Tiger Eats a Cupcake.

I find this funny because he must eat all the frosting before he can eat the cake. The same is true with frosted sugar cookies.

A few moments in the lives of my children

The other day we were eating lunch in the park after we had been at the Children's Museum all morning. Blanket had only gotten 20 minutes or so of sleep in the car on the way there, and was seriously needing a nap. I fed him his lunch, and was waiting for Tiger to finish his cupcake so that we could get in the car and go home. Blanket was grumbling, so I made him a bottle and gave it to him. He sat there drinking it, and I sat there wondering how long Tiger was going to spend eating his cupcake. About 2 oz into the bottle I saw Blanket wobble. He was almost asleep sitting up holding his bottle. I quickly packed up my bag and held him so that he could drift off to sleep without falling over. He slept 15 more minutes at the park and all the way home.

The other day I got a migraine around dinner time. I was laying on the couch with a blanket over my head waiting for the kids' bedtime. B.A.R. was supervising them, but I wanted to put them to bed. While I was just laying there Tiger came over and asked, "Are you OK, Mom?" and then added, "I so loves you," with a hug. He is so sweet, I just wish this part of his personality came out more than once or twice a week.

Hooray for new clothes.

In case you think that I haven't been doing anything these last few weeks, lookie here:

This is a new skirt that I made. Lots and lots of learning, consternation, frustration, and fabric later I have a skirt that I like.

If you think I am nuts or merely neurotic to make my own clothes, understand this: When I was growing up all my dresses were homemade or pre-owned. I always got the dresses and skirts that I wanted because my mom or other women made them for me. Call it being spoiled. As an adult, I have a very hard time going to the store and buying something off the rack because I never had to do it as a child. Occasionally I can find something I like, but this often comes after many moons and many stores and much frustration. When I shop for clothes (especially dress clothes) I am very picky. It is seriously easier for me to find fabric that I like and a pattern I like.

I have two more skirts in the works, and then maybe I will be brave enough to try shirts/vests or tops of some other kind to go with them.

Ta-Dah

Ok, so this post has been a long time coming. I keep writing about "my quilt" and its perpetual state of unfinishedness. Well, no longer. It's done. Really. I finished it about a month ago, but I was waiting until I applied a layer of Scotch-Gard until I called it done for real. It has even been moved to its permanant home on the bed.

I didn't make any crazy patterns, or anything because the focus of the quilt is the buckmark, and I really wanted that to draw your attention. The buckmark is thee logo for the Browning gun company. It matches our lamps.

The name of the quilt is The BuckMarks the Spot. The pictures are big enough to get great detail if you click on them. In case you are wondering, each square is 12 inches. It is backed in the fabric I dyed in coffee a few months back.
Each square is quilted with the buckmark, and then stitched in the ditch around the edges. The binding is pieced to match the leather lacing on our faux leather lampshades in our bedroom.
I designed this quilt about 2 years ago to match our lamps, ceiling fan, and log furniture. Now I just need to pick out a wall color to pull it all together. If you have ideas, or would like to come give suggestions, feel free!!! I need all the color help I can get.
Forgive the clothes dying to jump out of the closet to be photographed too.

Cloth update

That's the newest picture of cloth. Tiger doesn't usually take it to bed anymore, but I am not quite sure he is ready to give it up completely. The top portion really did used to be the sleeves and chest section of a shirt, though they don't resemble that anymore. I have to spend effort to find both sections these days because Tiger will bring them to our room, or downstairs and forget where he put them for days at a time.

I was thinking about what I was going to do with it when I took it away, or Tiger gave it up. I think I will seal it in a ziploc bag and keep it for him. When he is older he can decide what he wants to do with it. I think I should just have it disappear for a few decades until he understands the value of holding on to sentimental things.

Maybe I'll never take it away and it will just completely disintegrate and will never be kept for posterity. Thoughts?

The new penguin in my life.

