The night before last we tried something that I recommend not doing. I don't think we'll ever do it again; at least not until Keegan is older.
In one of the many kids' catalogs that I now receive (not sure what mailing list I ended up on to receive these) there was a really cute kit to make a plaster caste of your baby's hand. The kit was set up to turn the caste into a Christmas ornament. I had been trying to think of something neat to do for Keegan's first Christmas, I really wanted something cool that we could hang on the Xmas tree that would have some significant meaning.
The kit was $9.95 so I went online and ordered it. I was so excited. Apparently I hadn't thought this one through very well.
When I received the product, the picture on the box showed a pristine baby handprint complete with fingerprints. Did I mention I thought I was clever for doing this and super excited for having found this? So I read the directions.
Step 1 - mix plaster with 3 cupfuls of water (cup provided) and stir until even consistency
Step 2 - pour the mixture into the mold and let sit for 2-5 minutes until the mixture firms up.
Step 3 - Dampen child's hand and place on plaster firmly pressing the hand down to get good indentation of all fingers.
Step 4 - Let mold sit for 2 hrs for plaster to completely harden
Easy breezy, right? So I mixed up the plaster. Some of the plaster missed the mixing bowl and ended up on the floor and counter. Seras (our three-legged wonder) thought it was baby formula and tried to eat it. As the mixture lumps together in the bowl I am chasing Seras away and trying to clean the plaster up off of the floor.
I mix the plaster to "even consistency" and pour it into the mold. There is too much plaster for the mold and it drips over the edges of the mold onto the counter. It also drips off of the counter to land on my new black suede shoes. That sucks.
Still, I am doing okay here. I set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes and clear all cats from the area. 5 minutes goes by and I check the mold. There is no firmness here; it is still liquid. I refer back to the directions. In tiny letters at the bottom it says that setting time may vary depending on room conditions. Okay the house is at 70oF and ~35%RH...pretty standard.
I wait another 5 minutes...still liquid. I set the timer for 10 minutes and wonder if maybe they wrote these directions in Arizona in the middle of the summer.
After - add it up - 20 minutes, the mixture is somewhat not-liquidy. Keegan is crabby because he is tired. We were going to do this right before his bedtime and now it is getting late. Lyle brings him over and holds him up while I straighten out Keegan's hand and hold the mold. I carefully, painstakingly, press Keegan's hand into the somewhat firm plaster. Now, everyone think about what is going to happen here...wait for it....
What does a 9 month old baby do when something touches its hand? Yes, you have it! Keegan closes his hand trying to grab the plaster. We now have a pretty darn ugly plaster Christmas ornament and Keegan has a handful of plaster he is trying to eat. Lyle gives me a look that says that this was just a great idea of mine.
I will not be detered though. After washing the plaster of Keegan's hand; I flatten out the plaster and we try again. We still are not able to keep Keegan from grabbing the plaster. I suggest we let the plaster firm up a bit more.
10 minutes later I realize the plaster is almost solid and I have an epiphany. Let's do Keegan's foot instead. I pull of Keegan's sock and get Lyle to hold him over the mold. I press his foot into the plaster cast and Keegan starts crying. He is tired and wants his foot back! A vaguely foot-shaped print is in the plaster. I don't like the way it looks. We wash off Keegan's foot.
I rewet the surface of the plaster and we try Keegan's hand again. He is unable to dig his fingers into the plaster now but instead leaves only a vague handprint. Keegan is crabby and Lyle is pissed that I didn't leave the footprint on there. I say "Let's just do it one more time." Lyle says "Keegan's going to bed now." I glare at the vague handprint and shrug. Taking my fingers I press down into the vague handprint shape with my fingers making it deeper while keeping it Keegan sized.
I look at the mold, it is disgusting. Apparently Keegan had been playing with the cat between prints, so there is cat hair stuck in the mold. Now it's not even Keegan's handprint but my fingerprints following the trace of Keegan's hand print. I suppose one way to look at it is that that the ornament has a little bit of everyone (including the cats) in it. I am not sure if I should keep it or toss it.
As Lyle comes back into the room; I suggest next time maybe we should stick with finger paint and construction paper.
To add insult to injury apparently Seras had her paws down the drain in the garbage disposal again. She does this every night to look for food. I guess this time she found some leftover plaster. When I came out yesterday morning there was plaster tracked all over the kitchen in the shape of little cat pawprints. She only has three legs so we know it was her.
Note to self. This was all a bad idea.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Can you kill yourself playing DDR?
Of course this last weekend was Thanksgiving weekend; which Lyle talked briefly about a couple posts ago. It really was a fantastic 4 day weekend. We had a lot to do and we accomplished everything we wanted to and more!
Thanksgiving itself was pretty low-key. We chilled in the morning and then headed over to my parent's house for a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. Keegan had his first taste of cranberry sauce and also enjoyed some turkey, green beans, and sweet potatoes.
Last year we went and saw a movie after dinner, but that was out this year because of Keegan. One of my coworkers told me that her family goes bowling after Thanksgiving dinner. We talked about it and decided that would be lots of fun. And guess what, it was lots of fun. Keegan sat in his booster seat and played with toys while we bowled a couple games. After that it was bedtime for Keegan and time for Lyle, me, and my parents to play some Cranium. Cranium always gets a bit competitive when we play against my parents :-)
Friday was crazy. Keegan woke up at 6am and decided that he didn't want to go back to sleep. Lyle and I realized we were out of formula. What a day to run out of formula! The good thing was that Super Target opened at 6am, the bad thing was that Super Target opened at 6am and everyone in the 3 state area was there! By 7am we were at Super Target buying formula. We cruised around the place to check and see if there were any great deals. The electronics and toy departments were crazy! We got out of there in one piece though, and headed home to feed Keegan. Keegan went down for a nap and by 10am we had packed everything we would need for a day on the town and headed over to my parent's house. We all got packed into their van, with deluxe stroller in tow, and drove downtown to commence one of our long lasting family traditions.
Every year we go downtown to see the exhibit on the top floor of Dayton's/Marshall Fields/Macy's. This year it was The Nutcracker. We stood in line for maybe 20 minutes. Keegan was very good and wanted to get up and "walk" in line. He walked holding my hand and with such determination; it was adorable. We did that for a while and then it was up on dad's (Lyle's) shoulders so that Keegan could see the exhibits. Keegan was in awe of all the lights and moving figures. He especially liked the room with the sugar plum fairies and the giant strawberries hanging from above. It was super cute to see how excited about it all he was. Afterwards we went and stood in line for pictures with Santa. The line was maybe 15 minutes long, but it was in this little shack-type room with lots of bright lights. It was hot and crowded; once again Keegan didn't care. He was smiley and excited the whole way there.
When I put Keegan in Santa's lap, Keegan just stared at Santa. Keegan looked puzzled, like he wondered who in the world this guy was. Keegan yanked on Santa's beard a bit (I held my breath hoping that he didn't unmask Santa and ruin it for all the kids); then Keegan looked at Lyle, me, and my mom and smiled his big Keegan smile. Santa gave Keegan a big shiny button that said "I meet Santa at Macy's 2007". Keegan thought the button was cool and then we were off to eat our gingerbread cookies and walk back to the car.
Keegan took a nap while we drove to Maple Grove (yes Maple Grove). We ate at the PF Chang's in Maple Grove and then piled back in the car to go to the....Albertville outlet mall. Keegan was all bundled up in his stroller while we walked around the outlet mall. Old Navy was absolutely trashed, but Carter's had some very cute baby cloths at 50% off. Gap and Banana Republic also had very nice sales going on. By about 5pm it was getting dark and Keegan was (finally) starting to get a little crabby. We left the mall and went back towards home. We stopped at Chile's for dinner; Keegan ate his dinner like a champ but was *very* tired. Then back to my parent's house we went and Keegan went down to sleep. Lyle, me, and my parents played some more Cranium; we had some scores to settle from the night before.
Saturday was just as crazy as Friday. We got up at 8:00am so that we could be to Aaron and Michelle's house for Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) by 9:00am. We got home from playing DnD around 1pm and then called my parents to see if they wanted to go to the new best buy with us. After eating dinner at Outback we went to the new Blaine Best Buy. It's a very nice Best Buy. Our main reason for going there was to buy the new Wii version of "Hottest Party Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR). After getting home and putting Keegan to bed, Lyle, me, and my parents played DDR for three hours or so. The Wii version is neat because you coordinate both your hands and feet to the music. Yeah, it is about as hard as it sounds.
