Yeserday Karen had the day off. It was cool. on the calendar, the day was blank. There were no plans, no meetings, no work (for her or me), no scrubmate events, no parties, no plans, a blank day. So we decided to go to the largest children's museum in the USA, which just happens to be about a ten minute drive from our house (maybe five miles). The last time I went was at the end of the school year. It was field trip time, and there were probably 500 little rug rats running around making a mess of the place. This time it was the beginning of the school year and it was practically empty. At the museum we spent a good amount of time in the playtime learning area. It is a big room with about 10 different "discovery" areas where you can just let the kids go and learn and play. There are two specifically for infants (one is one and under, and one is two and under), a cool water feature, and sand area, a construction site, a big stage for acting with costumes and a few more that I can not remember. We had fun in the Ball ro0m in the one and under area
We also spent a good amount of time in the two and under maze. It was cool. It is all padded, about knee high walls (so the kids can't scalethem). With mirrors and bridges and stairs and a small slide. Xavier had fun and worked on his walking skills.
After the play area we went to the new animation studio presented by the cartoon network. It was the neatest thing ever. They had all sorts of computer photo labs set up to teach you about stop animation, layering, and story boarding. they had a old theater set up showing classic 70's cartoons like captain cave man, and speed buggy, jabber jaw, johnny quest, space ghost, and some classic JLA. They also had a cool "matrix-esq" both with 20 still cameras, that took a simultaneous picture that was stitched together to make an animation. here is ours. it starts in the middle of mine and finishes with Karen's.
so Xavier and Arthur are BEST FRIENDS. I trie to get a really cute pic of X giving the dog a hug, but whenever X sees the camera he gets really excited and charges it. Here is the shot
Xavier took his first step two days ago. and he is gained the abuility (skill) to stand up in the middle of the room, unprovoked, and with no help at all. He is going to be running around the house very soon, so I figured I would put this new skill set to good use. but then again we need to make a mess before we clean
Apparently Arthur has a wart problem. They generally appear on his face, and only last a year. They can be removed, but it is not necessary. SO instead of having warts removed, we paid $200 for a green bandanna, is it not soooo cute. and the boy is too.
It is that time again, where everything happens during one week. After about three months of hanging out at home and doing much of nothing with the boy and the dog, this week has already been a whirl wind of activity and we still have three days left. Monday we had a play group. X was well behaved and likes to share, but he could not figure out how to use the otoscope.
On Tuesday we went to a clam bake (A bunch of EM residents got together for diner)
and in the mean time we have been working on our "so big" and spending time with the dog. tonight we have another dinner type party, on Thursday we are going to "the kitchen" to make some food for the month and then Friday we have a vet visit to take care of Arthur's new beauty marks.
This past Sunday, while we were at church, X decided to start playing peak-a-boo which the lady that was sitting in the pew behind us. This was both funny and a little odd. We have never really played peak-a-boo with him, at least not in this sense. Generally we put a burp rag over his head, and say peak-a-boo and laugh when he pulls it off. This time he was ducking down below the line of site produced by the pew, and hopping up as if to sat "surprise, i am still here." It was very very cute. Well today he started doing it again with the coffee table, and i was able to take a little video. Here it is.
What makes a good commercial a good commercial? is it the concept, the comedy, or the "product." Well this to me is the best commercial on TV right now. The funny thing is that I can never remember which phone company it is an ad for until it says it.
the reason it is funny... the nonchalant sarcasm of the dad, the witty snicker of the kids, and the HEX that the mom puts on the family, for being a bunch of smart asses, at the end.
What happens if they like being locked up, is it still ileagal?? Lately, X-man has been becoming more and more active, he is so close to standing on his own. He gets up into a squat, but can not figure out how to roll his right foot flat and push into a stand. He will probably do it by the end of the month. In fact I would not be entirely surprised if he was walking by then. Anyway, Because he is soooo mobile, we have decided to we need to "baby proof." Currently the living room is our main play area, and the main task was getting rid of the dog food. However, we could not get rid of the crate because Arthur loves it, and spends most of his day in it, so we decided to just let it be. It actually works really well as a baby gate out of the living room. The sad part is that X has decided that he loves it too. Consequently I have stopped trying to stop him from climbing in. Maybe he will no longer feel the need to peruse that which he can not have by letting him have it, and then he will loose interest. Reverse psychology, does it work on 10 month olds??
Here are some more pics (NO, we did not travel like this!!!! it was to keep him "contained" while I was loading up the car)
The Indiana state fair is currently running, and will be here for the next week. So we decided to take a little trip out to see what we could see.
we got to see cows: sheep:
pigs: donkeys:
cheese:
and many other things such as fried oreos, fried hot dogs, fried cheesecake, fried pickles, fried Twinkies, fried Pepsi (yes i said Pepsi), fried snickers, fried pork tenderloin, fried onions, fried potatoes, fried food that has been previously fried, and a plethora of lemonade stands. Along with many people accounting for more then one hoosier unit, with a low tooth to tattoo ratio :) however i could not find the one thing i was looking forward too, corn fritters. so sad :(
30 something, stay at home dad, with a newly minted nuclear family, including a lovely wife, two Kids, two cats, a dog, and a school of fish. I am living the American dream and loving every minute.
