Keegan is getting in a lot of teeth. I remember being worried when he didn't have any teeth at 9 months or so. I guess that was the greater-power-that-be's blessing on him. If he had gotten teeth earlier I think he would have knocked them all out between 9-12 months during his adventures in walking, running, scaling bookcases, and surmounting coffee tables.
So now Keegan is getting a lot of teeth, and he is getting them all at once. Truth be told it kind of sucks. He will get crabby for "no good reason" and we can't figure out what to do with him. He knows (and frequently employs) sign language for "eat", "milk", "sleepy", "all done", and "more". Surprisingly these signs actually cover a lot of ground. Unsurprisingly he has a bit of trouble conveying "darnit Mom my teeth really hurt and it totally sucks and I want some Tylenol and something to chew on". So it is kind of left up to us to figure it out.
He makes it pretty easy to figure out though. Sometimes he fingers his mouth and whines (similar to when he tried hot sauce) or he chews on things. By things I mean everything. Nothing is safe from this kid's teeth. Some notable things he has chewed on are: chairs, kitty scratching post, mom, dad, kitty, doggy, dog bone, dog bowl, rocks, his own fingers (followed by crying), and, well, the list could go on and on.
Unfortunately he took teething on foreign objects to new and embarrassing heights when I picked him up from daycare on Wednesday last week. Keegan walks out of daycare on his own. We have a ritual. He has to stop and make the water fountain work, then we wave at the front desk ladies, then Keegan pushes on the door and opens it (with a bit of invisible mommy help), next we stop to watch the wind chimes, finally we get to the car. When we get to the car Keegan likes to pet the hub caps (yes, I know this is odd but he *really* enjoys it) while I throw my purse in the front seat and then in the car he goes.
Well, Wednesday started out like any other day. Keegan went to touch the hub caps on the car and I threw my purse in the car. I looked away maybe 1/60th of a second and when I looked back he was chewing on the tire of the car. I mean talk about something that's been places. He is gnawing on the tire like it is the best thing in the world. Of course he is gnawing on the front tire and we are parked in front the big picture window in front of daycare, so everyone can see him eating our tire. I am torn between the horror of what he is doing and the humor behind it. I am like "Keegan, yucky, yucky, chewing on tires is yucky." So, Keegan, if you ever read this know that you learned one important life lesson from your mother "Chewing on tires is yucky!"
So you are probably wondering if this boy has any teethers. Of course, he has many, but other things are way more interesting to chew on. Today (when I was pulling stuff out of the freezer for dinner) he ran over and pulled a frozen chicken taquito out of the box. After checking to see that taquitos are precooked, I let him go at it. I guess frozen taquitos make awesome teethers. Keegan has 3-4 molars coming in and these seem to be the pain culprits. Hopefully we will get through this without Keegan finding something else that is horribly wrong to chew on.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Could I be any more of a geek?
I think not..... I spent some time creating a google theme for Keegan. Maybe you will enjoy it, but probably not. Anyway it was just something fun for me to do one day when I had a little time. So here are the two google themes for Keegan.
Acropolis -- yes the Acropolis in Athens
Keegan -- due to popular demand....
Sadly it tells me that I need more to do with my time sometimes...
Acropolis -- yes the Acropolis in Athens
Keegan -- due to popular demand....
Sadly it tells me that I need more to do with my time sometimes...
What is that smell?
So first off from the title... Karissa mentioned that she bought some bamboo towels at the Living Green Expo a couple weeks back. Well we have used them for a little while and I can give you an update on what I think of them. First off they are pretty soft which is nice. The towels are super absorbent, as a matter of fact the first thing that happened to one is that it fell in Karissa's bath. I hung it out in the shower and it stayed wet for about a day and a half. It does make drying off fast as they seem to absorb water really well. The only "problem" that I have had with the towels is that the smell like bamboo every time I dry off. I haven't noticed the smell staying with me, which is good, but it does make the bathroom smell a little like wet bamboo for a little bit. It really isn't a problem per se, just kind of weird really.
During our Albertville excursion on Saturday, Keegan walked almost the whole time. We didn't bring the stroller because he has been really good with walking everywhere. Sadly it was raining so we had to try and stay under the awnings that were on the buildings, which Keegan didn't really seem to understand. Every time he saw a puddle he had to try and get to it to splash around in it. I did let him do some puddle hopping while Karissa went ahead to another store from time to time. He really did seem to enjoy himself. The other thing that was really funny is that I gave him some ice, which he really seemed to have fun with. He liked putting it in his mouth, much like the frozen teethers we have been giving him lately because of all the teeth that are starting to apper in his mouth. He does have one molar coming in which I think has been kind of a pain for him. The last thing from Saturday is that we found out that Keegan can be good if kept up too late! Keegan didn't get home and to bed till 9, which is about 2 hours past his normal bedtime. He was actually a pretty good boy through dinner (about 7:15 - 8). Then the car ride home, he didn't fall asleep, and was good. Of course on Sunday morning he didn't want to get up at 6:45 when we were trying to wake him. He seemed kind of annoyed that we woke him up early on Sunday actually.
Swimming lessons were different this week too. We had a different instructor that tried to get the kids to do things they didn't like more often to get them more accustom to swimming. She was trying to get us to keep their ears in the water when the back floated, and was trying to make sure the kids were kicking and moving around on their own accord. This was different from the last instructor who kind of just let the kids get away with anything. They are still too young to really understand how any of this will make a difference later, but I appreciate it more. Keegan was actually kind of a crab during swimming, but he did good considering that he really hadn't had a good nap at all in the morning. The back float was actually really easy for me because I didn't have to force his ears in the water, he just kind of limply floated in the water with me holding his back. He actually got this spaced out look on his face like he could have just gone to sleep right there in the water. The other kid that showed up was fighting her mother with all her might to keep her head above the water. Usually Keegan would do the same thing :).
Karissa also got a present from Daycare yesterday that was a little ..... well..... interesting. Basically it was a picture of Keegan next to some flowers. Which of course is fine. The weird part about it was that in the picture it doesn't look like he is wearing anything. Of course there are no naughty bits showing, much to Keegan's happiness later when he is an adult I am sure. But it just seemed a little funny to me, because I wouldn't feel comfortable taking that into work or something like that. Maybe I am just being a prude, but you know I am getting old ;).
During our Albertville excursion on Saturday, Keegan walked almost the whole time. We didn't bring the stroller because he has been really good with walking everywhere. Sadly it was raining so we had to try and stay under the awnings that were on the buildings, which Keegan didn't really seem to understand. Every time he saw a puddle he had to try and get to it to splash around in it. I did let him do some puddle hopping while Karissa went ahead to another store from time to time. He really did seem to enjoy himself. The other thing that was really funny is that I gave him some ice, which he really seemed to have fun with. He liked putting it in his mouth, much like the frozen teethers we have been giving him lately because of all the teeth that are starting to apper in his mouth. He does have one molar coming in which I think has been kind of a pain for him. The last thing from Saturday is that we found out that Keegan can be good if kept up too late! Keegan didn't get home and to bed till 9, which is about 2 hours past his normal bedtime. He was actually a pretty good boy through dinner (about 7:15 - 8). Then the car ride home, he didn't fall asleep, and was good. Of course on Sunday morning he didn't want to get up at 6:45 when we were trying to wake him. He seemed kind of annoyed that we woke him up early on Sunday actually.
Swimming lessons were different this week too. We had a different instructor that tried to get the kids to do things they didn't like more often to get them more accustom to swimming. She was trying to get us to keep their ears in the water when the back floated, and was trying to make sure the kids were kicking and moving around on their own accord. This was different from the last instructor who kind of just let the kids get away with anything. They are still too young to really understand how any of this will make a difference later, but I appreciate it more. Keegan was actually kind of a crab during swimming, but he did good considering that he really hadn't had a good nap at all in the morning. The back float was actually really easy for me because I didn't have to force his ears in the water, he just kind of limply floated in the water with me holding his back. He actually got this spaced out look on his face like he could have just gone to sleep right there in the water. The other kid that showed up was fighting her mother with all her might to keep her head above the water. Usually Keegan would do the same thing :).
Karissa also got a present from Daycare yesterday that was a little ..... well..... interesting. Basically it was a picture of Keegan next to some flowers. Which of course is fine. The weird part about it was that in the picture it doesn't look like he is wearing anything. Of course there are no naughty bits showing, much to Keegan's happiness later when he is an adult I am sure. But it just seemed a little funny to me, because I wouldn't feel comfortable taking that into work or something like that. Maybe I am just being a prude, but you know I am getting old ;).
Coming out of the closet of his own volition...
Yes, folks Keegan can now open doors all by himself. Granted we have lever handle style doors in our house (as do my parents) but that being said he can open the doors. I usually make sure the doors are locked but that won't stop him for long. At my parents' house he has figured out how to unlock the door and open it. It's great that he is learning but a bit scary as well.
We can also tell that Keegan has a longer memory now. When we drive past Old Navy he yells "ball!". He remembers that there is a vending machine that sells super balls there. If we go into Old Navy he runs up to the door yelling "ball, ball, ball" and then he makes a bee-line to the back of the store where the balls are. This tells you one of two things; either his memory is improving or we go to Old Navy too much ;-) He also remembers where people are. So when we drive up in front of my parents house he starts yelling "gamma, gamma". It is kind of cool that he remembers that stuff.
Next topic... After experiencing a rainy camping trip with a toddler we decided that we would start looking for a pop-up tent trailer. I've learned a lot about tent trailers in the last week. They are called pop-ups, tent trailers, travel trailers, and many other numerous names. They are, in general, about $6000 for your basic bottom-of-the-line trailer, but can go up to $15000. We wanted to spend between $2000-$4000. So we started looking for used trailers. Well we found that trailers don't lose their value all that fast and, while the used tent trailers were larger for the same $6000 price tag, they were also ratty inside and older. We also learned that for some reason there are a lot of nicer tent trailers in the price range we were interested in Milwaukee, WI...why, we will never know. We finally found our "dream" tent trailer on Saturday at North Country RV. They don't sell pop-ups but they had a couple they had obtained for trade-in and they wanted to get rid of them. So for $3500 we got a 12 foot, '95 Jayco J-series 1207. It is in great condition; it's just old. So while the interior decor will make you wince and force you into flashbacks from the 90's...it is very clean and in good condition. No rips, tears, or stains. We pick it up on Thursday. Keegan thought it was super awesome, and there is room for Ruby too. It was kind of a surprise purchase but we were having so much trouble finding something that met our requirements (in condition, size, and price) that we jumped on this deal.
Let's see...of course Mother's Day was Sunday which was hectic but nice. We went to the Breast Cancer Walk at the MOA and then saw my dad's parents. Then Keegan had swimming lessons and we went out to dinner with my parents. It was fun; I got some nice Mother's Day presents. I was happy because on Saturday night we went to the Albertville Outlet Mall and I got to buy a new dress and a couple of shirts. I always have a great time buying clothing :-)
We also took Keegan for a ride in his bike trailer again on Sunday. This time it went a little bit better. He only cried for half of the ride, then he decided he was going to have to live with it and enjoyed the view. I am still a little nervous with the trailer behind me but I think I am getting better with it.
We just have so many fun outside things to do this summer! Camping, boating, and biking...there's just not enough time to get it all in. We've only had the boat out once so far and that also wasn't really popular with Keegan. Hopefully he will get used to it! Anyway, here's hoping to more wonderful weather to come.
We can also tell that Keegan has a longer memory now. When we drive past Old Navy he yells "ball!". He remembers that there is a vending machine that sells super balls there. If we go into Old Navy he runs up to the door yelling "ball, ball, ball" and then he makes a bee-line to the back of the store where the balls are. This tells you one of two things; either his memory is improving or we go to Old Navy too much ;-) He also remembers where people are. So when we drive up in front of my parents house he starts yelling "gamma, gamma". It is kind of cool that he remembers that stuff.
