Bode Comprende

I'm about to use a cliche. Just thought I'd prepare you for it. Are you ready? Here goes. "Bode is growing up so fast." Like you have never heard that before from a parent.

Bode is at the point where he understands just about everything we tell him. Oh, sure, I could use some of my "trying to impress" words if I wanted to baffle him. But as far as every day communication, Bode understands it all. Here are a few examples. The other day, we were in the living room reading books. Bode wanted me to read The Cat in the Hat. I told him it was in his room and that he had to go get it. "Stay here, Daddy," he told me. While I waited, I remembered the book was actually sitting on our (Ashley and my) bed. So I yelled, "Bode, the book is in my room on the bed." "Okay, Daddy," he yelled back. A few seconds later I hear, "I got it Daddy," and then he comes running out to the living room, correct book in hand. As Darth Vadar said to Luke on Bespin, "Impressive. Most impressive." (The Star Wars trilogy has been on TV this weekend).

A phrase we wish he was not as adept at using as he is is (yes, I used 'is' two times in a row; read it again, and you'll realize it is grammatically correct), "I don't like that!" We think the instructors at daycare taught it to the kids and encourage them to use it with the other children. Unfortunately, he uses it with us and at significant volumes. Usually this is met with a sharp rebuke from Mommy and me, but the boy continues to vociferously (yup, that's one of my words to impress) voice his opinions.

It's not just words. He can put different thoughts and ideas together. For example, sometimes Bode only wants Mommy (or Daddy) to do things. I was going to read Green Eggs and Ham to Bode when the little dude says, "No! Mommy read it!" So I acted like I was very sad and put my lower lip out. Bode looks at me and with those puppy dog eyes asks, "You need a hug, Daddy?" Very cute.

We've had a wonderful relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. Today, some friends invited us to their neighborhood pool. We went in the early evening and had a wonderful time. Bode loves the water and spent a majority of the time exploring the kiddie pool. Here are some pictures (you might want to dim your screen so you aren't blinded by Ashley's milk-white body :-)

Auburn Update: Auburn had her first round of chemo on 12 May. She did great, and we haven't noticed any side effects (knock on wood). She'll get another round on Wednesday, 2 June. Hopefully things go as well. Her personality has been great and she's just like her old self. Here are some pictures of her in the yard.

She's able to roam around the entire yard, barks at strangers, howls, and does dog-things. She even buried one of Bode's stuffed animals, which I imagine is hard to do with only one front leg.

Pleasant holiday to everyone.

The Great Wolf Lodge

Ashley and I have been doing a lot of traveling for work. For the past five weeks, one of us have been gone for most of the week. This ended on Wednesday when Ashley returned from Washington DC. To celebrate, we decided to take a mini-vacation down to Cincinnati and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. This is a big hotel with an indoor water park, along with other fun things for kiddos to do.

Bode loved the place. Sort of. Every time we'd walk by the entrance, he'd want to go in. And he did enjoy most of water park, but he wasn't a big fan of the slides. Since he enjoys the slide on the playground, we thought he'd be more into them at the water park. There were some real small and slow ones, so it's not like they went too fast. What he didn't like (we think) is the entry into the water. He's not a big fan of water splashing into his face, so after a couple tries, whenever we asked if he wanted to go down the slide, he'd just shake his head.

We then took him down a big water slide. The three of us sat in the middle of this raft and went shooting down a tube. Lots of fun...for Mommy and Daddy. Ashley was able to see Bode's face the whole time. He was not amused. Oh well. Besides the slides, he had a blast. They had a little basketball court, which was probably his favorite. Here are some action photos. First we have the little dude throwing the ball. Bode really enjoyed putting the ball into the basket. Unfortunately, he isn't the lightest kid. Every time he made a basket, he wanted to do it again. And again. And again. It was quite a work out.Finally, here's a shot of the two of us resting on the side of the pool. We all slept well at night.
The lodge had a bunch of cool activities for Bode. He was given a little wand (eeriely similar to a Harry Potter wand). There was all sorts of pictures and statues and treasure chests located throughout the hotel. There were quests (like thirty of them), and each quest involved finding different artifacts. When you found one, you waved your wand at said item, and lights would flash and little displays would light up. Mommy and Daddy did the actual finding of the items while Bode was in charge of the wand. We completed two quests (chaching!). Bode seemed to like it...and it involved a lot of walking (which further helped us sleep at night).

