Tonka Truck

It's not just a truck, it's a Tonka Truck! At least, that's what Alton calls it. Here he is pushing it as fast as possible around the living room.

Cool in the Pool

Last weekend was our final swim lesson for this session. We'll have to get this waterbaby back in the pool again soon!

Alton and me (right) with "Teacher"; Alton seemed to have developed a little crush on her, because he tried to show off his swim aptitude every time she came near.


Grinning at Cousin *P and Auntie Karen.

Sticking out his tongue at Mommy.

Jumping off the side into my arms and catching some serious air!

Splash fight time again.


Bye-bye!

Dance Party Mashup

Some more dancing fun with Daddy. In the first section of the video, the viewing screen of the camcorder has been turned around so that Alton is watching himself, hence the hypnotic expression on his face.

Shades of Love

My little twins. I *heart* them!

Knit One, Purl Two

In his green shirt (which he also wore on St. Patrick's Day) that *P & Co. gave him for Valentine's Day, Alton decides that he wants to learn to knit. A few days before I got sick, I was finishing a sweater while he napped, and when he woke up there were remnants of my project still lying about. He seized the package of needles and walked around with them, enjoying the clanging sound they made when they banged around together (metal needles).



Then he decided that all of the scraps and ends from my yarn skeins would work really well as a free-form, multicolored toupee for Pooh Bear.






A fiber artist in the making, for sure.

ABC

The lack of posts lately is because yes, I got sick as well. Alton is slowly getting over his cold, and I am nursing a wicked sore throat and some cough/cold symptoms as well. We hope to be back up to speed soon! In the meantime, here is a video from last weekend when the little guy was feeling musical.

House Arrest

Poor little Alton has caught a nasty cold. We are currently on Day Four of staying at home all day long, and it's abating very, very slowly. A slight cough kept us home and relaxing on Tuesday in hopes that a little time to rest would get him over the hump, but despite getting creative with monster trucks and dish towels, Wednesday dawned for Alton with a runny nose, hacking cough, and slightly feverish, achy head. We placed ourselves under official house arrest and are serving our time with Puffs tissues, Vicks' BabyRub, Motrin and Vaseline, and a device called the Nosefrida that I'll just describe as a "nasal aspirator" and leave it at that. We did have one semi-sleepless night, but so far I have not gotten sick and will continue to wash my hands until my knuckles are dry and cracked and accept the good "cold carma" that my friend Julie is airmailing to me: she has been sick already about four times this year, so she says that she is due for a "get outta cold" freebie and is sending it over. Thanks!
After this many days at home, you would think that Alton would be getting a little stir crazy, but he is far too inventive for that. After selecting our little storage ottoman/footstool as a repository for a dozen or so of Daddy's business cards, Alton decided that it would be even more fun to climb inside and hunker down, so that's just what he did. He accomplished this as quick as a flash, before I even realized what he was trying to do, so there was pretty much nothing for me to do but grab the camera to document the process. You can see in some of the photos how red and sore his nose and face are, and how liberally smeared they are with Vaseline to help with the rawness! Here's hoping that we kick this bug soon and that Mommy escapes unscathed.






And in somewhat unrelated news, I finished the sweater I was making for myself! The first sweater I have made for myself in probably about five years? It's a supersoft nylon/cotton yarn called Cascade Cotton Rich, and it's a cropped wrap sweater with elbow-length sleeves. I need Andy's assistance for pinning so that I can measure where to put the fasteners with the sweater actually on me, but then I'll be done!

Quacking up! (by Andy)

Katie had the brilliant idea recently to use our left over bread (loaf heels, old burger buns, etc) to feed the ducks that live out at the pond behind our local library. On Monday, inspired by nice sunny weather, I suggested that we introduce AJ to the joys of throwing food to hordes of ducks. It's a great idea, but the weather that inspired us turned a little worse by the time we got out there. It was still sunny, but pretty cold and windy. We decided to bundle up and tough it out. Alton was sporting his favorite boat hat and, with the wind kicking up, we opted to put his jacket hood up to help keep his ears warm. We also had a chance to teach Alton how to put his hands in his pockets.



Alton had a fun time - although he had some problems throwing the bread (we're still working on his throwing arm and from where we were standing, he was throwing into the wind) but he toughed it out and really enjoyed watching the melee of ducks dive after the carby treats we had for them.

The chaos theory come to life.

Score!

Minerva got to come along, too. Katie played dog wrangler while I helped AJ.

Ducks!

Hi ducks!

Keeping warm.

Walking back to the car with Mommy.

Mischief Morning

I should have known I was in for it this morning when Alton started playing outside the box.
I never realized how much our Williams-Sonoma kitchen towels (a nice gift from Uncles Dave and Cliff, who have great taste) resembled a road for a monster truck to drive on.


Then we started crawling around like a dog. Up...

over...

around...

and through the legs. Sounds like the teleplay for the Harlem Globetrotters.

And here was yesterday morning, just to give you a picture of my wacky week thus far.