Sunday I woke up and I hurt. My arms hurt and my knees hurt. I tried to remember what I could have done...maybe 3 hours of DDR would do it :-) We put up all the Christmas decorations on Sunday, with Keegan providing some assistance that could dubiously be called help. Sunday night Lyle and I played DDR for another couple hours. Monday night Lyle and I played DDR for another couple hours. Maybe we are addicted? Maybe if we play it enough my knees and arms will stop hurting? Could DDR be my ticket to the strong, buff body I've always wanted? I doubt it. Still I seem to be slightly better at it than Lyle...so there is that.
Keegan has also been impressing us a lot lately. Lyle mentioned Keegan has his first tooth coming in. (Please Keegan don't do anything to that tooth until next year, that's when your dental coverage kicks in!) Then last night Keegan let go of the kitchen cabinet and walked 8, yes count them 8, steps across the kitchen towards me. We were so excited! Keegan was excited too; he had a giant grin on his face the whole time. Anyway, so far it's been very exciting to have Keegan through the holidays. I can't wait for Christmas. Of course, I always get really excited for Christmas, but this year I can be double excited since Keegan is here!
Okay, well back to work. Hopefully we'll have some time after Keegan goes to bed tonight to hit the DDR again. Lyle and I really are getting better. Although I think we both wish there was a middle finger action you could do when the DJ pisses you off. Nothing like a comment blaring through your Wiimote speaker "You call that dancing!!!???" after you've missed a string of moves to really piss you off. The crowd boos when you are doing bad too; no pressure. As Lyle so eloquently put it to the DDR DJ "Let's see you dance with this Wiimote up your #@^!" Good thing Keegan is in bed while we play this.
Thanksgiving itself was pretty low-key. We chilled in the morning and then headed over to my parent's house for a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. Keegan had his first taste of cranberry sauce and also enjoyed some turkey, green beans, and sweet potatoes.
Last year we went and saw a movie after dinner, but that was out this year because of Keegan. One of my coworkers told me that her family goes bowling after Thanksgiving dinner. We talked about it and decided that would be lots of fun. And guess what, it was lots of fun. Keegan sat in his booster seat and played with toys while we bowled a couple games. After that it was bedtime for Keegan and time for Lyle, me, and my parents to play some Cranium. Cranium always gets a bit competitive when we play against my parents :-)
Friday was crazy. Keegan woke up at 6am and decided that he didn't want to go back to sleep. Lyle and I realized we were out of formula. What a day to run out of formula! The good thing was that Super Target opened at 6am, the bad thing was that Super Target opened at 6am and everyone in the 3 state area was there! By 7am we were at Super Target buying formula. We cruised around the place to check and see if there were any great deals. The electronics and toy departments were crazy! We got out of there in one piece though, and headed home to feed Keegan. Keegan went down for a nap and by 10am we had packed everything we would need for a day on the town and headed over to my parent's house. We all got packed into their van, with deluxe stroller in tow, and drove downtown to commence one of our long lasting family traditions.
Every year we go downtown to see the exhibit on the top floor of Dayton's/Marshall Fields/Macy's. This year it was The Nutcracker. We stood in line for maybe 20 minutes. Keegan was very good and wanted to get up and "walk" in line. He walked holding my hand and with such determination; it was adorable. We did that for a while and then it was up on dad's (Lyle's) shoulders so that Keegan could see the exhibits. Keegan was in awe of all the lights and moving figures. He especially liked the room with the sugar plum fairies and the giant strawberries hanging from above. It was super cute to see how excited about it all he was. Afterwards we went and stood in line for pictures with Santa. The line was maybe 15 minutes long, but it was in this little shack-type room with lots of bright lights. It was hot and crowded; once again Keegan didn't care. He was smiley and excited the whole way there.
When I put Keegan in Santa's lap, Keegan just stared at Santa. Keegan looked puzzled, like he wondered who in the world this guy was. Keegan yanked on Santa's beard a bit (I held my breath hoping that he didn't unmask Santa and ruin it for all the kids); then Keegan looked at Lyle, me, and my mom and smiled his big Keegan smile. Santa gave Keegan a big shiny button that said "I meet Santa at Macy's 2007". Keegan thought the button was cool and then we were off to eat our gingerbread cookies and walk back to the car.
Keegan took a nap while we drove to Maple Grove (yes Maple Grove). We ate at the PF Chang's in Maple Grove and then piled back in the car to go to the....Albertville outlet mall. Keegan was all bundled up in his stroller while we walked around the outlet mall. Old Navy was absolutely trashed, but Carter's had some very cute baby cloths at 50% off. Gap and Banana Republic also had very nice sales going on. By about 5pm it was getting dark and Keegan was (finally) starting to get a little crabby. We left the mall and went back towards home. We stopped at Chile's for dinner; Keegan ate his dinner like a champ but was *very* tired. Then back to my parent's house we went and Keegan went down to sleep. Lyle, me, and my parents played some more Cranium; we had some scores to settle from the night before.
Saturday was just as crazy as Friday. We got up at 8:00am so that we could be to Aaron and Michelle's house for Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) by 9:00am. We got home from playing DnD around 1pm and then called my parents to see if they wanted to go to the new best buy with us. After eating dinner at Outback we went to the new Blaine Best Buy. It's a very nice Best Buy. Our main reason for going there was to buy the new Wii version of "Hottest Party Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR). After getting home and putting Keegan to bed, Lyle, me, and my parents played DDR for three hours or so. The Wii version is neat because you coordinate both your hands and feet to the music. Yeah, it is about as hard as it sounds.
Sunday I woke up and I hurt. My arms hurt and my knees hurt. I tried to remember what I could have done...maybe 3 hours of DDR would do it :-) We put up all the Christmas decorations on Sunday, with Keegan providing some assistance that could dubiously be called help. Sunday night Lyle and I played DDR for another couple hours. Monday night Lyle and I played DDR for another couple hours. Maybe we are addicted? Maybe if we play it enough my knees and arms will stop hurting? Could DDR be my ticket to the strong, buff body I've always wanted? I doubt it. Still I seem to be slightly better at it than Lyle...so there is that.
Keegan has also been impressing us a lot lately. Lyle mentioned Keegan has his first tooth coming in. (Please Keegan don't do anything to that tooth until next year, that's when your dental coverage kicks in!) Then last night Keegan let go of the kitchen cabinet and walked 8, yes count them 8, steps across the kitchen towards me. We were so excited! Keegan was excited too; he had a giant grin on his face the whole time. Anyway, so far it's been very exciting to have Keegan through the holidays. I can't wait for Christmas. Of course, I always get really excited for Christmas, but this year I can be double excited since Keegan is here!
Okay, well back to work. Hopefully we'll have some time after Keegan goes to bed tonight to hit the DDR again. Lyle and I really are getting better. Although I think we both wish there was a middle finger action you could do when the DJ pisses you off. Nothing like a comment blaring through your Wiimote speaker "You call that dancing!!!???" after you've missed a string of moves to really piss you off. The crowd boos when you are doing bad too; no pressure. As Lyle so eloquently put it to the DDR DJ "Let's see you dance with this Wiimote up your #@^!" Good thing Keegan is in bed while we play this.
Monday, November 26, 2007
*static* Huston we have tooth! *static*
I was playing with Keegan yesterday and getting him ready for dinner etc. Anyway I noticed that there was a little hole in his lower gums. Well low and behold there seems to be the start of a tooth coming in! So right around 9 1/2 months Keegan is starting to get his first tooth. The tooth is the left front bottom tooth. Of course you can't really see anything yet, and trying to get a picture will be a real hard thing since Keegan does not stay still ever.
Ok, the other thing of interest is that Karissa uploaded the pictures from Thanksgiving, and the rest of the November pictures so far. So if you are bored and really want something to do, go check them out. There is a video in there of Keegan raising his food and worshiping it. I think Karissa talked about this particular favorite past time of Keegan's in an earlier post.
Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Ok, the other thing of interest is that Karissa uploaded the pictures from Thanksgiving, and the rest of the November pictures so far. So if you are bored and really want something to do, go check them out. There is a video in there of Keegan raising his food and worshiping it. I think Karissa talked about this particular favorite past time of Keegan's in an earlier post.
Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Well I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! We are going to be hanging out with Karissa's parents for dinner, and then Friday go down to the old Dayton's and see that Christmas special they put on every year. We figure that Keegan should get a kick out of that since he really like the lights and stuff they usually do. We are also in the market for a stocking for Keegan. Karissa and I don't have stockings, but all the animals do, and we would like to add Keegan to that list. And yes before you ask, we do put stuff in the stockings for our furry friends! Silly I know, but they enjoy the presents :).
Personally I am hoping to find a stocking with dragon's on it since pretty much everything I want to get him does. Though I have a feeling that will be a little harder to find. Anyway hope that you all have a great long weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Personally I am hoping to find a stocking with dragon's on it since pretty much everything I want to get him does. Though I have a feeling that will be a little harder to find. Anyway hope that you all have a great long weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
In the future will there be books?
