Wedding Bells

We were late. All the adults were ready for Misty's cousin's wedding. The girls were ready, too, but down to the wire, they both decided they wanted their hair straightened, which takes a while. Flying down the highway, we've got less than ten minutes to get to the church after getting off the interstate on the way to town.

I made a couple sharp, fast left turns and dropped the girls off while I found a parking spot, parked the car, grabbed the baby and headed for the doors. The photographer was taking shots of the wedding party as they prepared to walk down the aisle. I didn't see Mom or the girls and waited for the shot to finish, then darted in the church. There we were; on the left side, in the very back row . . . couldn't have cut that any closer.

We made it on time to the reception. The family ooh'd and ahh'd over Jack, for many it was their first time to see the boy. We got some really good pictures, but missed some of the best.

Terra and Madeline practiced almost all day on a dance routine. They were prepared to bring Madeline's boom box to the reception. I was surprised, but it ended up Terra had to coax Madeline into going through with the show. The girls made all the arrangements. They spoke with the DJ, brought the CD, scheduled it, and all. It went great and they got applause from the audience.

Boingers

The trash people would not take the queen mattress I stashed in our garage. Misty and I bought a new mattress last year and ever since the old spring Sealy mattress has been standing upright in our garage. Not anymore.

I put the mattress out with our trash hoping against hope that the trash man would take the large item. No such luck. I was livid. I stayed home from work, the Friday after Thanksgiving, waiting for those guys. When they wouldn't take it, I took drastic actions.

That included bolt cutters, a utility knife, and no less than 10 trash bags. I ripped the mattress along the sides, used the bolt cutters to cut out the steel frame and put it all in trash bags. This item will be taken, the trash man will not win this battle, he will take that mattress away, one way or another.

The springs that make up the mattress comprise 33 in each row (more or less). This left a ton of springs. Stashed in trash bags, it seems like the springs would be more useful for something, but I couldn't figure out what for. I decided to ask my eight year old what we could do with the springs.

"Madeline," I asked, "what would you do with about 600 of these springs?" as I held up a sample. She was laying on the couch watching TV and this caught her attention. Immediately. She sat straight up, "I would tie these to my shoe and spring . . . " she told me.

We attempted to secure a set of springs to a pair of shoes. Madeline said, "Dad. I want to name them "Boingers"." We went to the store later that day to find some velcro strips. The strips will be used to tie the spring to the foot. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the boingers to production.

Although the velcro did its job, the spring is too long and Madeline couldn't get enough leverage to depress the spring sufficiently (and reliably) while making a normal step. The springs would bend at right angles from her stride which isn't desirable. The springs are too long. Back to the "boinger" drawing board.

Garage

Do you know what it's like to have a garage and have both cars parked in this garage? I found out the answer to this question . . . it's AWESOME! I couldn't not look at the garage, with everything in it's place, all the plans working.

In the late summer I built a bench and some saw horses. These two suckers take up a lot of room. Then there was some boxes, and other stuff that needed to find a better home.

The boxes and extra bikes went to Goodwill, the rest of the stuff found a home in the house, and now both our cars are parked in our garage. It's glorious.

Beautiful Fall Day

Sunday was a gorgeous day. What a wonderful day to work outside and rake/mulch 14 bags of leaves! Madeline was really anxious to help rake the leaves. Usually, it feels like it would be easier to talk Terra and Madeline into a gum scraping than to do actual work around the house. I happily accepted her offer.

She started to rake the leaves into a pile by one of the trees. I followed her lead, and eventually after several hours all the leaves were in a pile under a birch tree. She started jumping in, Mom got the camera, and I think these are the best pictures we've ever taken. The light in the evening was great, Madeline and Jack were having so much fun, the weather was great, what a fun day.

Check out the other pictures.

Happy Veterans Day

Madeline made this card for Big Daddy.
I didn't get a card :(

Mr. Messy

Little boys are different than little girls. Jack is a train wreck and neither Misty or I recall either of the girls behaving with these manners. My favorite is the cabinets.

A few months ago I put the child safety tabs on the cabinet doors. Jack was ferociously unhappy when he discovered he was no longer able to open the cabinets, pull his favorite stuff out and throw it on the floor. He screamed, yelled, and whined a little when he discovered his new limitation.

Every weekend morning I'll fix breakfast, and Jack systematically goes to each of the cabinet doors and pulls/pushes the doors in and out, in and out. Repeatedly. Repeatedly. Repeatedly. It makes the loudest noise. He's broken one of the child fasteners, he's shaken the screw out of one of the pulls (the wood the screw fastens is stripped).

He broke the plastic off a pull drawer underneath the sink. Then, he finally sits down he comes to the drawers that I haven't locked. He rummages through and pulls out all the Ziploc bags, all the cups and throws them on the kitchen floor. That's on Saturday. Sunday: repeat.

He pulled down the candy bowl for Halloween and pulled out some Nerds candies, chewed, drooled on the box enough where he could pull the candy out, dispense on the floor, and proceed to eat at his leisure.

When he eats, he can't just eat the food. He takes it out of his mouth, looks at it, squishes it some more in his hand, then will either 1) put it back in his mouth and finish eating or 2) throws it as far as he can.

That's the other thing, the throwing. He will pick up a toy. Then walk around at a fast pace with both hands above his head. He grunts in his 15 month old, viking/pirate voice and then catapults the toy as far as he can. It doesn't have to be a toy, even. He loves to throw any number of things.