Bode was also allowed to make his own stuffed animal. He picked out a green dragon. The nice lady stuffed him up for us.
Here's Bode holding his new friend. We asked Bode, "What's your dragon's name?" Bode responded, "Green-One."
Fortunately, they gave us a little box to keep "Green-One" in...we can't have dragons flying around unattended :-)
There was an arcade with all sorts of blinking and flashing lights and loud noises. We, of course, had to go. There were some cool games...
but Bode was more interested in driving bus. The kid's got a little Ralph Kramden in him...I guess it's better than Norton.
While we were gone, a girl up the street watched Auburn. The pup is doing great, and she was thrilled when we got home.
We had a great time, and now need a vacation to rest up from our vacation. Ashley is trying to take a nap, but I think Bode isn't letting her. She's probably exhausted from the deep tissue massage she got at the hotel spa (which was her Mother's Day gift).

Pleasant week to all.

iBode

It's been a wet weekend here in Dayton. Sunny during the week, but come Friday evening, the clouds came in and decided to park it here for a few days. It's rained off and on, but Saturday afternoon wasn't too bad. Ashley was down in northern Kentucky getting some type of aerobics instructor certification (she wants to be able to teach/sub for a class at the base gym), so it was just the two dudes and the three-legged dog holding down the fort. We played chase and read some books and took a long nap (which was awesome!!!) We also watched some videos on the computer. Here's a picture of Bode sitting in the chair. He's really starting to look like a little young man--not really our baby anymore is he?
Bode is one solid little guy. Even though most of our neighbors say Bode looks a lot like Ashley in the face, he probably was blessed (cursed) with the fabled McGuirk Squatty Body :-)

Bode continues to like all things electronic. He loves taking pictures, and he usually can snap a goofy one of Mommy. Here's one of Mommy making us all laugh.
Bode also likes my iPod. When we traveled to Colorado in February, Bode was able to figure out the earphones on the airplane while watching TV. Since then, he'll sometimes carry earphones around with him--he'll even wear them even though there's no sound. A few days ago, I decided to see if he would listen to music, so I plugged him into my iPod. He immediately said, "I don't like that one." So I skipped to a song he liked, upon which he said, "I like this one." And he listened to the whole song (it was Nickelback's Gotta Be Somebody in case you're interested). He also likes Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift (yes, I have her on my iPod...pathetic, I know) I tried to show him how to change songs, but I'm not sure if he's got that down just yet. But give him a few days and he'll have the whole wheel-thing mastered. Be that as it may, we probably won't be rushing out to get him an iPad. Ashley had to fly to Washington DC today. She'll be back on Wednesday...looks like it'll be a lot of Mac-N-Cheese this week. She left around noon, so before she left, I was able to get a jog in. When I got back, Bode came running to greet me. I leaned down and gave him a hug. He pulled back and said, "You stinky Daddy." Nice.

Finally, an Auburn update. She's doing great. When Bode and I were chasing each other around the house, she wanted to play along. Obviously she's a bit slower than she used to be, but she chased after us (but we have to be careful on the tile and other slick floor surfaces). The pathology report came back on Auburn's leg. No surprise--she has bone cancer. None of her x-rays showed any tumors in other parts of her body, but in the vast majority of cases, the cancer has spread. What's interesting about this type of cancer is the main tumor (in Auburn's since-removed leg) acts as inhibitor for the rest of the cancer. Now that the leg is gone, it is likely there will be some type of metastization (is that even a word?) Anyways, untreated, most dogs will live another six months (sheesh). However, we can (and will) do chemotherapy, and this will (statistically) extend the life expectancy to 12-14 months. We asked if she'd be miserable doing chemo. The vet explained chemo for dogs is different than chemo for people. Most dogs won't get sick or anything like that. She'll be a little lethargic the day after, but usually that's the extent of it. The reason dogs don't react like humans is the intention of treatment is different. With people, the goal is to extend life as long as possible--and if the person gets violently ill, so be it. Not the case with dogs. They're trying to extend life, but they want the quality of life to be good. Auburn will get four injections, three weeks apart, and that will be the extent of it. We'll monitor, wait, hope, and see what happens. We'll enjoy this extra year (knock on wood) we have with her and see what happens. The doctors did say there are a small number of dogs that live another three or even four years. While we're realistic, we can also be optimistic.
Pleasant week to everyone.