The Little Climber

Bode continues his physical development. He is now able to climb onto furniture without any assistance. Here is a video of Bode scaling a chair, doing what sound like strange bird calls, and then dismounting with perfect form.

He's tried climbing up on the sofa, but I think the soft cushion doesn't permit him to get enough leverage when he tries to swing his leg up. But he'll probably figure this out in the next week or so. He's also able to get off our bed, which is a pretty impressive drop for a little fella.

Ashley is mad at me...but it's kind of a funny mad (at least to me) as to why. Ashley's been spending some time with a personal trainer. She's worked so hard to get back in shape post-pregnancy, but she just needed a little extra push to cover those last few pounds. Now, as you may or may not know, I've been doing a lot of running since the spring. A big side effect of all the running is I can basically eat whatever I want and not worry about it. So the other day, I went up to Ashley and put on my best fake-serious face. I said, "Ashley, I'm having a little problem and was wondering if you can help me." "What is it?" she asked, somewhat concerned, but she's able to read me like a Dr. Seuss book and can tell when I'm being fake-serious. "Well, for the past two weeks, I've been eating and eating, and no matter what I do, I just can't seem to keep any weight on. What's your secret?" She proceeded to belt me in the arm, and I don't think I'm being unmanly by saying that it hurt :-)

A big four-day week coming up. Hopefully you all have big 4th of July plans! Pleasant evening to all.

Oxymoron

Ashley, Bode, and I were at the pool the other day. There is no smoking in the entire facility. Fortunately (for the smokers), there is a smoking area right out front. Personally I'd like the smoking area to be on the opposite side of the parking lot...perhaps I'll propose that measure for the ballot next fall. Anyways, there was a family of five. Mom, Dad (looked no older than 30 a piece), and kids from two to six-ish. They looked like the stereotypical American (trailer) family, complete with mustache, mullet, and tattoos. Mom and Dad were busy applying sun-screen to the kids. Good parents--gotta protect the little ones from the sun. However, as they were doing this, Mom and Dad each had a cigarette dangling from their lips. And you could tell this wasn't their first cigarette, as they were able to smoke and talk simultaneously without using their hands (which were busy putting on that sun-screen). If I were more like Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm, I would have said something. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic for those kids. Our pediatrician has told us ninety percent of the kids he admits to the hospital have a parent that smokes. Ninety percent. Of course, those cigarette tax dollars were probably used to help finance the pool so maybe I should have thanked them instead... :-)

Bode, Auburn, and I are flying solo this week. Ashley is off on some extravagant trip to...somewhere in Missouri. It's not a big town. It's about two hours from St. Louis. I checked googlemaps, and was told she's in the middle of nowhere.

One of Bode's favorite songs is the Elephant Song by Eric Herman (check it out on youtube). Here we are watching it. I can't yet tell if Bode looks like me or Ashley (or neither). I was out running this weekend when a guy on foot approached me wanting to know how to get to a certain street. I knew the street he was talking about and gave him directions. He was about three miles away, and he headed off. About half hour later, I realized I told him the wrong way to go. I started him in the right direction, but told him to turn left when it should have been right. I'm sure I have some bad karma coming my way because of that...

Pleasant Tuesday to you all.

So Much to Tell

Has it really only been fifteen days since my last post? Much has happened since then. Therefore, we will dispense with the normal prologue and get right into action. We had another first in the life of B. McGuirk. This one, not so good, as it was our first emergency room visit, and you can blame Daddy for this one. Bode and I were at the book store. There are all sorts of cool toys, books, and displays. Bode's favorite? The water fountain. Yes, he's easily amused. This water fountain has a little step-stool that Bode can use, so he's able to actually see the water come out as he's pressing the lever. Words cannot describe how exciting it is to watch, especially for any length of time. After five minutes (aka an eternity), I decided it was time to go, so I picked Bode up. Screams and yelps ensued because he did not want to leave. I carried him to some chairs, where we sat down. Bode immediately slides off the chair and makes a break for it (still crying). I grabbed onto his arm and held him in place. He continued to yell and scream, so I scooped him up and carried him out of the store. When I set him down, he contined screaming but was now holding his arm. At that point, I realized the little guy may be hurt. I took him home and gave him some lunch (he screams just as loud when he's hungry). He ate between sobs, and when he couldn't use him arm to pick up his milk, we knew there was trouble. We took him to the ER. Doc diagonosed the injury as "nurse-maid's elbow," which, I've learned, is fairly common. If you hold a young child by the wrist, said child may writhe around trying to escape, not realizing he will dislocate ligaments and other parts integral to a functioning elbow. They took x-rays, felt around his arm, and gave him a drink of grape-flavored motrin. We got him home, he took a 3-hour nap, and when he woke up, it was like nothing had happened. However, I felt horrible, but did cheer up some when my brother Pat informed me he had a similar incident with his daughter (Brenna). Evidently the McGuirk boys need to take a parenting class...