He's not afraid of mud, I think the more the better. Last time it rained and dried enough we were outside and he is a magnet to puddles, muddy dirt, can't get enough of it.

Worlds of Frightening Fun

The amusement park Worlds of Fun is open until the end of October. The last month it is open, it's always had a Halloween theme going . Two years ago, I remember it was a little cute. Tall characters walked around the entrance taking pictures with the kids; they had a sing-a-long with silly Halloween songs. Terra liked it, and the characters weren't scary. That's all changed.

We went to the amusement park for the day, just to ride some rides. The weather has been fantastic, just windy, but plenty of sun to go around. The girls this summer have evolved their thrill ride tastes. Now they go on the fast roller coaster, what Terra used to call, "the scary choo-choo's." The park switches to Fright mode at 7:00PM, and all through the park there are scary decorations reminding you about this change. There's not the mystery wagon blaring songs like "Thriller" like before, now its decorated with scary looking clowns in some parts, a mock bus that's been in a wreck, supposedly by a scary flesh eating monster.

Just before seven, we took the train ride that goes around the park. It was getting dark before and during the ride it got real dark, real fast. The girls started to show their fear even while the train conductor was telling the worst jokes alive or dead anyone could tell. He briefed us on the haunted rides as we passed them. One was a haunted graveyard and we could see the ghosts, vampires, and other frightening things, not but 10 feet from the train. "AHHHH," screamed one at the girls as he stood up to reach the traing. T-e-r-r-o-r-f-i-e-d. They clung to my arms.

After the train ride we made our way to another roller coaster. The girls hung on my arms the entire way. We saw a few of the creatures jumping out at the guests, trying to frighten them off. Those girls were cowering. "They don't scare kids," one reassured herself. She asked one of the attendants and he said, "No, they don't scare kids . . . they eat them."

Two coins

"Dad, Dad, Jack's choking, come inside!" one of the girls called to me while I was doing yard work. I threw my clippers on the ground and raced inside to the following scene. Jack is throwing up everywhere, Mom is holding him up right in the downstairs bathroom. I picked Jack up and brought him over to the kitchen sink, Mom followed with a worried look on his face. He had yogurt for breakfast, that smells gross partially digested.

Just a half hour before I was sweeping off the patio, he was looking at me through the window laughing and screaming, in the best of moods. I couldn't believe he just suddenly turned so sick.

We washed his face off, but still it came. Maybe he is sick. We planned on going out that night, that would figure. The throwing up subsided and Mom cleaned up the bathroom while I held him.

"He's been laughing and getting a long so well." Mom went to the doctor's office earlier in the day to make sure Jack wasn't getting another ear infection, but the doctor didn't see one. "He stinks, he needs a bath," so we headed up stairs to give a still very uncomfortable, although not throwing up, Jack a bath.

He was sluggish even in the bath and that's not like Jack at all. He's always splashing, standing up, pulling things around the tub in the water . . . I gave him a lollipop to clean out the yucky taste in his mouth, that would revive him. He enthusiastically started on the lollipop.

After a few licks, he pulled back suddenly then started heaving: one heave, two heaves, three heaves, and up came this mass of mucus, part of which clanked on the porcelain tub. The clanking came from two pennies. Immediately Jack squeaked and looked for my hand, and lunged to the sucker.

Vacation 2008

We kept the girls' birthday present a secret (a trip to Chicago and the American Girl store) until the day before we left. They cleaned up on birthday presents; between the two of them they had $750 dollars spending money from us and grandparents. Grandparents should be expecting a big thank you note from the girls. We left early Friday morning.

Jack
Jack really loves his family. It's obvious he's happy when we are all together and the vacation was heaven in a 20 foot by 20 foot room. When Jack is happy, you know it. He's jumpy, he's active, he jibber-jabbers, and screams with glee (loud: Jack happy at 4AM is rough). Since we were all in a 400 square foot room, Jack had everyone he wants close together. It was exciting enough that the boy would not go to sleep on his schedule. He wanted to stay up with his sisters.

There was no flat surface in the hotel room, that Jack didn't pull everything off. If he could reach it -- it was on the floor and in his mouth. This was the fate of numerous flyers on the dresser, the alarm clock, a lamp (almost), and much to the the girls' consternation any new item they bought that was in reach was quickly in Jack's clutches if not properly placed. Monday morning he woke up a sister by pounding on her face.


Chicago was Jack's style. We forgot his stroller, critical, CRITICAL mistake. Mom and my arms are twice as big, so he was help, which he prefers. He loved to watch the cars in the city, he took the big buildings in, and he was fascianted by the "L" train. However, when it was the boy's time out, while the girls watched the American Girl doll theater, he only slept.

Madeline

Madeline loved her birthday presents. I wrote in the birthday card the big secret -- that we were headed to Chicago, but Madeline missed this. She was so excited to be on the road, and almost the whole time laughed and joked all the way to the city. During the car trip, she kept asking, "When are we getting to Colorado?" "Chicago, Madeline, we're going to Chicago," I replied, but this never really sank in.

It was so exciting for both girls to say in a hotel room. It had a pool, but with the weather (rain) we never did swim. First we raced to the beach, and it was freezing. Madeline wanted to make a sand castle, and in classic Madeline mode, improvised using a cone from the beach to create a sand castle.

The first day we went to Navy Pier and visited the Children's Museum and other things. I wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, so we could see the city, but Madeline was a little shaken with how high the wheel would take us. Initially, there were objections, Madeline and Mom were going to find something else, but she found the courage to take the ride up and she ended up liking it enough that she wanted to ride again.

