Guess Who's Happy to See Daddy?

Yar.

Tim has been home for a couple of days, and Alexander is just sooooooo happy to see him. He spends a lot of time crawling around saying "Da da da! Daddy!"

That deserves a second yar. Yar.

Bib Hater

(Don't let the loud crunchy sound alarm you. It's just the velcro.)

Adventures in Self-Feeding

"They" say a picture is worth a 1000 words. ("They" being linguistic economists, I guess.) Even in today’s bear market, a picture is worth about 750 words. (Pictures of bears go for a bit more.) (I've got to stop getting sidetracked in parentheses.)

I'm just saying... don’t consider this a lazy blog entry – consider it a 2,250 word masterpiece. Thank you.

Alexander Loves His Kinfolk

My dad and brother cooked a wonderful mother’s day meal for us last Sunday. It was a really good meal – not just a ‘awww, isn’t it cute when men try to cook’ meal.

Below are a few pictures from the day. Alexander thinks his cousin Harrison is the bee’s knees. He follows him wherever he goes. As you can see, Alexander also touches everything with his index finger nowadays.







Good choice of finger, by the way.



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Television Raised My Baby

I feel like a craptacular mom when I put Alexander in the jumperoo and play a DVD. I mean, a 9-month-old baby has no business watching TV. But during these months of pseudo-single parenthood, I hope it is forgivable. I explained to Alexander that “mommy has temporarily lowered her standard of parenting excellence.” He totally understands. If it weren’t for television, we’d never have clean dishes.

It isn't like I just put in Sanford and Son and walk away. I did research and found the baby video with the fewest pending class-action lawsuits. Nothing but the best for Alexander! Oblivious to (or forgiving of) my poor parenting, Alexander LOVES Brainy Baby videos. We have both the Right Brain and the Left Brain Brainy Baby video. I try to give them equal play so he isn’t lopsided.

He likes to talk to the video. It’s hard to capture on film, because he starts and stops randomly and often clams up when he sees the camera. But here is a little bit of what he says to his new third parent…





If it looks a little tired, it’s because he is. He’s figured out how to cruise (“walk” while holding onto furniture). All night long he was sitting up, then pulling himself up (sometimes with his eyes closed) like he wanted to practice walking. Adorable? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Yes? Yes.


Anyway, the alternative to the jumperoo/Brainy Baby combo is the Fortress of Solitude.


I try to keep him away from both the television and the Fortress of Solitude as much as possible. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hang out with this guy??

Taking Things Up a Level

Here is some video of Alexander's favorite activity: climbing.



The real challenge in climbing stairs is keeping your pants on.



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First Lesson in Fluid Dynamics

See? Physics is fun!! (That is water in his tray, by the way, not accumulated drool as you might think.)

It’s Raining Cheerios - hallelujah!

Crazy weather we’re having here...


Tim came back for a couple days and then took off again. The movie is going really well and I continue to say there is “Oscar buzz” (thereby creating Oscar buzz)… and Tim continues to say “It’s not that kind of movie.” Tim is right - a paintball movie probably would never get an Oscar. Stupid elitist Hollywood. I think I have ideas that could make it more Oscar-worthy, though. Throw in an angry disabled vet, whose grandma (played by Gérard Depardieu) survived the holocaust and decided to adopt a beautiful big-eyed child from Darfur who is a piano playing prodigy. That is, like, a GUARANTEED Oscar right there.

I'll let them run with it. That one's for free. Your WELCOME.

Spooooooon!

I haven't seen anyone this excited over a spoon since I caught a live performance of Slappy McGee, Professional Spoonist.

Of course... sweetpea gets excited over a lot of things. Even just sitting around thinking about spoons, for example.



(Actually, what I was doing behind the camera was arching my eyebrows. Hilarious, right? I know, I'm a comic genius.)



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Alexander Accounting, LLC

“Be with you in just a minute. According to my calculations…”



“Let’s see… carry the 4…yes…yes…according to my calculations…”



“My water intake is less than or equal to my drool output! Success!!!”



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A Tim-shaped Hole in our Hearts

(The subject line represents a serious medical condition. If you have a Tim-shaped hole in your heart, please consult your physician.)

Tim had his first day of shooting yesterday. Somehow they are already 12 days behind schedule and 68 million dollars over budget. Just kidding. I’m sure they are doing great and making what is destined to be the definitive paintball movie of our generation.

Alexander and I are doing just fine. I have to order some big pictures of Tim today to put up around the house. It sounds like a rather Stalin-esque décor. Well, hopefully the daddy propaganda will help to keep Alexander toeing the party line.

So... we’re basically just hanging out and picking our noses until Tim comes back.


(keepin' it classy since 2008)

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Breakfast of Champions (or at least Breakfast of “Everyone Gets a Medal for Trying”)

I love this pointer finger technique:



He’d probably get a lot more cheerios eaten if he didn’t have to revel after every bite: