Construction vs. Destruction

Truck Shirt

This shirt reads, "Interstate 40 Construction Co." Cute, but his dad and I agree that DESTRUCTION is more appropriate.

The Goose clapped for the first time yesterday but hasn't repeated it yet. It was a silent gesture, prompted by something on a Baby Einstein DVD. There's a picture of his attempt in my Flickr Photostream.

The name of the game these days is WORD IMITATION. Here are all of the words he has said at least once:

• DOG
• BEAR
• NO
• POOP
• NANA (banana)
• YO (yogurt)

Here are the words he knows (says them when he sees the person/object):

• Dada
• Mama/Bob
• Book
• Ball
• Go
• Up

"Go" is the newest one ... he says this when he's playing with his little walk-behind-it toy. We started saying, "Go Goose Go!" whenever he did it, so now he says "Go!" We also say, "stand up" so that he'll stop walking on his knees and of course he's said "UP" a few times as well. Let's see ... we have mostly nouns, but also a verb and a preposition. Have I used the word "genius" before?

All of this imitation reminds me of a children's song I used to know, "Oh be careful little ears what you hear." I think the adults around here need a new song: "Oh be careful little mouth what you say," because there's an ECHO in the house. Based on frequency of use, and in keeping with the DESTRUCTION theme, the next repeated word will likely be "Uh-oh."

Cousin Visit!

The cousins play happily together
Originally uploaded by Kimmy Crack Corn.

Yesterday the Schmidts stopped by for a couple hours of play-room romping. Here's The Goose and his 2nd cousins Ellie & Eric. My favorite quotes from the visit:

Ellie: It's yucky when he sucks on my elephant.

Eric: My favorite thing John does is what I like to call, "utter destruction."

More photos are just a click away.

The Court Finds For ...

sound
Originally uploaded by Kimmy Crack Corn.

The Defendant (Northworst Airlines).

GASP.

But then I got to come home to THIS.

Martian Man

Helmet
Originally uploaded by Kimmy Crack Corn.

Our first ebay purchase arrived on Saturday: a bike seat and helmet! Even though the helmet was a bit of a distraction, The Goose enjoyed his whirl around Radnor Lake on the bike. He sorta looks like that martian from the Looney Tunes. Click for more, as usual.

Tonight as I was putting him into bed, I said, as I always do ...

Night-night baby Goose.
Mommy loves you VERY much.
Nothing you could ever do would make me stop loving you.
Have sweet and LONG dreams,
and I'll see you when you need me.

And he replied, "Nigh-nigh."

As Aunt Myrtle would say, "Oh, love a heart."

Bye Bye Aunty Amy

Learning how to clap
Originally uploaded by Kimmy Crack Corn.

We were sad to see Aunty Amy leave yesterday. Not only is she fun after JEB goes to bed, but she makes a darn good live-in nanny. Click on the picture to see more fun times of the past couple days.

After dropping her off at the airport yesterday, I took JEB to the doctor since he's been coughing a lot at night. Doc thinks it's just a cold, but he'll be reevaluated next Tuesday. The good news was that he weighed in at 19 lbs., 4 oz. and is thus well on his way to our goal: 20 by 12. Then he can face forward in the car and I think we'll all be much happier.

Last night he got up 3 times before 5:30 a.m. and I really thought I would LOSE MY MIND. Wonder what Tom Cruise would suggest? A little exercise at 4:17 a.m.? I finally got him to go back to sleep just before 6 a.m., so hopefully he'll get some rest.

Last night we went out to dinner to celebrate my half birthday, which was two weeks ago (not that it mattered that it was late, I mean really, I didn't even remember that it WAS my half birthday and so I forgot to remind B until it was too late -- y'all don't be too hard on him, he has a lot to put up with and all of that affects his memory). While there we all three had near breakdowns due to The Goose's refusal to go ANYWHERE NEAR the high chair. Here's part of a conversation that could've been overheard at our table:

"Let's just eat and get outta here."
-B

"Why does he do this to us?"
-K

"We can NEVER go out again."
-B

"All I wanna do is just eat my Sonoma-style, shredded chicken fajita-burrito. Why doesn't he understand that?"
-K


Luckily, we aren't dramatic.

And then our waitress came back and started talking to JEB and somehow saved the whole night just by feeding him some babyfood (even though we had been trying that for 15 minutes) and then he discovered my guacamole and all was well ... until the car ride home and then again at 12:42 a.m. and 4:17 a.m. and 5:14 a.m.

Can you bid for patience and sleep on E-bay?

The Goose on the Piney

Sacked Out
Originally uploaded by Kimmy Crack Corn.

Aunty Amy is in town (YIPPEE!) and today was a river trip, fun-in-the-sun, scare-away-all-the-wildlife-with-a-screaming-baby kinda day. We went to the Piney River (east of Nashvegas) for a little floatin' and splashin'. There are lots of other pictures, but this one is my favorite because in all the time we've had this Goose (nearly 11 months!), he has NEVER just fallen asleep in my arms in the middle of the day (in the middle of a river!) like this. So I forgave him for scaring away the blue herons and turtles. Actually, there was only one incident ... he really enjoyed the experience for most of the time. There's probably a lot of happy fish in that river because we managed to submerge and ENTIRE box of those really good thin triscuits, which, as everyone knows, fish love.

We're so sad that Aunty Amy has to leave tomorrow. Click on the picture to see more of our day.

In the Matter of Bob vs. NWA ...

Hello, my name is Bob. The Goose has his Ms and Bs mixed up (in selective cases), so recently I have started answering to Bob.

Now ... I'm sure you have been checking this site furiously trying to find out how the court case came out, so here's your answer: NWA sent an attorney (picture briefcase, suit, high heels, and hair pulled back) who asked for a continuance to which Bob the Brilliant agreed. Even as I type, ivy league law schools are getting the news about my phenomenal legal mind and are preparing to offer me positions in their next class. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!?!?

Now we'll all meet back cheerily next week after the defendant has had more time to prepare and Bob has had more time to get nervous and wonder why in the world she is taking on the fourth largest airline in the world in a matter of less than $500. If you're willing to form a pep squad to back me up, I'll be in courtroom 2 at the Metro Courts next Monday at 8:45 a.m.

More importantly, JEB has come down with whatever I had last Saturday and is running a low-grade fever. We're giving him Tylenol and Pedialyte for now but are watching closely. I'll keep you posted.