The American Girl Doll store was the most fun. She was able to see all the dolls, and for Madeline I think the funnest part is dressing like the doll, dressing up and using her imagination. So, there was sensory overload in the store.

Terra

Terra was so happy to be with Madeline. When she came Thursday evening, Madeline was at twilight camp, and she persisted throughout the night asking, "Is it time to get Madeline, yet?" We all drove to the pick-up spot, and when Terra saw Madeline, she sprinted to her and screamed, "MADELINE!" Madeline was equally excited, they gave each other a big, huge hug.

During the car ride down, the girls made their lists, tallied up their numbers to see how much stuff they wanted, and pare that list down to what they could afford. They could not have been better in the back seat, laughing, playing their game girls, and sometimes even sleeping.

When we arrived at the beach, Terra noticed a gang of girls on a birthday party, all of whom were swimming gleefully in frigid Lake Michigan water. I wanted no part of that water, but Terra wanted in so badly. She cajoled Madeline into take a running start and jumping in the waters. This ended with both walking right up to their knees and turning around. Eventually Terra talked herself into it, and then Madeline went along.

At the AG place, Terra looked so distracted. The store has lower (period pieces), middle (photo shop, gift shop), and upper (clothes, dolls, bitty baby) levels, we visited the middle and upper levels first, but Terra didn't pick anything out, she had nothing she was claiming yet. I asked, what's the matter and she replied that she had to find Julie's dress, but couldn't find it anywhere. Madeline was off with Mom looking at different clothes she could buy with her money, I said that once they get back, we'll check out the other levels and we haven't seen all the store. Downstairs we went and there was the dress! A noticeable relief came over Terra's face as if she was thinking, "Yes, this store is everything it could be."

Video of Jack Scooting

I put the camera on a ledge and rev'ed up a toy car to zoom across the floor. Jack goes after it in the video.

Jack's mobility

Jack can move around now, really well.

He's been scooting for the last month or so, but now he's really taken with standing himself up. It's been a concern of his mother's that he hasn't learned to sit up, but that's taken care of now. He can sit up when he wants, it's just a question of motivation. Why should he sit up, when a parent or sister will come and get him.

One answer might be to get away from his sisters.

It's really funny to watch how he navigates the single step between the family room and the dining room. He will inch his way along the from the family room onto the step then slide down on his bottom. From here he takes off, invariably into the kitchen where there are all kinds of pots, pans, place mats, and other items he's not supposed to get into.

This morning I woke up with him and just the two of us were in the family room. He played with his toys until he wanted new adventures then made his way into the kitchen. I caught him excitedly scooting himself to the cabinet under the sink where he loves to explore.

Into life, a tree will fall

One of our tree's trunks collapsed this Friday morning. It's a mystery when this happened. The trunk was probably eight inches in diameter, and I can't believe it didn't make noise loud enough to hear when it sheared off the rest of the tree.

We're left with a somewhat smaller, tree, it looks like a little more than half remains. I can really tell how much of it is gone from the backyard sitting on the patio, but I'm still looking for a good pre-break photo. I believe I have some, I just never uploaded them to flickr.

Before

After

Terry came over with the trailer and helped haul the limbs and all off. It was sizable. Not just a tiny piece of the tree. It was a big piece.

Camping Out

I vowed a long time ago to never see the point to camping. I pay my mortgage, I pay utilities, I enjoy being ten feet from my bathroom, my bed, my air conditioning, all this stuff. Then two pair of eyes belonging to two girls that just wanted to sleep in a tent changed my mind, and I setup the tent in our backyard.

The girls enthusiastically raced upstairs to get pillows and sleeping bags. Madeline brought down a blanket and pillow for me, too. "We'll be in by 1:00AM," I told Mom with confidence.

This had to be the hottest day of the year. It's rained a lot and the rain has brought some very cool weather; this has been the coolest summer I can remember, and there was barely a breeze this night. The girls and I stayed up late, we played Skip-bo, we talked, they laughed, they tried to not go to sleep, but eventually couldn't take it. At midnight one of them woke-up and asked me a question so obvious I knew she was in a daze. I said we were in the tent. She said she need ot leave, for bed; and she made for the zipper, which I helped open, then left the tent and went in the house. "Yes! One down," I thought, but no. The sliding glass door to the house opened again and the girl returned to the tent. She went right to sleep.

Then the other girl woke up and we talked for an hour. I tried "encouraging/manipulating" her a little, "Are you doing OK? It is hot, it's OK to sleep inside." Nothing, not a dent, "Nah, I can sleep out here," she said. She was resilient. They both were.

I can't sleep outside. I have to analyze every sound, every noise. Why do the crickets stop at 3:00AM? and why do I only hear one cricket? What **** teenager is burning rubber? Does the A/C sound OK? how much for a new one. Those doggone June bugs keep pounding the tent canvas. My gosh, why is it so hot? If I open the tent will it rain? is that a stereo?

I gave up at 4AM after sleeping all of about two hours at the most. I threw up the white flag and went to my house and slept in my bed. Later, still in a stupor from lack of sleep, I vaguely remember hearing. "Daddy, why'd you come inside?"

Daddy's smart. Daddy's not dumb. Daddy slept on a mattress.

Oceans of Fun

As if there weren't already oceans of everything, we went to Oceans of Fun and cashed in Grandma and Grandpa's season ticket passes for the girls this weekend. It was a little difficult with the baby, but Misty and I wanted to bring him. One of us watched the boy while the other adult went on excursions in the park with the girls. Usually these involved racing of some sort down a slide.