This post isn't really about Keegan but more about the world Keegan will live in in the future. Today I was reading about Amazon's Kindle. This links to an article on it.
Kindle is similar to Sony's Reader. It allows you to electronically download and read books. The screen is specially designed to alleviate eye strain. The books are cheaper to buy because you aren't buying any material so-to-speak; just data. To me it's a little bit scary that we are going in this direction. I guess that the ability to make books more widely available and available at lower cost is a good thing. Also having all your books as e-books would solve many home storage problems, and alleviate back-problems of students world wide. Imagine if, instead of three 10 pound text books in your bag, you could just upload the whole book to your digital book reader? No more forgetting textbooks at home.
Even for the everyday person this would be convenient. Imagine not having to pack three books to drag along on the airplane with you on a long trip. Imaging not having half of your cubical taken up by research texts. It would definitely be a time and a space saver.
Still for some reason it bothers me. I love books both for their content and there physical presence. Granted, Lyle would probably heave a sign of relief at being able to get rid of the multitudes of bookshelves that line our basement walls, but there is something to be said about the act of reading. There is something in the act of prying open the pages to a good book, nestling down in the couch, and inhaling the aroma of dust, ink, and paper that wafts from the pages. I find it hard to think that reading my e-book by candlelight would have the same ambiance.
Unfortunately, like so many things, I fear that the most convenient, space-saving, and cost-saving option will start to prevail over time. Books have existed in one form or another for nearly as long as humankind. It's weird to realize that we might see the end of the traditional book in our lifetime. I suppose we went from stone tablets to papyrus to paper - who's to say the next step isn't to LCD.
Kindle is similar to Sony's Reader. It allows you to electronically download and read books. The screen is specially designed to alleviate eye strain. The books are cheaper to buy because you aren't buying any material so-to-speak; just data. To me it's a little bit scary that we are going in this direction. I guess that the ability to make books more widely available and available at lower cost is a good thing. Also having all your books as e-books would solve many home storage problems, and alleviate back-problems of students world wide. Imagine if, instead of three 10 pound text books in your bag, you could just upload the whole book to your digital book reader? No more forgetting textbooks at home.
Even for the everyday person this would be convenient. Imagine not having to pack three books to drag along on the airplane with you on a long trip. Imaging not having half of your cubical taken up by research texts. It would definitely be a time and a space saver.
Still for some reason it bothers me. I love books both for their content and there physical presence. Granted, Lyle would probably heave a sign of relief at being able to get rid of the multitudes of bookshelves that line our basement walls, but there is something to be said about the act of reading. There is something in the act of prying open the pages to a good book, nestling down in the couch, and inhaling the aroma of dust, ink, and paper that wafts from the pages. I find it hard to think that reading my e-book by candlelight would have the same ambiance.
Unfortunately, like so many things, I fear that the most convenient, space-saving, and cost-saving option will start to prevail over time. Books have existed in one form or another for nearly as long as humankind. It's weird to realize that we might see the end of the traditional book in our lifetime. I suppose we went from stone tablets to papyrus to paper - who's to say the next step isn't to LCD.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Let's Dance...
Since a number of people were amused with the details of Keegan's artistic additions to the world I thought I could provide an update in another fine art area Keegan is skilled in. Our impresario Keegan, in addition to improving the selection of the world's art, is also big into the fine art of dance. Keegan has been performing four new types of artistic dance. While these types of dance are of various quality; all of them are unique in our household.
The first dance is the least graceful of the dances. In this dance Keegan remains on hands and knees on the ground and rocks back and forth in time to the music. Usually he keeps his head down, as to concentrate on keeping his rocking movement in exact beat with the music. Keegan performs this dance when he is caught up quickly by the music and unable to assume a position more apt to dancing. For instance crawling across the floor he suddenly hears the thumping beat of a Weird Al tune and he is taken by the sudden urge to dance *now*! There is no time to sit up or stand up; so he must improvise as he best can and dance on all fours.
Dance number two is Keegan's version of head banging. I guess you would call it more of a horizontal head banging rather than the vertical head banging that left so many necks aching in the early 90's. This "dance" has no rythem at all, but rather is a spontaneous expression of movement that can accompany external music and speech. This rather spastic head jerking is sometimes followed by a small grin and a giggle as Keegan reveals in his own creative genius. Usually this form of dancing is brought on by someone signing to him, talking to him, or by someone showing him a more subtle version of this move. This dance has the side effect of leaving Keegan slightly dizzy and causing him to crawl and walk crooked for a bit; especially after a very vigorous dance session. It is a type of dance that Keegan developed a few months ago and then forsook as he couldn't do this dance while learning to crawl/walk. Now that the crawling and walking skills are more developed he is returning to this dance with a vigor.
Dance number three is the most versatile dance. I can think of no other way to describe than as Keegan's Groove. The Keegan Grove involves bopping your head, shoulders, and whole upper body back and forth to the music. The movement is minimal, as to convey total coolness, but it is very important to keep the beat of the music. It requires complete concentration. This dance is versatile because it can be performed both standing up and sitting down. The dance is at odds with the music that provokes it. Generally it is a romping rendition of "pop goes the weasel" or "mary had a little lamb" that is blaring from the plastic speakers of various child-like toys. Keegan's choice of this cool, groovy dance movement paired with the simplistic chiming of his musical toys makes the dance all the more groovy and contrasting.
The last dance we are uncertain how to label. It appears to be a creative movement, but it may point more to Keegan's acting skills than his dancing ability. This movement is in general provoked by inanimate objects. The objects used are not always the same. The objects can be of toy in nature or of food in nature. What we have observed is that Keegan must have one object in each hand. This move requires Keegan's total concentration; he does not often perform it when people are talking to him. Upon grasping one object in each hand, Keegan fixes his face in an expression of utmost seriousness and thrusts his hands toward the sky. We haven't figured out yet if this is a form of modern dance or possibly a pose of worship to the gods of crackers and toys. If Keegan is able to hold the pose long enough without interruption then the chanting ensues. Usually he holds his face up to the sky and chants a long series of screeching "DADADADADADADADADAs". This dance is probably the most amusing to his audience since it is mysterious in origin and grabs the audiences attention the quickest.
Hopefully over time we will be able to get a video of each of his dances to save for the future generations to observe.
The first dance is the least graceful of the dances. In this dance Keegan remains on hands and knees on the ground and rocks back and forth in time to the music. Usually he keeps his head down, as to concentrate on keeping his rocking movement in exact beat with the music. Keegan performs this dance when he is caught up quickly by the music and unable to assume a position more apt to dancing. For instance crawling across the floor he suddenly hears the thumping beat of a Weird Al tune and he is taken by the sudden urge to dance *now*! There is no time to sit up or stand up; so he must improvise as he best can and dance on all fours.
Dance number two is Keegan's version of head banging. I guess you would call it more of a horizontal head banging rather than the vertical head banging that left so many necks aching in the early 90's. This "dance" has no rythem at all, but rather is a spontaneous expression of movement that can accompany external music and speech. This rather spastic head jerking is sometimes followed by a small grin and a giggle as Keegan reveals in his own creative genius. Usually this form of dancing is brought on by someone signing to him, talking to him, or by someone showing him a more subtle version of this move. This dance has the side effect of leaving Keegan slightly dizzy and causing him to crawl and walk crooked for a bit; especially after a very vigorous dance session. It is a type of dance that Keegan developed a few months ago and then forsook as he couldn't do this dance while learning to crawl/walk. Now that the crawling and walking skills are more developed he is returning to this dance with a vigor.
Dance number three is the most versatile dance. I can think of no other way to describe than as Keegan's Groove. The Keegan Grove involves bopping your head, shoulders, and whole upper body back and forth to the music. The movement is minimal, as to convey total coolness, but it is very important to keep the beat of the music. It requires complete concentration. This dance is versatile because it can be performed both standing up and sitting down. The dance is at odds with the music that provokes it. Generally it is a romping rendition of "pop goes the weasel" or "mary had a little lamb" that is blaring from the plastic speakers of various child-like toys. Keegan's choice of this cool, groovy dance movement paired with the simplistic chiming of his musical toys makes the dance all the more groovy and contrasting.
The last dance we are uncertain how to label. It appears to be a creative movement, but it may point more to Keegan's acting skills than his dancing ability. This movement is in general provoked by inanimate objects. The objects used are not always the same. The objects can be of toy in nature or of food in nature. What we have observed is that Keegan must have one object in each hand. This move requires Keegan's total concentration; he does not often perform it when people are talking to him. Upon grasping one object in each hand, Keegan fixes his face in an expression of utmost seriousness and thrusts his hands toward the sky. We haven't figured out yet if this is a form of modern dance or possibly a pose of worship to the gods of crackers and toys. If Keegan is able to hold the pose long enough without interruption then the chanting ensues. Usually he holds his face up to the sky and chants a long series of screeching "DADADADADADADADADAs". This dance is probably the most amusing to his audience since it is mysterious in origin and grabs the audiences attention the quickest.