Next topic... After experiencing a rainy camping trip with a toddler we decided that we would start looking for a pop-up tent trailer. I've learned a lot about tent trailers in the last week. They are called pop-ups, tent trailers, travel trailers, and many other numerous names. They are, in general, about $6000 for your basic bottom-of-the-line trailer, but can go up to $15000. We wanted to spend between $2000-$4000. So we started looking for used trailers. Well we found that trailers don't lose their value all that fast and, while the used tent trailers were larger for the same $6000 price tag, they were also ratty inside and older. We also learned that for some reason there are a lot of nicer tent trailers in the price range we were interested in Milwaukee, WI...why, we will never know. We finally found our "dream" tent trailer on Saturday at North Country RV. They don't sell pop-ups but they had a couple they had obtained for trade-in and they wanted to get rid of them. So for $3500 we got a 12 foot, '95 Jayco J-series 1207. It is in great condition; it's just old. So while the interior decor will make you wince and force you into flashbacks from the 90's...it is very clean and in good condition. No rips, tears, or stains. We pick it up on Thursday. Keegan thought it was super awesome, and there is room for Ruby too. It was kind of a surprise purchase but we were having so much trouble finding something that met our requirements (in condition, size, and price) that we jumped on this deal.
Let's see...of course Mother's Day was Sunday which was hectic but nice. We went to the Breast Cancer Walk at the MOA and then saw my dad's parents. Then Keegan had swimming lessons and we went out to dinner with my parents. It was fun; I got some nice Mother's Day presents. I was happy because on Saturday night we went to the Albertville Outlet Mall and I got to buy a new dress and a couple of shirts. I always have a great time buying clothing :-)
We also took Keegan for a ride in his bike trailer again on Sunday. This time it went a little bit better. He only cried for half of the ride, then he decided he was going to have to live with it and enjoyed the view. I am still a little nervous with the trailer behind me but I think I am getting better with it.
We just have so many fun outside things to do this summer! Camping, boating, and biking...there's just not enough time to get it all in. We've only had the boat out once so far and that also wasn't really popular with Keegan. Hopefully he will get used to it! Anyway, here's hoping to more wonderful weather to come.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
First Ride in the Bike Trailer
So the bike trailer we purchased for Keegan was delivered on Monday afternoon. We didn't get to try it out on Tuesday because of the rain but we did get out with it on Wednesday.
Let's just say that the bike trailer was *not* popular! First Keegan did not like the bike helmet, he spent most of the ride trying to get it off. Secondly he just didn't want to be in there. Basically he screamed the whole ride. We only rode around the lake so it probably only took 20 minutes or so; but boy was he angry. When we got home he had worked the strap of the bike helmet into his mouth and was chewing on it.
Later when I was putting on Keegan's jammies I saw that he had red lines and bruises on his thighs where the harness went over his legs. Then I felt bad because on top of this he had just received shots in his thighs at the doctors office earlier in the afternoon. So, maybe he was actually upset because the straps were pinching his already sore thighs. If we take him out tonight we will have to check the straps better.
Hopefully Keegan will get used to the trailer and even grow to like it. Right now though it just makes him cry :-( We didn't get any pictures but we will try to take some the next time we go out.
Speaking of which; yesterday was his 15 month well child visit. He was 31" tall (he grew two inches since his 12 month appointment) and was 23 lbs 4 oz (3 months ago he was 22lbs 14 oz). That puts him at 50% for height and 25% for weight (at 12 months he was 25% for height and 50% for weight). The doctor was a bit concerned about his lack of weight gain but after being in the room with him for 5 minutes she understood. In the 5 minutes she was in there he climbed the stool, swung from the sink, ran the walker toy around the room, found the paper unroll under the exam table (and began unrolling it), tried to get the door open, and tried to push the doctors stool around the room. The doctor's response was "My, oh, my aren't you a busy little boy." I said "Yeah, tell me about it." She said that it was normal for him to drop some weight because of his high activity level and she wouldn't be really concerned unless he still hadn't gained much wait by his 18 month. So, well, I guess that it good. Like normal Keegan turned into a mute when the doctor entered the room; so she still thinks he can't talk :-) He finally told her "bye" and "mooed" for her before she left. No ear problems or anything this time around. I am relieved and now we have another 3 months before the next exam.
Let's just say that the bike trailer was *not* popular! First Keegan did not like the bike helmet, he spent most of the ride trying to get it off. Secondly he just didn't want to be in there. Basically he screamed the whole ride. We only rode around the lake so it probably only took 20 minutes or so; but boy was he angry. When we got home he had worked the strap of the bike helmet into his mouth and was chewing on it.
Later when I was putting on Keegan's jammies I saw that he had red lines and bruises on his thighs where the harness went over his legs. Then I felt bad because on top of this he had just received shots in his thighs at the doctors office earlier in the afternoon. So, maybe he was actually upset because the straps were pinching his already sore thighs. If we take him out tonight we will have to check the straps better.
Hopefully Keegan will get used to the trailer and even grow to like it. Right now though it just makes him cry :-( We didn't get any pictures but we will try to take some the next time we go out.
Speaking of which; yesterday was his 15 month well child visit. He was 31" tall (he grew two inches since his 12 month appointment) and was 23 lbs 4 oz (3 months ago he was 22lbs 14 oz). That puts him at 50% for height and 25% for weight (at 12 months he was 25% for height and 50% for weight). The doctor was a bit concerned about his lack of weight gain but after being in the room with him for 5 minutes she understood. In the 5 minutes she was in there he climbed the stool, swung from the sink, ran the walker toy around the room, found the paper unroll under the exam table (and began unrolling it), tried to get the door open, and tried to push the doctors stool around the room. The doctor's response was "My, oh, my aren't you a busy little boy." I said "Yeah, tell me about it." She said that it was normal for him to drop some weight because of his high activity level and she wouldn't be really concerned unless he still hadn't gained much wait by his 18 month. So, well, I guess that it good. Like normal Keegan turned into a mute when the doctor entered the room; so she still thinks he can't talk :-) He finally told her "bye" and "mooed" for her before she left. No ear problems or anything this time around. I am relieved and now we have another 3 months before the next exam.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Camping, Expoing, and Boating...Oh my
Is expoing a word? Probably not. Anyway I am not sure what you call it when you go to an expo.
As Lyle mentioned camping was an experience this weekend. It was cold and windy and rainy, but Keegan didn't seem to mind. He wasn't too big on playing in the camper. There just wasn't much space for him to run around with me, Lyle, my parents, and 4 greyhounds occupying floor space. It gets crowded with us all squeezed in there. I am hoping later this summer we can use our tent again. It would be nice to get some use out of the tent!
On Sunday we went to the Living Green Expo which was, as always, interesting. I have been wanting to get granite countertops put in; while we were there I saw something more interesting than granite. They can do recycled glass countertops. Check it out here: http://www.vetrazzo.com/products_palette.html Very pretty countertops and very unique looking. So, while Lyle is interested in geothermal heating for the house, I am more interested in new countertops :-)
The other thing I spent some time looking at there are cloth diapers. Most of the cloth diapers now have inserts that you wash instead of the whole diaper. After talking to the lady and reading about "How to wash all of these diapers", I decided I would probably spend as much energy washing diapers as I was saving by not using disposables. So I started looking into an alternative. G diapers have a flushable, biodegradable lining that goes into a cloth outer diaper. I ordered a starter pack; so we will see how that goes... See here for how they work: http://www.gdiapers.com/
As always there were coupons for $$ off organic foods. That is always awesome because it is so hard to get money off all of the organic food we buy. Also interesting information on biking, neat displays of locally made kids toys, oh and of course bamboo clothing. I bought some bamboo towels to give them a try. I'll let ya'll know how that goes :-)
While we are talking green here's an update on the stuff I started using a couple months ago. So far I've really liked the Korres line of face/body care stuff. The Giovanni organic hair care has also been really nice. The Seventh Generation stuff has been kind of hit and miss. Their surface and glass cleaners work really well and don't make my eyes sting. Their fabric softener and toilet cleaner are also awesome. The dishwasher detergent is horrible and leaves awful residue on the dishes. The toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues feel like the cheap stuff you get in a public bathroom. The diapers work really well but, they smell like...welll...pee after Keegan pees in them (not perfumed). We also got a bad case of diapers where none of the tabs were glued to the diapers so I had to send that case back to Amazon. Which really pissed me off.
We've been trying to bring reusable grocery bags to Target when we go. But I have this problem with remembering to put them back into the car. Either that or I get in the store and leave them in the car; hopefully I'll get better at this as I do it more. And the latest green step we are trying to take is to replace the plastic bottles in the house with aluminum or other bisphenol free bottles. We have a Foogo sippy cup for Keegan and I ordered a Sigg cup for him and myself. We'll see how these work. They are a bit pricey but maybe since they are metal I won't accidentally melt them on the heating element of the dishwasher. A number of our plastic cups have lost their lives in this way :-(
Okay onto the boat outing. I am not sure that it was the life jacket that had Keegan all bent out of sorts. That was part of it, but he also didn't like the boat moving back and forth under his feet. Between the boat movement and that huge back flap on the infant life jacket, he was having a lot of trouble falling over and then not being able to get back up. That boy signed "all done" over and over as fast as I have ever seen him do it. I felt kind of bad for him; trying to explain that when you take the boat out on the lake you can't just be all done that fast.
Last night I finally broke down all of the cardboard in the garage for recycling. I am getting antsy to get some more landscaping done this year. Most of the bushes are bought we are just waiting for our "Architectural Change Form" to be approved by the association. It's ridiculous; we want to plant some trees and add some bushes so we need to fill out all these forms. What a joke. Although, we do it because we didn't do it last time and it was quite a hassle to fix. Hopefully the nice weather will continue and we can get out there to enjoy it! Oh, and Keegan's bike trailer is supposed to be getting here any day now! I am excited to try that out.
As Lyle mentioned camping was an experience this weekend. It was cold and windy and rainy, but Keegan didn't seem to mind. He wasn't too big on playing in the camper. There just wasn't much space for him to run around with me, Lyle, my parents, and 4 greyhounds occupying floor space. It gets crowded with us all squeezed in there. I am hoping later this summer we can use our tent again. It would be nice to get some use out of the tent!
On Sunday we went to the Living Green Expo which was, as always, interesting. I have been wanting to get granite countertops put in; while we were there I saw something more interesting than granite. They can do recycled glass countertops. Check it out here: http://www.vetrazzo.com/products_palette.html Very pretty countertops and very unique looking. So, while Lyle is interested in geothermal heating for the house, I am more interested in new countertops :-)
The other thing I spent some time looking at there are cloth diapers. Most of the cloth diapers now have inserts that you wash instead of the whole diaper. After talking to the lady and reading about "How to wash all of these diapers", I decided I would probably spend as much energy washing diapers as I was saving by not using disposables. So I started looking into an alternative. G diapers have a flushable, biodegradable lining that goes into a cloth outer diaper. I ordered a starter pack; so we will see how that goes... See here for how they work: http://www.gdiapers.com/
As always there were coupons for $$ off organic foods. That is always awesome because it is so hard to get money off all of the organic food we buy. Also interesting information on biking, neat displays of locally made kids toys, oh and of course bamboo clothing. I bought some bamboo towels to give them a try. I'll let ya'll know how that goes :-)
While we are talking green here's an update on the stuff I started using a couple months ago. So far I've really liked the Korres line of face/body care stuff. The Giovanni organic hair care has also been really nice. The Seventh Generation stuff has been kind of hit and miss. Their surface and glass cleaners work really well and don't make my eyes sting. Their fabric softener and toilet cleaner are also awesome. The dishwasher detergent is horrible and leaves awful residue on the dishes. The toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues feel like the cheap stuff you get in a public bathroom. The diapers work really well but, they smell like...welll...pee after Keegan pees in them (not perfumed). We also got a bad case of diapers where none of the tabs were glued to the diapers so I had to send that case back to Amazon. Which really pissed me off.
