Alex went swimming again with Mom and Dad last week.

On Friday Alex turned three months old! We celebrated by heading up to the folks’ house for a visit on Friday night. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Phet were in attendance as well. Here’s Phet holding Alex.

We took his swimming gear on the road so he could go for a dip at grandma’s house. He’d never swum in a tub other than ours in the bedroom…

…and he learned quickly that grandma and grandpa’s tubs are quite a bit smaller than what he’s used to! Alex wasn’t able to turn himself around, though he got close a couple of times. I bet on him not being able to, which means I won $20 betting against my kid. It’s all good, son, I’ll put it in your piggy bank or your 529 plan!

All that swimming made Alex very hungry. Here’s grandma giving him a bottle.

On Saturday, Alex went out with Mom and Dad to get breakfast and run a couple of errands. Mom put his Chinese knit cap on him. It’s already getting way too hot for that sort of thing, but we’re going to have to get him in the cap soon if we ever want to get a picture of it… he’s already close to growing out of it. Can you see the end of his yarn topknot resting on the left shoulder?

Back at home, Alex hung out on the brown couch and just thought for a while. He’s got a lot of action over the last three months to reflect on!

Later on Saturday Uncle Jared and Aunt Yingbin brought over Juno. Alex watched closely for the moments he was able to stay upright on the green couch in the front room. He can sit like this without assistance for a while now.

Eventually, he begins to lose structural integrity and tip over. But who doesn’t do that if they sit upright for too long?

On Sunday, Alex and Dad read Baseball Prospectus 2008. Here’s Dad telling Alex that yes, Geovany Soto was a great fantasy pick as catcher, but Dad only made the pick because he’s one of the guys in the little pictures on the front of the book. Thanks, Baseball Prospectus!

Alex has really started to make some progress in tummy time. Here he is earlier today doing a big-man push-up on his tummy time mat.

The best part about exercise is relaxing in the refreshing wash of endorphins that follow a really good workout. Alex is learning this quickly.

We’re experimenting with video here. Here’s a small clip of Alex smiling on the green couch, just to see how this works.

Here’s a longer one of Uncle Jeff’s dancing making Alex cry.

We have had a busy April! I want to expand the content here on Alex’s blog a little bit by writing more stuff that doesn’t strictly accompany pictures, and I’ll try to get some thoughts up that Michelle and I have had about the New Parenting Experience soon. But we all know that the photos pay the bills, so…

We’ve done a little bit of reading this month. Mom got this cool electronic book that sings nursery rhymes. It’s got a bright blinking light that Alex can follow, so now it actually looks like he’s reading. It’s also got some moveable elements that a kid is supposed to antagonize to get the book to make cute noises or display Yodas or something. That’s the next step here–getting Alex to grab those.

I think maybe this was the beginning of a yawn, but it also could have been the start of “get that damn camera away from me” in babyspeak. I was actually trying to get Alex’s tongue here; he had his lingual frenectomy in early April, and it worked like a charm! He’d never been able to stick his tongue out before, due to the membrane under the tongue extending more towards the front of it than is optimal (the clinical term for this is a very mild case of ankyoglossia, apparently, but most people would refer to it as being tongue tied). He’s been doing it a lot since then… but all I got for you here is this weird look.

Alex is Daddy’s Little Helper, both in uniform and in action. He’s helped me do some stuff around the house. We’re expert at getting the mail and opening and closing the blinds.

This is not as mundane as it might sound. Our house has a lot of blinds.

The big news of the month is that Alex has learnt to swim! Actually, according to some stuff I’ve been reading around the Internets (see the “Swimming” header of this page, for example, or maybe you’re familiar with the cover art of Nirvana’s Nevermind) newborns know how to hold their breath under water and paddle about a little, so maybe “learnt” is not the right word.

One of Michelle’s coworkers came by our house a few weeks ago to meet Alex and she brought her computer. She showed us the coolest video on it–her nephew, at about one year of age, wearing this plastic inflatable ring around his neck, which was suspending the rest of his body from the neck down in water. He was paddling around, happy as could be, in water a couple of feet deep. We were fascinated by the idea of a kid swimming around without being aided by an adult at such a young age.

I know. It sounds horrible. If you’d described a form-fitting flotation bladder around the neck of an infant, supporting his entire weight in the water, to me I’d have thought so too. You’ve got to see the pictures and/or video, and then you’ll understand. Speaking of which:

I Googled for the contraption we saw this kid in, and I found nothing–just a bunch of lame-ass baby life vests and waterwings. As far as I can tell this is a Chinese innovation, and I find very little evidence of these things existing on the Internet.

Luckily, Mom is Chinese and she’s got the hookup back home. In early April one of Michelle’s coworkers arrived from China and he brought us one of these swimming rings. They’re made by an outfit called DoctorMa and come with the large outer ring and a series of three different-sized inner rings. The inner ring fits snugly around the kid’s neck, and connects to the outer ring which handles the flotation–and away you go!

Alex is in the tub for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. We’ve taken him swimming about a dozen times since we got the ring and it’s really great fun. I also like that he’s moving all his limbs against the water’s resistance. I’ve convinced myself it’s doing wonders for his balance, muscle control, and development versus just hanging out above-water all the time. He seems to love it. He sometimes gets a little grumpy when we’re getting the ring on him but he always calms down and putters about contentedly when we get him into the water.

He can’t wait for the Holstad Family Reunion this summer, where he’ll be swimming with the family in the pool at the Compound.

I’ll get some video up. It’d help if my retarded Windows Vista computer could read it from my camera’s memory card. Thank you, Microsoft.

Here’s yet another added bonus. Mom thinks swimming makes the bath she gives him afterward a more rewarding experience easier too. In fact, he’s so relaxed after swimming around the guy fell asleep in the tub once. Now that’s what I call peaceful!

Grandma and Grandpa left town for Easter this year, so we struck out in a different direction for our Easter celebration. Grandma and Grandpa were here in spirit, though, and were represented by the cool Easter bib and hat they got for Alex.

Here’s a closer shot. Alex has been captured with, you know, he’s got that look.

He’s still growing like crazy. He weighed in at 13.2 lb at the doctor’s office on Monday… and I’m afraid Alex’s new hat is already too small for him.

Alex was totally ready to party down on Sunday. Here he is in eager anticipation as we drove to Aunt Alba and Uncle Brian’s house for a barbecue. He heard there would be a beer luge at the party. There was not a beer luge at the party. Life is cruel like that sometimes, son.

He spent quality time with several quality people at the barbecue. Here he is with Aunt Vivan, who was meeting Alex for the first time. I think the kid’s in love. Watch yourself, Uncle Andres!

Uncle Andres isn’t worried. He made Alex smile a lot.

The day after Easter, we got haircuts at our place. Why and how we get haircuts in-home is a long story we can cover at another time but I assure you it in no way involves a Flowbee. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Phet came over and here’s Phet, feeding Alex.

Finally, a special thanks to Jeff and Phet for the awesome cradle swing. We put it together last week and Alex loves it! He’ll hang out in it for quite a while without fussing and it even passes his Spontaneous Smile Seal of Approval. I understand this honeymoon period is going to be brief, but that doesn’t make it any less sweet.

Tomorrow Alex gets himself a lingual frenectomy. Mom and dad aren’t looking forward to it, but it looks like it needs to be done. Wish us luck!