Beyond any shadow of doubt the girls' favorite time was the canoes. The bucanner bay at Oceans of Fun lets a guest pick their canoe, one or two person, and they float out with paddle, life vest, and their wits. I laughed so hard when I saw the girls stranded on the other end of the "bay" on some rocks. They'd run aground and looked at me like I could help them out. They were able to figure their way out of that mess before I had a chance to get in the water.

Overall, we had a very good plan. Take a Friday off, since it's so much more busy on the weekends. Get a big breakfast in the morning, pack a picnic lunch with sandwiches, chips, and sodas. Take a late lunch/picnic and leave at park closing. Order pizza for delivery when you get home because you're too exhausted to do anything but eat. It's fatiguing to have fun.

Zoo trip

We all packed ourselves in the car and headed to the zoo for the day. Talk about work. Nonetheless, suckered or smart, we decided to get the season pass, we are friends of the zoo until March of 2009. We have to go one more time in order for that to pay itself back.

Jack slept, this started during his nap time and when he can't get that checked off his list he can be a little zoned. Terra had been the week before and was a little less than excited to go again, but we did, and all had a good time, even if it was exhausting.

My favorite was feeding the birds. We all were given little plastic cups with tiny servings of nectar for the birds. They knew what time it was and before long we were all happily feeding the birds while they jockeyed for position on top of our shoulders, heads, arms, etc.

The boy likes guacamole

Tonight at dinner Mom and I are eating some guacamole with chips. Jack is eating his serving of yogurt with rice and fruit. I put a dab of guac on a chip and put it in front of Jack's face, let him look at it, then he opens his mouth and the chip with the green avocado, salt, pepper, onion, and lemon juice goes in his mouth. He doesn't flinch, he just opens his mouth and wants more.

Mom proceeds to feed the boy guacamole on a spoon, which he happily consumes. Besides green beans, there still isn't a food this little guy hasn't met that he doesn't like.

Memorial Day Weekend

I wanted to see the fireworks at the Celebration at the Station event, but several things changed my mind. The fact that Jack really starts heading for nighttime at 7:30, and that the forecast had the possibility for thunderstorms, and I had a pork tenderloin marinating that I wanted to cook. I stayed home and did some work in the yard.

After Jack's nap Mom came outside with the boy, followed by Madeline and Terra. What a fun evening. All four sat down in the freshly trimmed yard and talked about the day, the girls' new outfits, and how silly Jack is because he does not like the grass to touch his feet. Mom got the camera and shot some adorable pictures of the girls climbing in and jumping out of the tree.

Then we sat around the patio and talked about the silly things the girls did when they were babies which they both loved. The girls even ate the tenderloin. Following dinner the girls got back in the tree and climbed as high as they could go. "I did it." I heard Terra say. I looked and she was precariously high in the tree. "Don't say anything," I told Mom. "If we say anything, she'll loose her confidence and fall, break her arm, then not go swimming all summer."

"Dad, I can't get down." OH crap, I thought. Terra was so high. I spoke harshly to her, like I was annoyed because I didn't want to make her think I wasn't 100% confident she couldn't get down safely by herself. She finally found the right footing and made her way down the tree. My gosh, I breathed deeply, what a relief.

Lunch Today

"CRASHHH," followed by the always identifiable sound of scattered stoneware. A plate dropped while the girls were fixing lunch for everyone. Today in church they had a lesson on why you should respect your parents. They had been talking to each other about fixing something since early in the weekend and I'm sure the lesson in church was the final inspiration.

I hustled down stairs after changing out of my church clothes post-haste to make sure bare feet weren't in the kitchen. Worried about the suprise I heard, "Don't look, dad!" both girls yelled in unison. "Did someone drop a plate?" I asked. The guilty girl apologized. I cleaned it up without looking in the dining room and the girls scurried faster to get lunch ready. "Dad, what kind of salad dressing do you like?" I went upstairs and said, "Just get the pinkish-red one, the vinaigrette"

"We have to eat it," I told Mom, although I was really looking forward to some leftover fajitas. "Whatever it is, we should eat it, so they're encouraged to do these kind of things."

"LUNCH IS READY!!!" they cried up the stairs, delighted in their satisfaction for fixing lunch. Mom picked up Jack and we went downstairs to the banquet waiting for us.

And there it was. Mom and I both had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a salad. I had a corn tortilla with three Twizzlers on my plate. Our favorite soda pops were opened and ready to drink. I sat down across from Mom. In between us was the "Salad Dressing" -- Hot chili sauce. Whoa!! Mom and I smiled we both saw the chili sauce.

I said thank you very much, we kissed our daughters who were beaming with pride. I pushed my chair back, "I'm going to get the other salad dressing."

"Oh, I already put it in your salad," Terra replied matter-of-factly. "You don't need to get it." Mom burst out laughing and I could barely keep mine contained. "Jack did something funny upstairs," Mom said. Now with a license to laugh, I couldn't hold it in.

Misty was brave, she ate the salad and its "dressing." I quickly put her bowl over mine so the tiny chefs didn't notice I barely ate any of it.

Jack's Shuffling

This shuffling and mobility has come too soon. Yesterday Jack started in the TV room, he ended up in the kitchen. He scooted to the dishwasher. It was open and I was unloading th dishes. For a while I watched while he tried to leverage a Tupperware container up through the rails of the bottom tray on the dishwasher. No longer content with this frustrating approach for retrieving the lid, he grabbed the dishwasher tray with both hands pulled himself up. It was now simple to pull the lid out from the dishwasher fom his new vantage point. Then he balanced himself and was standing up whirling the lid around in both hands before I grabbed him, nervous that me might fall forward.