Way back in 2001 before B.A.R. and I got married we bought an electric can opener as a wedding gift for some other friends of ours who were getting married a couple of months before we did. They, in turn, bought us the electric can opener that we wanted as a wedding gift.
This may look like an ordinary electric can opener, but it is the only one on the market that cuts the whole top off the can. It makes smooth tops with no sharp edges. It earned the nickname "The Penguin" for its shape. It has done great service in its life. We have used it to test electrical outlets for power during home improvement activities. I have used the knife sharpener on the back to keep my kitchen on the cutting edge (sorry, that one was bad). I have impressed many a visitor with my unique can opener. I have loved my dear little penguin.

He, alas, is giving up the ghost. He turns cans in fits and starts. He no longer makes clean cuts. Despite surgery his condition improved only for a few months. We decided that he needs to be repurposed (recycled?) as a target for B.A.R. at the shooting range.


Meet the new penguin in my life:
This is actually a new model of the same can opener. It opens cans exactly the same way (and is still the only electric to do so). Disappointingly, it no longer has a knife sharpener in the back, but kitchen scissors instead. I thought I wouldn't like those scissors, but I must confess that I have used them three times in the week since it came home. It has new features like a new switch that actually locks the can in place. It takes less effort to operate, and pleases me just as much as my old one did. The white one matched my white appliances better, but this one may just encourage me to switch to stainless. And if you want to buy one for yourself check it out at Amazon. That is the best price unless you get $10 off at Bed Bath and Beyond (which is what I did).

Alamosa Trip--The play by play

We left Friday afternoon for Alamosa. I had spent most of the day packing up and getting ready to go. The only things I didn't pack were the electronics (computer and camera) and B.A.R.'s bag of stuff.

We drove south to Pueblo and stopped at Del Taco for dinner. Tiger got a quesadilla. I had put him in a pull-up so that we wouldn't have to stop in the middle of nowhere because he had to go. I then failed to make him go while we were in Pueblo. As we were heading up La Veta pass Tiger said he needed to go. We told him to wait, we would be there in an hour. Just then, Blanket poops and insists that he needs his diaper changed--no waiting! So, in a light sprinkle, half way down the other side of the pass we pulled off at a DOT area and changed Blanket's diaper. B.A.R. took Tiger behind the building to give him a chance to go, but he wouldn't. "Too cold," he said.

Tiger whined and cried, and I distracted, sang, counted oncoming cars, watched the sunset, and generally expended major effort to keep Tiger calm while we drove across the plateau to Alamosa. When we reached the hotel his pull-up was a little wet, and he peed for 30 seconds or so. I kept checking to see if he was done, and he was still going. I was so impressed with his capacity. It made me wonder why he is so lazy at home that he has accidents, or will just use his pull-up as an excuse not to go potty.

We got all set up for bed, and spent the night listening to the kids make all thier sleeping noises (and consequently, not sleeping). Blanket got up at 5 and I brought him to bed until 6. I actually got up with him and wandered around the lobby until 7:30 when the rest of the family got up and moving.

We then went down to the train station and prepared for the best part of our trip: the train ride.
We watched them get set up for the ride, and deal with a brake issue on the Antonito train.

We rode the San Luis and Rio Grande over La Veta pass. To book your own go here. Tiger didn't sit very still for the 3 hours we were on the train, but his favorite part of the ride was getting to flush the toilet with his foot.

When the train stopped in La Veta we had lunch at a little cantina. The mexican food tasted really good and Tiger had a quesadilla.



After lunch we went to this park next to the train station. I took Blanket to change his diaper. I went to the bathroom and noticed that I didn't have a clean diaper with me. I went back to a little general store we passed and bought 40 diapers so I could have the one I needed. Then I had to explain to my dear husband why I vanished from the park and it took me 30 minutes to change his diaper.

We spent the last few minutes before the train left to go back to Alamosa walking around the platform and taking pictures. The only way we could get Tiger to pose for the photo was to strap him the stroller and park him by the locomotive. You can't see Blanket in this picture because he passed out in the stroller shortly after the diaper disaster.



















