This Face...

... just kills me. (And yes, there was a spot on our camera lens, thanks)

Spring Day

This morning we had our last swim lesson so T. came to gather photographic evidence.

Before heading to the lesson, he climbed all the way up the stairs, then backed all the way down, then climbed all the way up, then I got tired of this fun and put up the gate:
At the lesson:

Although we got some good pictures, this first one sums up his feelings on the pool. His face says, "Save me, Daddio!" and I'm looking at the clock.
C. and his wife went to grad school with T., and this is their second daughter M.




We got some heavy spring storms this afternoon. Little Man and I went out to check it out.

I NEVER Win ANYTHING

Tuesday I got a call on my cell phone from FedEx. They had a package for me but tried to deliver it to our Richmond address. I gave them the correct address, although I'm not expecting anything from FedEx.

Well, I won something! There's a site called Mom Logic. They most have stimulating news like, "Look at what Posh Spice's kid is wearing!" but they have lots of giveaways so I go there regularly. This winning is rather curious though, because:

1. I didn't know about Mom Logic when we lived in Richmond.
2. I wasn't a Mom when we lived in Richmond, so why would I?
3. When you enter to win something on Mom Logic, you have to put in your address EVERY TIME. Clearly I haven't been putting in our Richmond address.
4. Why would I enter to win this?!:

What is it? It's a Hot Pink Urban Sling. For your DOG. Based on the design and the rugged photo on the package, you're supposed to put your dog in it and go for a hike.

Nope, my dog doesn't fit. Anyone who has a dog less than 10 lbs. want a Hot Pink Urban Sling to carry their dog around in?

Such a Talented Boy

It gets kind of boring in the middle, but he gets cute again at the very end.



Travelin' Man:

Weekend

This weekend we had our friends M&B and their kids 2 1/2-year-old M, and 1-year-old I. come visit us. I. is 2 weeks younger than Little Man. Before I show you any photos, I need to warn you. We were outside on Saturday and Daisy had a stick in her mouth. She walked close to Little Man and left a long scratch on his face. My other disclaimer is that I refuse to use a flash indoors when I judge it to be bright enough. T. explains that our camera is not going to learn to be more expensive if I'm stubborn with it. And so we have pictures with a flash that look like this:And the same picture without a flash looks like this:

UGH. Okay, on to the photos.


Yes, I love these pictures of babies looking out the window:
Saturday night we had a post-game (VT's Spring Game) dinner at at house where they have a new puppy. Turns out babies and puppies like all the same things. The puppy had to be held back so she wouldn't kiss Little Man to death.


What you're listening for in this video is Winnie's cry, followed by Little Man's laugh (sorry it's sideways, it's upright on my computer but I guess Blogger can't handle it).



To cap off the weekend, we went to TCBY for fro yo.

Happy Sunny Friday!

(If you're looking for the post Dad e-mailed about, it's below this one.


Goodbye sorority girl hair, long with the long layers. Hello, fabulous twenty-nine-and-a-half-year-old hair. (Please pay no attention to the Runaway Bride eyes).

When I'm out of town T. and Little Man have a dance party. Then later I find the videos. Looks like the camera man was doing a lot of the dancing in this song, but you can see Little Man's patented Finger Wag Dance.

A Day of Remembrance

Yesterday Virginia Tech recognized 1 year past since a student took the lives of 32 other students and faculty. Virginia Tech did a nice job of remembering, I think. A synopsis of events:

10:30 a.m.: The formal remembrance ceremony. Including a speech by Dr. Steger University President, bios of the 32, a speech by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, and music by the University Wind Ensemble. Dr. Steger's speech was very good (and can be read or heard here: http://www.remembrance.vt.edu/).

During the day the university offered many ways for students and community to respond. There was a gallery of some of the items sent to VT after April 16 last year, there was art (both to look at and participate in), music, dance, garden tours, and sports. Classes were cancelled so many students spent the day with friends enjoying the weather.

At dark there was a candlelight vigil. Last year we were unable to participate in the vigil as Little Man was only a couple of weeks old and too small to take out in the cold. The students were very energetic before the vigil started, finishing their frisbee games and meeting up with other friends on the drillfield. A student we talked to who was handing out candles said they've been unwrapping candles since last year.

A student gave a speech (which can also be read at the link above). He did an excellent job, urging us to re-dedicate ourselves to living in honor of those who died. After the tragedy last year the VT community logged more than 300,000 hours of community service in honor of the 32.

A candle had been lit at 12:01 a.m. on the 16th, and guarded by the Corps of Cadets all day. That candle was used to light one candle for each of the victims. There was one person representing each victim, I assume each was a friend or family member. As the names were read and the candles lit, the 32 candles were used to start lighting the candles of the crowd. It was really neat to see the glow spread, even as names were still being read.

By the time all 32 names had been read there were thousands (I wish I knew how many, but I'm no good at estimating these things) of candles lit, covering the Drillfield. Then Taps began. At the end of many special events on the Drillfield the Corps has Taps played by three trumpeters at different points on the edges of the field. After Taps, a choir began singing acapella, "Walk Humbly Son." I'll post the lyrics at the bottom of this entry. It was an excellent song choice, and surprisingly powerful because I didn't even seen a choir or know they were there, then all of a sudden their voices were coming out of the speakers.