We've been trying to bring reusable grocery bags to Target when we go. But I have this problem with remembering to put them back into the car. Either that or I get in the store and leave them in the car; hopefully I'll get better at this as I do it more. And the latest green step we are trying to take is to replace the plastic bottles in the house with aluminum or other bisphenol free bottles. We have a Foogo sippy cup for Keegan and I ordered a Sigg cup for him and myself. We'll see how these work. They are a bit pricey but maybe since they are metal I won't accidentally melt them on the heating element of the dishwasher. A number of our plastic cups have lost their lives in this way :-(
Okay onto the boat outing. I am not sure that it was the life jacket that had Keegan all bent out of sorts. That was part of it, but he also didn't like the boat moving back and forth under his feet. Between the boat movement and that huge back flap on the infant life jacket, he was having a lot of trouble falling over and then not being able to get back up. That boy signed "all done" over and over as fast as I have ever seen him do it. I felt kind of bad for him; trying to explain that when you take the boat out on the lake you can't just be all done that fast.
Last night I finally broke down all of the cardboard in the garage for recycling. I am getting antsy to get some more landscaping done this year. Most of the bushes are bought we are just waiting for our "Architectural Change Form" to be approved by the association. It's ridiculous; we want to plant some trees and add some bushes so we need to fill out all these forms. What a joke. Although, we do it because we didn't do it last time and it was quite a hassle to fix. Hopefully the nice weather will continue and we can get out there to enjoy it! Oh, and Keegan's bike trailer is supposed to be getting here any day now! I am excited to try that out.
The bitter cold, geothermal, and a monkey on his back
So we went camping this past weekend at Myre state park. We left later than we wanted on Friday due to Keegan taking a nap. We got there around 5 or so on Friday, and the ride down was ok until about a half-hour out, then it started raining so hard that we couldn't see. So we finally get to the campsite, and it is cold and wet and raining. Karissa's parents have an RV, and that is what we were staying in, so we pulled everything out of the car and loaded up in the RV. We hung out for a while, and had dinner. Usually we would cook over the campfire, but that was not happening with all the rain we were getting. Finally it stopped raining, and Keegan, Karissa and I went out to strech our legs. Keegan had a fabulous time in the mud and playing in the puddles! Boy does he love playing in the puddles.....
At one point we found some worms that we tried to get Keegan to play with, but he was not really interested in the worms because there were puddles around that would probably go up to his waist. Anyway we let him play in some of them, and after a little while he was wet up to his knees, and having a grand time just smiling and laughing while splashing around. At this point we decided that he should probably use his rain boots, so we switch his socks and put on his rain boots, which are still way to large for him. Well lets just say it didn't really do much good since Keegan still can't walk really well in those boots. So he kept falling over here and there and getting more of himself wet. At this point a fire was started, and we tried to get him to stay around that. All in all he was having a great time out in the mud, puddles, and cold.
Keegan has learned that he can climb on almost anything as well. He was having a great time climbing from our bed over the back of the table bench and playing there. He was actually being really good in the RV, and we were able to get him to sit down and play at the table with us. Grandma, Karissa and I were rolling a ball over to him, and he was just throwing it back for us to roll back over to him. We were showing him how to roll the ball, and though he did it a couple times, he didn't seem to see why he should roll a ball when he can throw it much better. Either way it was nice to see that he could sit down and play for more than a minute at a time.
Other than that we came back on Saturday night because Friday night didn't work out great for us when it came to sleeping since it rained all night, and it was very windy. Saturday it was really windy all day, and it wasn't fun to hike in really windy conditions with half of the trails either so muddy you would slip or so filled with water there was no way to get across without getting your feet wet. Such is the way of things. Keegan didn't seem to mind being in his backpack carrier, and he did a walk later in the day where we let him walk the whole way and he did quite well.
So Sunday we met some friends and went to the living green expo at the state fair grounds. We walked around and looked at a bunch of stuff. I am not saying we will ever be totally green as a family since we own a big SUV for hauling the dog and kid around at the same time, hauling our pontoon, and doing work around the house. After finishing two basements, I don't think I could have done that with a second small car. Anyway I have been talking about setting up geothermal heating/cooling in our house, and will probably have someone out to do an estimate soon. I would like it if we could reduce our depenance on fossil fuels some, and this is one way we could start. I am hoping that we could start with this and in a few years (or more) put in solar panels. I know a wind turbine would probably work better, but I don't think the Association would agree with us putting up a 50-100 foot tower and hooking up a turbine.
Keegan had a good time going to the expo, we hooked him up to his monkey backpack/harness, and he walked really well to the expo with that on. We also brought the stroller because we knew he wouldn't last the whole time. He ran around a bunch, and was really tired by the time we left an hour later or so. One funny point was that someone asked if they could take his picture with the monkey harness on because they thought it was really cute. After that we did lunch and took Keegan home for a nap, then it was up and doing a walk, and taking the boat out for a spin. Keegan didn't like having his life jacket on, so we had a short spin in the boat because he kept crying and trying to get the vest off. We then went and played with his water and sand table. He kept throwing the sand out, but he had some fun with it I think. After that we did dinner and let him run around like a crazy boy the rest of the night before a bath. When he finally went down, he was so tired he didn't really make a peep.
It was a really busy weekend! I have a feeling that next weekend will probably be very busy as well. Karissa and I were talking about going to the zoo with the friends we met on Sunday. Then of course it is mothers day on Sunday next weekend, so it will be busy! We will have to get the pictures up from the camping trip, we got a few good ones I think.
At one point we found some worms that we tried to get Keegan to play with, but he was not really interested in the worms because there were puddles around that would probably go up to his waist. Anyway we let him play in some of them, and after a little while he was wet up to his knees, and having a grand time just smiling and laughing while splashing around. At this point we decided that he should probably use his rain boots, so we switch his socks and put on his rain boots, which are still way to large for him. Well lets just say it didn't really do much good since Keegan still can't walk really well in those boots. So he kept falling over here and there and getting more of himself wet. At this point a fire was started, and we tried to get him to stay around that. All in all he was having a great time out in the mud, puddles, and cold.
Keegan has learned that he can climb on almost anything as well. He was having a great time climbing from our bed over the back of the table bench and playing there. He was actually being really good in the RV, and we were able to get him to sit down and play at the table with us. Grandma, Karissa and I were rolling a ball over to him, and he was just throwing it back for us to roll back over to him. We were showing him how to roll the ball, and though he did it a couple times, he didn't seem to see why he should roll a ball when he can throw it much better. Either way it was nice to see that he could sit down and play for more than a minute at a time.
Other than that we came back on Saturday night because Friday night didn't work out great for us when it came to sleeping since it rained all night, and it was very windy. Saturday it was really windy all day, and it wasn't fun to hike in really windy conditions with half of the trails either so muddy you would slip or so filled with water there was no way to get across without getting your feet wet. Such is the way of things. Keegan didn't seem to mind being in his backpack carrier, and he did a walk later in the day where we let him walk the whole way and he did quite well.
So Sunday we met some friends and went to the living green expo at the state fair grounds. We walked around and looked at a bunch of stuff. I am not saying we will ever be totally green as a family since we own a big SUV for hauling the dog and kid around at the same time, hauling our pontoon, and doing work around the house. After finishing two basements, I don't think I could have done that with a second small car. Anyway I have been talking about setting up geothermal heating/cooling in our house, and will probably have someone out to do an estimate soon. I would like it if we could reduce our depenance on fossil fuels some, and this is one way we could start. I am hoping that we could start with this and in a few years (or more) put in solar panels. I know a wind turbine would probably work better, but I don't think the Association would agree with us putting up a 50-100 foot tower and hooking up a turbine.
Keegan had a good time going to the expo, we hooked him up to his monkey backpack/harness, and he walked really well to the expo with that on. We also brought the stroller because we knew he wouldn't last the whole time. He ran around a bunch, and was really tired by the time we left an hour later or so. One funny point was that someone asked if they could take his picture with the monkey harness on because they thought it was really cute. After that we did lunch and took Keegan home for a nap, then it was up and doing a walk, and taking the boat out for a spin. Keegan didn't like having his life jacket on, so we had a short spin in the boat because he kept crying and trying to get the vest off. We then went and played with his water and sand table. He kept throwing the sand out, but he had some fun with it I think. After that we did dinner and let him run around like a crazy boy the rest of the night before a bath. When he finally went down, he was so tired he didn't really make a peep.
It was a really busy weekend! I have a feeling that next weekend will probably be very busy as well. Karissa and I were talking about going to the zoo with the friends we met on Sunday. Then of course it is mothers day on Sunday next weekend, so it will be busy! We will have to get the pictures up from the camping trip, we got a few good ones I think.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Goofy grins and outside obessesions.
Lately Keegan has been making the silliest face. He "grins" really big and squints his eyes. It shows off his teeth pretty good, but it looks more like he's in pain than actually grinning. I am not sure where he learned this at; must've been daycare. It makes me wonder where his sweet sincere smile went. Suddenly it's been replaced with this monstrous looking, squinty eyed expression, that I am sure he thinks is absolutely winning. It should work well for him on sunny days though since he's got that squinty thing going on.
Of course we have been spending more time outside. The park is a block away from our house so we have been walking there a lot. Unfortunately this last Friday (and all weekend) it was snowing again and very cold (okay only mid-30's but that's too cold for the end of April). So, much to Keegan's dismay we haven't been playing outside. Let me tell you that kid loves being outside. Keegan spent Friday whining because he wanted outside. He can reach the door knobs now, just barely, so all I have to say is thank goodness for deadbolts.
When we left to go meet Erin and her brand new baby Aurora for lunch; the first thing Keegan did when I opened the garage door was to run past the car and out into the driveway. He wanted to walk to the park, not drive somewhere to eat lunch. Needless to say Keegan made our lunch meeting a bit of a misery. He wouldn't eat and was throwing stuff and in general driving me crazy. We survived but I felt bad for Erin having to put up with his antics.
I mean, in general, Keegan is a good boy; when you tell him to sit down he does (thanks to hard work by my mom), when you tell him to quiet down he sometimes does, he sometimes comes when you call his name, he lets go of something when you ask, and is getting better at putting his food down when you tell him not to throw it. This is a tough age because I don't think he understands discipline real well but he is starting to throw and hit. I think we have nabbed the hitting for the most part but the throwing food thing is still a favorite of his; especially when he is tired.
Then there have been some injuries. Keegan now likes to full-out run but sometimes his feet don't keep up with him. Thursday night he tripped and landed right on his nose on the hard wood floor. He got a bloody nose and was screaming an bleeding everywhere. I swear his nose looks crooked now; although Lyle says I am seeing things. Then yesterday we were walking out to the mailbox when he tripped on the asphalt. He didn't get his hands out to catch himself in time and I head this thud, scrap as his head hit the asphalt and then dragged across it. More screaming ensued and he has a big scrap on his forehead now. Sometimes I am amazed that kids make it past being toddlers...
Anyway it's something new every day with him. A couple days ago he learned how to flush the toilet, and turning the TV off and on is a new favorite. He also knows how to turn up the speakers (but not turn down). Lyle and I were blaming each other for the music being so loud until we saw Mr. Sneaky Pants over there adjusting the volume. Can't wait until he learns to drag that stool around to other places and gets onto the counter.
Hopefully it will stop with this super cold weather/snowing/raining business and be nice some time again. We go camping this weekend so that should be fun!