Blanket stayed asleep until well into the return trip. Tiger started taking a nap (I have already blogged about that) about the time Blanket woke up. He is so much fun. I love getting to spend time with just him.

For dinner Tiger finished his quesadilla and we had a pizza.

We all slept more the next night, mostly out of exhaustion, I think. Though Blanket did get me up at 5:30 with a messy diaper and no desire to get back in the Pack 'n' Play. We began wandering the lobby around 6:15.

I thought we were in for a peaceful trip home. Somewhere on La Veta pass (about 45 minutes out of Alamosa) Tiger says he needs to go poop. I told him to poop in his pull-up and we would change it when we got to Walsenburg.

In Walsenburg I took him into a 7-11 and completed the impossible. I found no poop in his pull-up and managed to relieve him without the enema or warm bath I would have used at home. (This is #16 on the list of things I learned). I hope I never have to do that again.

For lunch we headed to Colorado Springs to have lunch at Texas Roadhouse. At home I spent the day recovering from a serious lack of sleep.

It was a great weekend, but like any vacation with little kids it is nice to come home and recover from the stresses of vacation.

Helpless

In case you don't know, we have lived in 4 states and 6 addresses since being married 7 years ago.  We lived in the first state the longest, and still have many friends there.  This could prove important if we ever get transferred back there.   We aren't the kind of people who make lots of friends wherever we go, and it took most of the 3 years we lived in Michigan to make the kind of friends we have there.  

Yesterday B.A.R. called me to tell me that a friend of ours had been arrested.  ARRESTED?!?!?  I will save you (and them) the details.  I did get to talk to his wife last night and learn the story from the source. This has turned their life upside down (just imagine not going home so you don't have to talk to the media camped on your front lawn).  The ward there has been/is great.  They all have stepped in and helped out, but it doesn't make the whole situation go away.  

I want to be there to help.  These people were so good to me when I needed help.  These people did great things for me in good times and bad.  I am here and they are there, and I can't help them.  I can't run their errands.  I can't do their laundry.  I can't feed their kids.  I can't be a character witness.  I feel totally helpless.  

Yesterday neither of the adults at my house could think of anything else.  I spent all afternoon convincing myself it would be a bad thing to call them (and then they called me).  We spent the evening wondering what we could do to make this feeling go away.  This feeling is the feeling that the whole thing is wrong, and rubs me the wrong way.  I just can't get over it, and I can't distract myself from it by helping them.

A nap not in a bed

So how do you convince a two-year old that he should take a nap during the most exciting adventure of his whole life?  I am not completely sure (I was busy with the baby) but B.A.R. managed to get Tiger to fall asleep in his lap during the return portion of the trip.   After about an hour the train stopped and Tiger stirred.  B.A.R. tried to put him down to finish sleeping on his own, but he was not having that.  He was not done sleeping.  Tiger is a monster if he is woken before he is done sleeping.  So B.A.R. sacrificed the next hour and half or more to this position and the rest of Tiger's nap.  I felt badly because he wasn't getting to experience the train (this trip was for his birthday, after all) but his other option was totally entertaining a baby who was so done with sitting still on the train.  Tiger did wake up for the last hour or so of the ride, and did a fine job of keeping Blanket entertained while we packed up and got ready to disembark.

I had mixed feelings about this pose.  I know I need to train him to take naps when naps are needed and not just if they are convenient. However, I know that getting to hold him and enjoy him while he is still small enough to take a nap in your lap doesn't last forever.  This photo should be good for a few laughs in 10 years or so.

Blanket speaks words.