Hopefully over time we will be able to get a video of each of his dances to save for the future generations to observe.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Is Keegan Going to Be the Next Picasso??
Okay I truly doubt that there will ever be another Picasso. Yesterday our collection of Keegan art doubled. That is to say we acquired one additional rare piece of Keegan art. As part of the Make a Wish drive that our daycare is having we actually had to purchase the piece of art to bring it home with us. Does that make Keegan a professional artist?
This piece of art work, like the last, is very abstract in nature. It is also a bit self-centered, as Keegan used a picture of himself as the center theme of the artwork. This central theme is surrounded by a number of slightly abstract blue colored handprints. The handprints make a statement all in themselves; as they are a perfect mix of realism combined with careless abstractedness.
Although we only own two pieces of this artist's rare artwork, I know that there are a few other pieces in existence. The majority of them feature a medium of construction and fingerpaint; which would be quite at home in an abstract art museum such as the Walker. Once particularly astonishing piece features a red construction paper apple with smears of white fingerpaint adorning the apple's singular shape. Exactly what does this piece of art say to us? Personally I think it is a deeply moving statement on the state of the institution of education. The precisely cut solid-colored apple filled with a riot of disorganized patterns in white paint...is the institution of education internally flawed in some way that this artist feels a need to portray?
Only the future will tell what other intellectually astounding pieces this new artist will create. I have heard rumor that Keegan is considering trying a medium of cat hair and drool in his next installation...or possibly that was just the remains of a hard night of playing with the cat.
This piece of art work, like the last, is very abstract in nature. It is also a bit self-centered, as Keegan used a picture of himself as the center theme of the artwork. This central theme is surrounded by a number of slightly abstract blue colored handprints. The handprints make a statement all in themselves; as they are a perfect mix of realism combined with careless abstractedness.
Although we only own two pieces of this artist's rare artwork, I know that there are a few other pieces in existence. The majority of them feature a medium of construction and fingerpaint; which would be quite at home in an abstract art museum such as the Walker. Once particularly astonishing piece features a red construction paper apple with smears of white fingerpaint adorning the apple's singular shape. Exactly what does this piece of art say to us? Personally I think it is a deeply moving statement on the state of the institution of education. The precisely cut solid-colored apple filled with a riot of disorganized patterns in white paint...is the institution of education internally flawed in some way that this artist feels a need to portray?
Only the future will tell what other intellectually astounding pieces this new artist will create. I have heard rumor that Keegan is considering trying a medium of cat hair and drool in his next installation...or possibly that was just the remains of a hard night of playing with the cat.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The State of Mommyhood
I was thinking about Keegan hitting 9 months old and I thought that's a pretty big milestone. That means he's been out of the womb as long as he was in it, right? So a big deal. As Lyle mentioned we were also watching some of the "old" videos of Keegan that we took when he was only a few days old. Watching those videos I started thinking about how my opinion of having Keegan around has changed drastically in the last few months. So I thought maybe I could write a blog entry on the state of mommyhood and how it has changed in the first nine months Keegan has been here.
So in the beginning.....I was pregnant. I was talking to one of my girlfriends that is thinking about having a baby and I was trying to explain how being pregnant is. I mean you are worried and concerned and excited; but no matter how people tell you your life is going to change you just will never understand until it happens. It sounds cliche' and it is; but it is also the truth. That's really what got me thinking about all of this; I mean how can you ever prepare for having a child?
Next we had Keegan. He was a little larva...basically when you think about it babies are little more than parasites for the first couple months. They feed off of you and poop. They sleep and cry when unhappy. You are responsible for feeding them, moving them, cleaning them, and comforting them. If you are lucky your reward is a few moments of silence; as time goes on you get the rare and ever-cherished first smiles. Sometimes you make up the smiles...."Oh Lyle, look I think he's doing a half-smile..."
Lyle and I loved Keegan from the get-go but there is a difference between love and enjoyment or liking. I remember my mom telling me in high-school that she would always love me, but there were times when she didn't like me all that much. I understand what she means now, I have a feeling that understanding will mature as Keegan matures :-) What I did not feel from the get go is some fabulous glorious adoration for the little needy creature we named Keegan. I have heard other mothers go through this, and I, like them, felt guilty about it. When Keegan arrived what I felt utmost was tired. I felt tired, overwhelmed, I hurt, oh and did I mention tired? Keegan had a lot of tummy problems and was especially difficult. Some days he slept maybe 12 hours; not the 20 or so I was told to expect. There were many nights in those first few months where Lyle and I would ask each other what we had done. Would we ever sleep again? Would we ever have our bedroom back to ourselves? Would Keegan ever sleep anywhere but his carseat? Why had we done this? Was there anyway to, you know, send him back for a quieter model? Is this kid thing ever good?
It was during those first few months that I learned that being a mom was going to be both tougher and easier than I thought. I never thought that I would love Keegan and want to protect him from everything as much as I do. I also never thought that at 2am in the morning after a week with meager sleep I would wonder what would happen if I just left him on the neighbor's doorstep. Of course we never did that; but the thought did enter our minds on some of those nights.
Fast forward to where Keegan is today. He is just a delight! It is so neat to watch him develop and so awesome to see him figure out stuff. I love watching as Keegan has an "ahh haa" moment and connects how something works or how things interact. Keegan at 9 months is a different creature from that immobile, non self sufficient larva that he started out as. A big development that I have really enjoyed is Keegan being mobile. I love that he can show me what he is interested in. I love that he can communicate his happiness and his joy. I still think it's ironic that babies can pout and frown from the day they are born, but it takes them months to learn how to smile.
Some people say that once a baby gets mobile, "boy are you in trouble then!" I have to say I disagree. Keegan is so much better at making himself happy now. He is so much better at communicating. His fascination at the world makes me take another look at everything I have taken for granted. I think about why things work the way they work; is there a better way they could work? Keegan has so much to learn and I am so excited to help him learn it all. I am excited to see Keegan when I get home for work, I am excited to spend the weekend with him, and I am excited to see his smiling face every morning. It's a far cry from the weepy Karissa who would call Lyle on the phone from home and ask when Lyle was going to come home because Keegan had cried for hours this morning and it was all Karissa could do not to abandon him in the neighbor's yard...
The last thing about mommyhood that I wasn't expecting was the connectedness it helps you see. I mean I guess before I knew that everyone was somebody's child. I took that for granted and was sympathetic to people who lost their children or were having trouble with their children. Now the relationship between parent and child seems like so much more. Everytime I see someone I think they are someone's child. When I hear about someone getting hurt or someone comitting a crime I think about them being someone's child and wonder if they have children. I wonder even more so why parents do some of the things they do. Why do some people do things to hurt their child's well-being? Why would anyone ignore a child or not try to put their all into helping their child make sense of the world? I always thought about these things some; but seeing Keegan's little smiling face makes it all the more poignant. I often look at Keegan and wonder who he will be and what he will do. I wonder how much influence Lyle and I have on how he will end up. I guess I just wonder what all parents wonder.
So in summary the State of Mommyhood is great. It is so much harder and easier than I thought it would be. The state of mommyhood has just kept improving as Keegan has been developing into a unique and curious little human being...I think it will keep improving until he learns to talk :-) I have a feeling this little boy has a lot on his mind.
I know that this post is filled with cliche's galore. I guess even though you always know about cliche's you don't always know how it feels to live them ;-)
So in the beginning.....I was pregnant. I was talking to one of my girlfriends that is thinking about having a baby and I was trying to explain how being pregnant is. I mean you are worried and concerned and excited; but no matter how people tell you your life is going to change you just will never understand until it happens. It sounds cliche' and it is; but it is also the truth. That's really what got me thinking about all of this; I mean how can you ever prepare for having a child?
Next we had Keegan. He was a little larva...basically when you think about it babies are little more than parasites for the first couple months. They feed off of you and poop. They sleep and cry when unhappy. You are responsible for feeding them, moving them, cleaning them, and comforting them. If you are lucky your reward is a few moments of silence; as time goes on you get the rare and ever-cherished first smiles. Sometimes you make up the smiles...."Oh Lyle, look I think he's doing a half-smile..."
