The Laundry Channel

"All laundry... all the time!"

This is Collin's favorite new source of entertainment: the front-loading washing machine."Whites at 11am, colors at noon..."

Speaking of our little mischief maker, Collin turns 10 months old today. We took him for a check-up yesterday and found that he is 24 pounds, 9 ounces, which puts him in the 98th percentile for his weight. Yes, our nickname for him is "Tank."

Collin seems to have a "healthy appetite for exploration". In other words, he is good at finding trouble! Recently, his explorations have led him up the stairs and into the kitchen cabinets and China hutch. The other day when I was out of the house, Ethan watched Collin empty our snack cabinet. Ethan didn't think there was much trouble in there, but Collin somehow managed to open up a granola bar wrapper. Ethan found Collin surrounded in a pile of granola bar crumbs, desperately licking some bits off his face!

Collin also enjoys jumping in his crib and on our small trampoline (with a handle), and he is starting to stand for longer amounts of time. We don't think he's said any official words yet, but he certainly makes the "ma-ma-ma, da-da-da, ba-ba-ba" sounds, and it almost sounds like he says a "hi" sound when he waves!

In less that a week, I will be wrestling this 24-pound gorilla on an 8 hour plane ride as we fly to the States. I would appreciate any advice for flying with a baby this young and mobile, as well as wisdom to help him adjust to the 5 hour time change. We are trying to start getting him adjusted while we're still here, feeding him and laying him down a little later each day. So far, his schedule is about an hour and a half later than usual. It's a start.