Of course we have been spending more time outside. The park is a block away from our house so we have been walking there a lot. Unfortunately this last Friday (and all weekend) it was snowing again and very cold (okay only mid-30's but that's too cold for the end of April). So, much to Keegan's dismay we haven't been playing outside. Let me tell you that kid loves being outside. Keegan spent Friday whining because he wanted outside. He can reach the door knobs now, just barely, so all I have to say is thank goodness for deadbolts.
When we left to go meet Erin and her brand new baby Aurora for lunch; the first thing Keegan did when I opened the garage door was to run past the car and out into the driveway. He wanted to walk to the park, not drive somewhere to eat lunch. Needless to say Keegan made our lunch meeting a bit of a misery. He wouldn't eat and was throwing stuff and in general driving me crazy. We survived but I felt bad for Erin having to put up with his antics.
I mean, in general, Keegan is a good boy; when you tell him to sit down he does (thanks to hard work by my mom), when you tell him to quiet down he sometimes does, he sometimes comes when you call his name, he lets go of something when you ask, and is getting better at putting his food down when you tell him not to throw it. This is a tough age because I don't think he understands discipline real well but he is starting to throw and hit. I think we have nabbed the hitting for the most part but the throwing food thing is still a favorite of his; especially when he is tired.
Then there have been some injuries. Keegan now likes to full-out run but sometimes his feet don't keep up with him. Thursday night he tripped and landed right on his nose on the hard wood floor. He got a bloody nose and was screaming an bleeding everywhere. I swear his nose looks crooked now; although Lyle says I am seeing things. Then yesterday we were walking out to the mailbox when he tripped on the asphalt. He didn't get his hands out to catch himself in time and I head this thud, scrap as his head hit the asphalt and then dragged across it. More screaming ensued and he has a big scrap on his forehead now. Sometimes I am amazed that kids make it past being toddlers...
Anyway it's something new every day with him. A couple days ago he learned how to flush the toilet, and turning the TV off and on is a new favorite. He also knows how to turn up the speakers (but not turn down). Lyle and I were blaming each other for the music being so loud until we saw Mr. Sneaky Pants over there adjusting the volume. Can't wait until he learns to drag that stool around to other places and gets onto the counter.
Hopefully it will stop with this super cold weather/snowing/raining business and be nice some time again. We go camping this weekend so that should be fun!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Spring has Sprung!
I think we can all finally agree that spring is finally here in Minnesota. I don't know about everyone else but I am hoping we don't get any more snow until October/November.
While we were out walking yesterday night I was thinking about how special and exciting spring is for those who live in colder climates. I don't think I would be nearly as happy with spring arriving if I hadn't struggled through 6 months of winter before hand. I mean, wow, the first time it goes above 50 degrees I think that the whole state of MN is in a great mood!
While we were walking last night, enjoying the spring breeze, the sun, and the fact that the lake is almost ice-free I was watching Keegan. Keegan finds every bird, piece of grass, tree, leaf and bush fascinating. Thinking about it I realized that Keegan probably doesn't remember last spring or even last summer. So all of this is new to him. It was a lot of fun to watch him enjoy walking on the springy grass and touching the bushes and pine trees. He thinks the lake is really cool but a little intimidating. Oh, and he really loves collecting rocks and sharing them with Lyle and me. It made me look forward to this summer even more. It will be like everything is brand new to him, and this time, he can really appreciate it! Last summer he couldn't do much.
Speaking of which we have our first camping trip of the year planned for the first weekend in May. I have a feeling taking Keegan camping is going to be lots of fun this year. He absolutely loves being outside and there will be *so* much for him to see!
While we were out walking yesterday night I was thinking about how special and exciting spring is for those who live in colder climates. I don't think I would be nearly as happy with spring arriving if I hadn't struggled through 6 months of winter before hand. I mean, wow, the first time it goes above 50 degrees I think that the whole state of MN is in a great mood!
While we were walking last night, enjoying the spring breeze, the sun, and the fact that the lake is almost ice-free I was watching Keegan. Keegan finds every bird, piece of grass, tree, leaf and bush fascinating. Thinking about it I realized that Keegan probably doesn't remember last spring or even last summer. So all of this is new to him. It was a lot of fun to watch him enjoy walking on the springy grass and touching the bushes and pine trees. He thinks the lake is really cool but a little intimidating. Oh, and he really loves collecting rocks and sharing them with Lyle and me. It made me look forward to this summer even more. It will be like everything is brand new to him, and this time, he can really appreciate it! Last summer he couldn't do much.
Speaking of which we have our first camping trip of the year planned for the first weekend in May. I have a feeling taking Keegan camping is going to be lots of fun this year. He absolutely loves being outside and there will be *so* much for him to see!
Monday, April 14, 2008
A bunch of brunch
We have been trying to meet with a couple of our friends at least once a month for brunch. With Dungeons and Dragons two Saturdays a month and all of the other stuff we have going on, we realized that our Sunday mornings are the only things consistently open. So this time frame lent itself to Brunch.
So far we have had brunch at Chianti Grill in Falcon Heights, Lake Elmo Inn in Lake Elmo, and, most recently, Granite City in Roseville.
Lake Elmo Inn was a bust. The service was mediocre, the food okay, the cost really expensive, and everyone got sick afterwards. Chianti Grill is pretty good for service and has a huge variety of food for a reasonable price. Granite City has good food but a more limited menu, with good service, and a fairly reasonable price. But, all this is not why I am writing this entry. Since this blog is about Keegan; I am writing to tell about Keegan's Granite City brunch experience.
Keegan refused to take a nap Sunday morning. He always refuses to take a nap when we are meeting for brunch. Somehow he knows. So, like usual he fell asleep in the car on the way to brunch. We got there a little before 10am so we had to wait in the outside lobby with some other folks.
Now one plus to Granite City is the really cool stone walls in the outer lobby. Keegan thought these were awesome and spent a lot of time feeling them. Then there were the tinted glass doors into the restaurant; Keegan thought these were good for sucking on (can't imagine what that looked like from the inside).
Upon entering the restaurant, there were...BALLOONS! So Keegan got a balloon; which he always refuses to let me tie onto his wrist. It was a big balloon almost as tall as he was. The we got seated right next to the brunch line. This was awesome for Keegan, who loves watching all the people and waving at them to say "Hi".
The next best thing for Keegan were the fresh strawberries. He ate a ton of fresh strawberries. He *loves* strawberries. About 45 minutes into brunch he started getting antsy. As I mentioned he skipped his nap and was tired. So all of the sudden he let out a wail and threw his head down onto the table in despair. This was a hint that we needed a change of pace.
Since the restaurant was spacious I took him out of his highchair, and after trying to hold him, gave up and let him romp. I followed around after him. Apparently Keegan really dug the music they were playing. He ran into a clearing in the center of the restaurant and started shaking his booty and bopping his arms up and down. He was dancing like there was no tomorrow. It always strikes me as odd how Keegan has no concept of embarrassment. Anyway, his little dance was kind of cute. He got a little applause and a mom near me asked if I would mind if her little girl joined Keegan on the "dance floor". So for a couple seconds Keegan almost had a dance partner, but the little girl was scared to get down so that was the end of that.
Then it was time to walk down the aisle next to the booths and (in a bopping dance-like walk)wave and say "hi" to everyone. Thank goodness Keegan is super cute and people are super tolerant. Many of them waved back, making Keegan's day. A number of people asked how old he was and expressed surprise that he was only 14 months old. We are getting used to this; apparently he walks and talks too well for his age :-)
Then we had to go stand in the hallway by the bathroom and continue our dance-a-thon. Occasionally Keegan would try and make a break for the kitchen. Then we returned to the table and Keegan wanted his balloon. He wouldn't let me tie it on his arm so I tied it to the back of his pants. Keegan then ran up and down the hall by the bathroom trying to keep the balloon from getting him. At least it made him highly visible (for me) and it was funny to watch a giant red balloon bopping behind Keegan.
After that it was back up to the lobby. Where he pointed and tried to "talk" the hostess into giving him another balloon. I told him he had enough balloon for one day and we started back towards our table.
At this point I suppose I should mention that there were at least 11 babies in the dining room; all between the ages of 0 - 2 years. As such, the employees were very patient when I had to usher Keegan out of the way or when Keegan was "walking" up the stairs in his usual slow way. Keegan also liked to stop and watch the babies and try to get them to dance with him.
Lyle and I switched off walking around with Keegan for about 15 minutes before our check finally came. Keegan had a grand ol' time; but by the time we left he was super super tired.
Cate and Chris tolerated the constant ebb and flow of conversation well :-) I always feel bad when either Lyle or I have to leave to go watch Keegan. On the way out Keegan held Chris's and Lyle's hands and convinced them to swing him along on the way to the car. Cate teased that she was getting tired just watching the whole experience ;-)
Keegan always manages to turn something basic like brunch into the active social event of the season. I have met more "strangers" than ever before since I have had Keegan. Keegan does not get embarrassed or judge people. If a person says Hi to him they are awesome, if they don't they are boring. He thinks everyone is a great opportunity for excitement! Maybe we could all learn something from his care-free attitude toward humanity.
So far we have had brunch at Chianti Grill in Falcon Heights, Lake Elmo Inn in Lake Elmo, and, most recently, Granite City in Roseville.
Lake Elmo Inn was a bust. The service was mediocre, the food okay, the cost really expensive, and everyone got sick afterwards. Chianti Grill is pretty good for service and has a huge variety of food for a reasonable price. Granite City has good food but a more limited menu, with good service, and a fairly reasonable price. But, all this is not why I am writing this entry. Since this blog is about Keegan; I am writing to tell about Keegan's Granite City brunch experience.
Keegan refused to take a nap Sunday morning. He always refuses to take a nap when we are meeting for brunch. Somehow he knows. So, like usual he fell asleep in the car on the way to brunch. We got there a little before 10am so we had to wait in the outside lobby with some other folks.
Now one plus to Granite City is the really cool stone walls in the outer lobby. Keegan thought these were awesome and spent a lot of time feeling them. Then there were the tinted glass doors into the restaurant; Keegan thought these were good for sucking on (can't imagine what that looked like from the inside).
Upon entering the restaurant, there were...BALLOONS! So Keegan got a balloon; which he always refuses to let me tie onto his wrist. It was a big balloon almost as tall as he was. The we got seated right next to the brunch line. This was awesome for Keegan, who loves watching all the people and waving at them to say "Hi".
The next best thing for Keegan were the fresh strawberries. He ate a ton of fresh strawberries. He *loves* strawberries. About 45 minutes into brunch he started getting antsy. As I mentioned he skipped his nap and was tired. So all of the sudden he let out a wail and threw his head down onto the table in despair. This was a hint that we needed a change of pace.
Since the restaurant was spacious I took him out of his highchair, and after trying to hold him, gave up and let him romp. I followed around after him. Apparently Keegan really dug the music they were playing. He ran into a clearing in the center of the restaurant and started shaking his booty and bopping his arms up and down. He was dancing like there was no tomorrow. It always strikes me as odd how Keegan has no concept of embarrassment. Anyway, his little dance was kind of cute. He got a little applause and a mom near me asked if I would mind if her little girl joined Keegan on the "dance floor". So for a couple seconds Keegan almost had a dance partner, but the little girl was scared to get down so that was the end of that.
Then it was time to walk down the aisle next to the booths and (in a bopping dance-like walk)wave and say "hi" to everyone. Thank goodness Keegan is super cute and people are super tolerant. Many of them waved back, making Keegan's day. A number of people asked how old he was and expressed surprise that he was only 14 months old. We are getting used to this; apparently he walks and talks too well for his age :-)
Then we had to go stand in the hallway by the bathroom and continue our dance-a-thon. Occasionally Keegan would try and make a break for the kitchen. Then we returned to the table and Keegan wanted his balloon. He wouldn't let me tie it on his arm so I tied it to the back of his pants. Keegan then ran up and down the hall by the bathroom trying to keep the balloon from getting him. At least it made him highly visible (for me) and it was funny to watch a giant red balloon bopping behind Keegan.