Lyle and I loved Keegan from the get-go but there is a difference between love and enjoyment or liking. I remember my mom telling me in high-school that she would always love me, but there were times when she didn't like me all that much. I understand what she means now, I have a feeling that understanding will mature as Keegan matures :-) What I did not feel from the get go is some fabulous glorious adoration for the little needy creature we named Keegan. I have heard other mothers go through this, and I, like them, felt guilty about it. When Keegan arrived what I felt utmost was tired. I felt tired, overwhelmed, I hurt, oh and did I mention tired? Keegan had a lot of tummy problems and was especially difficult. Some days he slept maybe 12 hours; not the 20 or so I was told to expect. There were many nights in those first few months where Lyle and I would ask each other what we had done. Would we ever sleep again? Would we ever have our bedroom back to ourselves? Would Keegan ever sleep anywhere but his carseat? Why had we done this? Was there anyway to, you know, send him back for a quieter model? Is this kid thing ever good?
It was during those first few months that I learned that being a mom was going to be both tougher and easier than I thought. I never thought that I would love Keegan and want to protect him from everything as much as I do. I also never thought that at 2am in the morning after a week with meager sleep I would wonder what would happen if I just left him on the neighbor's doorstep. Of course we never did that; but the thought did enter our minds on some of those nights.
Fast forward to where Keegan is today. He is just a delight! It is so neat to watch him develop and so awesome to see him figure out stuff. I love watching as Keegan has an "ahh haa" moment and connects how something works or how things interact. Keegan at 9 months is a different creature from that immobile, non self sufficient larva that he started out as. A big development that I have really enjoyed is Keegan being mobile. I love that he can show me what he is interested in. I love that he can communicate his happiness and his joy. I still think it's ironic that babies can pout and frown from the day they are born, but it takes them months to learn how to smile.
Some people say that once a baby gets mobile, "boy are you in trouble then!" I have to say I disagree. Keegan is so much better at making himself happy now. He is so much better at communicating. His fascination at the world makes me take another look at everything I have taken for granted. I think about why things work the way they work; is there a better way they could work? Keegan has so much to learn and I am so excited to help him learn it all. I am excited to see Keegan when I get home for work, I am excited to spend the weekend with him, and I am excited to see his smiling face every morning. It's a far cry from the weepy Karissa who would call Lyle on the phone from home and ask when Lyle was going to come home because Keegan had cried for hours this morning and it was all Karissa could do not to abandon him in the neighbor's yard...
The last thing about mommyhood that I wasn't expecting was the connectedness it helps you see. I mean I guess before I knew that everyone was somebody's child. I took that for granted and was sympathetic to people who lost their children or were having trouble with their children. Now the relationship between parent and child seems like so much more. Everytime I see someone I think they are someone's child. When I hear about someone getting hurt or someone comitting a crime I think about them being someone's child and wonder if they have children. I wonder even more so why parents do some of the things they do. Why do some people do things to hurt their child's well-being? Why would anyone ignore a child or not try to put their all into helping their child make sense of the world? I always thought about these things some; but seeing Keegan's little smiling face makes it all the more poignant. I often look at Keegan and wonder who he will be and what he will do. I wonder how much influence Lyle and I have on how he will end up. I guess I just wonder what all parents wonder.
So in summary the State of Mommyhood is great. It is so much harder and easier than I thought it would be. The state of mommyhood has just kept improving as Keegan has been developing into a unique and curious little human being...I think it will keep improving until he learns to talk :-) I have a feeling this little boy has a lot on his mind.
I know that this post is filled with cliche's galore. I guess even though you always know about cliche's you don't always know how it feels to live them ;-)
Another day another ........
So yesterday was an exciting day! Well ok, not really exciting, it just was what every day seems to be lately, get up, get Keegan to day care, work, come home, play, go to bed! However it was the 1st birthday yesterday of one of our friends child. So we had to hustle last night to get everything done, and get to a party. Sadly when I got to daycare to pick up Keegan, he hadn't been down for a nap since 11 in the morning, which meant that he was really tired by 4pm. So in the 5 minute car drive home Keegan was asleep. Well you can imagine how happy he was when I woke him up to bring him into the house. Since the party started at 5, there was no way that we were going to make it for the beginning. So I put Keegan in his crib so he could catch up on his Z's a little.
At about 5:30, Keegan is still asleep, Karissa and I have eaten, and we really need to get moving soon since the party ends at 7, and Keegan should really be back by then to go to bed himself. So we wake up Keegan.... again, which he doesn't really appreciate, but that is the way it goes. We fill him up on solids and get out the door just before 6. It takes about 5 mins to walk over to the other house, and when we get there, we find that none of the other friends have shown up, it is all family... except us... Well there were other kids so at least Keegan felt like he had gone back to daycare, and he just had a blast playing with all the mini dogs that were there. At one point he is just looking at one and laughing his little head off.... man I wish I had brought the video camera. Anyway we stayed for 40 mins or so, and Keegan played with the other kids and dogs. Though it was a little strange Keegan seemed like the only one of the 3 really little kids that was even close to walking. The 1 year old isn't quite there yet, and there was an 11 month old that wasn't even pulling herself up on things, which kind of surprised me. Keegan got a hold of one of the walkers and was just zooming around the room like a madman. So I feel a little better about how at least his walking skills are developing.
So the only other interesting thing that I wanted to mention. I pulled down a package for Linux for creating DVD's on my laptop last night, and was able to create a DVD with all of the videos that I posed on picasaweb a little while back. I have to try again tonight with adding a title menu etc, since navigating without a menu was a little weird. Karissa and I watch some of the video's on the DVD last night just to see how it worked on our own machine. Of course it worked great, and the videos were in widescreen this time, which is the way they were taken. If you want a copy let Karissa or I know, and I will see what I can do about getting you one. This of course was all kicked off by my parents wanting a copy of the videos on DVD, because they are not very computer savvy, which is ok, though it can be kind of weird at times :), and cause me more work...
At about 5:30, Keegan is still asleep, Karissa and I have eaten, and we really need to get moving soon since the party ends at 7, and Keegan should really be back by then to go to bed himself. So we wake up Keegan.... again, which he doesn't really appreciate, but that is the way it goes. We fill him up on solids and get out the door just before 6. It takes about 5 mins to walk over to the other house, and when we get there, we find that none of the other friends have shown up, it is all family... except us... Well there were other kids so at least Keegan felt like he had gone back to daycare, and he just had a blast playing with all the mini dogs that were there. At one point he is just looking at one and laughing his little head off.... man I wish I had brought the video camera. Anyway we stayed for 40 mins or so, and Keegan played with the other kids and dogs. Though it was a little strange Keegan seemed like the only one of the 3 really little kids that was even close to walking. The 1 year old isn't quite there yet, and there was an 11 month old that wasn't even pulling herself up on things, which kind of surprised me. Keegan got a hold of one of the walkers and was just zooming around the room like a madman. So I feel a little better about how at least his walking skills are developing.
So the only other interesting thing that I wanted to mention. I pulled down a package for Linux for creating DVD's on my laptop last night, and was able to create a DVD with all of the videos that I posed on picasaweb a little while back. I have to try again tonight with adding a title menu etc, since navigating without a menu was a little weird. Karissa and I watch some of the video's on the DVD last night just to see how it worked on our own machine. Of course it worked great, and the videos were in widescreen this time, which is the way they were taken. If you want a copy let Karissa or I know, and I will see what I can do about getting you one. This of course was all kicked off by my parents wanting a copy of the videos on DVD, because they are not very computer savvy, which is ok, though it can be kind of weird at times :), and cause me more work...
Thursday, November 08, 2007
9 month checkup
I know boring title but I am tired. Keegan had his 9 month check-up yesterday. Before I get into that though Lyle and I had a new experience on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. We got to experience Keegan having the flu. Poor kid wasn't sleeping well at all Tuesday night. He woke up around 3am Wednesday morning and puked all over in his crib. So we're trying to clean that up and Lyle fed him a little bit. We had given Keegan some Motrin at midnight because it seemed like something was hurting him; we figured maybe he was teething or something. Well apparently the Mortin didn't sit well in his tummy; at least that's why we thought he puked.
So at 4am Lyle and I are sitting up trying to decide if Keegan should go into daycare or not. I really didn't want to stay home because I had an experiment set up for Wednesday and if I didn't go in I would have to remake some of the solutions. Not to mention I was trying to get all of the testing done for this experiment before Friday. On Friday all of our samples from our last experimental manufacturing coating come in; so no lab work will get done for a couple weeks after that.
Anyway, Lyle and I decide to see how Keegan seems to feel. Keegan goes back to sleep for about an hour. Then he wakes up and we take him out of his crib to see if he is acting sick. Keegan seems very tired and lethargic but he hasn't thrown up anymore. So I say to Lyle "well maybe Keegan can go to daycare". Then Keegan looks at me and starts to cry. He screws up his face all sad like and then....he pukes all over me. Guess I am staying home with Keegan. So Keegan and I stay up and play for a bit while Lyle gets ready for work. Keegan is just pitiful. We are sitting on the floor playing and Keegan keeps crawling into my lap and leaning into me. I can tell he just feels horrible.
