Time out and Chicken Butt

Noah is starting to say things daily and role play in such a funny way, I don't want to forget it. So I'm just going to start posting things he says in this blog.

Today Noah was playing outside and came up to me and very sternly said "Look at me, mama!" and grabbed my face with both hands turning it towards him. (doo doo doo, don't know where he could have picked that up :whisting) "You go to time out! Right now! Sit in that chair!" I was cracking up, and he got mad "Not laughin', mama! Not laughin' Sit in time out!" I told him I wasn't going to because I didn't do anything wrong. This didn't set well with him. I asked him why I had to go and he said something about falling down and getting a boo-boo. I reminded him he doesn't go to time out when he gets boo-boos. He gave my knee a kiss to make it all better.

Noah has a book he likes called Chicken Butt. It starts out "You know what?" and the dad says "what?", then they boy yells "CHICKEN BUTT!". He loves it. In fact he embarrassed me (well not really, it was actually pretty funny) at CVS last week. I saw something I needed to buy and said kind of to myself "oh you know what?...." and then before I could say "I need to get some more neosporin" Noah interjects "CHICKEN BUTTTTT!" These two elderly ladis just stared at us. It was hysterical. He kept doing it to. Then "you know why?" "CHICKEN THIGH!!!!!!!!!!!" "You know where?" "CHICKEN UNDERWEAR!!!!"

Elliot & Grandpa Rick

Grandpa Rick is so funny!

In two years...

...when I am frustrated trying to keep his dirty, germ covered thumb out of his mouth when we've been playing at a busy playground, please remind me of how cute I thought it was. Elliot has found his thumb. Soooo cute.

I goin' to the airport

That's where he told me he was headed. The airport. He has all his Thomas trains packed in his Lightning McQueen backpack, his blocks, and of course his hard hat. Who needs pants anyway?

Brothers Playing

Noah and Elliot are so cute to watch together. Elliot is much more active in their play now. He's grabbing Noah's hair, face, nose, etc. Noah is always saying "No! Oww! Ed-uh-wit pullin' my hair!" or something like that. Meanwhile Elliot is laughing. Noah has fun with him though and is a sweet big brother.

Taking a Break

When the walls start closing in, I'm lucky to have a wife that understands the benefits of getting away for a few days. I've been especially grouchy lately, so after work on Thursday, I packed up my motorcycle and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains with a couple of friends for the Memorial Day weekend.

They left on Wednesday morning, so for a day and a half I was playing catch-up and had a lot of time to myself to unwind. I had my riding buddy with me - a stuffed animal of Noah's that I stuck in my bag the first trip I went on, to remind me of him and to remind me to be safe. It got a lot of smiles from people who passed me.

Lost again. This happens with alarming frequency, despite all the maps we have. Fortunately we're in no hurry, and have no particular place to be.

Very Smoky Mountains. And stormy too. I've never ridden up into a cloud before, but we did on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I think the bike is trying to eat him.

Taking a short break, somewhere in Kentucky.
Sunrise in London, Kentucky. We got an early start.
Sweet ride. A '68 Camaro, totally refinished inside and out. This guy spent two years refurbishing it, and turned down an offer of $45,000. We talked to him for about 20 minutes, and this is about all I could understand.

It was interesting listening to the different conversations in the places we stopped. Especially the ability for people to turn one-syllable words into two. Like "fe-ish" (things that swim in streams, ponds and lakes). Most of the time they talked slow enough you could figure it out, but if they talked fast, God help you. There were times I thought I'd have better communications in France. But the nicest people I've ever met.

Very beautiful country, but then every so often you run into dumps out in the middle of nowhere.

I don't think we hit a straight road once we got out of Missouri, which was the plan.
We got as far east as Boone, NC and then headed back towards Asheville, then rode the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee the next day.

I headed back alone on Sunday, and spent the night in Paducah, KY. The next day was riding mostly through rain. The scariest part of the trip was when I ran out of gas in downtown St. Louis, right across from the Arch on I-70, in the rain and with only enough shoulder to fit a motorcycle. I-70 is below street level there, so I had to climb up to the road above, hoof it over to a hotel, hail a cab and direct him to the nearest gas station. I didn't think the cabbie was going to work up the nerve to stop and let me out where my bike was, so we ended up circling a couple of times. Between the fare, and the gas can I had to buy, that was a pretty expensive gallon of gas.

Over four days, I rode about 2,200 miles. It was a great trip, and I got to see some beautiful parts of the country that I hadn't been to before and best of all, I got to get away from the distractions for a while and regain some perspective. Turns out, life is pretty good.

I missed Mandy and the boys and was glad to be coming home. Mandy held up like a trooper - even though I could tell it was a trying weekend, she didn't complain a peep. Thanks for the vacation honey!