After that it was back up to the lobby. Where he pointed and tried to "talk" the hostess into giving him another balloon. I told him he had enough balloon for one day and we started back towards our table.
At this point I suppose I should mention that there were at least 11 babies in the dining room; all between the ages of 0 - 2 years. As such, the employees were very patient when I had to usher Keegan out of the way or when Keegan was "walking" up the stairs in his usual slow way. Keegan also liked to stop and watch the babies and try to get them to dance with him.
Lyle and I switched off walking around with Keegan for about 15 minutes before our check finally came. Keegan had a grand ol' time; but by the time we left he was super super tired.
Cate and Chris tolerated the constant ebb and flow of conversation well :-) I always feel bad when either Lyle or I have to leave to go watch Keegan. On the way out Keegan held Chris's and Lyle's hands and convinced them to swing him along on the way to the car. Cate teased that she was getting tired just watching the whole experience ;-)
Keegan always manages to turn something basic like brunch into the active social event of the season. I have met more "strangers" than ever before since I have had Keegan. Keegan does not get embarrassed or judge people. If a person says Hi to him they are awesome, if they don't they are boring. He thinks everyone is a great opportunity for excitement! Maybe we could all learn something from his care-free attitude toward humanity.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Dancing in the Shower
Keegan has another funny thing that he has been doing. He likes to go into the shower and stomp around. It makes a soft thump noise because, well, he's in the shower. Yesterday when I brought him home from daycare he ran right into the bathroom and went into the shower and starting stomping in circles in the shower and said "da, da, da, da" and laughing at himself. It's a good thing babies are naturally a bit strange because if I came home and found Lyle doing that I would be pretty worried about his sanity.
Oh and when I picked Keegan up from daycare his teacher had a story for me. Apparently it was only him and one other kid early in the morning. She was changing the diaper of the other kid and, when she looked up, Keegan was standing on top of the shelves with the toys on them. Granted the shelf is only a couple feet high, but she said it scared her and she wanted to let me know that he could do that. I laughed and told her about him climbing on top of the coffee table.
As for our first Friday at home together, we had a lot of fun. It was absolutely beautiful outside, 60 degrees and sunny. We got up and had breakfast, went grocery shopping, and did the wash. Keegan was very helpful; he helped me sort out the cloths and helped go grocery shopping by putting the kiwis and apples into the bag I held out for him. Then we went on the deck and brushed the kitties. Keegan helped brush them for a bit and then him and Seras (three-legs) ran around the deck chasing wisps of cat hair. Then we had to go out in the backyard and play with Ruby. I threw Ruby's toy for her and Keegan laughed and laughed as Ruby jumped around chasing it. Since Keegan's slide is outside now, we had to do a couple slides down that before going in too.
Then it was time for lunch and then a walk. We walked to the park and Keegan loved playing on the toddler climbing structure. He had a run in with a two year old there who tried to kick him off of the play structure. The little kid would run up and say "No baby here!" and block Keegan's way. Keegan could have cared less but the kid's mother was embarrassed and she took him to a different area of the playground. After that Keegan signed "all done" and then ran over to the swing set and signed "more". So I put him up in the swing and we did that for a while. Poor Ruby got dragged around behind me the whole time. She didn't mind too much though because she was the star of the playground and everyone wanted to pet her. Then we were "all done" with the swing and I put him back in the stroller.
We didn't get to walk very far though because both Keegan and Ruby were really tired. So we went home. I asked Keegan if he wanted to make some brownies; he went and laid down on the living room floor and laid his head on Jubei. I guess he was tired. So he went down for a nap and I made brownies, finished the wash, and played some video games. I guess I wore the little guy out! Good to know I can at least keep up with him all day.
It was a busy day but it was lots of fun! I hope that we have fun this Friday too!
Well there's your update. Back to work.
Oh and when I picked Keegan up from daycare his teacher had a story for me. Apparently it was only him and one other kid early in the morning. She was changing the diaper of the other kid and, when she looked up, Keegan was standing on top of the shelves with the toys on them. Granted the shelf is only a couple feet high, but she said it scared her and she wanted to let me know that he could do that. I laughed and told her about him climbing on top of the coffee table.
As for our first Friday at home together, we had a lot of fun. It was absolutely beautiful outside, 60 degrees and sunny. We got up and had breakfast, went grocery shopping, and did the wash. Keegan was very helpful; he helped me sort out the cloths and helped go grocery shopping by putting the kiwis and apples into the bag I held out for him. Then we went on the deck and brushed the kitties. Keegan helped brush them for a bit and then him and Seras (three-legs) ran around the deck chasing wisps of cat hair. Then we had to go out in the backyard and play with Ruby. I threw Ruby's toy for her and Keegan laughed and laughed as Ruby jumped around chasing it. Since Keegan's slide is outside now, we had to do a couple slides down that before going in too.
Then it was time for lunch and then a walk. We walked to the park and Keegan loved playing on the toddler climbing structure. He had a run in with a two year old there who tried to kick him off of the play structure. The little kid would run up and say "No baby here!" and block Keegan's way. Keegan could have cared less but the kid's mother was embarrassed and she took him to a different area of the playground. After that Keegan signed "all done" and then ran over to the swing set and signed "more". So I put him up in the swing and we did that for a while. Poor Ruby got dragged around behind me the whole time. She didn't mind too much though because she was the star of the playground and everyone wanted to pet her. Then we were "all done" with the swing and I put him back in the stroller.
We didn't get to walk very far though because both Keegan and Ruby were really tired. So we went home. I asked Keegan if he wanted to make some brownies; he went and laid down on the living room floor and laid his head on Jubei. I guess he was tired. So he went down for a nap and I made brownies, finished the wash, and played some video games. I guess I wore the little guy out! Good to know I can at least keep up with him all day.
It was a busy day but it was lots of fun! I hope that we have fun this Friday too!
Well there's your update. Back to work.
Birdie birdie in the sky, why did you drop that in my eye
Keegan has learned another word. Yesterday when he came home from daycare he started saying "bird"... well it doesn't exactly sound like bird, but pretty close. They mentioned at daycare that he had started to say bird, and we were really excited that he learned another word. You can tell that he actually understands bird as well. When we would say bird, he would look out the window and point to the bird if one was in sight and then say bird. Sooooo that is kind of a cool development for him.
Keegan can also now say "mooo" and does a pretty good job with that. He is learning that cow's say moo, and hopefully he will understand that he probably won't see a cow anytime soon :). I was mentioning last night that we might as well have brought Keegan up on a farm considering that he really only says animals names for the most part. I mean he says the hi, bye etc, but has learned squirell, bird, duck, and what cows say. So maybe that means he will be a farmer.... wait by the time he grows up farming might be fully automated... makes you wonder doesn't it :).
Other than that Keegan has been happy at daycare lately, and hasn't even complained when I have been leaving, which is a nice change. We also have made a few trips to the park this spring, and he has been enjoying the slides, and running around on the play equipment. Luckily we are really close to a park, so we have been stopping by on our way out on a walk. I guess that is really all for now!
Keegan can also now say "mooo" and does a pretty good job with that. He is learning that cow's say moo, and hopefully he will understand that he probably won't see a cow anytime soon :). I was mentioning last night that we might as well have brought Keegan up on a farm considering that he really only says animals names for the most part. I mean he says the hi, bye etc, but has learned squirell, bird, duck, and what cows say. So maybe that means he will be a farmer.... wait by the time he grows up farming might be fully automated... makes you wonder doesn't it :).
Other than that Keegan has been happy at daycare lately, and hasn't even complained when I have been leaving, which is a nice change. We also have made a few trips to the park this spring, and he has been enjoying the slides, and running around on the play equipment. Luckily we are really close to a park, so we have been stopping by on our way out on a walk. I guess that is really all for now!
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Happy days are here again!
You might think I am talking about springtime, and it's true that that's just around the corner, but I am really talking about having my happy-to-be-at-daycare baby back. Last week we were still going through Keegan throwing fits when we left him at daycare. Then when we picked him up there would be comments about how he was grouchy and "just not himself." Well finally this week that has stopped.
When I dropped Keegan off at daycare yesterday he immediately busied himself with digging through the toy basket. He pulled out a ball and brought it too me. We played with the ball for a couple minutes. Then his teacher came in and asked Keegan if he wanted to come help with the laundry. Keegan smiled and let teacher pick him up and off they went. I was like "Umm...okay, bye then." When I went to pick him up from daycare I was greeted by numerous people stopping me on the way to Keegan's classroom to tell me what a happy boy he was all day. I went in to get him and he was studiously organizing the toys in the toy basket. When I said "Hi Keegan" he looked up and smiled and then went right back to "work". Ends up his work was to find his favorite ball and then run over and give it to me. He was so proud of himself. No tears, no screaming. As we left he smiled and waved bye to everyone. It was very refreshing.
This morning when Lyle dropped Keegan off; Keegan's teacher came over and tickled him and he was giggling up a storm when Lyle left. It is such a relief to have the "wonderful and happy" child at daycare. I didn't really like my stint as "that mom with the crabby kid". It wasn't fun to come in and have the lady at the front desk sigh and say "Oh, it's Keegan. I hope he's happier today."
On another note; Keegan and I have our first day off together this Friday. It is supposed to be in the upper 50's and sunny. We will have to find something really fun to do outside. I am determined to spend the day doing more than just grocery shopping and the wash!
Speaking of fun....Keegan has a new activity that he just loves. He accidentally dropped a ball from his ball pit over the railing to the basement. Well...the cats all got up and chased the ball down the stairs. So now this is a new game for Keegan. He throws a ball downstairs and the cats chase it. It is something that occupies him for 30 minutes or so. I guess it is good exercise for him and for the cats. Unfortunately though someone needs to go down and pick up the balls afterwards. I convinced Keegan to spend some time putting the balls into a bag I had so that we could put them back into the ball pit. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long and I ended up crawling around the basement collecting balls.
The other thing Keegan has figured out is how to drag his step stool around places. The other night I turned around and he was standing on the coffee table. It was so funny, he was so proud of himself. Thank goodness he has learned how to get down from places. He no longer walks off of the edge but bends down and swings his feet over. It's fun to see him learn new things; even if they aren't always good things!
When I dropped Keegan off at daycare yesterday he immediately busied himself with digging through the toy basket. He pulled out a ball and brought it too me. We played with the ball for a couple minutes. Then his teacher came in and asked Keegan if he wanted to come help with the laundry. Keegan smiled and let teacher pick him up and off they went. I was like "Umm...okay, bye then." When I went to pick him up from daycare I was greeted by numerous people stopping me on the way to Keegan's classroom to tell me what a happy boy he was all day. I went in to get him and he was studiously organizing the toys in the toy basket. When I said "Hi Keegan" he looked up and smiled and then went right back to "work". Ends up his work was to find his favorite ball and then run over and give it to me. He was so proud of himself. No tears, no screaming. As we left he smiled and waved bye to everyone. It was very refreshing.
This morning when Lyle dropped Keegan off; Keegan's teacher came over and tickled him and he was giggling up a storm when Lyle left. It is such a relief to have the "wonderful and happy" child at daycare. I didn't really like my stint as "that mom with the crabby kid". It wasn't fun to come in and have the lady at the front desk sigh and say "Oh, it's Keegan. I hope he's happier today."
On another note; Keegan and I have our first day off together this Friday. It is supposed to be in the upper 50's and sunny. We will have to find something really fun to do outside. I am determined to spend the day doing more than just grocery shopping and the wash!