The weather has been hot and humid but not unbearable. We've been spending some time on the patio after dinner. Bode's a big help with the yard work. Here he is carrying the water bucket (albeit minus the water). House full of toys? Not interested. But give him snow shovel and spout and he's entertained for hours...Here's a shot of Ashley and Auburn, also enjoying the patio. The temperature must have only been in the low 80's because Ashley is still wearing pants.We were robbed! We came home from work the other day. Here is what our living room looked like.
Only kidding; we weren't robbed. Rather, we got new carpet! We had to move all the furniture ourselves. Well, almost all of it. Our pianos each weigh over 900 pounds, so we paid professionals to do the moving. We had ample space in the sun room, so the movers only had to carry the pianos about 30 feet. It took them eight minutes to move the pianos to the sun room and twelve minutes to move them back. Total cost? $350.00. Over $1,000 per hour. Evidently I went into the wrong profession. Here's a shot of part of the sun-room which held all our stuff.The carpet install took about two days. Everything looks great, and we are back to normal. I sort of miss the old carpet, because now we have to be careful about spilling, wiping our feet, etc. I'm sure Bode will spill some juice on the carpet in the near future (or maybe I will but blame the little dude :-)

Next is a shot whose sole purpose is to increase the traffic to the blog. Yup, you guessed it. Ashley in a swim-suit. Hopefully the servers don't crash :-) I believe she's saying, "Don't you dare put this on the blog." Sorry, honey. The public has a right to know (or see)
Here's a shot of the three of us. Some guy insisted he take a picture so we all could be in the photo. Thank God he took this picture because we all look devastatingly handsome. Needless to say, this picture won't make our top ten list. Obviously Bode was thirsty...
Finally, here's a shot of Bode-man and Daddy on Father's Day. I know, I look like a dork. It sort of looks like Bode has that same sentiment.Today is the summer solstice. Looks like I'll be going to bed while it's still light out. God I'm old :-) Pleasant week to you all.

Bode Applauding

We've found Bode really likes watching youtube music videos. His favorites (as of right now) are Evgeny Kissin playing Listz's La Campanella, Beethoven's Turkish March and Rage Over the Lost Penny, and Mozart's K545. He also has a few children's songs he seems to enjoy. However, he won't applaud unless he really likes it. Here's Bode watching/listening to the end of The Lost Penny. You can hear him say, "Yaaah!" and also see him clapping.

Bode will also applaud in the car when he hears a song he likes--but only at the end. For awhile, his favorite was Linus and Lucy (from Peanuts). He'd hear the first few piano bars and start bobbing his head and laughing. We might have overplayed it because his reaction now isn't what it used to be. He also seems to like Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You. Sadly, I'm the one (not Ashley) that downloaded this particular song to the iPod...

Beautiful weekend. We were at another one of Dayton's great parks today--not being facetious here. The parks in this area are fantastic (at least they use the high real estate taxes for something). This park had a great slide, swings, and an awesome fountain/sprinkler system. I'll take pictures next time we go. Little fellow had a great time, but screamed like Ashley when Auburn loses when it was time to go :-)

Pleasant day.

The Power of Sleep

Poor little Bode-man was a little sick recently. Thursday at day care, Ms. Michelle (one of the room "Mums") said Bode was fussy all afternoon. Same was true for Thursday night, and come Friday morning, little fellow had a small fever of 100.2. I stayed home with him in the morning, gave him some Tylenol and a bath, and he drastically improved. However, at 3 pm, we received a call saying Bode was again not himself and that his fever had increased to 102. Thus, Friday night was quite tame--we spent a lot of time holding the little man. This is how we know Bode's really sick and not just having a tantrum. Normally, he's not a "cuddler," but when he's sick, he wants to do nothing but be held. So we held him and worked out our biceps (little guy is a rock). About 7:30, Bode started nodding off in our arms, so we put him to bed at 7:45 pm. He slept non-stop until 9:30 Saturday morning, and then again from 12:30 until 3:45. Thus, he had 17 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. Needless to say, he felt oodles better and was back to his normal self.

Here are some quick photos. First, here's Bode doing his 1980's impression of Sean Penn.
Next, we have a shot in some of his new clothes. Doesn't he look sharp--and old? Bode looks like a real person--when did that happen?!?

Pleasant week to everyone.