Friday, May 29, 2009

Little Puff experiment

This week Shelly decided to let Anderson try Little Puffs baby food since he's beginning to self-feed. I guess I'm the last guy to know about Puffs since I just heard of them a few days ago but apparently they dissolve quickly in the baby's mouth and help teach them independence by letting them feed themselves.As you can see, he wasn't quite sure what to think with that first bite. His bent eyebrows show a look of extreme concern and relative uncertainty.

In this picture, he shows how he would look if he had buck teeth.But as he got the hang of it, he really enjoyed them.His favorite time of day continues to be bath time!Yesterday was Anderson's first day in day care. Shelly and I toured the facility the day before and decided to let him try it out yesterday. We've learned over the past couple of weekends visiting family how good it is for him to interact with other people. And putting him in day care on occasion will allow Shelly time during the day to do other things.

So we went to drop him off and here he is enjoying a new play area as we were leaving.I went by and checked on him at lunch. He had been a little upset since this was really the first time he's been away from Shelly for more than a couple of hours. So he hadn't eaten or slept much that morning. I held him for about 20 minutes during lunch and he just rested in my arms and I think he was happy to see a familiar face.

He ate a little better in the afternoon and slept a little more but he was certainly exhausted last night. Overall, it went well and I think we'll start taking him there a couple of days a week. Maybe we'll try half days until he gets used to it. When I picked him up a little 1-year old boy named Larry came up and patted Anderson on the face and legs to say goodbye. So it looks like he already has a little friend there.

Shelly took advantage of her free day to get a massage and also plant our garden. Here's a before and after of the garden she planted.The garden has tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, spinach, hot peppers (two different kinds), pumpkins, and we'll plant some onion bulbs soon. She also planted flowers in the back and also the front of the house. Looks great!

This evening we'll set up our new patio furniture out back. Then I head to Virginia Sunday for a few days.

Mike
Fort Riley, KS

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Western Kansas weekend

We spent the weekend with Shelly's family in Wakeeney, KS. Had a great time--family reunion, relaxing, visited Shelly's grandma in the hospital, church, flowers on graves of relatives, attended a Memorial Day ceremony at their local cemetery, and of course some great food all weekend.

After perfecting it all week, Anderson is now officially a crawler! It was like he was working on it all last week so he could break it out for his grandma and grandpa Deutscher this weekend. He moves quickly now across the room. So this week we get to go around and childproof our house, since I don't expect houseproofing the child will work quite yet.This pose has been a familiar sight over the past 3 weeks or so while he tried to learn to crawl. Some of you may have seen him do push ups and get into this crab like, near somersault position. He was moving his legs but forgetting to move his arms, resulting in his rear end going straight up in the air with his forehead planted firmly onto the carpet. Needless to say, his forehead has consistently had rug burn on it from doing this.We thought this was an appropriate shirt for the family reunion on Saturday.With his grandpa Deutscher.With cousin Zoe.By the way, he has two bottom teeth so that's why he's munching on his fingers in so many pictures. Those babies are sharp too! Made the mistake the other day of feeling of them just before he chomped down in an alligator clamp.

Overall, it was another great weekend spending time with family. It's nice to live so close to both of our families!
Mike
Fort Riley, KS

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Johnny Jumper Concept

As you can see, the boy is a big fan of his new Johnny Jumper. Shelly bought it last year at a garage sale for $5. And that has been the best five bucks we've ever spent at a garage sale, followed closely by the Chia Pet I bought back in 1983.We put this in his room last week and he immediately began jumping around and laughing. As I sat in the floor watching him I couldn't help but wonder how this Johnny Jumper concept came about. Because you have to admit the contraption looks a little redneck.

My assumption is there was a guy named Johnny, probably wearing old jeans and a white wife beater t-shirt. He shirt likely had grease on it and there was a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve. His wife was nagging him about buying their child a new toy but he knew money was tight. So he took an old high chair, an exer-saucer, maybe parts of a car seat, combined them all together to make just a seat. Then he took probably some rope from the barn and tied it up like an old tire hanging from a tree.

Problem was, when the kid jumped he immediately came crashing down resulting in probably a good cry followed by some screaming. So he needed to find a spring. He went to the garage and took one of those springs off that helps the door go up and down. He tied that on the top of the baby seat, put it at a good height, somehow secured it to the top of the door, and the baby was able to bounce around safely while having a great time.

So that's pretty much how I think the Johnny Jumper concept was developed. Nevertheless, we're glad it's here.Anderson also started using his high chair. Much easier feeding him now and he loves being in it. Next up will be the tossing of food onto the kitchen floor.For those who didn't see the nursery pics on e-mail or Facebook, Anderson finally has a nursery. Shelly organized it all at our new house last week.Here, Anderson demonstrates how comfortable he is sleeping in his new bed.This was taken last weekend with his Papa Essary. Had to wait to post this so Mandy could fix a little red eye issue we had. Thought it was a great picture of a proud grandpa with his grandson.
Mike
Fort Riley, KS

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Weekend at the farm

This past weekend we all enjoyed a nice relaxing time at my parents house in Oklahoma. As a reminder, here's a quick tally of all the animals there: two llamas (one is pregnant), three miniature ponies (one was born about two weeks ago), probably about 25 ducks, two large dogs, and one 2,000 pound pet cow.
He also saw my sister Marcy for the first time since Christmas.At my grandpa and grandma Essary's house.Before church on Sunday.Granny and Papa Essary.Cousins Addie and Lily (who were a big help babysitting him during the weekend).Outside with his granny.He loved swinging and riding on the Gator.One of their two big dogs, whose head is half the size of Anderson.Overall, as you can tell by the expression on his face, it was a great weekend!
Mike
Fort Riley, KS