I ask Lyle to watch Keegan for a second so I can make the prerequisite call to work letting them know that I am staying home with my pukey baby. Keegan is tired, so I put him back in his crib and he is out like a light. Lyle calls daycare on his way to work to let them know Keegan won't be coming in. The rest of the day basically goes like this: Keegan sleeps for 2 hrs, Keegan wakes up, I try to get him to eat some formula and drink some water, Keegan is awake for maybe half an hour and then he goes to sleep for a couple hours again. I manage to get some rice cereal and some formula in him and he keeps it down.
At 3:15pm it's time to leave for Keegan's 9 month well child visit. Lyle came home early from work so that he could go with us. Keegan woke up from a nap at 3pm and is raring to go.
We find out Keegan weighs 20lbs 14 ounces and is 28 inches long. He is now average instead of being 75th percentile. As the doctor watches Keegan try to climb over everything she mentions that with his level of activity he might drop below average for height and weight for a while. This is perfectly fine, she explains, that he will probably be just way more interested in exploring than eating.
I had promised Keegan no shots this time. Well I lied. I asked Dr. Kuku about getting a flu shot for Keegan; she thinks it is a great idea since he is in daycare. Keegan has also had this rash in his groin area that went away for a little bit and then has been back for a couple days. Ends up it is a yeast infection. Poor guy also started getting some diaper rash again on Monday. So now little Kee needs Butt Paste on his butt and Nystatin on his groin every time the diaper is changed. After all of his frenzied action during the examination Keegan is starting to get tired. So, of course now it is time to get his flu shot. The nurse comes in to give him the shot. Keegan is all helpful smiles until the nurse pokes him. Then he screams, but not for that long. Next we have to go and get Keegan's finger pricked for his 9 month blood testing.
We have to go and wait for our turn outside the lab. By now Keegan is getting bored and tired. Lyle and I take turns walking him in circles around the waiting area; Keegan thinks this is great fun. Keegan likes it even better because people stop and wave at him; this just tickles him. Then Keegan's name is called. I go sit in the chair with Keegan on my lap while Lyle waits with our stuff in the waiting room. Keegan is getting a bit listless but still has a little smile for the nurse. That is until she pokes his finger; then Keegan screams. The nurse has to squeeze his finger to get the blood into a little vial. Keegan screams like he is dying; he has this supersonic shriek that makes your ear drums ring. It was just really special.
Then the nurse gives me a cotton ball to hold on Keegan's finger to stop the bleeding. Well guess what, Keegan doesn't want a cotton ball held on his finger. He wants to leave. So I am trying to hold him and a tiny little cotton ball pressed to his tiny little finger. It just not happening, he yanks my hand away and the cotton ball falls off and Keegan starts dripping blood everywhere. Try to remember neither Lyle nor I have gotten any sleep for the last few nights because of Keegan's antics. I ask the nurse for some help and she is like "Oh, my". So she kneels down in front of Keegan while I hold him and she holds the cotton ball to his finger until he stops bleeding. Well the nurse touching his finger starts off another new set of wails. I am sweating by now; don't know why but it suddenly seems really warm in the room.
Lyle peeks around the corner to pass in Keegan's nook. Finally Keegan's finger stops bleeding and we are done. Lyle hoists Keegan onto his shoulders, which Keegan loves. Now Keegan is smiling and giggling (with tears still running down his face) as we leave the building. I grab my purse, his diaper bag, and look down on my coat to realize that Keegan must have hit my coat with some puke earlier today; lovely.
Keegan hasn't vomited since early this morning. So I offer him his full dinner of oatmeal, fruit, and veggies. He gobbles down most of the stuff like a champ and then smiles at me and pukes it up all over me. Okay, no more food for Keegan today.
Keegan is at my mom's today; hopefully he is feeling better. I really don't want to have to stay home again tomorrow. Not that I object to spending the time with Keegan; I am just getting behind on things at work.
So at 4am Lyle and I are sitting up trying to decide if Keegan should go into daycare or not. I really didn't want to stay home because I had an experiment set up for Wednesday and if I didn't go in I would have to remake some of the solutions. Not to mention I was trying to get all of the testing done for this experiment before Friday. On Friday all of our samples from our last experimental manufacturing coating come in; so no lab work will get done for a couple weeks after that.
Anyway, Lyle and I decide to see how Keegan seems to feel. Keegan goes back to sleep for about an hour. Then he wakes up and we take him out of his crib to see if he is acting sick. Keegan seems very tired and lethargic but he hasn't thrown up anymore. So I say to Lyle "well maybe Keegan can go to daycare". Then Keegan looks at me and starts to cry. He screws up his face all sad like and then....he pukes all over me. Guess I am staying home with Keegan. So Keegan and I stay up and play for a bit while Lyle gets ready for work. Keegan is just pitiful. We are sitting on the floor playing and Keegan keeps crawling into my lap and leaning into me. I can tell he just feels horrible.
I ask Lyle to watch Keegan for a second so I can make the prerequisite call to work letting them know that I am staying home with my pukey baby. Keegan is tired, so I put him back in his crib and he is out like a light. Lyle calls daycare on his way to work to let them know Keegan won't be coming in. The rest of the day basically goes like this: Keegan sleeps for 2 hrs, Keegan wakes up, I try to get him to eat some formula and drink some water, Keegan is awake for maybe half an hour and then he goes to sleep for a couple hours again. I manage to get some rice cereal and some formula in him and he keeps it down.
At 3:15pm it's time to leave for Keegan's 9 month well child visit. Lyle came home early from work so that he could go with us. Keegan woke up from a nap at 3pm and is raring to go.
We find out Keegan weighs 20lbs 14 ounces and is 28 inches long. He is now average instead of being 75th percentile. As the doctor watches Keegan try to climb over everything she mentions that with his level of activity he might drop below average for height and weight for a while. This is perfectly fine, she explains, that he will probably be just way more interested in exploring than eating.
I had promised Keegan no shots this time. Well I lied. I asked Dr. Kuku about getting a flu shot for Keegan; she thinks it is a great idea since he is in daycare. Keegan has also had this rash in his groin area that went away for a little bit and then has been back for a couple days. Ends up it is a yeast infection. Poor guy also started getting some diaper rash again on Monday. So now little Kee needs Butt Paste on his butt and Nystatin on his groin every time the diaper is changed. After all of his frenzied action during the examination Keegan is starting to get tired. So, of course now it is time to get his flu shot. The nurse comes in to give him the shot. Keegan is all helpful smiles until the nurse pokes him. Then he screams, but not for that long. Next we have to go and get Keegan's finger pricked for his 9 month blood testing.
We have to go and wait for our turn outside the lab. By now Keegan is getting bored and tired. Lyle and I take turns walking him in circles around the waiting area; Keegan thinks this is great fun. Keegan likes it even better because people stop and wave at him; this just tickles him. Then Keegan's name is called. I go sit in the chair with Keegan on my lap while Lyle waits with our stuff in the waiting room. Keegan is getting a bit listless but still has a little smile for the nurse. That is until she pokes his finger; then Keegan screams. The nurse has to squeeze his finger to get the blood into a little vial. Keegan screams like he is dying; he has this supersonic shriek that makes your ear drums ring. It was just really special.
Then the nurse gives me a cotton ball to hold on Keegan's finger to stop the bleeding. Well guess what, Keegan doesn't want a cotton ball held on his finger. He wants to leave. So I am trying to hold him and a tiny little cotton ball pressed to his tiny little finger. It just not happening, he yanks my hand away and the cotton ball falls off and Keegan starts dripping blood everywhere. Try to remember neither Lyle nor I have gotten any sleep for the last few nights because of Keegan's antics. I ask the nurse for some help and she is like "Oh, my". So she kneels down in front of Keegan while I hold him and she holds the cotton ball to his finger until he stops bleeding. Well the nurse touching his finger starts off another new set of wails. I am sweating by now; don't know why but it suddenly seems really warm in the room.
Lyle peeks around the corner to pass in Keegan's nook. Finally Keegan's finger stops bleeding and we are done. Lyle hoists Keegan onto his shoulders, which Keegan loves. Now Keegan is smiling and giggling (with tears still running down his face) as we leave the building. I grab my purse, his diaper bag, and look down on my coat to realize that Keegan must have hit my coat with some puke earlier today; lovely.
Keegan hasn't vomited since early this morning. So I offer him his full dinner of oatmeal, fruit, and veggies. He gobbles down most of the stuff like a champ and then smiles at me and pukes it up all over me. Okay, no more food for Keegan today.
