Nana's Visiting

I hope everyone is starting to thaw out from winter. It's mild here...still cool, but at least the sun is out. Ashley's Mom, JoAnne (Nana), is visiting, so she watched Bode this morning while Ashley and I did some yard work (swept the patio, raked leaves, and picked up the various presents Auburn and Dudley had left). Of course, Punxutawney Phil said six more weeks of winter, so we better not get used to it.

It's been an interesting month. Things started great with the mighty Steelers winning the Super Bowl. I, and my heart, would have preferred a not-so-spectacular ending, but it was pretty amazing. The glow of the Super Bowl victory was short-lived, because also on the first of February, the grocery store (Kroger) at which Ashley and I shop closed for renovations. You might be saying, "Jeff, this seems like a rather trivial item, and it really shouldn't upset you." Well, it does, and here's why. For those that know me, you understand I'm a little picky when it comes to how I like things (some would say punctilious, others fastidious, while Ashley chooses to just call me anal), and I'm certainly not big on change. To quote Dalton from Roadhouse, "It's my way or the highway," (you know you love that movie). Most of you shop at the same store every week, and you get into a little routine, not to mention you pretty much know where everything is. Now imagine going to a new store where nothing is where it should be. The fruit is organized haphazardly (why would you not put raspberries next to the blackberries?) The store doesn't carry your favorite type of ice-cream (how can you not have moose-tracks?). Worst of all, the store is a little smaller so the aisles have to be narrower making it difficult to maneuver (even harder when you consider the size of some Ohioans). Again, these may seem like small things, but considering my aforementioned personality type, you can easily see why grocery day was no longer the fun outing that it had been. Fortunately, this changed yesterday when we tried a different store, another Kroger further from our house. Ahh, it was like seeing an old friend again. The layout was exactly like our old store, the fruit up near the front and to the right, the milk in the back left corner, and a nearly identical aisle structure. The precise layout was a bit different--the cereal in aisle four was on the right side instead of the left, and the dog food was on the bottom shelf vice the top. But all in all, I'm a happy man again. And seeing that the great stimulus plan is going to be signed into law on Tuesday, I need to have something to feel good about :-)

Speaking of things to feel good about, how can you not smile when you have this little guy running around?Bode had a tough couple days last week--bad cough, trouble sleeping, and rather clingy. We took him to the doc...ear infections (yes, plural) and the crupe. He stayed home from daycare for two days, and for about a week, he simply wasn't the Bode-man. Fortunately, he's made a complete recovery and is back to his usual happy self.

Friday, daycare had a Valentine's Day celebration. It wasn't really a huge party but rather an excuse to leave work early on a 3-day weekend. Parents were invited to come to the two-o'clock feeding (snack) and share cupcakes. Ashley, Nana, and I went and had a very nice time. One of the other parents said this: "I wouldn't have thought Bode's parents would be so little." Of course, this is a compliment to Ashley and me, but isn't it also kind of a veiled insult to the little dude? Good thing he didn't hear her (I think he was too focused on his food...)

Bode really likes to sit in a chair. And no, not a big-person chair. A little-guy chair. He's quite content to sit, and perhaps read his favorite book or play with a toy provided it's within reach. Here's a shot of Bode and Nana just chilling... Nana must have worn Bode out this morning. During lunch, Bode couldn't even stay awake to finish his food, so you know he must have been tired.

Bode is really starting to understand things. For example, if you ask him to show you his trains, he'll walk all the way to his room and stand at his train table. If you ask him if he's ready to eat, he'll go stand by his high-chair. And if you ask him, "What's the capital of Ohio," he says, "Just Google it." He also seems close to saying "Daddy," although it really sounds like "Ta-tee." And he's a lot more vocal, making noises and sounds that are going to quickly become words.

Finally, a shot of Bode playing with his little bear (and also a shot of my can--hopefully this will increase the blog-readership, much like the swimsuit issue does for Sports Illustrated :-)
Pleasant day.

