Evening Walks

Ashley and I have found raising a kid (yes, only one) is very cyclical. There seem to be a lot of different phases, and just when we think we have it all sorted out, boom! Everything changes. Auburn (the dog) was simple compared to Bode. She's followed basically the same routine since she came out of her puppy phase--wake up, eat, see Mom and Dad off, nap for awhile, bark at things (hates the UPS truck), get excited when Mom and Dad return, go for a walk, eat, and wait for bed. Next day, same thing--wash, rinse, repeat. Bode definitely doesn't keep to the same schedule for more than a few months.

For instance, since ~February, we would come home from work, change, and go for a walk. Bode would be in his stroller. It took a few trips until we learned to bring a supply of grapes, Cheezits, and juice to keep Bode satisfied. This little routine seemed to work great...until recently (within the past week). Bode has decided he hates the stroller. He screams, yells, and kicks whenever we try to put him in the stroller (and yes, he's about the length where his little kicks are hitting the family jewels). We tried letting him walk. This works for about 3/4 of the way. Of course, he gets easily side-tracked. He'll bark back at dogs that bark at him (very cute). If he sees (or hears) an airplane, he has to stop, point, and say, "Ehprane." When he no longer sees it, he says, "Bye bye." And usually at some point, he'll decide he's done walking. He'll simply sit down and play with some pebbles. If I pick him up, he throws a dangerous tantrum (remember those little kicks), carrying on like Tiger Woods after a bad tee-shot (minus the f-bombs, of course). It's quite a scene--our neighbors found it humorous (jerks).

The other day, Ashley brought a camera on our little outing. Here are some action photos. First, we have Bode in a gunslinger pose. He's checking things out, making sure nothing is amiss. He's kinda like a neighborhood watch.Next, we have Bode walking. You can also see our house in the top left. We had the exterior painted about a month ago--not sure if you can tell the color was slightly changed.
Here's Bode checking out the fire-hydrant. With the barking at dogs and hydrant investigation, we're starting to wonder if he's part canine. Also, Bode's starting to show--he's about four months pregnant :-)At the end of the walk, we take a much needed break, and I impart some of my knowledge about the game of basketball. Bode is absorbing it like a (saturated) sponge.
I've explained he's expected to sign a lucrative NBA contract at age 20 to support his parents' life of leisure. His response? "Ehprane." I think the message didn't get through. Pleasant Thursday.

New Camera

As stated in the previous post, we recently "lost" our camera while on vacation. Of course, Ashley probably thought this was a good thing because she has been bugging me for awhile (since ~2004) that we needed a more modern digital camera. Thus, the silver lining to this little act of thievery is we now have a new Panasonic DMC-TZ5 Lumix (whatever that means).

Ashley spent some time learning how to operate the camera. Here are some practice photos. First, here's me and little guy playing trains.Next, we have a shot of Bode and me surfing the internet. Bode loves the computer. Well, I don't know if it's the computer he loves. Rather, I think he sees us doing something and wants to participate. Anytime Ashley and I are sitting in the office chair, Bode comes over and tries to force his way on our lap. This is fine if we have nothing to do. However, if we are trying to do important things (like write this blog), it can be difficult because Bode likes to mash the keys. You can't tell by the picture, but the keyboard Bode is resting his fingers on isn't hooked up to the computer. Just in front of Bode's keyboard is the real keyboard. Fortunately, he still has the little alligator arms and can't quite reach the real one :-)Finally, we have a shot of Bode in some shades. For awhile, he didn't like wearing the glasses. Today, though, he was walking around (strutting) with them on. I think this was his way of saying, "Daddy, we haven't been swimming in awhile. Chop chop."
Ashley is finishing up some work. As soon as she's done, we're heading to the pool. The weather is decent today--not perfect pool weather, but since it's been hovering in the low 70's for the past 10 days (global warming?), we'll take what we can get. Pleasant week to all.

Summer Vacation and Sleeping Troubles

We recently took a vacation to Texas. I believe the only place hotter than Texas in July is an oven in Saudi Arabia. Temperatures were 103+ every day except the last when it cooled down to 99. Despite the extreme conditions, we had a wonderful time. Allow me to say up front that we have NO pictures because our camera "disappeared" the first day we went to the pool. I'm hoping the relatives email some shots, and if they do, I'll be sure to add them. Thus, until we get a replacement camera, you are stuck with just anecdotes and my feeble descriptions.