He's also balanced himself precariously several times on the single dividing step between the family room and the dining room.

End of Soccer Season

The girls both went out from their soccer seasons with a bang. Madeline in the final minutes of the final game made a burst starting on her side of the field, sprinted with the ball to the opposing team's goal and from just outside the penalty box, gave a great kick and scored.

Madeline's party was fun. The coach made a video with pictures from the parents. This was played on the movie projection screen at the restaurant and pictures scrolled by while the team screamed and laughed, it was a lot of fun. Mom and I decided we really need that telephoto lens.

"Awesome," Madeline said describing the season, "it rocks, it's the best, it knocks me off my feet."

Terra's season ended undefeated. Due in part to that streak they entered a tournament with a total of four teams in the coed, under 10 division. Terra's world got just a bit bigger last weekend, and the team suffered its first defeats. The opposing teams were very good. They were obviously traveling teams. They knew how to pass, but Terra's team passes very well, too. These teams could kick from outside the penalty box, with accuracy, hard, and score. Terra's team hasn't played another team that could do that all season. Next year.

Terra says, "It was hard, a lot of the kids we played in the tournament weren't in our division. and that I got hurt." They were in her age group, we'll practice this summer.

All Jack's favorite foods, please stand up -- Not so fast there, Green Beans

There's been plenty we've given the boy that I did not think he would like. I gave him a lemon from a cup of water at one of our favorite local restaurants. He put it in his mouth, and shook his head back and forth. Then he picked it up, looked closer at it, and then went right back to eating it. Pickles, I was surprised with the pickles, too. He loves, wants to marry, beans. We give him little pieces of food from the adult dinner every night, and I've never seen him not like something.

Then came green beans. Jack wears his emotions on his face, he has a facial expression for everything, and this was a don't like the green beans, never want to see those again face.

Ice Cream Truck

"DING, DING, DING, DING," repeat until you go crazy. This is the ice cream truck. Madeline is a sucker for the ice cream truck. He drives by our house so slowly, so very slowly. It's guaranteed if Madeline is inside she sprints outside, and if she's outside she burns rubber coming inside to get her money.

She's very generous, too. Invariably her friends in the neighborhood end up with some popsicle. Grandpa gives her a small stipend for ice cream money.

However, this is all changing. She's saving her money for a "Hannah Montana" outfit from the store and with her heart goes her treasure also, but the Ice Cream Truck is still so attractive, it's obviously difficult to contain the urge, or to quell the habit of getting these sweets.

Frustrated with it all one day she said, "That Ice cream man," she said exasperated, "I'm not going to buy from him. Why does he keep coming?" she said with half-clenched teeth. "I'm not buying anything from him."

"Can I have a lemonade stand? If I hear him coming I could setup a lemonade stand, and then I could ask the Ice Cream Man if he wants to buy some lemonade for three dollars." She started laughing to herself about that idea.

Jack's New Mobility

"It's been while since we had a "Scooter" in class," the day care teacher in the nursery told Mom today.

She was of course talking about Jack's new mobility. He hasn't learned to crawl, Jack "scoots." It's amazing, but he can be six feet from where we have placed him on the floor and still in the same upright position. He's figured out how to move while sitting on his bottom. He will stretch his feet inches farther, while keeping them close enough together, then leveraging his weight on the front two feet he'll drag his bottom across the floor until the heels are close to the rest of his body. Repeat this process and you will be amazed at how far a boy determined to get a piece of paper, a drawer, a toy, or something in his sight into his hands can move.

He scooted himself across the floor a couple of feet yesterday to get to the end table flanking the couch in the family room; pull down a magazine, and begin to tear the pages out. The only audible clue was his squeals of delight at reaching his destination and getting into things he is not supposed to be able to reach.

"The scooters don't happen very often," the teacher further told Mom today. "Once he gets started, he'll have the whole class doing the same thing."

Ahhh, what can I say. Our Jack. He is a pioneer.

Mother's Day Fun

Worlds of Fun. We went to Worlds of Fun for Mother's Day. Packed the girls and the boy in the car, left and arrived just before 1:00PM at the park for a glorious day. It was very windy in the morning, just cold enough to need a wind breaker and deter lots of people, but warm enough in the evening for a great day.

Terra's now over 54" tall so she cannot ride the "Camp Snoopy" rides any more. Madeline is right at 54", she can go between either type of ride if she wants. It started off regular, we went on the carousel. The girls were glad to be on their own horses. No lines whatsoever, they could pick any horse they wanted. Jack, mom, and I sat on the chariot. Jack's eyes were like a typewriter when the carousel was roating, his eyes were moving back and forth, right to left as "Le Carousel" ride played out.

Then Le Taxi Cab. Then the Jumping Kangaroos and Terra's revelation she is too tall to ride some of the rides, including the Jumping Kangaroo thing. Now the real rite of passage -- Le roller coaster.

Terra was afraid at first, but Madeline volunteered to go on the Timberwolf. Dad volunteered to go with her. The ride commenced and Madeline asked me to hold her hand. I tried to distract her, "Make a silly face to Mom, Jack, and Terra." Madeline provided a goofy smile with her thumbs up. "Don't forget, Madeline, your cousin loves roller coasters," I reminded her.