So my cute little (well, not so little) baby has been making talking noises for about 3 months now. The last couple of weeks he has been making lots of different sounds, but nothing that sounds like words I use everyday. I was beginning to wonder when he was going to start having "words." I have heard him repeat sounds a time or two. He said "noo dul" one day after I had a long discussion with Tiger about eating his noodles. But the greatest word breakthrough came about an hour before we finished our train excursion.
Tiger was asleep (see the post above), and I was looking for something to do with Blanket. I got out Tiger's favorite book: Freight Train by Donald Crews. Normally Blanket doesn't get to read this book for more than a second. Tiger is taking it away, hoarding it, or otherwise not sharing it. I opened up the book and to the first page and Blanket says,"wooooo." I laughed, and B.A.R. laughed too. Sure we heard him right, but thought this was a coincidence, I kept reading and turning pages. Each new page brought out another "wooooo" or "woooo, woooo." By the time the book ended I was sure that Blanket has words. His word for train is "wooooo." He said it again as we walked past the train. If you say "wooo" to him he smiles. He liked the train.
I now take the time to listen to his speaking noises. He says so much. I don't understand most of what he says, but he does use the same sounds in the same situations. I merely haven't learned his language yet.

Midnight

The other night, before we went out of town, Blanket woke me up at midnight. This is not normal, but I dealt with the problem and went back to bed. As I was laying there hoping to find sleep again I heard the cars on the nearby road. I heard them click-clack as they sped over the seams in the concrete. I thought about how midnight has changed.

When I was a kid midnight was a milestone. If you were allowed to stay up that late, it was great. If you made it to midnight, that was an accomplishment.

When I was a young teenager, midnight was late, and meant that I had lots of homework.

After 16, midnight was when your date was supposed to end, or when you started to think about going home.

At 19 it became the time that I often got off work. It was dinner time.

I didn't see any of midnight on my mission. It was in the great "NO" zone.

After I got married, midnight became this place I rarely saw. I met it now and then with friends, or after a great movie. Midnight was no longer an accomplishment, now it was an unseen acquaintance.

Once the kids were born, midnight became a place I visited in a state of semi-conciousness. I only see it if cries awake me, or sleep escapes me.

Midnight is no longer when I get off work and start my evening. Midnight is not a signal to start winding down the fun. For me the fun happens all day, and midnight marks 6 hours until the fun begins again.

Am I old? mature? a fuddy-duddy? or just in a place where midnight should never be seen?

Things I learned on Vacation

We went out of town this weekend, and so the next few posts will be about our little adventure to Alamosa. We rode the San Luis & Rio Grande railroad over La Veta pass. We went because it is passenger rail service behind a steam engine. Oh, and Zephyr, you can be jealous, or you can come back and ride it!

We took pictures of much of the train activites, but some of the best things that happened we didn't get pictures of. Also, much of what I learned happened without a camera. This post is about that.

This is the 2nd time we have taken Blanket away from home overnight. This was his first hotel stay. Tiger went out of town with us many times his first year, and a few times his second year. This is the first time we took him out of town since he is in underwear full-time during the day.

Now for what I learned:

1. Despite being only 31 lbs, Tiger can hold 16 oz of fluid in his bladder.
2. Tiger cannot pee outside if it is less than 50 degrees, no matter how badly he needs to go.
3. Tiger can eat quesadillas for lunch and dinner every day if that's what we order for him.
   
4. Tiger can say long sentences that include prepositions and articles. For example, "Here, Baby Blanket, play with this tractor toy."
5. Blanket actually speaks words. More about this in a different post.
6. Tiger can sleep outside of a bed.
7. Families who do not all sleep in the same room at home should not sleep in the same hotel room!
8. On our last overnight excursion with Blanket, I underestimated his attachment to his "cloth."
9. I am thankful that Blanket is not yet mobile.
10. There is no good place to move the Tampa Bay Rays (except maybe Indianapolis).
    
11. Over the course of a season baseball has about 6 times as many tickets available as football.
12. Despite my best efforts to be prepared, I bring enough diapers on vacation, and regularly fail to bring them on an excursion and must buy 40 diapers just to get the one I need.
13. Tiger has never eaten at McDonald's nor does he know that there is a playland there (or at any other fast food restaraunt).
14. Always save one or two empty formula sample cans so that you can take some formula without taking the monster size can.
15. B.A.R. can be persuaded that a limo (read: double stroller) is not a bad thing.
16. When under duress (meaning the alternative is not an appealing option), moms can solve almost any problem with the available tools (or lack thereof); especially if this problem would be a lot easier to solve were the circumstances significantly different.