Keegan is at my mom's today; hopefully he is feeling better. I really don't want to have to stay home again tomorrow. Not that I object to spending the time with Keegan; I am just getting behind on things at work.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Let it Snow!
So latest weather report from Oakdale, MN...it was just snowing here. I looked outside and it looked like sand was blowing through the air. Upon closer inspection I realized it was snowing. The quick bout of flurries last only a minute or two but it was exciting just the same. I know, I know, a lot of people hate snow but I think we should all enjoy it and not get bogged down in snow-negativity. Let's all try to forget about what snow does to the roads and to our driveways and think happy snow thoughts. Soon we will be able to go ice skating, build snowmen, throw snowballs, put up Christmas lights, and rejoice as we enter the holiday season. Yep, the holiday season is on its way. Time to start your Christmas shopping.
Speaking of Christmas shopping, this Saturday Lyle, Keegan, Ruby, and I had to go to PetCo to pick up dog and cat food. I thought that since we were at PetCo we might as well get the pets and my parents' pets their Xmas presents. When we got home from PetCo I safely stored the pets Xmas presents in the hall closet before the Halloween party.
Fast-forward to Sunday night. Lyle, Keegan, and I went to eat dinner at Perkins and upon our arrival home I noticed Ruby was chewing a bone. It was a new bone and looked suspiciously like the bone we had bought her for Christmas. After closer inspection I realized that she had removed the tag and left that further forward in the sunroom; the tag was stuck to a cat toy that she had also dragged out of the bag. As the night went on I found a dog toy meant for my parents' dog in our bed and another dog toy meant for Ruby (for Xmas) in the bathroom. I have a weird suspicion that Ruby had some help; as we also found cat toys in suspicious places. I can't wait until the cats, Ruby, and Keegan all gang up together to drive me crazy.
Okay rewind now to Saturday night and a different topic; the Halloween party. The party went very well. Thanks to Julie who brought some yummy pnut brittle and Cate and Chris who brought some yummy almond bark. Both of these were very good! Lyle and I enjoyed all the costumes people came in. It was also great fun watching all of the babies play together. You can see pictures of the party online here. We were so happy that everyone could make it. That party is always a ton of work to get together but I think everyone enjoys it; so all is good.
We spent most of Sunday taking down all the Halloween decorations. The house looks so much cleaner without them; guess it must be the absence of all those spider webs. In another month or so we can put up all the Christmas decorations. I still haven't figured out what we're going to do with the tree. It's hard enough to keep the cats out of the tree; Jubei has climbed it a couple times and knocked it over. I can't imagine how we are going to keep Keegan out of it. I guess we'll put all the non-choking hazard ornaments near the bottom this year. I have this nightmare of a cat climbing the tree and knocking it on Keegan; or of Keegan climbing the tree and knocking it onto the cats....guess it could happen either way.
It's an exciting week coming up; Keegan has his 9 month well child visit on Wednesday and then we have Family Christmas Pictures this Sunday. Oh, boy the fun never stops :-)
Speaking of Christmas shopping, this Saturday Lyle, Keegan, Ruby, and I had to go to PetCo to pick up dog and cat food. I thought that since we were at PetCo we might as well get the pets and my parents' pets their Xmas presents. When we got home from PetCo I safely stored the pets Xmas presents in the hall closet before the Halloween party.
Fast-forward to Sunday night. Lyle, Keegan, and I went to eat dinner at Perkins and upon our arrival home I noticed Ruby was chewing a bone. It was a new bone and looked suspiciously like the bone we had bought her for Christmas. After closer inspection I realized that she had removed the tag and left that further forward in the sunroom; the tag was stuck to a cat toy that she had also dragged out of the bag. As the night went on I found a dog toy meant for my parents' dog in our bed and another dog toy meant for Ruby (for Xmas) in the bathroom. I have a weird suspicion that Ruby had some help; as we also found cat toys in suspicious places. I can't wait until the cats, Ruby, and Keegan all gang up together to drive me crazy.
Okay rewind now to Saturday night and a different topic; the Halloween party. The party went very well. Thanks to Julie who brought some yummy pnut brittle and Cate and Chris who brought some yummy almond bark. Both of these were very good! Lyle and I enjoyed all the costumes people came in. It was also great fun watching all of the babies play together. You can see pictures of the party online here. We were so happy that everyone could make it. That party is always a ton of work to get together but I think everyone enjoys it; so all is good.
We spent most of Sunday taking down all the Halloween decorations. The house looks so much cleaner without them; guess it must be the absence of all those spider webs. In another month or so we can put up all the Christmas decorations. I still haven't figured out what we're going to do with the tree. It's hard enough to keep the cats out of the tree; Jubei has climbed it a couple times and knocked it over. I can't imagine how we are going to keep Keegan out of it. I guess we'll put all the non-choking hazard ornaments near the bottom this year. I have this nightmare of a cat climbing the tree and knocking it on Keegan; or of Keegan climbing the tree and knocking it onto the cats....guess it could happen either way.
It's an exciting week coming up; Keegan has his 9 month well child visit on Wednesday and then we have Family Christmas Pictures this Sunday. Oh, boy the fun never stops :-)
Videos uploaded & halloween party
Thanks for all the people who came over on Saturday for the annual Halloween party we like to throw... well mostly like ;). Anyway it was fun, and the pictures were put up yesterday by Karissa (who does a fabulous job of keeping the pictures up to date on picasaweb!).
Aside from that there are now some videos of Keegan posed on picasaweb. Here is a direct link to the videos. But you better hope you have at least two hours to get through them all. Since I have been delaying putting them up, we now have a fair amount of video. They all had to be reduced in size as well to actually fit into a size that picasaweb will accept. So sorry for the poor resolution! If you let us know we can try and make you a DVD of them, but I haven't quite got all that down yet.
Well hope you all had a good weekend, I just wanted to make sure people knew there was some new content to waste more time :)
Aside from that there are now some videos of Keegan posed on picasaweb. Here is a direct link to the videos. But you better hope you have at least two hours to get through them all. Since I have been delaying putting them up, we now have a fair amount of video. They all had to be reduced in size as well to actually fit into a size that picasaweb will accept. So sorry for the poor resolution! If you let us know we can try and make you a DVD of them, but I haven't quite got all that down yet.
Well hope you all had a good weekend, I just wanted to make sure people knew there was some new content to waste more time :)
Friday, November 02, 2007
Trick or Treat - Or a Halloween Tour of the Grandparents
Good to see that Lyle has *finally* posted something to the blog!
As Lyle mentioned Keegan was a Lion at daycare and then Tigger for the night. He didn't wear the Tigger costume to daycare because it's a bear (or should I say tiger?) to get off and on; whoever designed this costume was a dodo bird.
Halloween was a bit of a blur. We got home and I fed Keegan his solids for dinner. Then I changed Keegan into some jammies and Lyle and I got his Tigger costume on (yes it took two people to get it on him). Keegan suffered the costume just fine although it took a bit of effort to get him buckled into his carseat with that big fake Tigger belly. Then we dropped Ruby off at my parents house so that she wouldn't be alone when all the trick-or-treaters came to call. We went from there over to Lyle's parents house.
Keegan showed off at his Gma and Gpa Eckert's. We ended up taking his costume off so that Rick and Liz could see how good he crawled. Keegan stood up for them and even took a step before falling back down. We spent a little over an hour there goofing around. Then it was time to suit back up into the Tigger costume and go over to my parents house.
My dad made gluten-free pizza for dinner. This was really yummy and I was absolutely starving. We all exchanged Halloween presents. Halloween is a really big deal in my family so there is always some gift giving going on :-)
Keegan was adorable but it was after 6pm by this point and he was getting tired. We got some video of him loping around in his Tigger costume and then tried to put him down for a nap. He wasn't having any of that. So shortly after 7:30 we left and went home. Keegan's bedtime is 7pm so he was pretty cranky by this point. We had taken off the Tigger costume when we put him down for a nap.
When we got home we realized that our neighbors Tom and Joan were home now. I had promised them earlier in the year that Keegan would stop by to show off his costume. So, looking at my sleepy and cranky baby, I sighed and put him back in the Tigger costume. This time Keegan wasn't so tolerant, he got upset and started crying, but he was only unhappy for a moment. We went over to Tom and Joan's and Keegan picked a pnut butter cup out of the candy jar. Then mommy took the pnut butter cup away from him; this kind of pissed him off. I told him it was a good choice in candy though, and that mommy would eat it later for him :-)
Then it was to bed time for Keegan. While Lyle read Keegan to sleep; I passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Year before last we only had 5 trick-or-treaters come the whole night. This time it was really busy. I think we had 20 trick-or-treaters just between 7:45 and 8:30pm. We had left out candy for kids to take and when I went to retrieve the cauldron of candy (once we got home) it was almost empty. So either we had a lot of trick or treaters before we got back home or a couple kids took a lot of candy...
