halloween

At Ss Peter and Paul we have a "Family Fun Night" every October 31st. The feature event is that the children (and a few adults) dress up as their favorate saints. We have a little show in which each person give the audience clues to guess which saint they are.

We dressed David up. The clue was Matthew 2:18. He are the photos:




(I'm not sure what's up with Jaime)


"Et tu? " Getting ready before the show.

Later, innocents

what david eats

Carrots were a debacle.

Peas got off to a rough start, but he eventually came around. After a
week of peas, we introduced squash.

"Squash, David. David, Squash"

Squash, "Eat me"

David, "pthptptptptp"

But he took to it quite nicely after a couple of sittings. Now we he
sits for an actual meal from a spoon two or three times a day. This
meal consists of maybe a tablespoon of strained squash, peas, and/or
rice cereal, and a bottle.

The bottle is still pretty important--four-to-six ounces every
two-and-a-half to three hours. At bed time, he often demands an extra
bottle. We can get him down between 7:30 and 8:30 and he will sleep
for four to seven hours, wake up, demand a bottle, and then sleep
another four or hours demand another bottle and then sleep until we
wake him around 8:00 am.

The books say that he should be able to get through the night without a
meal. The Doctor says that if he is eating a full bottle, then he
needs it. If he were just "munching"--eating a couple of ounces for
comfort, then we should start trying to get him to skip it. So, we are
waiting for the big day when the "munching" begins so that we can spend
a couple of weeks trying to get him to learn to sleep through the night.

Later, peas and squash fans.

global identity disorder syndrom

I can't wait for Psych Post-Grads to start doing papers on the effects of growing up with parents who blogged about you.

And I can see the freshman Social Work Classes now:

"I'm the child of bloggers myself, so I want to learn how to help other children of bloggers."

Later, psychos.

backlog

I have a tremendous number of photographs backlogged that I have been meaning to get onto the blog. I am going to attempt to get them all up over the course of the next week or so. That way, you can stop complaining.

This was taken back during Labor Day weekend by Grandpa Brice. He sent it in response to my complaint that David never smiles for the camera.



This is also one dad took that weekend with Aunt Skylar--this was our last weekend together before she left.



More to come.

Achtung! Boy, it's October and I have already found what I'm looking for

You may begin your Christmas shopping now.

CONGRATULATIONS VALERIE AND ED

Several months back, I lamented the loss of my reading partner to the the great cycle of life.

Well, after months of gestation and blogging, Val and Ed's Excellent Adventure has come to an end. Now begins their super somnambulance. I hope it's everything they ever hoped for, times two.

proof of life

We got 'da the tigger.

You got 'da cash?

Help!!!!!!!!!!!

Aunt Skylar sent the following email to a bunch of people today. Oddly, she didn't post it to her blog, which is too bad because it speaks volumes. So I am posting it for her--because I care:

"I need a HUGE favor from one member of this e-mail group. My Tigger costume[1] is in the basement of Grandma H's house in (I think) one of the large blue bins. I need someone to HELP and fish it out and mail it to me. The box it not in the hand and I'm not sure which box that is in. If you see it great if not that's great too. Halloween is Sunday and Pernille[2] has never done Halloween and I did not know we would be doing halloween this year so I did not bring it.

"I will reimburse however mails it to me. PLEASE HELP. I know this is an inconvenience but I would appreciate it. Also, please talk to each other about this so that someone is not looking for it when someone else got it. Maybe if one person found it one person could mail it. Grandma V knows what to use to get it here quick and cheap.

Thanks
Skylar"

footnotes:

(1) Yes, my 25-year-old sister has a full Tigger (from Whinny (sp?) the Poo (sp?)). I haven't seen it. My wife is super-jealous of it. These are the women in my life.

(2) Pernille is the Dane who lives with the Trospers (where Skylar is living), whom Skylar adores. Apearantly Pernille has never spoken her native language to Skylar, which would cause Skylar to cover her ears in pain and run screaming from the room. Or is that Finnish? I can't remember now. Oh, well, I've already said it and it's too late to be editing.

Later, desperate Tigger fans.

Our little freak

There has been an on going discussion in the Simmons/Gilbert house about David, his ultra freakishness this last week and the ever illusive teeth.  I have to admit that I don't carry much weight on the subject because I have been attributing all of his problems since JULY to his teeth.  But come on, one of these days I will be right and there will be a pearly white tooth to blame all our troubles on.

 

So for the record heres whats going on.  Almost two weeks ago there was the mysterious rash.  Possibly carrots, maybe not.  Then last Saturday the eye.  We still have an APB out for the arrest of Grover in connection with the incident but no sightings as of yet.  He ate like a high school quarter back on a growth spurt last week and is now refusing food for the most part.  Still has a slight rash on his tummy going down onto his legs.  Can't seem to sleep well until 7am.  And to top it off, tonight he threw up his toes.  At least thats how Grandma Carla described it. 

 

I refuse to accept that my son is a freak so until he becomes normal (around age 30) I will hold fast to this one fact.  Its the teeth.

you should see the other guy

David woke this morning with a shiner. His right eye was swollen about 3/4 shut. We took him to the doctor, who looked him over and said that it was nothing to be alarmed about. Bring him back if he gets a fever or if whoever gave it to him returns with friends.

peas

screendoor

disgust

At the doctor's office, we always get a handout listing what typical behaviors we can expect for our child at that moment's age. For six months, one of the items is that he is probably exressing emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, and disgust. Happy, sad, and angry we have seen, no problem.