Each one of these has a whole story to go with them. Some of these I will post about. I will also take requests if you want to learn about a particular lesson.

Missing half the message.

For those of you who come and just view my most recent post (and I know that you are out there): take heed!  I often spend a few days coming up with post ideas (and time to post).  Then I spend my little time posting 2 or 3 posts at once.  If you only view the most recent,  you will probably miss half or more of what I post.  To avoid this problem, click on the name of the blog (instead of the name of the post) on your blog roll.  Or, after reading the most recent post, click on the "Home" link at the bottom of the page.  Or, even better, set up a following widgit on your dashboard.  It shows all the new posts on all the blogs you are following so you don't miss a thing.  I like it better than Google reader and so I use it.  Visit often, and make sure to catch all the news while you are here.

Flexibility

Because Blanket cannot crawl, his only efforts to reach things consist of bending over as far as he can while sitting.  Every time he does this  I can't help but think, "Don't you wish that you were that flexible?!" 

And then he turns his head from that position as if to mock my inflexibility even further.

The Energizer Bunny Stops.

I posted earlier about Tiger falling asleep with his hand in the Cheetos bag, and me not getting any pictures.  Sunday I got another chance.  He fell asleep eating lunch/dinner after church.  It was about 4 o'clock or so.  

That's a PBJ and he was almost done.  It just seems so weird to have a kid with that much energy just stop.  I tiptoed out of the room to get the camera, and B.A.R. took a look and giggled softly too.  I think the funniest part about the whole incident was the soft snoring right there at the table.

12 hours of work around the house

Saturday is usually the day we have no plans, and spend the day letting the kids run the show and getting a bunch of nothing done.  To our credit, we tend to do very spontaneous things on Saturdays.  About a month ago, B.A.R. decided that the deck looked really bad and he was going to stain it.  We had some leftover, and he spent the afternoon making the deck look great.   Sometimes we go for a walk, or go somewhere we want to go but have been putting off until whenever.

Yesterday was no different.  Except that it took until 10 or so before we got dressed and began our productive activities for the day.  Friday B.A.R. actually repainted the stairs to the basement (but we already had the paint).  They had been pretty beat up with all the moving of stuff into the basement.  That put him in the mood to repaint the walls and ceiling down there.  They had sustained some damage too.

We had been discussing repainting our bedroom too.  I wanted a color that matches our decor better.  Trying to explain what color I wanted, I was told to go get some samples at the store (at some later date).  

Friday B.A.R. took a home office day, and worked in the office most of the day.  He did also look into the leaks that our windows randomly exhibit.   He cleaned and resealed the window joints in two of the windows.  Apparently the windows were dirty, so dirty that he thought we should get some window washing stuff so that he could remedy that.   

So yesterday we worked (after being lazy for a few hours) on the house.  I vacuumed the carpets and hard floors, I vacuumed the ceiling fans, and B.A.R. vacuumed the window tracks (this window thing must really have been getting to him.  Later he even vacuumed the basement!  I did a couple of loads of laundry, and shopped online for vanity lights (another future project).

After lunch we went to Lowe's together to get prepared for our projects.  I picked up about 20 paint samples for the bedroom, and white paint for the basement stairwell.    

While B.A.R. washed the windows I started making pizza for dinner (from scratch).  A few minutes into that the baby starts screaming for dinner.   I placated him for a while, until daddy could sit and play with him.  I went in with some baby food, bib and a spoon, but realized that I needed to finish cutting stuff up for the pizza, and take the crust out of the oven so I just set it on the table.  About the time I was putting the toppings on the pizza B.A.R. comes in and says, "He is so your son."  

I respond with,  "He is a gauntlet to feed.  The hands going so fast that it becomes impossible to get the spoon to the mouth with food still on it."

"You mean what just happened is normal?"

He helped me with the toppings and I popped the pizza in the oven.  When I went in there the container of food was gone, and there was less food than I imagined on his tray and clothes.  There was none on the floor or walls.  I was so impressed with how much dad actually got in his mouth.