Crank. Crank. Crank goes goes the roller coaster. We notched our way up in elevation for our eventual descent. Madeline held on to my hand tighter.
"Sarah loves roller coaster, Sarah loves roller coasters," I heard Madeline whispering to herself. We reached the top and whooooooosh. We had come to our inevitable decline. Madeline screamed. She closed her eyes. She screamed more. I yelled over the sound of the cars, steel track, and wooden beams, "Great Madeline, you're doing great."

It went on, and on. Madeline closed her eyes tight and screamed while I tried to console her. We made it to the end and cranked our way slowly to the finish. I looked and Madeline, still somewhat traumatized, and said, "You did great. Now smile, so Terra's not afraid." Then, she beamed.

We arrived back where we started and Terra, like a laser, looked at Madeline to see how it went. Madeline smiled so big and waved enthusiastically; you never knew anything.

Terra found her courage. She and I rode next. She held my hand and closed her eyes. She made it through the roller coaster "too tall to ride the little rides" rite of passage, same as Madeline.

"Did you hear me cry?" Madeline asked her Mom. "No, no way," Mom replied. "Yeah. It must have been someone else," Madeline said, while Terra and I were on her first trip.

It was a long day. We rode three other roller coasters. The girls came back to ride the Timberwolf a staggering eight times in a row. Fortunately, the parents could stand by, relax, and not go through any more rite of passages.

Jack found his own way to entertain himself. He was in the stroller for most of the day. He decided to lean forward, while strapped in with the restrains as far as he could. I peered over at him from one of the roller coaster rides and heard the lady behind me say, "Ma'am! Ma'am!! Your baby!!! He's about to fall out of his stroller." I looked back and reassured her, "Don't worry. He's strapped in. He's been doing it all day."

9 Month Well Baby

Jack had his well baby appointment today.

24lbs 3oz. 95 percentile. 29 inches. 85th percentile.

Jack sleeps in the tub, and playing at the pool

If Jack could do all his favorite things, he would sleep, eat, and take a bath. We caught him a couple of weeks ago nodding off in the bathtub.

Tonight we just came home from the gym and Jack did his cool walk at the pool. The water displaces enough of his weight he can find his balance fast. He loves to stand himself up (Mom/Dad really put him there) on the edge of the pool and scream, play with the grate, or watch the people walking by the pool side.

He only likes to walk from shallow to deep. If Dad is in the deeper end (deep is maybe 24 inches), he will inch his way along, cautiously moving his hands along the side of the pool edge and sliding his feet toward Dad. If Mom is on the deeper end, he does something completely different. He turns around to face her and starts stepping. Of course, his balance is way off and he falls, but no holds barred, he lets go of the wall and starts marching toward mom. Such confidence!

Jack not so slow

Mom dropped Jack off next to one of his little friends at day care, Jacob Z. Jacob Z was playing with a toy and the teacher gave Jack a toy just like it. Jacob Z. grabbed for Jack's toy, and sudden as could be, Jack grabbed the toy Jacob Z. was playing with originally. The look on Jack's face was something like, "Hey, that's not allowed. Give me that back."

Jack's got a new car seat.

Little Stinker

He's a little imp. Jack can play for a long time with his toys on the floor. He doesn't do anything deliberately very fast at all. You can always see him thinking things through. For example, he will stare at his toys, his hands, food, for a little while, then he starts his arms in motion and reaches for the object, and tries to lock on to the target. Once it's in his little paws he slowly raises it closer to his face and he looks at it. Invariably, the next step is it goes into his mouth. Some things he keeps in his hands longer, like the tags on toys. He loves to feel these.

Whenever Jack is placed on the floor a pillow invariably goes behind him. This was an easy trick to learn because he would lose his balance and fall back with a THUD when he hit the floor, start crying, then Mom or Dad (after checking to make sure Jack "the bod" didn't crack the floor) pick him up and comfort him. Now with the pillow behind him he doesn't go THUD, but he always cries. It's like he has the "right" to cry. This has been his Mom and my suspicion for a while: he deliberately tosses himself back so he can cry and get us to come get him.

Since the things he does deliberately are still a little slow, imagine this in slow motion. Jack is playing, sitting there on the floor with a pillow behind his back. He's playing with his toys and starts to look unsettled, like he wants a parent. He looks back behind himself, almost confirming the pillow is there. He turns his head straight ahead. He falls back onto the pillow, arches his back to roll off the pillow, then begins to cry.

Dad laughs, and he picks up his boy. His boy smiles at him, impishly when he is picked up, like he planned it.

Ear Infections and Consequences

Jack has had a few ear infections. It seems he's had one since early March and it's never really gone away despite following the prescriptions and taking the medicines. We're on the antibiotic reserved for "strongly resistant ear infections."

Let me tell you a couple of things about this antibiotic our boy is taking:
1. The worst flatulence. This gas makes an old man with gastrointestinal distress smell fresh. I picked him up from his crib this morning and panicked (due to the next concern) but there was nothing.

2. The antibiotics have killed all the good bacteria. The bacteria in the intestinal tract are good, and now they're getting annihilated. Picture a clean garage rag, then pour unused motor oil on it with a slight pinch of Jello in powder. So any weakness in the seal between the plastic elastic in the diaper and Jack's skin, you're SOL and you got a SOD (---- out of diaper). Today one of the SOD's got on the carpet.

3. Jack's getting better, he's sleeping almost through the night again.

What's a Mommy Worth (according to a seven year old)

"Mommy, I wouldn't trade you for 120 Webkinz or 2 Wii's . . . besides we have one already and they're not much fun anyway. I wouldn't even trade you for two American Girl Dolls," Madeline said to her Mom tonight.