But disgust?

I don't think that we had ever seen what we would define as "disgust".

Until we tried to feed him mushy carrots.

Disgust.

Then, he looked me straight in the eye with the most frowning sorrowful look. It said "but I thought you loved me, daddy".

Finally, he barfed.

Twenty minutes later, he developed a rash. While a rash from first exposure to carrots seems highly unlikely, there was no other change or new event that provides a more reasonable explanation. The best alternative explanation is that it was a coincidence and we will not know the cause. However, to be on the side of caution, Dr. Colburn, whom we imediately called at home, recommended holding off on carrots for a couple of months, and then trying again.

When the rash goes away, we'll try peas.

Six (-and-a-half)-month check-up

We went to Dr. Colburn for the six-month check-up.

David is going great. To begin with, he was measured and weighed.

Are you ready for this?

He is 29-inches long/tall
He weighs 19 lbs 5 oz



His height is in the NINETY-SEVENTH PERCENTILE. This is the same percentage as breast augmentation patients happy with the results of their surgery.. Only 3% of children his age are taller.

Dr. Colburn was amazed that he can sit up by himself without falling (from the exam table). She said that most babies his age cannot yet do this (I question the accuracy of that statement). She tested his eye coordination with a little sticker that has a smiley face on it. She moved it up and down and all around while he watch attentively, waiting for the right moment to grab it and shove it into his mouth. Then. . . THEN she moved the sticker down and under the blanket he was sitting on. He continued to look for it, pulling up the blanket. This was particularly impressive since babies his age usually have not worked out the concept of things existing that they cannot see. When she hid the sticker, he should have assumed that it disappeared from existance.

He got more shots. This time they added a flu shot. More accurately, because of the shortage of vaccine, he got YOUR flu shot. Of course he cried when they stuck him, but not as much as when he fell on the floor.

We will start him on solid (ish) food this week. I attempted to boil carrots to mash up, but got distracted trying to teach David how perform a triple lux and forgot about the carrots until they were charred. I bet he eats them anyway.

97% of you, stay tuned.

all fours

It happened like this.

David was being the primary post-meal entertainment at a dinner party hosted by Fr. Joseph's family. We had moved to the floor-show portion of the evening wherein David demonstrates how well he can sit and chase his pacifier around just within arm's reach. The focus of conversation was speculating when and if he might crawl. Some thought soon. I said he may go directly to walking; we pointed out that he gets too little floor time with four adults in the house, and a bouncy, and a saucer, and a chair to fall from. We noted that he has never successfully gone from the sitting to crawling position.

At that point, he didn't actually look at us and say "oh yeah, watch this." He simply turned to his left, put his weight on his hands and tucked his knees under him.

He was in the crawling position.

We cheered and clapped. We were so elated that we didn't bother to react when he then tilted, swayed, and fell forward onto his face.

More wailing.

We may need the baby gates and outlet covers soon.

Stay tuned, crawling is coming.

goo

He said it. Last night (1:00 am) on the changing table. Two "ga"s
followed by a "goo".

ball basket bounce

black things david cannot put in his mouth (much to his dismay)

The phone
Daddy's PDA
Daddy's cell phone
The mouse
Daddy's socks
Daddy's shoes
The TV remote
The DVD remote
The VCR remote
The stereo remote
The computer keyboard
The PDA keyboard
Daddy's satchel
Ladle, spatula, tongs, slotted spoon
Daddy's hair
Daddy's beard
Daddy's pen
The watch
The prayer rope

david's first fall from furniture

It happened like this.

I decided to film David solving the Two Pacifiers Problem. While
getting set up, the phone rang. David sits up swell now, so I felt
comfortable leaving him in the stuffed chair to answer the phone,
watching him while talking. During the conversation David took note of
the plant on the floor in front of the chair and dove for it figuring
that it probably tastes good. I shouted an explicative, dropped the
phone and lunged across the room. By the time I arrived, he had simply
laid himself on his tummy dangling his arm over the front edge of the
chair. I picked him up and finished the phone conversation with him
trying to eat the phone, the cord, my face, the lamp, the wall, the
table, etc.
I then finished setting him up and started filming. Towards the end,
he had solved the Problem, tasted the chair, played with the fringe on
the pillow and was looking around for something else to shove into his
mouth. Oh, yeah, the plant in front of the chair--LUNGE. This time,
though, I was not as frantic since he safely avoided falling the
previous time. So I actually took a fraction of a second to stop the
tape rolling. It was a fateful fraction. Oh bitter, bitter fraction.

Anyway, his head hit the floor first just as I caught the rest of him.

WAIL, deep breath, WAIL, deep breath, WAIL. Really, though, it only
lasted for a few minutes. He was more upset about being put to bed
this evening.

I felt terrible, worse than I thought I would. I had told myself that
a fifteen-inch fall would not kill him and it certainly would not be
his first. But the pitifully wounded cry tore me up. I felt terribly
guilty.

He is over it, though, and is back to shoving the whole house into his
mouth.

Later, pitifully wounded fans.

the pacifier problem

"I have one binky in my mouth. So what do I do with this other one in
my hand?"

(if I can get a photo of him trying to solve this, I'll post it--jmg)