Kristof--October 2000

On 11 October 2000, at the age of six months and five days, Kristof surprised us by pulling himself to a standing position in his crib for the first time. I happened to be nearby with the camera, so here's a shot of his very first successful standing-up. You'll note the mobile hanging over his crib; we took it away shortly after he was able to reach it!

Kristof's first teeth appeared on the day after his six-month birthday. Exactly three months later, in January 2001, an upper tooth cut through. Dental afficionados, don't worry; when we have a clear shot showing all three teeth, we'll post it.

After travelling on the night train from Burgas, on the Black Sea coast, to Pleven, Kristof needed a thorough bath (as we all did), so Rali washed him in a deep pan in her parents' bathroom. She told me later that her parents had washed her and her sister in the very same pan years ago. Kristof wasn't very happy about taking this particular bath, until he saw me come to the doorway with the camera. No shrinking violet, our son...he immediately stopped crying, turned to face me, and smiled for the photo.

On the way home from a walk in downtown Sofia in late October, we stopped to visit Kristof's first girlfriend, the lovely Nona Dimitrova, and Nona's mother Nelly, a former colleague of Rali's.

We've tried to hold out on buying a few baby things that we thought Kristof might not need. He's never used a pacifier, for example (as of January 2001, anyway). We thought we might be able to get away with not having a playpen, but instead just letting Kristof roam. However, it sure is handy to have someplace to put a baby when he shouldn't roam, so Rali gave him a cookie...and put him in the laundry basket while she was busy doing something else! By the way, we gave in and bought a playpen when we moved to Kosovo at the end of November 2000.

At the end of October, Kristof was getting better and better at feeding himself, but he was far from being an expert. He was usually able to eat most of his cookies...but it took a few tries for him to find his mouth each time!

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