Jack the ham

Tonight during Jack's bath something funny happened and I laughed right from the belly. He was holding his left foot with his left hand sitting up in the bath tub like all the big boys. He gradually lowers his head closer and closer to the water and the bubbles. This repeats until his the lower part of his face is partially submerge and when he sat back up, looked at Mom, then at Dad, he had a soap bubble goatee. I laughed so hard, and Jack had a great big smile on his face when he heard.

He turned his head back to his bath and again lower his face toward the water until it touched, sat back up, then this time turn his head at a 90 degree angle to see his dad. I laughed so loud again, and Jack gave another great big smile. This repeated easily a dozen times, Jack couldn't get enough of it, and I couldn't either. At first I was laughing because of the fake goatee, that looked hilarious on a 7 month old, but when he kept repeating the steps and looking at my reaction was so cute to watch.

Two visitors

We had some people stop by the house from Church Monday evening. The door bell rang about 6:00PM. Madeline was at our neighbors house while Mom, baby, and I are at the house getting dinner ready. I answered the door and our friends came in to chat for a little while, and the telephone rings. Rather than be rude and ignore our visitors we ignored the phone which just rang and rang. We figured it was Madeline, needing to ask if she could eat dinner at her friend's house.

Soon thereafter our visitors left the house and Mom called to find out what Madeline needed. "Madeline, it's Mom, what did you need?"

"Oh. Yeah. Who was over at the house?" Madeline asked.

I'm asking, "What!?" Who calls to find out who is over at the house?

Cancelled Plans and New Ones

We weren't able to visit friends of Mom's in Tampa, Florida this spring break. Misty's friend's mom is having some medical issues and so her daughter is spending the break with her mother. We decided not to fly to Tampa, and to post pone the trip abroad.

This was a heart breaking decision, we'd been looking forward to some warm weather for a while. Instead, we booked a room at the Great Wolf Lodge. It is an indoor water park/hotel near Kansas City, KS. Wednesday after work we drove to the hotel and checked into our room. Misty picked up some swim suits before we left.

There is something about a hotel that little kids love. Madeline was excited as soon as we got in the room. It must feel like a sleep over, I think if we just stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool it would have felt like a vacation for Madeline. Maybe it's like an adventure with the sheer size of the hotel, the long hallways, and all the people around.

Before we left for dinner Misty called to see if Madeline's cousins could come to the Lodge and they could. We headed down right after dinner when they arrived, all of us in our bathing suits, including Jack.

We took the stairs from the fourth to the first floor to the entrance of the water park. It's awesome to see so much indoors. There is a water event/pool for everyone. We played with the cousins in the zero entry pool with the water pipes spraying and in the lazy river. The lazy river was so relaxing, Jack fell asleep while riding in the seat of one of the tubes.

Before falling asleep on the lazy river, Jack wasn't opposed to the idea of a water park. However, Jack came to the conclusion quickly that he dislikes it when people splash and the splashes of water land on him. At first, he gave a very dissatisfied look on his face, which turned into angered grunts as time progressed. He did love the 12+ pool. It felt much more like a bath. The temperature in the pool was much higher and there was almost no splashing in this pool. Jack woke up on the lazy river when some rambunctious boys splashed him.

Madeline had so much fun at the lodge. She could do everything there, ride the slides, play the basketball, play on the playground, play with her cousins, and swim in the lazy river. She liked the slides the most. Remember we went from the fourth floor to the first floor to the entrance of the water park; well we climbed from the first floor to the fourth floor to get on the slides, carrying one of the tubes. Two people could sit in a tube, and after getting to the top, you slide down the tube one of the three water slides. It was fast and fun.

Terra's First Soccer Game

Terra's first soccer game was today at 12:45PM. Madeline was supposed to play with her neighbor friend, but she wasn't allowed to play. I was lacing up my shoes when Madeline asked, "Where are you going?"

"Terra's soccer game", I replied. This was followed immediately by an excited, "Ohhhhh! Can I come?!"

The two of us left at 12:00PM sharp, it was only 40 minutes to the recreation center. Correction, this place is six soccer fields surrounded by mud, that pretends to be a parking lot. Where the mud is, and the parking lot is supposed to be, the county is obviously working pavement.

Before Madeline and I made it to the soccer game we had to find a place to park where people have been parking without any parking lines all morning, then make our way through mud, dirt, gravel, and construction to the fields. It sleeted the night before so when we finally made it to the fields it felt like a huge accomplishment.

With the sleet, it was very cold and nippy, but Madeline and I were in good spirits trying to find Terra's game. I finally spotted her and the team was warming up kicking the ball. I pointed Terra's location to Madeline and we waved, Terra saw us and grinned from ear to ear. She had a skull cap on to keep warm, long windbreaker pants, and her soccer jersey. She was very happy to see us, I could tell.

We setup the chairs, and watched the game. Terra started at right halfback. She ran all over the place, but played her position very well, perhaps a little cautious supporting defense when the ball was on the left side of the field, but the caution was great when the ball was on her side of the field. She was never too far up and the ball almost always came to her. Their team, the "Mean Machines," dominated the opposing players.

Madeline made it almost the whole game, but it was freezing. We went to get some hot chocolate at the refreshment stand. I think walking helped more than the hot chocolate, it warmed her up, and she started laughing again.

The game let out while we waited for the hot chocolate. Terra ran up, still grinning ear to ear. After the game, Madeline and I went to Burger King for a late lunch.

