Our Apologies to 9-1-1

First of all, before I explain the title, let me just say that this little guy to the left is in school right now, which is where he got this picture taken last week (unbeknownst to us). The proof is 11 x 14 and if you want it then get yourself down to the bank and WIRE US SOME MONEY because we certainly cannot afford the pricey dicey photo packages that were printed on the cutesey slip of paper stuck down in the clear plastic bag with this gem. I think they must've gotten The Most Expensive Photographer In Nashville. He/she will be back in November to make some holiday photos and so we may splurge then even though this is pretty irrestible.

As some of you know, yesterday while I was at work, The Dad of this family coerced The Goose of this family into taking three teensy steps unaided! Then they practiced going DOWN stairs and lo and behold, it worked! Now JEB can not only go UP, but DOWN as well. Additionally, he walked all the way from the playroom into the kitchen holding onto only ONE of The Dad's hands. Wow. And speaking of WOW ... I was reading to him the other day about a little spider who is busy busy busy and we were counting the spider's legs and I said, "Eight legs! WOW!" And then Goose said, "Wow." So let's see, we have nouns (ball, butt, da-da, bob, book), verbs (go, annihilate -- I am not even kidding, he said "annihilate"), conjunctions (OK, so he's really saying "butt" not "but," but it's a homophone people, let me go with it), and now, interjections (wow). WOW!

So ... back to the title ...

This morning, when The Goose awakened at 7 a.m. sharp, I was eager to give him the opportunity to demonstrate his going-down-the-stairs skill. I put him at the top of the stairs and went down a few myself and started coaxing him. He was not interested, however, because he had gotten distracted by the phone which was sitting on the floor (this little distraction is an important detail for later in the story). He played with the phone a few minutes and then I cut him off. I placed him about three stairs from the bottom and he finally did show me and I was thoroughly impressed, of course.

On we go with our morning, busily preparing for school ... Bob's labelling everything and preparing sippy cups, Goose is eating cheerios, Dad is out and about at work, hiking a trail, interpreting wildlife, etc. Then the phone rings. It's the park secretary and she sounds excited: "ARE YOU OK?!?!?! THERE'S A POLICEMAN HERE AT THE OFFICE AND HE SAYS THERE WAS A 9-1-1 HANGUP CALL FROM YOUR HOUSE."

Oopsie. Sorry 'bout that! Just an innocent little accident.

MEANWHILE ...

The Dad has heard through the radio that the policeman is there and is SPRINTING down the "No Running Allowed" trail to get home and check on his brood. Maybe we shouldn't play with the phone anymore.

When The Dad showed up a few minutes later, we all laughed about it for a while and then I started thinking, "Why did the policeman go to the park office instead of my house?" Good thing it was not a real call! We'll have to check into this matter.

So that's about all the news from the Dirty Circus Tent. The Goose is still at school right now which is why I have time to write this excruciatingly detailed account of our day. After dropping him off I went and swam some laps in honor of his upcoming birthday ... swimming was pretty much all I did during those last days of pregnancy last year. I guess tomorrow I should take a dose of castor oil just for the sake of nostalgia, since that is how we finally coerced him outta the oven a full NINE DAYS after his due date. Hmmmm, on second thought, maybe not.

Happy Wednesday!

Early Birthday Present

For his birthday, The Goose's dad decided to get him a trike with a co-pilot option (read: handlebar on the back that a parent holds onto and steers out of the way of poison ivy clumps and/or steep cliffs leading to lakes full of leeches). But B has been around me entirely too long now, because he bought TWO and brought them both home and put them together so that we could decide which one was best after trial runs. I do this all the time with shoes! I love how I'm rubbing off.

And as a side note, I'm not sure where we got this humongous kid that promptly threw a leg over the seat and assumed the pedalling position, but I think that it's JEB in disguise. In case you can't tell, he's HUGE. Must be all that lasagna he's been eating. Yep, lasagna. But don't get a kiwi anywhere near his high chair tray unless you want trouble.

Anyway, back to the birthday present ...

While B was putting together the trikes, The Goose promptly claimed this particular screwdriver (see below) for his own and hasn't put it down since. I love his facial expression: "Leave me alone while I work on my wheels."

He was VERY involved in the assembly process, just like any future mechanical engineer would be, of course.

We decided to keep the one in the picture above, because it's lower to the ground, has a longer wheel base, and is thus less tippy. However, upon further testing (outside on the blacktop), it has proven less than ideal. Despite its foot rests, which are for the sole purpose of resting little feet that aren't ready for pedalling yet, his feet still drag the ground and get caught up in the wheels. So, we're back to the drawing board. It's a good thing we started this shopping process a week before his actual birthday.

In the meantime, he's been pushing both of them around the house, crashing into walls and couches and screaming bloody murder whenever he gets into a position where he can't move it any farther (which, on average, is about every 2.5 seconds). Twice he's gotten stuck underneath one of them and he's crashed them into glasses of spillable liquids as well. Fun, fun, fun. (HINT: For his birthday, he wants a (transferrable) gift certificate for a maid and a day at the spa.)

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on around here. We are trying to get him to walk, to no avail. He just is not interested. We are still doing two naps a day (notice the use of "we" -- ha ha) but are considering transitioning to one, since the two have started getting shorter and shorter. He typically sleeps from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. if you can believe such a thing. I still can't believe that I am finally sleeping uninterrupted. If you had told me that just a few months ago I would've called you a raging lunatic. All the cliches of parenthood are becoming so apparent to me now ... how time flies and how fast they change and how you can NEVER imagine your life as it was before they arrived. Attending movies? Dinner for two? Weekend road trips? GONE. It's not easy, but I wouldn't trade it for much of anything.