Winter is Here

Being the fitness guru that I (think I) am, on Monday I did Ashley's little aerobics class. I figured it'd be a treat for some of the ladies in the class to see a real Adonis exercising, but since he wasn't there, they were stuck with me :-) Honestly, the class was a good work out, and it was nice to do something different. Of course, the operative word is different, because, as many of you know, when the body does something different, something that it isn't quite used to, soreness is a typical result. During the class, the instructor had us grab a set of dumb-bells (I couldn't find the 50 pounders) and then do lunges an entire lap around the track. The track is 1/9 of a mile. I figure I cover about a yard with every lunge, so this equated to ~200 lunges. I hadn't done lunges in years, so come Tuesday morning, my legs were, to quote Paul Sherwin, "screaming at me." I couldn't hardly walk, bend over, go up/down stairs. I probably looked like a tall version of Bode trying to walk, stumbling around, legs not quite working as they should. Ashley, of course, found this hilarious and spent the day reminding me that it was the "little girly aerobics class" that did this to me, to which I responded, "How did Auburn do in football this year?"

Tuesday night, we had an ice/sleet storm followed by 10-12 inches of snow. Therefore, the base shut down, which meant we all stayed home. Here's a shot from our front porch. It kind of reminds me of Colorado...without the mountains.
Ashley had the foresight to bring her work computer home before the storm in case of such an event. She spent the day holed up in the office, while Bode and I spent the day playing. (Un)fortunately, the storm was so bad, the base was also closed on Wednesday. Two days stuck in the house entertaining a one-year old was challenging, but it was fun to hang out with the little dude. We noticed he has the strongest thighs of anyone in the world. He squats down and gets his butt iches off the ground while keeping his feet flat. He remains in this position for minutes at a time, playing, laughing, whatever. Maybe he'll be a gymnast...It's Saturday, just over 24 hours until kickoff of Super Bowl XLIII. It's freezing here--high of 15 or so, which means today is a good day to stay inside and get the taxes in order. Maybe I'll bet the entire refund on the Steelers! Go Pittsburgh!

Sick. And Tired

The title of this post accurately describes our well being, not only now, but perhaps for the past 14 months (yes, Bode has been alive 14 times as long as William Henry Harrison was in office--don't you just love those inauguration facts???). Going into the whole parent-thing, I knew sleepiness went with the territory. What I wasn't ready for is the amount of times I'd be sick. Oh sure, I figured Bode would get a bunch of colds and other things, but I thought, based on 35+ years of building up my immune system, that I'd be relative safe from most of the junk Bode brought home. I guess I wasn't counting on that whole "virus mutation" thing. In the days P.B. (pre-Bode for those new to the blog), I would catch a cold about once a year. I figured my immune system was in tip-top shape. Obviously I was mistaken because during the past 14 months, I've had a cold on six separate occasions. And not just a trifle case of the sniffles. A full-blown, pounding head, sinus cavity full of snot cold. In addition to the colds I also got a real bad case of the flu (although part of me blames the flu-shot for that one).

As you might have guessed, inferred, deduced, or whatever you wish to call it, Sherlock, Ashley and I both have colds. Or, as we say it, "codes." Or, as Bode says it, "Da-da." Yes, he says "Da-da" but not in any way referring to me--anything but me is "Da-da."

Despite keeping the Kleenex people in business, we had a relatively nice weekend. Big props to the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers (not to say I told you so, but I did). Bode, for some reason, wasn't all that into the game. In fact, he spent a lot of Sunday playing with his fake cell-phone.
This past weekend, we fed Bode some jello and decided, just for grins, to see if he could use a spoon. To our amazement, he did quite well. He couldn't really get the jello onto the spoon, but he knew what to do with it once it was in place. Of course, a new eating routine means more food on the floor, hence the omnipresent rotty during feeding. Note also Bode is using his left-hand...looks like we may have a south-paw.
Finally, many of you have asked for a picture of the train table we got Bode for Christmas. Here he is playing trains--obviously he loves it. One of the locomotives is battery powered, so we can turn it on and let it go. Bode will do laps, following the train around the table. Best of all, chasing the train is sort of like running laps around a track, so hopefully he's burning off some of that spare tire...
Ashley is thrilled now that dull, boring college football season is over. You probably didn't know she's a rabid women's basketball fan, and as luck would have it, the Lady Cougars, err, Tigers, are 18-0, ranked #6 in the nation (does the word bandwagon come to mind?) Anyways, I think they're on TV this week, so if you have nothing better to do, your taxes are done, and your laundry is all folded, you might want to check them out. Or you could watch more inauguration coverage--I'm sure that'll still be going on...

Pleasant day. Ahhh chooo.

