We had our first full-on, belly laughter today. Mary caught the toned-down aftermath on video:
Every time I'm able to make this kid laugh or smile or giggle I wonder just how much longer August will find his old Dad even the slightest bit amusing. Right now, I'm winning that war! Long may I continue to do so.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
5 Months: Monthiversay Photos
Here's August in his big boy jeans. Today he turns 5 months old.
This last one gives me an excuse to bring Watson back into the conversation. At first August pretty much ignored the dog. I speculate he just couldn't see such a completely black, non-contrasty object as Watson. But suddenly, about a month ago, August started to take great interest in the dog. Watching him walk around; reaching out to touch the dog's coat; grabbing at floppy ears if they should present themselves within his sphere of grabbiness (which they rarely do, you can imagine how Watson would keep a wide margin between the baby and himself). He really started to take notice.
Looks like my plan to have Watson become August's archetypal dog is off to a strong start—on August's part, at least. And once the child starts dropping/throwing food around the apartment, the attention, if not love and respect, will be mutual.
This last one gives me an excuse to bring Watson back into the conversation. At first August pretty much ignored the dog. I speculate he just couldn't see such a completely black, non-contrasty object as Watson. But suddenly, about a month ago, August started to take great interest in the dog. Watching him walk around; reaching out to touch the dog's coat; grabbing at floppy ears if they should present themselves within his sphere of grabbiness (which they rarely do, you can imagine how Watson would keep a wide margin between the baby and himself). He really started to take notice.
Looks like my plan to have Watson become August's archetypal dog is off to a strong start—on August's part, at least. And once the child starts dropping/throwing food around the apartment, the attention, if not love and respect, will be mutual.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
4 Months: Brunchin' It
He had his first solid food last night, so of course we're ready for our first restaurant experience today. Regrettably, August wasn't able to indulge in the food, but he did seem to enjoy the cultural experience of brunch at Acquitaine.
First, here he is with his Mom, all dressed up:
And then here's the evidence that he was out with us:
First, here he is with his Mom, all dressed up:
And then here's the evidence that he was out with us:
Friday, May 23, 2008
4 Months: First Food
Taking a page out of the Will Koffel play-book of documenting "firsts", we gave August his first taste of solid foods tonight: some totally organic rice cereal (with no GEI*, the box was emphatic about that). Some photos of the cleaner moments:
We estimate about 75% of what went into his mouth came straight back out, but he really seemed to like what little he swallowed. He's been eyeing us eating our food for a few weeks now, with an expression very much the same as Watson has when he watches us eat.
*Genetically Engineered Ingredients
We estimate about 75% of what went into his mouth came straight back out, but he really seemed to like what little he swallowed. He's been eyeing us eating our food for a few weeks now, with an expression very much the same as Watson has when he watches us eat.
*Genetically Engineered Ingredients
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
4 Weeks: The 16 Names
The research I've been doing has caused me to think in new ways about how to understand ancestry and family lore. Some of the names I've uncovered going back into August's past have been interesting, to say the least: Hepsibath Death, for example... one of Mary's father's forebears, 10 generations back! (It actually started as D'Eath four generations before that). And then there's the surname Feasil... a name so obscure it hardly registers as a word on the Internet—indexed by Google only about 1,000 times. (We've since had family sources who swear it's Irish).
I thought it would be interesting and revealing to list the 16 people who are four generations back from August. I don't have all those names, but each of these 14 people contributed more than 6% of August's genes... so who were they?
[FFMF = "August's father's father's mother's father"]
Originally this was going to be "The 32 Names" but I realized that even with all the research I've done, I still only have 18 of those 32 names going back 5 generations back from August. All this research and I still only know 56% of August's great great grandparents.
But some of those names are awesome! Pleasant Vaughn. August Wager (see Namesakes Part 3, coming soon). Fessenden (believe it or not, this is our thread back to Augustino Balbani and his 4th-great grandfather Turco, in 1280). Stringfield, from Texas. Sauer, from Alsace-Lorraine, via Missouri. And the widow Christiann(a) Irwin Ball, mother of 11 children, our purported link back to the 9th Laird of Drum in Scotland!)
It's fun. I really wish I knew the other half of these names.
I thought it would be interesting and revealing to list the 16 people who are four generations back from August. I don't have all those names, but each of these 14 people contributed more than 6% of August's genes... so who were they?
[FFMF = "August's father's father's mother's father"]
- FFFF: Everett L. Ball - b. 1882, California.
- FFFM: Francesca Loftus - b. 1891, Colorado.
- FFMF: ?
- FFMM: ?
- FMFF: Henry Wagner - b. 1880, Joliet, Ill.
- FMFM: Paulina Limacher - b. 1881, Joliet, Ill.
- FMMF: Willard S. Poage - b. 1894, Bolivar, Missouri.
- FMMM: Marcia Hulanski (Julianski) - b. Ouray, Colorado.
- MFFF: Elliott Augustus Finkelnburg - b. 1892, Winona, Minnesota
- MFFM: Charlotte Willey
- MFMF: William Henry Vaughn - b. 1901, Kansas.
- MFMM: Lillian Anne Wager - b. Minnesota?
- MMFF: Andrew Slaveck - b. 1889, Slovenia
- MMFM: Anna Kolman - b. 1892, Turnisce, Slovenia
- MMMF: Frantisk Dundr - b. 1894 Drbretiva, Czechoslovakia
- MMMM: Anna Slopak - b. 1901, Stod, Czechoslovakia
Originally this was going to be "The 32 Names" but I realized that even with all the research I've done, I still only have 18 of those 32 names going back 5 generations back from August. All this research and I still only know 56% of August's great great grandparents.