By 8:30pm, Lyle and I were exhausted. It had been a long and busy day. We were in bed by 9pm. Everyone slept very well through the night. In fact I had to really work to get Keegan to wake up at 6:30am so that I could drop him off at his gma's for the day.
I am very excited that we have a kid now so that someone other than me (in the house) is super excited about Halloween. We have our big Halloween party this Saturday. I am excited about that since quite a few people are going to be coming. Although, I am always amazed at how much work it is to get everything decorated, all the groceries bought, all the creepy foods made, and get the house cleaned up. Unfortunately for us this week is the off week for the cleaners. So, I took yesterday afternoon off to get all of the grocery shopping done and clean up the basement. It was weird to vacuum again; I haven't done that for a while :-)
I just had to take yesterday afternoon off. I was feeling kind of overwhelmed with everything that needed to get done at home. There's the party, and then there are normal things like trimming the bushes before it snows, getting the wash started, and making some lasagna to freeze. Not to mention it's that time of year again and we need to start doing some Christmas shopping. I did remember to schedule a portrait sitting for the family though. Hopefully we can do photocards for Christmas this year; that is if the pictures turn out okay.
Even better Lyle is finally getting paid for his latest contracting gig. Just in time for Christmas! That's the best Christmas present ever ;-) Anyway, time to go back to work. Hope you all have a great weekend!
As Lyle mentioned Keegan was a Lion at daycare and then Tigger for the night. He didn't wear the Tigger costume to daycare because it's a bear (or should I say tiger?) to get off and on; whoever designed this costume was a dodo bird.
Halloween was a bit of a blur. We got home and I fed Keegan his solids for dinner. Then I changed Keegan into some jammies and Lyle and I got his Tigger costume on (yes it took two people to get it on him). Keegan suffered the costume just fine although it took a bit of effort to get him buckled into his carseat with that big fake Tigger belly. Then we dropped Ruby off at my parents house so that she wouldn't be alone when all the trick-or-treaters came to call. We went from there over to Lyle's parents house.
Keegan showed off at his Gma and Gpa Eckert's. We ended up taking his costume off so that Rick and Liz could see how good he crawled. Keegan stood up for them and even took a step before falling back down. We spent a little over an hour there goofing around. Then it was time to suit back up into the Tigger costume and go over to my parents house.
My dad made gluten-free pizza for dinner. This was really yummy and I was absolutely starving. We all exchanged Halloween presents. Halloween is a really big deal in my family so there is always some gift giving going on :-)
Keegan was adorable but it was after 6pm by this point and he was getting tired. We got some video of him loping around in his Tigger costume and then tried to put him down for a nap. He wasn't having any of that. So shortly after 7:30 we left and went home. Keegan's bedtime is 7pm so he was pretty cranky by this point. We had taken off the Tigger costume when we put him down for a nap.
When we got home we realized that our neighbors Tom and Joan were home now. I had promised them earlier in the year that Keegan would stop by to show off his costume. So, looking at my sleepy and cranky baby, I sighed and put him back in the Tigger costume. This time Keegan wasn't so tolerant, he got upset and started crying, but he was only unhappy for a moment. We went over to Tom and Joan's and Keegan picked a pnut butter cup out of the candy jar. Then mommy took the pnut butter cup away from him; this kind of pissed him off. I told him it was a good choice in candy though, and that mommy would eat it later for him :-)
Then it was to bed time for Keegan. While Lyle read Keegan to sleep; I passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Year before last we only had 5 trick-or-treaters come the whole night. This time it was really busy. I think we had 20 trick-or-treaters just between 7:45 and 8:30pm. We had left out candy for kids to take and when I went to retrieve the cauldron of candy (once we got home) it was almost empty. So either we had a lot of trick or treaters before we got back home or a couple kids took a lot of candy...
By 8:30pm, Lyle and I were exhausted. It had been a long and busy day. We were in bed by 9pm. Everyone slept very well through the night. In fact I had to really work to get Keegan to wake up at 6:30am so that I could drop him off at his gma's for the day.
I am very excited that we have a kid now so that someone other than me (in the house) is super excited about Halloween. We have our big Halloween party this Saturday. I am excited about that since quite a few people are going to be coming. Although, I am always amazed at how much work it is to get everything decorated, all the groceries bought, all the creepy foods made, and get the house cleaned up. Unfortunately for us this week is the off week for the cleaners. So, I took yesterday afternoon off to get all of the grocery shopping done and clean up the basement. It was weird to vacuum again; I haven't done that for a while :-)
I just had to take yesterday afternoon off. I was feeling kind of overwhelmed with everything that needed to get done at home. There's the party, and then there are normal things like trimming the bushes before it snows, getting the wash started, and making some lasagna to freeze. Not to mention it's that time of year again and we need to start doing some Christmas shopping. I did remember to schedule a portrait sitting for the family though. Hopefully we can do photocards for Christmas this year; that is if the pictures turn out okay.
Even better Lyle is finally getting paid for his latest contracting gig. Just in time for Christmas! That's the best Christmas present ever ;-) Anyway, time to go back to work. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Keegan the Cat!
Sadly Karissa seems to think that Keegan is a monkey with all the crawling, swinging, and bouncing that he does. However he was a very happy cat yesterday! As Karissa mentioned it was his first Halloween and he dressed up as a lion for daycare, and then was Tigger last night. Boy he is quite the handsome dude when he is all dressed up :) We will get pictures up on the website soon, but it will probably be early next week since we have a lot to do this weekend for some reason.
Also I wanted everyone to know, that I am planning on uploading the video we have taken of Keegan so far. Now sad to say, I was just about to do it because I have them stored on a device that would have made it pretty easy to upload. Sadly the two videos I currently have with me are too large in size so I will have to rerip them to get them smaller so that you can all see them. Again it will probably be some time next week (hopefully).
Things are going pretty well around our house other than the occasional bruising that Keegan sustains from falling over and all that jazz. Karissa got a good video of him standing last night. He can do it for a good 10-30 seconds when he wants to, and has tried to take steps from there. Last night he only made it one step before he fell, but the first one is always the hardest right? Sadly we didn't catch that on video, that was over at my parents house, and we hadn't gotten around to taking out the video camera yet. We do have some great pictures of him standing etc. though.
Lastly I wanted to mention that Karissa and I both heard a report this last week about Doctors now testing for Autism around Keegans age, and up till the age of 2. So we looked at all the "early signs" which can be found here. Anyway just thought I would let you know that it looks like Keegan is doing just fine from that standpoint.
Keegan is a little behind on getting teeth, since he still doesn't have his first one, and most kids have at least one by 9 months. I figure this isn't a problem after hearing a story from a co-worker who's kid started to fall down the stairs and was caught before getting past the first couple. But had his front tooth knocked loose by the impact. They were able to just shove the tooth back in, but it sounded pretty painful! So I figured it is a good thing he doesn't have any based on all the movement he has been doing lately.
Well I have done my good fatherly duty of posting to the blog once every 3 months or so :). -- LATER
Also I wanted everyone to know, that I am planning on uploading the video we have taken of Keegan so far. Now sad to say, I was just about to do it because I have them stored on a device that would have made it pretty easy to upload. Sadly the two videos I currently have with me are too large in size so I will have to rerip them to get them smaller so that you can all see them. Again it will probably be some time next week (hopefully).
Things are going pretty well around our house other than the occasional bruising that Keegan sustains from falling over and all that jazz. Karissa got a good video of him standing last night. He can do it for a good 10-30 seconds when he wants to, and has tried to take steps from there. Last night he only made it one step before he fell, but the first one is always the hardest right? Sadly we didn't catch that on video, that was over at my parents house, and we hadn't gotten around to taking out the video camera yet. We do have some great pictures of him standing etc. though.
Lastly I wanted to mention that Karissa and I both heard a report this last week about Doctors now testing for Autism around Keegans age, and up till the age of 2. So we looked at all the "early signs" which can be found here. Anyway just thought I would let you know that it looks like Keegan is doing just fine from that standpoint.
Keegan is a little behind on getting teeth, since he still doesn't have his first one, and most kids have at least one by 9 months. I figure this isn't a problem after hearing a story from a co-worker who's kid started to fall down the stairs and was caught before getting past the first couple. But had his front tooth knocked loose by the impact. They were able to just shove the tooth back in, but it sounded pretty painful! So I figured it is a good thing he doesn't have any based on all the movement he has been doing lately.
Well I have done my good fatherly duty of posting to the blog once every 3 months or so :). -- LATER
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