So Cold It's Like the Hoth System*

OMG!! It is sooo cold here in the great city of Dayton. The high today was six. You know it's cold when you can give the temperature by using only your fingers (and this is even in Fahrenheit!) Anyways, you probably noticed my little acronym to start this post. For those of you that don't know, OMG is short for 'oh my God.' When texting (which, from what I understand, is quite popular with the young people, the kids, the little teeny-boppers), one uses an array of acronyms so you can say the same thing with fewer keystrokes. Since Bode is going to be a teenager some day, I thought it best to educate myself on the ins and outs of texting--I certainly don't want to have him speaking/texting in code behind my back--, so each week, I'm trying to learn one or two text-words. Some people learn Spanish, I choose to learn teen-speak...

I expect everyone to be in their favorite comfy chair at 6:30 PM EDT on Sunday, their televisions (hopefully hi-definition; if not, you are a blasphemer) tuned to CBS for the AFC Championship Game, featuring the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Ravens of Baltimore. It should be a great game--what's that I hear? Some nay-sayers think Baltimore will win? NFW! (Did I use that text-term right? :-)

Bode has been doing great. This week, he started in the "pre-toddler" room, which is for children ages 1-2. He made the transition quite easily, probably because he was reunited with his best buddy, Jase. Jase was in the 6-12 month room with Bode, but moved up rooms about a month before Bode left. Ms. Thea and Ms. Paulyn would tell stories about how Bode and Jase were so cute--Bode would walk over and shove Jase, and then Jase would smack Bode. Gotta love how kids play...Here's a shot, taken a few months ago, of the boys just hanging out. Twenty years from now, you better hope you don't run into these hoodlums in a dark alley...
We've been stuck indoors due to the bitter cold. Here are a couple shots of us trying to entertain Bode. First, it's not the best picture, but it's Bode sitting on my lap in front of the piano. Ashley said he was making the cutest faces while he was banging on the keys. No doubt he was playing a masterful composition...at least in his head he was. Next, we have Bode riding his little Sesame Street scooter that Uncle Pat and Aunt Dana got him for Christmas. He hasn't figured out how to use his feet to push himself along, but he will pick them up when you push him so they don't drag. Bode has logged many miles riding on his little machine, most of which were covered with Ashley pushing him.I'm not one to use this blog for political soap boxes, nor do I really try to push my beliefs on the dear readers. However, if you could, consider the following "hypothetical" situation. Suppose there's a family of three--husband, wife, child--that has two dogs. Said husband and wife were outside in the yard, doing what is not important. When they come back inside, one of them realized they have a large chunk of dog crap on their shoe (as Forrest Gump says, sh*t happens). Now I contend the proper thing to do would be to remove said shoe and place in the garage, let said do-do dry, harden, and then take the shoe out into the street and slam it onto the pavement in order to jar away the undesired matter. There are probably other ways to accomplish the objective, but I firmly believe the way to NOT handle the situation is 1) remove the shoe and use the kitchen sink faucet to rinse the shoe, splattering little pieces of dung onto the counter and then 2) use one of the dinner forks to dig into the tread of said shoe in order to scrape out the now wet, smelly, stinky dog manure.

Am I wrong in thinking this? Possibly, but my gut tells me I'm right. Please, remember it's just a hypothetical situation. Now, anyone want to come over for dinner? You can use a spoon if you want...

Pleasant evening, and Happy MLK Day.

* The Hoth System was the ice planet in Empire Strikes Back...but you probably knew that already.

Winter Trip Part III: Return to the Mountains

For the final part of our little trip to Colorado, we spent some time with Ashley's family. Her brother (David), his wife (Kathy), and their son (Teddy) live in Denver. Frank and JoAnne (Ashley's parents) came up from Florida, and we all spent some time together in a Condo in Breckenridge. Bode and Teddy enjoyed themselves with the assortment of toys we brought, not to mention the nice open area where they could roll around.
Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. There had to be some book-learning going on. Here's Granddad and Bode reading.
The weather was beautiful--a bit chilly (a high of 9 one day). Here's a shot of Bode all bundled up in his stroller. We should have outfitted that thing with snow-tires and chains.Although it was quite cold, the sun shone brilliantly and the mountains beckoned. Thus, the grandparents and Aunt Kathy were kind enough to baby sit while Dave, Ashley, and I hit the slopes. Here are some shots of us just as the lifts were opening.