We first went to a resort called Lost Pines just outside of Austin. It had a nice pool, lazy river, and smores served every night at 8-ish (all diets were suspended for the duration of the trip). The first night was rather troublesome. Every time Bode lay down, he screamed, and loudly at that. The only time he wouldn't scream was in the stroller. And since we were concerned about the neighboring rooms, Bode and I spent some quality time from 12-2 am and then again from 4-7 am strolling around the hotel grounds. At least the temperature had fallen to the mid-80's, and we did see some armadillo and a couple skunk. Later that morning as I napped, Ashley took Bode to a local clinic. Diagosis: ear infection. Fortunately, the medicine seemed to work and he was able to sleep that night, expect he wouldn't sleep in the crib. Therefore, for the duration of the trip, Bode slept in the big bed between Ashley and me which he loved (more on this later).

After a few days of R&R at Lost Pines, we headed to San Antonio with a slight detour to Austin to see Ashley's Uncle Bud. The entire crew had lunch. Note the entire crew consisted of Ashley's parents, her Aunt Patti and Uncle Dwight, her cousin Penny and her family Milton (husband) and kids (Chelsea, Cricket, Callie, and Josh), Josh's girlfriend, and Ashley's brother Dave and his wife, Kathy, and their two kids, Teddy and Charlie. We stayed at another resort in San Antonio just across the street from Sea World. There was another pool with lazy river, and more smores. We lounged at the pool and spent a day at Sea World. Bode really liked the sea lion show (he thought they were big dogs). We also saw the Orca show, but stayed away from the splash zone :-) The grandparents watched Bode for a little while enabling Ashley and me to go on one of the big water rides. And what trip to San Antonio isn't complete without a trip to the Riverwalk for some Mexican food.

Bode seemed to like spending time in the swimming pools, and also enjoyed playing with his cousins. Unfortunately, the sleeping in the bed has caused some trouble since we've come home. He no longer likes his crib. Before we went on vacation, we could put him in his crib, and he'd be asleep in five minutes. Now he's learned there's stuff going on outside his room, so everytime we try to get him to go to sleep, he screams, and screams, and screams some more. Usually at night he'll scream for ~1 hour and then nod off. Occasionally he'll be up in the middle of the night screaming. And the naps seem to have gone the way of the dodo. Yesterday (Saturday), when we put him down for a nap he screamed for 90 minutes before we gave up. We had hoped the lack of nap would make him sleepy at night. No such luck. And today (Sunday), we're again trying for a nap. We put him in the crib at 1:15. It is now 2:55 and he's still shouting. The annoying thing is daycare has said Bode still naps great. Hopefully it's just a (short) phase.

Ashley is out shopping. Hopefully she gets us a new camera because I just reread the post. Damn this thing is boring without pictures :-) Pleasant week to all.

Swim, Swam, Swum

Bode finished his first swimming class. For the past four weeks, we've been going to swim-lessons every Monday and Wednesday. The instructor said, "Bode did great...for his age," which is a lot like the young guys at working telling me, "You're pretty fast...for an old guy."

Today, Bode received his "Certificate of Participation," which is sort of like, "Everyone Gets a Trophy" day. The certificate was a pseudo-report card. There were nine items, and Bode got six pluses and three minuses. The optimist would say, "He passed the majority of the skills." The pessimist would say, "Thirty-three percent failure? Even Shaq doesn't miss that many from the line." Bode wasn't very fond of being put on his back. He was fine in our arms or on his tummy. But the second you tried to put him on his back, he'd go stiff as a board and start crying like a soccer player who's just been slide-tackled and expected a foul. Nor did he blow bubbles in the water. He'd put his face close to the water and then lick it. Maybe he's been watching Auburn a bit too closely...

Now for some pictures. First, here's Bode and me just starting out. It was rather cold today--high was 70 at best. Somehow I got to the be the one to swim today (Ashley swam on Monday; it was in the 90's).
Next, we have Bode working on the front-float. Looks like Daddy was off his game because Bode's face isn't supposed to be in the water...Here is Bode using the styrofoam dumbbell. He could float on his own if he was positioned right, but he usually found it more fun to pick up the dumbbell, upon which all floating benefits would be lost and he'd sink.Here we are hanging out on the wall. Yes, that is a nice line of snot going from his nose to his mouth. Yum.Bode never would jump into the pool, but he would sit on the edge and fall in. He loved this and would do it over and over and over...Finally, here's me and the little orca at the end of the lesson.Bode loves the water. He's so wound up when we leave the pool. He's running and humming and whooting. Fortunately, this usually wears him out so come bed time, he's out like a rock. Sadly, the lessons also wear me out. It's going on 8:30, and I'm off to bed. Pleasant evening.

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.