Speaking of fun....Keegan has a new activity that he just loves. He accidentally dropped a ball from his ball pit over the railing to the basement. Well...the cats all got up and chased the ball down the stairs. So now this is a new game for Keegan. He throws a ball downstairs and the cats chase it. It is something that occupies him for 30 minutes or so. I guess it is good exercise for him and for the cats. Unfortunately though someone needs to go down and pick up the balls afterwards. I convinced Keegan to spend some time putting the balls into a bag I had so that we could put them back into the ball pit. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long and I ended up crawling around the basement collecting balls.
The other thing Keegan has figured out is how to drag his step stool around places. The other night I turned around and he was standing on the coffee table. It was so funny, he was so proud of himself. Thank goodness he has learned how to get down from places. He no longer walks off of the edge but bends down and swings his feet over. It's fun to see him learn new things; even if they aren't always good things!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Jumping and Diving
It was a very, very busy weekend this weekend. We had a lot of fun and Keegan got to try some new things. On Saturday we had a birthday party for my ex-coworker's son at Club Just Jump. It's a place where there are a whole bunch of inflatable play things. There is a classic giant inflatable jumping area. There were two inflatable mazes with climbing walls and slides. There was also a giant inflatable slide. It was awesome. I had a great time. Keegan had a really good time too, and so did Lyle. It was a great place for Keegan to play because if he fell down he just bounced around a bit. He loved the slides (so did I) and he loved the big jumping area. The whole time we were there Keegan was a man on a mission; he had so many things he had to get done :-) There were a lot of comments about how cute he was and how determined and observant he was for his age. It's always nice for people to tell you your kid is cute! We met a lot of people there and I got to see a lot of my coworkers who have moved to 3M. It was super fun. Sunday morning Lyle and I were both kind of sore. Too much throwing our aging bodies around on those toys!
On Sunday morning we got up and cleaned the house and got ready for people to come over to play games. Keegan was really good all morning and amused himself in his new pop-up ball pit that I put up in the living room. Keegan also spent a lot of time "reading" books. We played games until noon and then as everyone left we hurried up to eat lunch and headed to Keegan's first swimming lesson.
Lyle took Keegan in the pool and I took pictures. Keegan was a little concerned about the whole thing but didn't get upset. He had his "Blue Steel" face on most of the time. Anyone who has seen the movie Zoolander knows what I am talking about; yep, he looks just like that. Keegan's Blue Steel look means he is concentrating and taking in information but that he's not entirely sure he likes what's going on. Me, my mom, and my dad all watched from the sidelines and clapped for Keegan and the other babies when they got dunked or blew bubbles or whatever. I have to say that you can always tell where the "Tots 1" class is being held. There are lots of parents with cameras and lots of clapping for the babies. Babies love clapping and all that clapping made them pretty happy; Keegan even cracked some smiles. Keegan was by far the youngest one there. Most of the kids were over two. It was a little difficult for him because they were doing the hokey pokey and he doesn't really know left/right foot etc. yet.
It went well though. After that we went home and took a long walk around the lakes (3-4 miles) while Keegan chilled in the stroller. Then it was back home and time to make dinner. We sat down for a quick dinner and then I took Keegan down for a bath while Lyle got ready for hockey. Lyle had an early hockey game and Keegan and I were going to watch him play. We drove separately because Keegan was super tired and I was worried we might have a melt down. Keegan did really good. We sat right by the glass and watched up close for a bit. Keegan sat really nice on my lap and took everything in for about 10-15 minutes. Then he wanted to boogie.
We walked the bleachers and Keegan found some cheerios on the ground; he tried to eat them so I relocated us to a new area. Then Keegan found some popcorn. I relocated us again to a big area of concrete that overlooks the rink. He ran around there for a while. Then my parents showed up and Keegan wanted gpa to hold him. Then Keegan wanted down and spent a lot of timing standing up on the bar of the railing holding onto the rails and watching the game. It was such a Keegan thing to do. Anyway, in an hour the game was over (Lyle's team won 6-3). Of course a big fight had to break out at the end (which Lyle was not involved in); so we left and went home. At home we did the normal routine of bottle, jammies, and bedtime. I've been reading chapters of the Edgar and Ellen series to Keegan while he drinks his bottle. The chapters are short and funny and there are some pictures.
Keegan went to sleep and I went downstairs to work on the castle/dragon mural in Keegan's soon to be bedroom. That was pretty much it for the day. It was busy but lots of fun.
Now it is snowing outside and that is really a bummer. It looks like it's supposed to go into (and stay in!) the 50's later this week. We are really looking forward to that! We also moved Keegan's slide/fort thing outside yesterday. Hoping that it will soon be warm enough to go sliding outside!
On Sunday morning we got up and cleaned the house and got ready for people to come over to play games. Keegan was really good all morning and amused himself in his new pop-up ball pit that I put up in the living room. Keegan also spent a lot of time "reading" books. We played games until noon and then as everyone left we hurried up to eat lunch and headed to Keegan's first swimming lesson.
Lyle took Keegan in the pool and I took pictures. Keegan was a little concerned about the whole thing but didn't get upset. He had his "Blue Steel" face on most of the time. Anyone who has seen the movie Zoolander knows what I am talking about; yep, he looks just like that. Keegan's Blue Steel look means he is concentrating and taking in information but that he's not entirely sure he likes what's going on. Me, my mom, and my dad all watched from the sidelines and clapped for Keegan and the other babies when they got dunked or blew bubbles or whatever. I have to say that you can always tell where the "Tots 1" class is being held. There are lots of parents with cameras and lots of clapping for the babies. Babies love clapping and all that clapping made them pretty happy; Keegan even cracked some smiles. Keegan was by far the youngest one there. Most of the kids were over two. It was a little difficult for him because they were doing the hokey pokey and he doesn't really know left/right foot etc. yet.
It went well though. After that we went home and took a long walk around the lakes (3-4 miles) while Keegan chilled in the stroller. Then it was back home and time to make dinner. We sat down for a quick dinner and then I took Keegan down for a bath while Lyle got ready for hockey. Lyle had an early hockey game and Keegan and I were going to watch him play. We drove separately because Keegan was super tired and I was worried we might have a melt down. Keegan did really good. We sat right by the glass and watched up close for a bit. Keegan sat really nice on my lap and took everything in for about 10-15 minutes. Then he wanted to boogie.
We walked the bleachers and Keegan found some cheerios on the ground; he tried to eat them so I relocated us to a new area. Then Keegan found some popcorn. I relocated us again to a big area of concrete that overlooks the rink. He ran around there for a while. Then my parents showed up and Keegan wanted gpa to hold him. Then Keegan wanted down and spent a lot of timing standing up on the bar of the railing holding onto the rails and watching the game. It was such a Keegan thing to do. Anyway, in an hour the game was over (Lyle's team won 6-3). Of course a big fight had to break out at the end (which Lyle was not involved in); so we left and went home. At home we did the normal routine of bottle, jammies, and bedtime. I've been reading chapters of the Edgar and Ellen series to Keegan while he drinks his bottle. The chapters are short and funny and there are some pictures.
Keegan went to sleep and I went downstairs to work on the castle/dragon mural in Keegan's soon to be bedroom. That was pretty much it for the day. It was busy but lots of fun.
Now it is snowing outside and that is really a bummer. It looks like it's supposed to go into (and stay in!) the 50's later this week. We are really looking forward to that! We also moved Keegan's slide/fort thing outside yesterday. Hoping that it will soon be warm enough to go sliding outside!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
It's a killer bunny!!
Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a good time during the Easter weekend. We actually had a pretty easy one compared to some that we have done in the past. We made the rounds to both our parents houses, and were the only people to be visiting at both places. So needless to say there wasn't much going on since Keegan is still too small to go easter egg hunting. We just kind of hung out and enjoyed the company. Sadly Keegan and Karissa were both sick, so neither of them were their chipper selves. Keegan was really tired, and has been sleeping a lot over the last couple of days. Actually Keegan puked in the middle of Saturday night (1:30 or so) but that was the only really bad episode that he had. Anyway we all three got candy and other fun stuff for Easter, and look forward to rotting our teeth when we all feel better :).
Keegan has more teeth coming in as well. He has had three teeth for quite a while, the bottom front teeth and the left top front tooth. Now Keegan has the last front tooth coming in, and 2 more on either side of the front teeth on both the top and bottom. So basically 5 teeth all coming in at the same time. He was having some problems sleeping a week or so ago because of it, but has since been fine with the extra teeth now that they are almost all through the gums and sprouting out from there.
Daycare has still been a struggle, but not as much of one as it was when we first came back from Florida. Yesterday when I dropped him off he wasn't happy about it, but didn't through a complete fit before I left the building, which is much better than what had been happening.
Other than that, not much is going on. I am switching contracts on 4/1 to ECMC in downtown St. Paul, which should be fun. I don't really have much left to do at work, which is kind of nice sometimes. It should mean that I write a couple of more blog posts, but sadly that hasn't been happening.
Keegan has more teeth coming in as well. He has had three teeth for quite a while, the bottom front teeth and the left top front tooth. Now Keegan has the last front tooth coming in, and 2 more on either side of the front teeth on both the top and bottom. So basically 5 teeth all coming in at the same time. He was having some problems sleeping a week or so ago because of it, but has since been fine with the extra teeth now that they are almost all through the gums and sprouting out from there.
Daycare has still been a struggle, but not as much of one as it was when we first came back from Florida. Yesterday when I dropped him off he wasn't happy about it, but didn't through a complete fit before I left the building, which is much better than what had been happening.
Other than that, not much is going on. I am switching contracts on 4/1 to ECMC in downtown St. Paul, which should be fun. I don't really have much left to do at work, which is kind of nice sometimes. It should mean that I write a couple of more blog posts, but sadly that hasn't been happening.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Fears of a 13 month old.
We discovered a couple months ago that Keegan really likes whipped cream. We are talking the real stuff here, not canned Ready Whip. We were at a Sunday brunch where I was eating a waffle with strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Keegan wanted to try some of it, so I let him. He loved it!
Fast forward to our trip to Florida. Everyone is sitting around the table at my grandparents' house eating fresh strawberries and Ready Whip for dessert. Keegan saw the whipped cream and wanted some. I squirted some on his highchair tray. He reached for it and (of course being Ready Whip) the little pile of Ready Whip collapsed. Keegan starting crying and was really upset. We figured it was because he had a long day and was tired. We had to clean the Ready Whip off of his tray before he would calm down. Same thing happened the next day when we tried to give him some Ready Whip.
Okay now it's a couple weeks from that event and it's my dad's bday. We had chocolate cake with cherries and Ready Whip. Keegan got some cherries and a little chocolate cake. Not thinking, I squirted some Ready Whip onto his tray. He reached for it, it collapsed, and he started crying and leaning away from his tray. Once again, the crying didn't stop until my mom cleaned the Ready Whip off of his tray.
We really don't get it. I mean is our kid such a snob that he only eats "the real stuff"? Is he upset that the Ready Whip collapses? Does Ready Whip offend him somehow? We can't figure it out. For a while though I think we will have to accede to Keegan's wishes and *not* squirt Ready Whip onto his tray. Poor kid somehow we are creating trauma here...I just wish I knew how and why!
Fast forward to our trip to Florida. Everyone is sitting around the table at my grandparents' house eating fresh strawberries and Ready Whip for dessert. Keegan saw the whipped cream and wanted some. I squirted some on his highchair tray. He reached for it and (of course being Ready Whip) the little pile of Ready Whip collapsed. Keegan starting crying and was really upset. We figured it was because he had a long day and was tired. We had to clean the Ready Whip off of his tray before he would calm down. Same thing happened the next day when we tried to give him some Ready Whip.
Okay now it's a couple weeks from that event and it's my dad's bday. We had chocolate cake with cherries and Ready Whip. Keegan got some cherries and a little chocolate cake. Not thinking, I squirted some Ready Whip onto his tray. He reached for it, it collapsed, and he started crying and leaning away from his tray. Once again, the crying didn't stop until my mom cleaned the Ready Whip off of his tray.