As you can see, Dave looks the part of a real-life snow-boarder, while (because of our extended time in Ohio), Ashley and I look like nothing more than a couple gapers. Alas, we were able to remember how to successfully make it down the mountain without hurting ourselves--although we each did fall once or twice (but certainly not thrice). Anyways, if, for some reason, you ever doubted the beauty of Colorado, this photo should help convince you of its majesty.
Since we were in Breckenridge, we decided to check up on our house, which we affectionately call the mountain palace (and by palace we mean dumpy--but cozy--little house in the woods). Another name is the snow-hole because it gets a ton of snow. Notice how deep the snow is, and it's only the middle of December...Sadly, like all things, our vacation came to an end. We spent our final night at Kathy and Dave's house in Denver. Teddy got some early practice at being a big brother (Kathy is expecting, due in February). He was kind enough to let Bode play with some of his toys. In his words, "Bode can have one lego..." I'd show more pictures, but everytime I went for the camera, it seemed that Teddy was taking his pants off. David explained it's one of the joys of potty training, something Ashley and I will get to experience (maybe) in 2009. Merry New Year to all.

A Visit to (and from) Santa

While we were on our vacation to Colorado, we took Bode to see Santa. We told this to one of Bode's cousin's (not sure which, but we think it was Teddy), and he responded, "Santa Claus?" Are there really a lot of Santas in the world where a last name needs to be given? Anyways, rather than make some smart-a*s comment to a two-year old, I simply responded, "Yes, Santa Claus." Here's a picture of Bode on Santa (Claus's) lap. Ok, let's fast forward a bit to the present--don't worry, I'll add one more post about our trip to Colorado, but right now, I'll give a quick Christmas update. Santa did find our house and brought us all sorts of Christmas loot. As usual, Auburn was assigned guard duty to keep me from snooping.
Now you might be asking, "What, no Christmas tree?" We did put up a tree, but we put it in the sun room because (as many of you know) small children are quite enthralled with Christmas trees (the glowing lights, the hanging ornaments, all just sooo tempting). We can seal off the sun room, so we are able to see the tree but also keep Bode away from it. Needless to say, he spent many hours just banging on the glass staring at the tree. If only he could figure out a sliding glass door...

Bode received an amazing number of presents (spoiled). Thanks to everyone (Santa) that gave him something. What's funny is out of all the cool toys with their brilliant colors and exciting noises, Bode's favorite seems to be the lid for the container of some toy blocks. Here he is playing with it.
He was also quite fascinated with the toy rope "Dog Santa" (aka my Aunt Geri) sent Auburn and Dudley. Here he is trying to take it from Mommy.
We had a wonderful Christmas. Today, we might venture to the mall, not to do any real shopping, but just to move around some to burn off some of those holiday treats. A Belated Merry Christmas to Everyone, and to all, a pleasant day.

Winter Trip Part II: The North Pole

From the title, you can probably figure out that we went to the north pole. I don't know what all the fuss was about in the early 1900's--we didn't even need dog sleds, just a 4x4 vehicle with some car seats :-) Here's a picture of the four kids at the north pole. Boy, global warming is really taking its toll on the ice, isn't it? :-)Before anyone gets too confused (Nebraska readers), let me point out we didn't go to earth's north pole. Rather, we went to a little amusement park situated in the shadow of Pike's Peak called the North Pole. There were little rides and shops, plus it's quite hilly so the kids had to expend a lot of energy just going from point A to point B. I think we all can agree that tired children are sometimes the best children. The two older kids really enjoyed the rides (Devin and Bode were too young to ride them). Of course, Aunt Dana and Uncle Pat also got into the spirit; here they are going down the slide.
The rides were a lot like carnival rides (but safer). Dana, Brenna, and Sean went on this ride that just went around and around in a circle, and then when you thought you were done, they reversed and went backwards. Ashley nor I was brave enough to join them on this little adventure.
Here's a cute shot of the two Moms and their little babies. You probably can't tell, but Bode is wearing pink gloves (yes, he'll be scarred for life). Pat and Dana were kind enough to loan us some of Devin's mittens because somehow, we lost the pair we brought for Bode (I blame mitten-gnomes). Note also Pat and I were "nice" enough to let Dana and Ashley push the strollers (those hills are real doosies!).
Probably the highlight of the trip was feeding the baby animals. We were able to get pretty close to some little deer and goats. Bode seemed real excited, although he could have just been enjoying shaking the aluminum fence...We all had a great time at the North Pole, but we passed on visiting Santa (there was a 90-minute wait). However, as luck would have it, Santa was also at the mall. Tune in next time to see pictures of Bode and old St. Nick! Pleasant day.