B.A.R. helped with the bi-monthly ritual of calming Tiger while we cut his hair.  After the boys were in bed, B.A.R painted the stairwell walls and ceiling.  I made cookies for my primary class, and shuttled juice up to Tiger (who didn't eat dinner and won't go to bed hungry).  Then I cut B.A.R.'s hair.

Pantophobia-fear of everything.

Ever since Tiger was very small he has exhibited claustrophobia.  Serious claustrophobia. 

Before he could walk, whenever I took him to a public restroom he would scream and crawl under the door of a regular size stall.  The larger, handicapped stalls were big enough to avoid that though.  He still prefers those.  

Until about a year ago, he wouldn't go in the play structure tube/tunnels or tunnel slides. He is not afraid now that he is big enough to hit his head. 

When he was small he had a fear of swimming pools with other people in them.  He didn't like the movement of the water unless it was just the two of us in the pool.  Now he takes 30 minutes at a pool before he convinces himself to get in the pool with the other people.  He will go in with me without pause though.

I figured if claustrophobia was his biggest problem, well, then I could live with that.   Ever since we went on that mine tour and he spent 45 minutes in the dark, in a cave, with sound resonating everywhere, well the fears have been mounting:

Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Ceraunophobia, Keraunophobia, Brontophobia, Tonitrophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning;

Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Myctophobia, Nyctophobia, Scotophobia- Fear of darkness;

Acrophobia, Altophobia, Batophobia, - Fear of heights;

Ligyrophobia- Fear of loud noises.

I have crazy unbelievable stories about how completely he freaks out each time he encounters these things.  How he won't go get his shoes out of his room after 3 pm because the curtains make it a little darker.  Or sitting 3 feet off the floor on our bed post makes him scream like he's being attacked, but he will sit on the bed at the same height with no problem.  Thunder he had no fear of before.  We taught him "Boom, Boom" and he was fine with it; now any thunder has him freaked out.  

At least 3 times a day he has to tell himself, "Nothin' scared of," to reassure himself.  Oh, and I say it more often than that!

I think I have developed phobophobia- fear of phobias.  I never know when a new one is going to crop up, and they all seem to have developed without any real provocation.

I got all these definitions at The Phobia List.  That is a very exhaustive list, and it also makes for great reading.

Books in stereo

I had to write.  I was laughing so hard I cried.  I had the movie in the post below playing and Tiger started reciting the book right along with the movie.  The pace was the same and it felt like the I was hearing the book in stereo.  

Right now he is whining because he wants to watch the movie of himself and I am typing instead.  I didn't know that he would be this popular, even with himself.  

The movie really offers a glimpse into his personality.

Tiger Reads a book

As some of you know, Tiger is really smart. He knows all his letters, and is really getting ready to read. He loves to be read to. We got this book about 3 weeks ago from the library. After we had it a week it occurred to me to take a video of him "reading" the book. I had to shoot the movie twice and so he was less cooperative this time. I helped turn the pages once or twice to keep him on track. He did much better with the first shoot. It does last about 3 minutes, but if you know this book, you should just love his rendition. This isn't an anomaly, he can read most books this well after a week or so.

No more Pepsi

Yesterday B.A.R. choked down the last two cans of Pepsi.  Seems nobody I know wanted them bad enough to claim them.  John, I know you wanted them but it wasn't cost effective to ship them to NJ.  So no Pepsi anymore.

No Shrieking.

About 6 months ago Tiger started shrieking.  Always short bursts, and he always stopped before you said, "NO!"  He knows shrieking is not allowed because he will often say, "No shrieking!" after he has been warned about it repeatedly.  Tiger was warned about shrieking in church, and that isn't really a problem, he doesn't do it outdoors, he doesn't do it in public places (like the store) his shrieking is confined to inside the house, or inside the car and mostly for no reason at all.  