Holiday weekend sans Paul

It was just me and the boys while Paul was on his mancation getting some R&R. We spent a lot of time with family and had a lot of fun. I wanted to wear out Noah everyday so he'd sleep good at night. It wore me out too! I'm publicly giving props to Paul for all he does not only with the kids, but around the house. It kicked my butt doing it all!

Saturday started with some swimming.

After a quick lunch, we barely caught the Belton train before it took off

After a stop at Tara's cafe for a cool treat, we went to Sarah's where

they rode bikes and did some serious sidewalk chalk art. After that we had to throw them in the tub.

Squeeky clean superheroes

Elliot was a little trooper the whole day going place to place. He was happy to get a chance to stretch out and kick his legs at Sarah's though Sunday we went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. Fed some goats, saw a bunch of animals

Got red-faced and sweaty playing in the barn slide
Cooled down with ice cream in the dairy farm

Had fun on the pedal tractors

Elliot went along like a trooper for the ride until got hungry and tired. Plenty of shady benches to sit on while the boys rode tractors

Boyz in da hood

Today Noah and Hudson were riding bikes and Noah comes up to me "Take a pick-er of Hudson and me". So I did.

Noah rides that pink princess bike of Addison's probably just as much as his own Lightning McQueen bike.

This is his new thing. He stands up while riding all the time now. He thinks he's big stuff.

Elliot's 4 month appointment

Today was Elliot's 4 month appointment. Here are his stats:

Weight: 16lbs 1 ounce (75%/maintaining same growth curve)
Height: 25 1/2" (70% - up from 50%)
Head: 41 1/2 cm (25-30%)

Dr. Waters immediately noticed his eyes when he saw him. His instinct is that it is not a brain problem, but a muscle issue (correctable by surgery). Elliot is meeting all his developmental milestones (except grabbing a toy in front of him, which is secondary to his vision issue). He looks normal. There are just no other issues to go along with this, and that is good.

Just to be proactive, he had his nurse set up an MRI at Children's for June 9th. In case the opthamologist does want one, we are almost 2 weeks ahead by scheduling it now. We're hoping it's a muscle problem, and I'll just cancel the MRI after the June 2nd eye appointment.

I am pretty sure it's not Duane's syndrome after studying old photographs. Duane's is present from birth, and I have photos that contradict that diagnosis. This is huge, because Duane's can't be cured.

I love his big grin

Blowing bubbles

Hee hee Waiting today at the doctor's office. He's found his toes!

Mobile uploads

Just running around at the church, as usual. He's such a ham with the mobile phone pics because he sees his face on the screen and thinks it's hilarious.

The draw of the baby toys.......

....is just too much to resist.

He was pretty proud of himself getting all the way in without me noticing.

"Wait a minute --- I can't get out. Maybe if I shimmy a bit..."

Panic sets in. Yes, I not only made him wait for a picture, but was also laughing the entire time I helped him out. I couldn't help it. For a second there I thought I was going to have to call a neighbor to help me, but I got him out. I have serious doubts that he actually learned a lesson either.

And yes, he has gotten stuck in the exersaucer before, although I don't have a pic of that.

Elliot is growing up

This past month has been busy for Elliot, so I thought I'd post an update on him.

Today was a big day for little E. He finally figured out how to get past that darn arm in his way and roll over from his back to his tummy. Diaper changes are about to get really fun!

He got to switch to his big boy carseat, just like Noah's. He still has room to grow in the infant seat, but I really prefer the bigger one for lots of reasons. He seems to like it too.

He's holding on to toys and putting them to his mouth, although he usually needs me to put it to his chest or his hands before he can grab it, which may have something to do with his vision. He found his thumb tonight in the bath and enjoyed it for quite awhile. It was pretty darn cute, but I hope he doesn't turn into a thumb sucker, just because I don't want to deal with trying to break the habit later.

His personality is so much fun now. This past month he's gotten so much more animated. He is a happy baby and not just with me anymore. No more inconsolable crying when I'm in the basement working out or taking a shower. He has also learned to blow raspberries and it's the cutest thing!

I cleaned out his drawers today and filled 1 1/2 bins with clothes that no longer fit. He's growing up so fast. He's wearing mostly size 3-6 months.

Unfortunately, his eyes seem to be getting worse. I've been noticing his right eye crossing too, and he only tracks by moving his head. I know he sees us though and have faith we will get it resolved. I'm anxiously awaiting his appointment with the opthamologist at CMH on June 2nd.

He melts my heart and I am pretty sure he is the most precious baby on Earth. Seriously, I know all parents say that, but it's true. I'm so happy we have him. I know his tag is sticking up, but I love how he's all nuzzled into me here and how happy I look.

I won't talk about his sleep, because I don't want to jinx it. But, I'm not complaining *wink, wink*. His 4 month appointment is this week. I'm looking forward to seeing how much weight chubs here has put on.