At the end someone came back up and told us that the ceremony was over but we were free to linger with Hokie family as long as we liked. We all held up our candles and eventually someone yelled, "Let's Go!," kicking off a "Let's Go Hokies!" cheer. It happened last year, so it was no surprise that it happened again. After that people meandered home. The thing that was most striking to me about the whole night is that nobody blew out their candles. As we walked up the hill off the Drillfield we turned back to look and there were still many thousands of candles in the center of the field, but there were also streams of light going off in every direction as people returned to the dorms and their cars.

We didn't bring our camera and I'm having trouble finding photographs online that I can download to show you. Most are in fancy Flash players. The University's gallery is here:

http://www.remembrance.vt.edu/photo-gallery/index.html

And here are the lyrics to the song:

Walk humbly, son

Walk humbly, now

And cherish every step

For a life well spent

On this earth we're lent

Will be marked by the void you have left

May you conquer not curse challenges

May you hold back the dark like a dam

May you lead your life with lion's roar

May you leave it like a lamb

Don't await rewards for your good deeds

A reward won't make them good

Don't await judgment of any foes

They'll receive just what they should

When you find the axis of this world

Don't tread too far inside

Run away as far as you think you can

Be well and enjoy the ride

Walk humbly, son

And store your pride

When you need strength later on

For your life's work will be judged if earth

Is saddened when you have gone

Walk humbly, son

Walk humbly, how

And forget not where you are from

May you go further than those before

And provide for those to come

Will you walk humbly, Son?

Still Here, Being Cute

We've been so busy this weekend we haven't had time to blog. Fortunately Little Man is still cute so I have some pictures to post.

Yesterday T. mulched and mowed the yard. It took many truckloads of mulch to cover all our landscaping.
I've spent the weekend preparing to paint and painting our bedroom blue. I did all the cutting-in and T. will roll this week. No pictures of that yet.

Here he is just generally being cute:

Baby's first Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich:

And this is where all his food goes. T. told me this morning that Little Man ate a 2-egg omlette for breakfast. That would be a lot of food for him. Here's what I think happened to the omlette:

Being a Toddler is EXHAUSTING

The daycare has been transitioning Little Man to the toddler room this week. As a result, he is completely exhausted (and very grubby) by the end of the day. When I was getting his bath ready last night he put his hands on the edge of the tub and left little grubby pawprints.

He went to bed at 7:30 last night, and at 8:00 a.m. when I went to wake him up he looked like this:


Daisy has teepee time:

Stuff Growing

I don't think spring will be in full bloom for another few weeks, but we're getting there! Even though this is our second spring here there are still some surprises. Crocuses came up in the middle of our yard - they must've been in the topsoil that was spread there when we got rid of a tree last year. Also T. transplanted many bulbs when we made our front bed smaller and didn't have room for them. They didn't look good last year after recent transplanting, but they came up strong this year in our backyard.

We have periwinkles, but they're competing with crab grass for their territory. What are the chances I'm going to try to pull crabgrass out from the bed of periwinkles? Slim. Very slim. I have to focus my energies on the crabgrass in the beds I like.


And, this may be the first of the lilies I planted this year that haven't seen daylight yet. That is where I'll be focusing most of my crabgrass efforts. Can't confirm that this is a lily. Only time will tell.

And, our deck is fixed! Next time we buy a house we're going to get a "DIY" inspection in addition to the safety inspection. "Warning! Warning! Untalented Do-It-Yourselfer lived here! Warning! Warning!" We now have a step! Some of the new wood needs to be stained in a couple of months, but it's fully functional.

Balloons!

For Noni

Happy Valentine's Day! We finally all got together and watched "The Gods Must Be Crazy". Here are our snacks and our movie-watching. Snacks came from the Charlottesville Whole Foods on my way home from work yesterday.

The Difference a Year Makes

At One Week:

At 6 Months:

At 1 Year:

And we have some new baby stats from Monday's doctor's appointment:

Height: 31 inches (21 in. at birth)

Weight: 23 lbs. (7 lbs 14 oz at birth)

Head: Huge

Level of Machoness when faced with shots: Very Macho (though followed by 2 days of fever and crying)

Deadline for getting off the bottle/ nuk: June 30

Heart-Breaking

We didn't have pictures on our camera of Little Man's anguish when Daisy stole his cupcake. But Abi and Pop send theirs on. The second picture in particular is a heart-breaker.

Where did that noodle go?

I'm an amateur magician! I was sitting here eating my lasagna and I made a noodle disappear!

A New Man

I feel like Little Man is changing so much now that he's 1! He's learned to point, and is adding "words" to his vocabulary like wildfire. Sure, we're the only ones who might understand those words, but I say they're words. His official first word (other than "Mama" and "Dada") is Daisy, the name of our dog. Over the weekend he also picked up "Ball" ("Ba") and his new very favorite thing, "Balloon" ("Ah-Boom" Or, on a valiant effort, "Ba-Boom").

You decide, is this "Balloon"?



Another fun feature of balloons:


Little Man is 1, so here is his last Year 1 picture with the benchmark dog (his hair is au natural here, not under the influence of balloons).


Hey, look what I can do! It's so funny.

And watch out world, 'cause before you know it I'll be running!