We really don't get it. I mean is our kid such a snob that he only eats "the real stuff"? Is he upset that the Ready Whip collapses? Does Ready Whip offend him somehow? We can't figure it out. For a while though I think we will have to accede to Keegan's wishes and *not* squirt Ready Whip onto his tray. Poor kid somehow we are creating trauma here...I just wish I knew how and why!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Strange Red Asian Statue on the Doorstep
The last couple days we have noticed something red by the steps leading to our front door. Last night we went to see what it was; thinking it was trash or something of the neighbors that had blown over.
Well it was neither. It was a little bright red Asian statue of a little girl in a kimono. We looked at each other puzzled wondering where it had come from. The next part reveals maybe a little too much of my and Lyle's personalities. I said "Wow, that's creepy. I wonder where it came from. Maybe someone is trying to hex us." Lyle said, "Cool, someone probably put it there to bring us good luck." Hence why we work well as a couple. Lyle assumes the best and I assume the worst.
I went online when we got in the house and looked to see if little red statues symbolize anything; I didn't really find anything. So, I decided to send a note out to our friends and see if anyone had left a little statue on our doorstep. I know, I know, it was a weird question but I figured people would get a kick out of it. I know I got a kick out of some of the replies; it was interesting to see people's response to such a odd random question. No names have been included; but some of the replies I got are quoted below:
"I have no Asians currently working for me, neither real or ceramic."
"Sorry, We did not leave a doll on your patio. Does it seem to be Japanese? A red kimono doesn't symbolize anything bad from what I am aware of. Red is the traditional color of bridal dresses, and is frequently represented in the media as a symbolic color for married women. The color is associated with sexuality in marriage relationships through its connection to heat and fertility. It is also the color of wealth, beauty, and the goddess Lakshmi."
"I'd take it as a sign of good luck! *laughing historically* When did said statue appear on your patio?"
"Why is it that whenever something weird and unusual happens, I'm one of
the first to be accused of knowing something? First the numerous
people at work (admittedly they had reason to be suspicious), now you?!"
"I didn't do it, but I wish I would have :-)"
"I demand pictures"
"Wasn't us, but it sounds pretty funny! Red is a lucky color to Asians so I think you're being blessed! If you start getting white Asian statues then you should worry. ;-)"
"How big was it?"
"Karissa,
I know a lot more about blessing people than cursing them so not sure about this one.
The only advice I have for you is : Do you feel at peace when you think about it or when you are near it? If not, than get rid of it."
"Very interesting."
So these are most of the replies that we got about this crazy mystery. Of course, we found out one of our friends did put it on our doorstep thinking that it was cute and we would like. Which it is cute and I do like it; now that I know one of the neighbors isn't trying to curse our house :-) Mystery solved. Maybe I should send out random questions ever week and see what weird responses I get back from people. I'll try to get a picture of it posted tonight.
Okay now it's time to go back to work.
Well it was neither. It was a little bright red Asian statue of a little girl in a kimono. We looked at each other puzzled wondering where it had come from. The next part reveals maybe a little too much of my and Lyle's personalities. I said "Wow, that's creepy. I wonder where it came from. Maybe someone is trying to hex us." Lyle said, "Cool, someone probably put it there to bring us good luck." Hence why we work well as a couple. Lyle assumes the best and I assume the worst.
I went online when we got in the house and looked to see if little red statues symbolize anything; I didn't really find anything. So, I decided to send a note out to our friends and see if anyone had left a little statue on our doorstep. I know, I know, it was a weird question but I figured people would get a kick out of it. I know I got a kick out of some of the replies; it was interesting to see people's response to such a odd random question. No names have been included; but some of the replies I got are quoted below:
"I have no Asians currently working for me, neither real or ceramic."
"Sorry, We did not leave a doll on your patio. Does it seem to be Japanese? A red kimono doesn't symbolize anything bad from what I am aware of. Red is the traditional color of bridal dresses, and is frequently represented in the media as a symbolic color for married women. The color is associated with sexuality in marriage relationships through its connection to heat and fertility. It is also the color of wealth, beauty, and the goddess Lakshmi."
"I'd take it as a sign of good luck! *laughing historically* When did said statue appear on your patio?"
"Why is it that whenever something weird and unusual happens, I'm one of
the first to be accused of knowing something? First the numerous
people at work (admittedly they had reason to be suspicious), now you?!"
"I didn't do it, but I wish I would have :-)"
"I demand pictures"
"Wasn't us, but it sounds pretty funny! Red is a lucky color to Asians so I think you're being blessed! If you start getting white Asian statues then you should worry. ;-)"
"How big was it?"
"Karissa,
I know a lot more about blessing people than cursing them so not sure about this one.
The only advice I have for you is : Do you feel at peace when you think about it or when you are near it? If not, than get rid of it."
"Very interesting."
So these are most of the replies that we got about this crazy mystery. Of course, we found out one of our friends did put it on our doorstep thinking that it was cute and we would like. Which it is cute and I do like it; now that I know one of the neighbors isn't trying to curse our house :-) Mystery solved. Maybe I should send out random questions ever week and see what weird responses I get back from people. I'll try to get a picture of it posted tonight.
Okay now it's time to go back to work.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Uhh Huston we have a problem
So Keegan gets back from vacation, and goes to daycare last Friday. Of course he was unhappy to change from being with us and having a good time in Florida all week to suddenly going back to daycare where there is such a limited environment. That makes some sense. When we got his daily report, it said he was "not himself" that day. When I asked what that meant, basically the teacher said he was crabby all day. Of course this was a new teacher again because the other teacher that was in the Infant B classroom went on maternity leave. So that is cool and all, but I wondered if she really knew what she was talking about. Anyway we chalked that one up to him being tired and cranky from the trip, and no longer having his freedoms. We figured it would be fine by Monday....
Well we were wrong, Monday came and I dropped him off like normal. Well when I set him down he just started crying, and wanted to be picked up and carried around. So I picked him up for a minute, and tried to get him to calm down, which he did in fairly quick order. But the moment I set him down, he started bawling again. So I decided I should just leave, and he would stop in a few moments. So I left, but I checked in through the window really quick on my way out. Well he was still crying up a storm. I left, and when we picked him up that night, he was happy to see us, and we got a "not himself" that day as well, with the teachers saying he was still very crabby, and wouldn't nap.
Tuesday, he spend at Grandma's house, and had a good day. Grandma said he was happy, and napped pretty well, though only took one nap instead of his normal two.
Now today, I dropped him off at daycare again. He did the same as Monday, crying and wanting to be held. I tired to get him to settle down again, but he really didn't seem to want to be there. Anyway I left him there, and went to my interview. I then get a call from Karissa saying that daycare called and wanted to know what was wrong with Keegan. I guess they said he was still really crabby, and wasn't taking naps again today. Of course we don't know what to tell them, because as far as we know nothing has changed.... but in Keegan's little mind, something must have changed. We are not sure what it is, but we have a couple of theories.
We are thinking that, since one of his buddies moved up a level (into the toddler classroom), he is bummed since he and that kid were always together when we went to pick him up. Another idea is that since he is having a development leap, he has been crabby, like he has been every time that he starts doing something new. Lately it is talking, and understanding that when we say stuff it actually means something, and is not just babble :). There are a couple of other ideas, but at this point, we are not sure what else it could be attributed to. We can only hope that he gets out of this funk soon, and becomes happier when he goes to daycare Friday, and next week.
Well we were wrong, Monday came and I dropped him off like normal. Well when I set him down he just started crying, and wanted to be picked up and carried around. So I picked him up for a minute, and tried to get him to calm down, which he did in fairly quick order. But the moment I set him down, he started bawling again. So I decided I should just leave, and he would stop in a few moments. So I left, but I checked in through the window really quick on my way out. Well he was still crying up a storm. I left, and when we picked him up that night, he was happy to see us, and we got a "not himself" that day as well, with the teachers saying he was still very crabby, and wouldn't nap.
Tuesday, he spend at Grandma's house, and had a good day. Grandma said he was happy, and napped pretty well, though only took one nap instead of his normal two.
Now today, I dropped him off at daycare again. He did the same as Monday, crying and wanting to be held. I tired to get him to settle down again, but he really didn't seem to want to be there. Anyway I left him there, and went to my interview. I then get a call from Karissa saying that daycare called and wanted to know what was wrong with Keegan. I guess they said he was still really crabby, and wasn't taking naps again today. Of course we don't know what to tell them, because as far as we know nothing has changed.... but in Keegan's little mind, something must have changed. We are not sure what it is, but we have a couple of theories.
We are thinking that, since one of his buddies moved up a level (into the toddler classroom), he is bummed since he and that kid were always together when we went to pick him up. Another idea is that since he is having a development leap, he has been crabby, like he has been every time that he starts doing something new. Lately it is talking, and understanding that when we say stuff it actually means something, and is not just babble :). There are a couple of other ideas, but at this point, we are not sure what else it could be attributed to. We can only hope that he gets out of this funk soon, and becomes happier when he goes to daycare Friday, and next week.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Oh the weather outside is frightful....
...but not in Florida! Down there it was really nice. In fact there was only one day where it rained for a little bit.
Lyle summed up a lot of the events pretty darn well. What we did in chronological order was...
Day One: Celebrated my gmas bday and went to the pool. We just kind of hung out.
Day Two: Drove in my parents' camper to the Gulf of Mexico and spent the day on the beach.
Day Three: Went to Sea World for the day.
Day Four: It rained so we went swimming in the morning and then went to the mall for the afternoon.
Day Five: Went to Busch Gardens
Day Six: Went home!
Okay so Lyle went through all the good things about the vacation. A couple of bad things happened too. First of all we found out that Keegan doesn't like to sleep on the plane. He would sleep for about 30 minutes and then he was ready to rumble. All I have to say is I have a new respect for people in general. I respect people who travel with babies this age and retain their sanity. I respect all the people on the plane who; gave Keegan hi-fives, waved back at him, humored him by taking an offered toy and then handing it back to him, smiled at Keegan when he (while walking down the aisle in the plane) grabbed their knees or shoes. Also thanks to the guy who had a sense of humor when Keegan grabbed his boarding pass at the gate and took off with it and thanks to the lady who let Keegan stand by her seat at the gate and hold on to her shoulder while he looked out the window at the plane.
So I guess all in all I meet more "strangers" on this trip than ever before. This was all due to Keegan's lack of shyness and new found ability to run off at a moment's notice and go over to people and yell "HI" with a big smile on his face. You really get to see the "good" in everyone when you have a cute little friendly kid :-)
Other "bad" thing that happened was that I lost my wallet during the Shamu show at Sea World. Between juggling Keegan, ice cream, and a diaper bag I lost it somehow. We quickly found out that the cleaning guy found it under the seat at the stadium. Within a couple of hours he had returned it to customer service and it was intact. All the cash was in there, everything! Still I was stressing for a while there; hoping I wouldn't have to call and cancel all of my cards!
Then when we got back to the twin cities I went down to baggage claim and Lyle took Keegan to get the car. As soon as I got to baggage claim there was an announcement that Karissa Eckert needed to report back to the Gate G2 to get her driver's license. Well I couldn't really do anything about it. So I got the luggage. Then Lyle drove me to ticketing. At ticketing they gave me a gate pass to get back through security. In the line in security they wanted my ID. I explained to them that I was going through security to get my ID. The security guy actually chortled at me (like this was the funniest thing to happen to him all day) and told me I was "red flagged" and needed to undergo a stricter security check. The good thing about this was I didn't have to wait in line anymore. Bad thing was they did a full pat down and rubbed everything I had with me with chemical sensitive paper to make sure I wasn't carrying any explosives. The guy doing the check was really nice but he had to call female security down to do the pat. I tried really hard to not get irritated but it was tough.
