Here's a future TOR player, Saxon Calhoun Holland!

(I think this photo is a week and a half old, but I like it.)

Hmm....

I'm not sure...

That could be auburn hair on his head. But I noticed his toes are still bald. You sure he's a hobbit?

Although he does appear to be a wickedly bright thing. What with using one of those new-fangled dwarf toys with his feet. Hmm, maybe he is a hobbit at that!




(Auburn Hair: Reference to the purchasable hobbit feet from the other thread.)



He's cute as a button. Congratulations!
Now quick, go and catch some sleep while he's not demanding food or diaper service!

CONGRATUALTIONS!!

The wonder of it all...

Best regards,
E

Fantastic!!!

Although we all think our kids are Hobbits. On the other hand my daughter was born on the 22nd of September!

Thanks all!

Garn, you should see my feet! (Comedy!)

Eluadin, it is indeed wonderful. I'm amazed how God made this boy and allowed Heather and me to help. That was very generous.

That's really neat, Bluejay! What a treat to share birthdays with such excellent and admirable hobbits!

I stop myself from saying I can't wait to introduce him to wonderful things like Middle-earth and this game, because I am already wishing time would slow down a little.

Yours in fellowship,
Stephen “Trotter”

A fine lad! Enjoy him to the fullest. They have a bad habit of growing every time you take your eyes off them.

Thanks, Horsa! So I am, and so I've noticed. I dread going to back to work and missing so much every day.

He's finally asleep, so I think I'll do the same.

Congratulations, Trotter!

Thanks, TKDCO2!

Congratulations! A newborn is several handfuls, and alas, you and your wife have but four hands total. But it's totally worth it!

My husband began to introduce our daughter to Middle-Earth when she was eighteen months old. They have a nightly ritual, begun the very day she came home from the hospital: Daddy-Daughter Reading Time. Every night, right before we officially tuck her into bed, he reads to her. At eighteen months, he picked up The Hobbit, and started to read that to her. I'm not sure how much she gets of the story, but I think for her it's really about the time she spends with daddy anyways.

Interestingly enough, TOR was indirectly responsible for this development. My brother saw TOR at the local gaming shop. He thought, "Wow! A new Middle-Earth RPG! That's awesome! I have to tell Brooke. She'll love it." We'd played MERP back in grade school, but that was twenty years ago. Still, it was good times, that we both remember fondly. So, seeing too copies, he purchased them both on a whim, one for himself, and one for me. That then led to my nephew getting into the novels, which led to him getting the extended edition trilogy for Christmas, which led to a LoTR movie marathon, which led to my husband deciding that our daughter must be exposed to The Hobbit. I'm glad, too, that TOR led my nephew to get into the novels; it's quite gratifying to see your fifteen year old nephew swap the game controller for a book, especially when the books he's reading are some of the greatest products of English literature.

It's also led to me getting into The History of Middle-Earth. Those books are fascinating. Haven't been able to spend as much time with them as I'd like, though.

Thank you, Brooke!

I've read The Adventures of Tom Bombadil to Saxon, and have started reading The Hobbit to him. I used to be a professional bassoonist, but it's Rob Inglis' readings that have inspired me to try to sing the songs from The Hobbit instead of just reading them. It's not too hard to make up a folksy melody. The hard part will be trying to remember which way I did if someday he says, “your’re doing it wrong!”

That's very cool how so many in your family share a passion for Tolkien in so many ways. I tried to set up a LotRO account for him, but they said he was too young, if you can believe it. I need to return to the project of making the LotRO epic quest line into TOR campaign. But who knows? Perhaps that game will still be going on when he's big enough to try it. I definitely feel the same way you do about putting the game controller down, though. I'd rather play that story with him across the table first. And I'd really like to play this game myself soon myself!

The Histories amazing. I some cases they hint at alternate versions I'd love to read in full. That's where I found my forum name, by the way.

Thanks again for the good wishes!

Yours in fellowship,
Stephen “Trotter”

I've proofread this post, but I have a slight fever. Please forgive any remaining rambling.

Never too early to read your little one good fiction!

And, yes, I caught the "Trotter" reference, and thought it very cool!

My mother taught my brother and I to love Tolkien, and when I first met my husband his idea of flirting involved various allusions to The Hobbit and LoTR, not to mention Star Wars. And I fell for it hook, line, and sinker...

Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Trotter!
May the lack of sleep never Weary you, and may his smiles replenish your Hope with every waking day.

Our little 'hobbit', Georgia Clarke Percy, is 14 months now. She has two breakfasts every day (and lunches, tea, and supper given half a chance) and shows a certain fascination for whatever that is that Daddy drinks in pints. She even has a grandfather who chose -- without any persuasion from me -- to be called her "Gaffer"!

What I want to know is why no one out there is selling baby booties or slippers made of flesh-pink material with brown fur on the top of the foot. There would surely be a massive market for them...?

Cheers,
--Os.

OMG, that would be so cute. I guarantee, if that hit the shelves today, our little one would have at least two pairs, as we'd get her a set immediately, and so would her uncle (my aforementioned brother, who is vicariously re-living through my daughter the days when his kids were that young).

On Hobbit-related matters, I think I've mentioned before that our daughter's current favourite stuffed toy is a rabbit she named "Bilbo" (actually, it's more like "Beh-bo, as she's still not quite sure how to make that "l" sound work, but it's clear what she means). This toy is lasting much longer in her affections than others thus far, and I have a feeling it might end being her long-term favourite.

You mean, something like these Kid's Hobbit Feet?

(And, btw, we think the hair color is Auburn.)

Fortunately, I don't need that. My sister once said that my toes look like Hobbit fingers!

BTW, just looked at the picture of your little one again (he really is irresistibly cute), and noticed the iPad by his feet. Something quintessentially postmodern about a little Hobbit lad lying alongside an iPad.

Haha, cute baby! Wish he will be a good man

Thanks for all the warm wishes!

Osric, that's pretty cool that Georgia has her Gaffer, and is eating like a hobbit. That takes a a lot of provender!

Garn, Brooke, and Tkdco2, he may not have furry hobbit feet (yet), but I think the sideburns are almost there!

Bigasd, amen. As folks try to decide whether he looks like Heather or like me (one dear friend said, "I think he looks like Saxon!"), my prayer is that he resembles Jesus.

"I am as happy now as I have ever been, and that is saying a great deal."
- Bilbo

Yours in fellowship,
Stephen "Trotter"

My nephew was once a Hobbit. Now, he's sixteen, today, and been taller than his aunt for some time. (Although, in fairness, that's really not saying much. I'm sufficiently short that my husband sometimes calls me a Hobbit. Nonetheless, he is tall). Enjoy the time whilst Saxon is yet young, because he won't be a Hobbit forever!

Interestingly enough, though, my nephew is again a Hobbit: in TOR, he plays a Hobbit Slayer whose life goal is to become as great a warrior as the Bullroarer.