Since Blanket isn't really into crawling, he is mastering voice and hand gestures.  If you repeat his "dada" noises and then repeat them with a very simple gesture he will attempt the gesture/voice combination.  I wasn't very concerned about this until I realized that he was imitating Tiger's shrieks.   He is so good, that telling him "NO!" is egging him on.  He has no qualms about shrieking in church, or at the store, or at the park, or anywhere.   The funniest, or most frustrating part is when Tiger says,, "No shrieking!" to Blanket.  He doesn't even realize that his bad behavior is what brought about the great shriekfest in the first place.

I am seeking input on punishing both of them.  Mostly I am looking to punish Tiger, I am sure if he stops the shrieking Blanket will forget that he learned how for a couple of years.  

So if you see me and Blanket is shrieking in church, please punish Tiger for me!

A few firsts. Good ones and bad ones.

Unfortunately, this post has no photos.  

Saturday, Blanket cut his first tooth.  Yes, at 9 months he got his first tooth.  This is early.  Tiger got his first at 10 months. 

Monday night we went to Blockbuster and rented (I know, so 15 years ago) a movie.  It was based on a book that B.A.R. read, and since he doesn't read very often I conceded.  This is the first time we have rented a movie in 3 years.  Yes, we haven't rented a movie (and we don't have on-demand or pay per view) since we moved to Colorado.

Tiger didn't take a nap yesterday, so was tired and nearing bedtime when we got back from Blockbuster at 6:30.   I was giving Blanket a bath (more on that below), and Tiger was watching TV with B.A.R. and eating Cheetos leftover from the party we went to on Saturday night.    B.A.R. turned to see if Tiger had finished eating, and he had fallen asleep with his hand in the bag.  I chided him for not taking a picture (he claims it didn't occur to him).   This may not seem significant to you, but he has never, ever  fallen asleep watching TV, or sitting still.  He has to be in his bed, or in his car seat.  Unless he is restrained (i.e. closed in his room, etc.) the kid is the Energizer Bunny.  I was so busy with Blanket that I noticed B.A.R. putting Tiger to bed before I got a chance to see my crazy kid asleep with his hand in the Cheetos bag.

Blanket was kind of crabby at church on Sunday, and just wanted to be held and to sleep at church.  He wanted an extra nap and longer naps on Sunday and Monday.  Twice on Sunday he sort of tugged on his ears, but he had just cut a tooth on Saturday, and we thought he was getting another.  Monday, he started the day with a 100.5 fever that spent the day climbing.  He was a little crabby, and was happy just being held.   He was really happy considering how sick he is.  After we got back from Blockbuster I gave him a cool bath which he detested vehemently for a long time, but it successfully brought his fever down 1.5 degrees for a couple of hours.  Blanket woke up 5 different times during the night.  He was wearing a onesie and a diaper.  He would kick off all his blankets and I would find him hot to the touch wanting his blankets back.  When he finally got up this morning I decided that if he had a fever I would call the Dr.   His fever was down, and I couldn't figure what was wrong with him.   Then I saw that it looked like he had an ear infection drain out overnight.  It took me until 9:30 am to get a hold of his Dr. and get him an appointment for today.  It's a good thing we went and got two different antibiotics.  His fever was 101 at 4:00 it was 102.4 at 6:30 tonight.  

Tiger has never had an ear infection.  I don't want him to get one either.  The whining alone would make me want to have him put in a medically induced coma.  I would rather Blanket got all the ear infections in our family than that Tiger ever got a single one.  

In other good news, Blanket weighs a whole 17.0 lbs.  He is 9 months old and very happy.  17 lbs means that he has gained another 17 oz between visits.  At birth he weighed 7 lbs 14 oz.  At 2 months he weighed 11 lbs 4 oz.  At 4 months 14 lbs 14 oz. At 6 months: 15 lbs 15 oz.  At this pace he will weigh all of 18 lbs 1 oz on his birthday and 20 lbs about the time he goes to nursery.  Maybe he will be crawling by then.  At this age Tiger weighed 20 lbs and was pulling up and cruising along the furniture.  He had mastered crawling and was learning to go up and down stairs.  He also started out weighing 15 oz less.