Jack's a Big Boy Now

Jack loves the bath. He splishes, he splashes, he squeals, screams, he's just giddy at bath time. Mom bought a sponge that he used to lay down on and he would flail his arms, kick the legs, and look up.

That's six month Jack. The seventh month Jack will have no part of lying down in the bath. "Mom! Only babies lie down in the bath tub. I'm a big boy now. I sit on my bottom in the bath tub." He sits up, he leans over reaching towards his feet where his face almost touches the water. He does this because the toys he wants to play with float around in front of him. He does always try to get the toy. When it evades his measured clutches for too long he'll cry.


His favorite toys are noise makers and he loves this old water bottle. I gave it to him, some weeks ago to appease a crying baby. All the water is gone, and the air is mostly out so this thing makes tons of noises and noises are what Jack loves.

Speaking of big boy, Jack finally has two bottom teeth crowning, you can see those suckers coming up when he cries really loud so loud he runs out of breath. He isn't usually a crier, the teeth are obviously hurting.

Rock Wall

We checked out a gym today down the street to see what it was like. The girls, Jack, Mom, and I checked in. After a tour of the facilities which include a beautiful indoors lap pool, zero-foot entry pool, sauna, spa, a ginormous outside swimming pool, basketball and racket ball courts, a rock climbing wall, and an upstairs with weight equipment, stair steppers, etc.

The gym was very crowded, there were plenty of teenage boys in there occupying their time on a weekend. Madeline was bonk'ed on the head while we were shooting some baskets. This did not make her happy. We ended in a triangle passing the ball back and forth.

Everything was very busy, but the rock wall. This proved a lot of fun. We signed many waivers, and then a card, and then something else, and received some training on operating the equipment. Mom went up first, then Madeline and finally Terra. After several attempts both girls managed to climb all the way to the top, such an accomplishment.

Six Month Well Baby

Four shots later and an oral dose, our son has completed his six month well baby checkup at the doctor's office. He weighs just under 23 lbs and is 27.5 inches long. He hasn't been feeling so well, lately.

His solid food intake continues to grow. So far he's eaten:

• Apple Sauce (does not like it, even sweetened with sugar)
• Yogurt, LOVES
• Sherbet, LOVES, wants to marry it.
  
• Carrots. He really likes carrots. He can eat almost a whole container.
• Rice cereal, tolerates
• Peas, tolerates
• Peaches, tolerates. We'll try this with sugar next time.
  
• Bananas, tolerates
  

Jack is unleashed

Watch out world. The farm bill that congress passed this year is going to come in handy. Jack is upon the you. He's been eating sweet foods, little Popsicles sweetened with condensed corn syrup; a glucose, liquidy, frozen mass that satisfies most people (including Jack), but now he's eating solid foods. Careful, brave world: Brave Jack is here for a challenge.

Mom picked up some biscuits at the store this weekend along with peas, carrots, and apple sauce. We handed the child the organic, "non-soy, non-diary," all-American biscuits this evening; they were seized by Jack with utmost satisfaction. He dropped the biscuit several times on the tray included with his walker, and spent several perplexed minutes finding the food.

This is my favorite picture with our kids.

Jack Growing Up

Jibber-jabber, jibber-jabber. Jack loves to talk. He's mostly using "words" with "B" and "G," like "baabaa-baa" and "gagaga." Then of course the squeals and squelches. The "words" mostly come in the evening and morning, the squeals when his sisters are around or when he sees Mom. Last night I held Jack while his Mom was directly behind me where she wasn't in his direct line of sight. When he heard her talk, he arched his back far enough until he found an angle when he could see her. If Mom calls, "Jack," he'll turn to look at her, if Dad says "Jack," he doesn't always look around.

Looking at Jack now, you never would have guessed he had a killer ear infection and mild respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Jack has this medicine now for the ailments that looks like melted white blackboard chalk, but it smells like citrus. Jack was in full force when the nurses and doctors were taking his temperature and cleaning his ear. In the middle of the Jack's contortions, and gnashing of gums, the doctor said Jack will need to be on the wrestling team.

Jack's had some more people food including Popsicles and some pie filling. When he sees adults or his sisters eating he'll track the food from the plate, on the fork, in the air, and to the mouth. His eyes wide, and his mouth somewhat open. He's very eager to eat people food. He has no such eagerness for the medicine. It starts with a mild curiosity, he's interested in the substance. Once it gets in his mouth he licks his lips repeatedly. Then he shuts his mouth.

Tomorrow, he'll be six months old.

Skating

We've been roller skating twice this year. It's been freezing and the girls love to roller skate. It's the first thing Terra asked if we could do and Madeline also asked if we could go, independent of Terra.

Misty and I are playing with the new camera, learning more about shutter speed, aperture, f-stop, lighting, all kinds of stuff.

New Camera

Our camera went south. It still has a ton of pictures on it from Terra, two days after Christmas, and others. I need to figure out a way to get these pictures off the camera. However, Misty has been looking at cameras for some time. The point-and-shoot that just stopped working takes a long time to get to the point it can take a second shot. Plus, when you're ready for the picture and push the button, the shutter doesn't open and the picture isn't snapped until sometimes several seconds later. Often, seconds are important.

She's looked at the Digital SLR cameras. At we took some of our Christmas money from our family and bought what she had been looking at on the line. It's the Nikon D40x, and it's beautiful. I love this camera. Misty and I are have to time-share our photographing since be both like it so much. I've been reading about f-stops, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lenses, all kinds of good stuff. This is going to be a good year, picture-wise, and every otherwise, too I'm sure.