But some of those names are awesome! Pleasant Vaughn. August Wager (see Namesakes Part 3, coming soon). Fessenden (believe it or not, this is our thread back to Augustino Balbani and his 4th-great grandfather Turco, in 1280). Stringfield, from Texas. Sauer, from Alsace-Lorraine, via Missouri. And the widow Christiann(a) Irwin Ball, mother of 11 children, our purported link back to the 9th Laird of Drum in Scotland!)
It's fun. I really wish I knew the other half of these names.
Monday, May 19, 2008
4 Months: Namesakes - Part 2
Augustus Friedrich Finkelnburg was born in 1830, in Marialinden, Rhenish Prussia. Today, Marialinden is a part of Overath, Germany, not far from Cologne, and looks like this:
Why would anyone want to leave a beautiful, civilized little town like this?
Not sure, but like many of our son's ancestors, Augustus (referred to as August in the 1880 US Census) was a pioneer. He moved to Wisconsin in 1848, at about age 18. That was the same year Wisconsin became a state. He traveled west to California in 1851 and returned on muleback from San Diego four years later.
He started a family with Amalia Busch, from Hamburg, Germany, whose father's middle name was also August. They raised nine children, eight of which survived to adulthood, but sometime between 1873 and 1880, Amelia died. In 1880, there were still seven children living in the household, from age seven to 20. Augustus was a lawyer, by trade, and figures prominently in the early legal history of the state of Wisconsin.
Augustus Finkelnburg's Prussian blood represents only about 1.5% of our August's entire genetic pie chart, but I hope our son will have inherited a much larger share of the man's spirit. I'd have liked to have met Augustus Finkelnburg, the widower immigrant from Prussia who raised nine children. A man like that could teach you things!
Latest pie charts for August are below. This is after further research: not appreciably different, but hacking away at that "Unknown" slice. Note that Augustus Finkelnburg's Prussian 1.5% isn't the only Prussian contribution. There's some on my side as well, and anecdotally it's possibly that a large section of the Unknown pie slice will turn out to be Prussian.
More on other pioneering ancestors and still more namesakes in future!
Much of my information about Augustus Finkelnburg comes from this page.
Update from Mary's Dad, Dave Finkelnburg:
Waldron,
Regarding your blog post, my understanding is that AFF came to the US with his mother and two siblings as a result of the 1848 rebellion in Germany, in which his father had taken the wrong side, politically speaking, and was therefore convinced Germany was no longer a fit place to raise a family. This was, as I understand it, when he was mayor of Badgodesburg (I think that is the name), which is an old pre-Roman town (I've walked a portion of the Roman-era wall which at that time surrounded the town) upriver and west of Bonn not far from the Belgian border. Eventually, so the family story goes, the wife and one sibling returned to Germany to live. Thus two Finkelnburgs remained in the US, one as a judge near St. Louis. The other two carried on the family line in Germany. This is my recollection of what was told to me by my distant cousin Wolf-Dieter Finkelnburg as he guided us through the town the year Mary was a student in Paris.
Why would anyone want to leave a beautiful, civilized little town like this?
Not sure, but like many of our son's ancestors, Augustus (referred to as August in the 1880 US Census) was a pioneer. He moved to Wisconsin in 1848, at about age 18. That was the same year Wisconsin became a state. He traveled west to California in 1851 and returned on muleback from San Diego four years later.
He started a family with Amalia Busch, from Hamburg, Germany, whose father's middle name was also August. They raised nine children, eight of which survived to adulthood, but sometime between 1873 and 1880, Amelia died. In 1880, there were still seven children living in the household, from age seven to 20. Augustus was a lawyer, by trade, and figures prominently in the early legal history of the state of Wisconsin.
Augustus Finkelnburg's Prussian blood represents only about 1.5% of our August's entire genetic pie chart, but I hope our son will have inherited a much larger share of the man's spirit. I'd have liked to have met Augustus Finkelnburg, the widower immigrant from Prussia who raised nine children. A man like that could teach you things!
Latest pie charts for August are below. This is after further research: not appreciably different, but hacking away at that "Unknown" slice. Note that Augustus Finkelnburg's Prussian 1.5% isn't the only Prussian contribution. There's some on my side as well, and anecdotally it's possibly that a large section of the Unknown pie slice will turn out to be Prussian.
More on other pioneering ancestors and still more namesakes in future!
Much of my information about Augustus Finkelnburg comes from this page.
Update from Mary's Dad, Dave Finkelnburg:
Waldron,
Regarding your blog post, my understanding is that AFF came to the US with his mother and two siblings as a result of the 1848 rebellion in Germany, in which his father had taken the wrong side, politically speaking, and was therefore convinced Germany was no longer a fit place to raise a family. This was, as I understand it, when he was mayor of Badgodesburg (I think that is the name), which is an old pre-Roman town (I've walked a portion of the Roman-era wall which at that time surrounded the town) upriver and west of Bonn not far from the Belgian border. Eventually, so the family story goes, the wife and one sibling returned to Germany to live. Thus two Finkelnburgs remained in the US, one as a judge near St. Louis. The other two carried on the family line in Germany. This is my recollection of what was told to me by my distant cousin Wolf-Dieter Finkelnburg as he guided us through the town the year Mary was a student in Paris.
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