Then I finally got down to the gate and, of course, they were just starting to board the plane. So I had to wait line to get to the front desk to request my license. I met Lyle on his 7th lap around the airport. It had taken me exactly 17 minutes to re-acquire my license. Oh well. At least I got it back. Hopefully I never do that again.
Keegan was, excepting the plane ride, an awesome baby. He was interested in everything and actually watched the shows we went to see. We all liked Sea World a lot better than Busch Gardens. Sea World had nicer exhibits and wasn't as crowed as Busch Gardens was. My mom was nice enough to hang with Keegan while me, Lyle, and dad went on some of the roller coasters. The Kraken at Sea World was by far the most awesome roller coaster we went on. We also road that Mamba (I think that's what it's called) and Shreikra at Busch Gardens.
All in all it was a fun trip. I kind of underestimated how much work it would be to travel with Keegan though. I felt like I was constantly making lists of what we needed to pack in my head. It was like okay, let's pack for the beach. Then the next day we packed for Sea World. It was a constant estimating of how much milk we had, how many diapers, did we need swim diapers, and did we have enough wipes. I imagine that traveling with your child gets easier as they get older.
Keegan really didn't want me to leave him at daycare today. Keegan was really excited to get home but I think he liked all the time with mommy, daddy, gma, gpa, greatgma, and greatgpa. I had to pry him off of me and then distract him and sneak out of daycare. I felt bad about it but well, it's back to the old everyday routine. Anyway, that being said I have some more work to do. So hope everyone enjoyed the updates!
Lyle summed up a lot of the events pretty darn well. What we did in chronological order was...
Day One: Celebrated my gmas bday and went to the pool. We just kind of hung out.
Day Two: Drove in my parents' camper to the Gulf of Mexico and spent the day on the beach.
Day Three: Went to Sea World for the day.
Day Four: It rained so we went swimming in the morning and then went to the mall for the afternoon.
Day Five: Went to Busch Gardens
Day Six: Went home!
Okay so Lyle went through all the good things about the vacation. A couple of bad things happened too. First of all we found out that Keegan doesn't like to sleep on the plane. He would sleep for about 30 minutes and then he was ready to rumble. All I have to say is I have a new respect for people in general. I respect people who travel with babies this age and retain their sanity. I respect all the people on the plane who; gave Keegan hi-fives, waved back at him, humored him by taking an offered toy and then handing it back to him, smiled at Keegan when he (while walking down the aisle in the plane) grabbed their knees or shoes. Also thanks to the guy who had a sense of humor when Keegan grabbed his boarding pass at the gate and took off with it and thanks to the lady who let Keegan stand by her seat at the gate and hold on to her shoulder while he looked out the window at the plane.
So I guess all in all I meet more "strangers" on this trip than ever before. This was all due to Keegan's lack of shyness and new found ability to run off at a moment's notice and go over to people and yell "HI" with a big smile on his face. You really get to see the "good" in everyone when you have a cute little friendly kid :-)
Other "bad" thing that happened was that I lost my wallet during the Shamu show at Sea World. Between juggling Keegan, ice cream, and a diaper bag I lost it somehow. We quickly found out that the cleaning guy found it under the seat at the stadium. Within a couple of hours he had returned it to customer service and it was intact. All the cash was in there, everything! Still I was stressing for a while there; hoping I wouldn't have to call and cancel all of my cards!
Then when we got back to the twin cities I went down to baggage claim and Lyle took Keegan to get the car. As soon as I got to baggage claim there was an announcement that Karissa Eckert needed to report back to the Gate G2 to get her driver's license. Well I couldn't really do anything about it. So I got the luggage. Then Lyle drove me to ticketing. At ticketing they gave me a gate pass to get back through security. In the line in security they wanted my ID. I explained to them that I was going through security to get my ID. The security guy actually chortled at me (like this was the funniest thing to happen to him all day) and told me I was "red flagged" and needed to undergo a stricter security check. The good thing about this was I didn't have to wait in line anymore. Bad thing was they did a full pat down and rubbed everything I had with me with chemical sensitive paper to make sure I wasn't carrying any explosives. The guy doing the check was really nice but he had to call female security down to do the pat. I tried really hard to not get irritated but it was tough.
Then I finally got down to the gate and, of course, they were just starting to board the plane. So I had to wait line to get to the front desk to request my license. I met Lyle on his 7th lap around the airport. It had taken me exactly 17 minutes to re-acquire my license. Oh well. At least I got it back. Hopefully I never do that again.
Keegan was, excepting the plane ride, an awesome baby. He was interested in everything and actually watched the shows we went to see. We all liked Sea World a lot better than Busch Gardens. Sea World had nicer exhibits and wasn't as crowed as Busch Gardens was. My mom was nice enough to hang with Keegan while me, Lyle, and dad went on some of the roller coasters. The Kraken at Sea World was by far the most awesome roller coaster we went on. We also road that Mamba (I think that's what it's called) and Shreikra at Busch Gardens.
All in all it was a fun trip. I kind of underestimated how much work it would be to travel with Keegan though. I felt like I was constantly making lists of what we needed to pack in my head. It was like okay, let's pack for the beach. Then the next day we packed for Sea World. It was a constant estimating of how much milk we had, how many diapers, did we need swim diapers, and did we have enough wipes. I imagine that traveling with your child gets easier as they get older.
Keegan really didn't want me to leave him at daycare today. Keegan was really excited to get home but I think he liked all the time with mommy, daddy, gma, gpa, greatgma, and greatgpa. I had to pry him off of me and then distract him and sneak out of daycare. I felt bad about it but well, it's back to the old everyday routine. Anyway, that being said I have some more work to do. So hope everyone enjoyed the updates!
Feelin' fine in the sunshine
Hey all, we are back from Florida! Hope you all had a nice week! We are back in Minnesota where it was cold, while we spent a fair amount of time in shorts in the 70 degree weather. Overall we had a great time, it was good to see Karissa's grandparents since we don't get to see them too often. Also we made a couple of day trips out to see Sea World, Bush Gardens, and The gulf of Mexico. All three were fun days, but we also had some relaxing time by the pool! You can see all of the pictures we uploaded on our picture site (link is still on the right hand side!).
Keegan overall I think had fun, but it is kind of hard to tell sometimes :). Since he seems to have fun doing almost anything, I think that we could give him a rock and he would have a good time.... oh yeah, we have done that..... Well either way, Sea World was way more fun than I thought it would be. I think Keegan was overwhelmed by the shows because he just sat their and stared with his mouth gaping. Karissa's parents came along and it was really great to have them there to help with Keegan duty.
The beach was probably Keegan's favorite time, he kept trying to eat the sand and then spit it out when it tasted just awful. Then he would scrape his tongue to try and get the sand off only to put more on from his hands. Finally he would be happy again, and then try to eat more. I guess what they say about leading a horse to water is correct when it comes to a 1 year old. Keegan smiled a lot when we were at the beach, and had a really great time overall. The water was cold, so we didn't go "swimming", but we did walk out a little way into the water, and he had fun picking up rocks that were in the water. The picking up rocks was a theme through the whole vacation!
The swimming that we did do at the pool, went over ok the first time, and much better the second time. Keegan starts swimming lessons later this month, so we were happy to get him in a pool earlier than that to gauge how he would react. Well being that he doesn't like it when he is not in control..... must get that from his mommy.... he didn't seem to like not being able to touch the bottom. Well of course there is only one spot that he can really touch the bottom, and that is on the stairs at the beginning of the pool. So we spent a lot of time on the stairs. The flotation device that we brought along was not a huge hit, but he did ride in it for a while on both occasions. The pictures on the site are from the first day we went swimming, we didn't bring the camera the second time, thinking that 74 pictures of him in a pool would be enough. Well it would have been nice to have a few more from the second day because we had a lot of fun with him sticking his face in the water and trying to blow bubbles. I was showing him how to do it, and he just kept trying it over and over again. Most of the time he would push me out of the way to get to the same spot I had done it like that was the magical spot to blow bubbles.
So that was a quick summary of what we did. Keegan also learned a few new things while we were out of town. On the first day we got there, we were driving to the aforementioned grandparents house, and we drove by a Target. I pointed it out to Karissa and said that we could go to Target if we needed anything and then we hear "Target" coming from the back seat. I guess they pick their allegiance to Target or Wal Mart early these days. I mean really! Keegan has also been trying to copy other things we say, but hasn't gotten a lot more down yet. He said duck a lot, basically for every bird that he saw (at the prompting of Karissa). Keegan was saying dog for everything that is close, like a lion, or hyena. His pointing and saying "dat" went on a lot on this trip as well, and we told him what everything was to the best of our ability to figure out what he was pointing to.
The nicest part was returning home from the trip. It was nice to be home again. Keegan also seemed really happy to be home, and was basically a wild man last night from the time we got home till he went to bed. He was babbling a lot, and was having a good time chasing the cats and dog around. We also played with his ball, which he seemed to miss while we were gone.
Keegan overall I think had fun, but it is kind of hard to tell sometimes :). Since he seems to have fun doing almost anything, I think that we could give him a rock and he would have a good time.... oh yeah, we have done that..... Well either way, Sea World was way more fun than I thought it would be. I think Keegan was overwhelmed by the shows because he just sat their and stared with his mouth gaping. Karissa's parents came along and it was really great to have them there to help with Keegan duty.
The beach was probably Keegan's favorite time, he kept trying to eat the sand and then spit it out when it tasted just awful. Then he would scrape his tongue to try and get the sand off only to put more on from his hands. Finally he would be happy again, and then try to eat more. I guess what they say about leading a horse to water is correct when it comes to a 1 year old. Keegan smiled a lot when we were at the beach, and had a really great time overall. The water was cold, so we didn't go "swimming", but we did walk out a little way into the water, and he had fun picking up rocks that were in the water. The picking up rocks was a theme through the whole vacation!
The swimming that we did do at the pool, went over ok the first time, and much better the second time. Keegan starts swimming lessons later this month, so we were happy to get him in a pool earlier than that to gauge how he would react. Well being that he doesn't like it when he is not in control..... must get that from his mommy.... he didn't seem to like not being able to touch the bottom. Well of course there is only one spot that he can really touch the bottom, and that is on the stairs at the beginning of the pool. So we spent a lot of time on the stairs. The flotation device that we brought along was not a huge hit, but he did ride in it for a while on both occasions. The pictures on the site are from the first day we went swimming, we didn't bring the camera the second time, thinking that 74 pictures of him in a pool would be enough. Well it would have been nice to have a few more from the second day because we had a lot of fun with him sticking his face in the water and trying to blow bubbles. I was showing him how to do it, and he just kept trying it over and over again. Most of the time he would push me out of the way to get to the same spot I had done it like that was the magical spot to blow bubbles.
So that was a quick summary of what we did. Keegan also learned a few new things while we were out of town. On the first day we got there, we were driving to the aforementioned grandparents house, and we drove by a Target. I pointed it out to Karissa and said that we could go to Target if we needed anything and then we hear "Target" coming from the back seat. I guess they pick their allegiance to Target or Wal Mart early these days. I mean really! Keegan has also been trying to copy other things we say, but hasn't gotten a lot more down yet. He said duck a lot, basically for every bird that he saw (at the prompting of Karissa). Keegan was saying dog for everything that is close, like a lion, or hyena. His pointing and saying "dat" went on a lot on this trip as well, and we told him what everything was to the best of our ability to figure out what he was pointing to.
The nicest part was returning home from the trip. It was nice to be home again. Keegan also seemed really happy to be home, and was basically a wild man last night from the time we got home till he went to bed. He was babbling a lot, and was having a good time chasing the cats and dog around. We also played with his ball, which he seemed to miss while we were gone.
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