End of the Week Update

We've had a week! Hopefully now everyone is getting better and the show can go on. I just uploaded a few photos of The Goose, so click the picture for more. Sorry about the red eyes ... my photoshop program is currently not acting right and I'm too impatient to hold on the phone for customer service.

Enjoy!

p.s. Guess who's turning ONE next week?!?!!?!?!?!?!

School: Part Two

Today The Goose returned to school after a week's hiatus due to his croup. He was back with a vengeance. Dad dropped him off since mom was on the couch being pitiful and sipping hot tea in an effort to nurse her sore throat and cold (presumably caught from The Goose himself).

Today there were only two students: JEB & Warren. When B went to pick him up, Goose made a bee-line for his pantsleg, laughing and demanding to be picked up and then he gave a big hug and a pat and turned around promptly to wave bye-bye to his teacher and Warren. B said it was a wave with a sneer like, "See ya later ... SUCKERS!" Upon seeing B, Warren said, "Da-Da." I guess The Goose had told him all about his cool dad.

Miss Sarah, the teacher, sent home her "Daily News" sheet which reported the following:

"John didn't eat much today. He ate only a few bites of food and wouldn't drink his milk or water."

That's it? She left an entire line and a half BLANK. If there were only two kids there, then she should've had time to at least write about how he's the most advanced kid in the class in terms of behavior, language development, and motor skills, right? The only other information on the sheet was that he napped from 10:45 - 12:45 p.m. (she could've written something during that time as well) and that he had two wet diapers and a "happy and playful" disposition. I'm trying not to be too harsh on Miss Sarah. I'm trying. Maybe she's just being fair ... as a teacher, you can't be over-zealous with praise. Yeah! That's it. I'm trying not to focus on the negative here.

After school, JEB came home and was very glad to hang out with mom and dad and play with his new puzzle (see picture above and click for another one). This puzzle has various shapes and each piece has a little wooden knob that he puts in his mouth and uses as a pacifier. The picture above shows the rectangle binkie, but his favorites are the red circle and triangle (they're not as bulky). He crawls around all over the house with one of them hanging out of his mouth at all times. I'm sure the wood was treated with some scary chemicals not intended for babies' mouths, but, again, I'm trying not to focus on the negative.

Not much other news to report. We're getting ready for a birthday celebration on the 24th of September (even though his real b/d is the 16th). I'm trying to make the invitations, which is the biggest mess in the history of Kimmy Craft Projects. I put his photo on the invites and then the glue I used bled through so that his face looked like it had a weird birthmark. Now I've got to re-do them, so don't expect a timely mail-out. One can only do so much and not be negative about it all.

Stay tuned! More positive attitude to come.

Reckless Driving

This afternoon I turned The Goose loose in the backyard with his cart. Lookout chickens! He popped some wheelies and investigated rocks and checked out the chicken wire on the coop. Look at those shoes! A size three! Or is it four? I can't remember. And also, he has moved up to size four diapers! When Dad changes his diapers, he always says, "Only big men wear fours." This is fascinating stuff, people! Get excited.

Another picture is just a click away.

MONKEY

I'm sleeplessly sad about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I couldn't sleep last night after watching a Dateline special. I had to turn it off when they started a story about a family whose infant son was taken away from them to a hospital somewhere else for treatment, while they remained behind in the devastation. It's just too much. Thank goodness we have this bouncing little distraction around to help keep our minds off the disaster. Here are some udpates on his recent behavioral developments:

The almost-one-year old has recently morphed into a monkey. Can you say ...

CLIMBING???

ON EVERYTHING???

I can!

The picture above shows just one of his newest tricks. It's called Table Swing with Head Tilt.

Other recent tricks include ...

1. Taking a tee-niney step un-aided while Dad held a ball just out of reach.

2. Frequently crawling in circles around whoever is sitting on the floor in search of forbidden items. He learned that we hide things behind our backs and so now he does the crawl around checking method just to see what's there.

3. Ejecting tapes from the VCR and pushing them back in and ejecting them again AD INFINITUM.

4. Squats. We've moved on from upper body workouts with weights to a focus on the lower body. This involves standing up and then bouncing/squatting repeatedly. It's fun! Really! You should try it!

5. Dropping everything and then peering over the ___________ (fill in any number of things ... high chair, crib, bed, car seat) to see where it has landed. This is particularly fun to do at nap time. The bunny, the blanket, the teddy bears, they ALL go over the side of the crib. This provokes a screaming fit until someone comes to retrieve the fallen object and then the game begins again. The tricky part is that he has trouble settling down without these items, yet he throws them out. A conundrum for sure.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend despite the national tragedy. Tonight The Goose and I will be solo while dad goes to a minor league baseball game with the other rangers to show off the birds of prey and snakes. Fun, fun for everyone!

Lots of love to all from ...
The Geese

Long time, no post

Sorry for the delay. I know the grandparents are having withdrawals. Three major issues have prevented my posting:

1. The Goose got croup but is recovering nicely. He did have to stay home from school yesterday and was disappointed. You can click on the photo to see more recent shots.

2. The fall semester has begun and I am teaching three nights a week. Busy, busy, busy!

3. The hurricane has had me worried about my family and friends and so I've been spending time trying to contact them instead of blogging. They are all OK but without power. The tragedy is so devastating. The Goose and I were going to make a trip down there this weekend for my 10-year class reunion, but it's just not possible under the circumstances.

Otherwise, thing are going well. I'll try to post more specific JEB info later today.