excited about it--the topic is quite interesting. Lacrosse is going well for Sara (she's coaching high school girls). We also purchased plane tickets to travel to Utah this July for our my family reunion. Well, time to get back to studying!

One More Video (16 mo.)

We just had to post this 2 min video. In addition to seeing how much Mason likes the milkshake I made, you really get to see some of his personality. Hope you enjoy it!

Update (16 mo.)

We have updated our photo album with a few more pictures this past week. Also, we have two new videos (about 1 min. each) which we have posted below. In one, Mason is waking up from a nap and is frustrated that I was filming him instead of pickup him up right away. In the other, Mason is bouncing up and down while holding onto the coffee table. Sara made the observation that as soon as Mason finished his bouncing, he "exits the stage" just like Napoleon Dynamite.

Sara bought me a new coat and Mason a new hat for Christmas. In the picture above, you can see Mason and me in our new winter outfits. In other news, we finally sold our Jeep, which we're really happy about. I also received my grades from last semester, and was happy to see that I survived another semester of school (just 3 more to go!). In addition, I have dusted off an old blog that I started last year, "My Thoughts." It's basically a blog where I plan to express my thoughts on anything I feel like at the moment: current events, law, politics, morals, school, religion, life, etc . . . I figured that's a better place to put some of my more "long-winded" thoughts.

Also, Mason is now sleeping through the night now! He goes to bed around 8pm and doesn't wake up until about 9am. We are definitely enjoying this 13 hr break. It's amazing how fast he's growing up. He still isn't walking, but he will occasionally stand up on his own. He seems to have a very cautious personality. You can tell he's thinking about walking, but he also realizes that he would do so at his own peril. He definitely has a very pragmatic attitude towards the whole issue. Why risk walking and hurting himself when he can achieve the same result in a safer (and for now, more efficient) manner.

15 1/2 Months Old (+ video clip)

It's been awhile since we've last made a post. I was busy studying for finals, and we never got around to updating this during winter break. Oddly enough, now that school has started again, I somehow now have time to update this (luckily the first week is fairly easy). We had a wonderful Christmas break vising my family in Cleveland, which is only 4 hrs. away. We were able to meet my brother Spencer's fiance (they're getting married in July). I was also offered a judicial externship with a federal district court judge in Cleveland (he deals with lots of habeas corpus petitions, which seems interesting), so it looks like we'll be in Cleveland for the summer.

Mason continues to grow up quickly. While we were in Cleveland, he was able to play with his cousin Elizabeth. She is about 2 weeks younger than Mason but has been walking for approximately the past 6 months. I think seeing her helped give Mason the courage to try to walk. While he is still unable to walk, he has now become very good at standing up on his own, which you can see in the video clip below.

In other news, it was -15 DEGREES this morning (with the windchill, it was about -40 DEGREES). Because of this, I decided not to do my usual 2 mile bike ride to school this morning. After riding home last night in -7 degree weather, I was in a lot of pain. It was so cold, our car barely started, and we also had frost on the inside of some of the windows in our house. After our car barely started, I tried jump starting our neighbor's. Apparently lot's of people's cars wouldn't start this morning because AAA had a 4-hour backlog with doing jumpstarts. We really miss California! According to the Weather Channel's website, South Bend's average low temperatures for December, January, and February are lower than those in Juneau, Alaska! (And the average high temperatures for South Bend are only 2-3 degrees higher.)

Finally, as you probably notice, I have made some slight modifications to the title of this blog. I think having this slight change in theme will help me to update this blog more frequently, as the updates may now also include a little more "non-baby" news. I love giving updates on Mason, but I started to realize if we have more kids, I'll have to start a separate blog for each one of them. Now, with the new and improved Gardner Blog, all I will have to do is add their name to the Blog's title (not that we're expecting any new additions anytime soon--we're thinking within 6 months or so after I graduate next spring).