Home again.

Did I say I would post every day of April? Really?

I lied. I didn't even check my email while we were in SC. It was a good trip - nice to get away from Minnesota, but I have decided that if we're going to go somewhere to get away from the Minnesota cold, I want HOT. I want at least 80 degrees every single day. I don't want to put jeans back on until we have to get on the plane to go home.

BUT - South Carolina is truly beautiful. We stayed on Harbor Island in this beautiful beach house, we day tripped to Savannah on day (not enough for me - what a cool town!), we went to Hunting Island beach, saw alligators and horseshoe crabs and fiddler crabs and turtles and snowy egrets. We ate more grits than I've ever had in my life, and Android is hooked on them.

I'm exhausted and there's a LOT of stuff coming up in the next few weeks, but here are some pictures to tide you over.

Crazy eyes.

He's picking up on the stress vibes Mommy and Daddy are exuding.

Witness Manic-Depressive Baby:

Took him out to the Ballgame...

Went to the second game of the Twins home opener series last night. It was a boring game with a spectacular 9th inning - just the way I like it. The boy fell asleep at 7:30, woke up at 9:30, was perfectly pleasant until the last few seconds of the game when the Twinkies totally pulled it out and people were screaming.

Poor kid. I had him in the front pack, I was jumping up and down yelling and I looked down and the kid had burst into tears. We scooted out of there pretty quickly.

Adorable, no? He kept ripping them off his head.


Circle me, Bert!


"Pay attention! I can catch better than that!"


Early October 2008


Six Months Later

A Boy and his Spoon - Part Deux

Teach your children well

A Maxtastic Evening

My darling nephew Max came to hang with us on Friday while his parents went to the orchestra. He was the most alert I'd ever seen him, and since the Czar was fast asleep the whole time, we got to snuggle the new baby without having to deal with, you know, the old baby.



Poor Finn. He spent much of the night looking totally freaked - "What the hell? There's another one? I don't like the first one you brought home!"


My guys. The blondes are sleeping while Max is plotting world domination.

A Boy and his Spoon

My weird child does not have a security blanket. He has a security spoon. Six of them, actually. They are his absolute favorite Spring accessory and he feels naked without one clutched in his sticky little hand.

I have learned that if I'm going to dress him, I must first put the arm without the spoon into the sleeve, then transfer said spoon to the opposite hand and put the other arm in.

He crawls with a spoon in his hand. He beams with pleasure when we present him with a spoon after he hasn't seen one for ten minutes. He gnaws thoughtfully on the spoon while watching the kitties sleep in the windowsill.

I never want to lose these spoons.

Settling down for bedtime with Spoon.


Hanging out on the couch with Spoon.


Just chillin' with Spoon.


Crawling with Spoon.


Eating with Spoon. (Different than "eating with spoon".)


Playing with toy (without neglecting Spoon).


Reading with Spoon. (Look closely - it's in his left hand.)

Active bleeding.

So, I was telling a friend about the various bumps and bruises the Czar has gotten in the last few weeks from just being a wild crawling thing.

She asked "Has he actively bled yet?". I asked if scratching himself on the face counted and she said no, "Actual running blood."

I had not experienced that yet and was glad of it because it sounds awful and blood in general makes me squeamish, so my child's blood, well, that's intolerable, right?

Right.

Last night I came home to my husband changing my son's clothes on the bed. I walk in and he says "Don't freak out, but..." and he holds up a white shirt with several spots of blood on the collar. Apparently the boy was crawling, fell, and the one tooth he has cut his upper gum. The Czar was deliriously happy that I was home, he crawled toward me, the paci fell out of his mouth and there was a ring of pink drool around his mouth. Poor kid.

We couldn't do much except find him a sleeper that you wouldn't be able to see bloodstains on.
(Oh, shut up. You'd do the same thing.)



He's fine now, but I am looking into finding him a helmet, mouth guard and chain mail to wear until he's in kindergarten.

The Hunt for the Elusive Tooth

Too lazy to think of a clever title. Totally stole one from Mama Grouch.

The child has one single, solitary tooth at the moment. I swear it gets sharper by the day and the boy is realizing that chewing on stuff feels extra good. Unfortunately his gnaw of choice is my hand. I was expecting a fever, diaper rash, and major crabbiness, but the only thing we got this time around was rivers of drool.

It was tough to get a picture, and the one I finally got isn't even that good. No matter, it's there and I can relax about my child being the only baby I know with no teeth. (No kidding. I was having nightmares about him being completely toothless for the rest of his life.

That's the stinkeye if I ever saw it.




"No! Get away from my mouth!"



I took this one while he was sleeping. Poor sucker. (It's there, I swear.)