'git along little doggie

Tristan took his first pony ride today. There was a fair at the Dominican grounds in Orangeburg, near his grandparent's house.



This was also the start of Tristan's first full night away from mom and dad. He spent the night at grandma and grandpa's house. All went well...he didn't seem skip a beat.

The Office

Jennifer surprised Tom with a surprise visit to the office with Tristan. In order to give dad a break, Tristan took over for a while...

Ashley's Baptism

Tristan's friend Ashley was welcomed into the Christian community today at her Baptism. Family, friends and proud parents Donny and Susan were there to support her.

BBQ at Steve and Sanja's

Later on in the day, Jen, Tom and Tristan traveled to the hinter lands of New Jersey with friends Richard and Meredith to see Steve and Sanja. There were lots of friends and family...and tons of food. The hit of the party was the batch of margharitas with a secret ingredient...beer. (Odd as that sound, it was pretty good...and quite popular.)

Tristan's mom had fun showing him the finer point of a proper football grip...while her mind was drifting off the the horse barn on the property next door.

Swim Class

Tristan rose early on his six month birthday to take his first swimming class. The water was a little colder than the instructor usually likes it to be for her "Shrimp", but Tristan and his classmate were real troopers.



There was a lot of kicking, splashing and exagerated bubble blowing (by daddy). Tristan also got a couple of good chuckles seeing his dad in a bathing cap. It was a great way to start the day...and to celebrate his half-year birthday.

And yes, Tristan does have his own membership card for the Y:

Teething

Tristan's first two teeth have come in (front/bottom), but he still seems to enjoy teething. Actually, these days it is more like gnawing. So far, the rails of his crib are safe...but the same can not be said for his high chair tray.

Tribute to the 9-11 Firefighters

Tristan got a new pair of PJ's in tribute to the firemen who lost their lives on 9-11.



(The pose is meant to be cute, not disrespectful)

First Lego's

Tom is so proud that Tristan enjoys his first set of Lego blocks. OK, each block only has one peg, but they are Lego's none the less.



Tristan's proud pop has a whole list of Lego projects lined up for his boy, from Thomas the Tank train sets to custom models build with the new Lego Digital Designer CAD system.

Tristan's First IM

So Tristan has had a lot of "first" recently, as most babies do...but today he had first 21st Century "first"...he sent an instant message to his daddy.



[11:21] jickib29: hi dadee
[11:22] jickib29: i'm awake and drooling all over momee
[11:22] tompayne36: awake already!
[11:22] jickib29: slept for an hour and a half
[11:22] jickib29: good nap
[11:22] tompayne36: no drooling on the keyboard
[11:22] jickib29: mjfrf=]grsxZO$b6
[11:22] tompayne36: nice
[11:23] jickib29: z tg5v
[11:23] tompayne36: your first IM!
[11:23] jickib29: ```````;1`
[11:23] jickib29: e54dwde['
[11:23] jickib29: eweww/ws
[11:23] tompayne36: I am so proud of you!
[11:23] jickib29: .xc5xz z
[11:23] jickib29: q`qz sqzSyuy
[11:23] jickib29: z
[11:24] jickib29: zzzm,/0yewqar 5
[11:24] jickib29: ,loll.p;8im o980pp

The first part is his mommy pretending to be Tristan, then he takes over. OK, granted, it doesn't make any particular sense...but it remains adorable.