FORE!

or

Skin in the Game.

I swear, I do still have Callan wear clothes! I promise. But he loves to streak. And I can't fight it. So I figure I have a few years before it becomes a problem for us. Answering the door nude at 12 is inappropriate. But I think I can get it under control before then. I think. In the meantime, here's some naked golf pictures.

Three Daze

Phew! What a great and busy long weekend!

First, we helped NiNi celebrate her birthday! Here's what happens when I make a cake and Chef Grant makes a dessert. The beautiful dessert which he threw together just that morning arrives at my house with hand torched meringue and a dressy little sauce. The cake that took me three days in the making (one to bake, one to frost, and one to serve) looks like it was constructed in a wood fired stove by a hobbit. I had to make extra frosting to try and cover my mistakes. And I had to buy wax letters because I was concerned the weight of any additional frosting my make an already collapsed cake implode. Sheesh GRANT! You can see that NiNi let Callan practice the birthday song and a candle blow-out in prep for his big day! Happy Birthday Mom! We love you LOTS!!!

On Sunday we went to the Zoo again and met my friend Monica and her four kids! Callan was thrilled with the company! The kids were glad to meet him and even more glad that he wasn't one of those kinds of babies (the kind that cries). There were very curious about his hair...how it stands up and what color it is under his hat. Best of all, they were allowed to push the stroller. Wild times I tell you! After a big nap (for Eric) we went to the pool.

Monday we went to visit Eric's family at the lake. For as much as Callan loves the pool, he was very uncertain about the boat. OK, it was just the life jacket he wasn't a fan of. But I was glad he didn't want to get in the water because I saw a (cover your eyes)

S-N-A-K-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A swimming snake. An anaconda. Or maybe an amphibious garter snake but very scary either way. A life jacket won't help you with that, people!

Hand Rolled

Hand rolled makes Cigars sound more exotic.
Hand dipped makes chocolates sound artisan.
However, apply either of those adjectives to toilet paper and they loose some of their cache. But we have both at our house! (Both kinds of TP, neither of the others!)

Callan is in to everything. EVERYTHING. He can walk. He can run. He crawls at the speed of light. He opens doors, cabinets, bottles. The man is figuring it all out. And I wish I could say we are staying a step ahead of him...but we aren't! Here's video of me trying to coax him back into his room for pajama time. (Listen to Eric encouraging me to hurry before he pees. Couch coaching is so helpful!)

The Naked Chef

Our diaper optional policy extends to the kitchen. Anyone care for a beverage? Callan's pouring!

Just Zoo It

Our first trip to the zoo! Of course, we picked a rather chilly morning to make our inagural visit. You'd think waiting until mid-May would ensure some balminess---but not so much. Good news, Callan didn't seem to mind! He seemed to really enjoy himself---he was pretty quite at first, just taking it all in. I think it is hard for him to know where to look. He wants to watch the kids, the animals, the golf carts, the leaves....I mean there is a lot going on! We were able to visit the petting zoo, the gorilla house, the cat house and the aquarium. All in all, I think Callan's favorite thing was that most of the ledges in the zoo are perfect Callan height. He can stand by himself and walk along using the ledge for balance. He thought the ledges in the aquarium were particularly delightful. By the time we visited there he was over the quite stage and was hooting and hollering. I had to keep reminding myself that it was our first visit---not our only. That we didn't have to see and do everything that day. Phew. Pressure. Luckily for me I had that mindset as we had to leave the zoo a little earlier than I had planned because someone was getting cranky and hungry. And I packed Callan a lunch. That's right deductive reasoners, it was Eric! 11:30 a.m. he was hungry and disappointed that the pizza they serve wasn't from Pizza Hut or other fine Pizza chain so we had to get out of there to feed that hungry baby. (Again, Eric.) I guess I need a bigger diaper bag!

Thong. Tha-Tha-Tha Thong.

We reached a new diapering low today. Poor Callan. Crawling around post bath--trying to evade the diapering and pajamaing that was waiting for him, he got more intimate with the diaper than he might have cared to. Whoops. I was trying to diaper a moving target. It seems very reminiscent of the 'catching an oiled pig' contest I have seen at fairs. You lunge for a leg and hope for the best. Well, the diaper was a little askew. On both sides. Meeting in the middle.
I fixed it, but I did think it was funny. Tired of those pesky diaper lines? The no-diaper line diaper...the thongper. Yuck.

Mama Dia

What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!! We got to see our GG and our NiNi...life is good!

GG and her friends Mildred and Ellie were in town on spring break! Great Grandmas Gone Wild! They went on a road trip and hit the SAC Museum and a couple of nurseries. Ellie was a "Rosie the Riveter" and she worked on the Inola Gay which is being restored at the SAC, so they even got a behind the scenes tour of the restoration. Pretty cool!!! We went to meet them at a little place over in Papillion (who cares where? keep reading). Needless to say that once Callan arrived, GG couldn't concentrate on the petunias. Callan loved getting to see GG, Mildred and Ellie. He was a big fan of all the flowers and would have loved to have been let loose to grab and eat at will. No such luck. As if to signal his disapproval of that choice, he cried the entire way home. Of course, being the ultimate planner that I am, I left at rush hour. SOOOOOOOOO it took me 50 minutes to get across town. I was alternating a contortionist move that involves twisting my right arm completely around up over the car seat to deliver cheerios/binki/bottle to Callan's mouth and loudly singing my sad, sad repertoire of songs (which oft includes classics like, On Top of Spaghetti. POOR baby!) Shockingly, neither of those things helped a bit, no matter how tried. I guess Callan is a better judge of singing talent than I give him credit for. In those many moments I went from being someone who doesn't want her child to watch much TV to believing I can't survive another minute w/out a DVD player in the car. If my singing doesn't help I'm sure insert name Barney/Elmo/Dora/Deigo could have. But, we survived and went on to a great Saturday!











We met NiNi and PaPa downtown for some breakfast and shopping. Callan LOVED the Farmer's market and watching all of the kids and dogs. And, as per usual, PaPa loved showing Callan all the new sites and sounds.







On Saturday we went out to dinner at Roja with our friend Kim, my parents and Uncle Grant & Aunt Johanna! We got some very exciting news...we have a new family member! Dog cousin Moxie!



On Sunday we spent the day at home trying to accomplish something. I can't remember what exactly, as it didn't get accomplished. OH well! We went to the park for a little while and just spent the day playing. We discovered dandelions. (Ironically, the same year that Eric has learned to make the lawn beautiful. Life is cruel.) We had a great time!



Callan is just getting SOOO brave! He can stand unassisted and today he stood up with out pulling himself up, and then took 5 steps! He is also experimenting with climbing. NiNi discovered that he can hoist himself up onto the bottom shelf of the changing table...and from then on anything that remotely resembles a step is fair game. Drawers, boxes, bowls, stacks of diapers. We just might have a monkey on our hands!

And today is Callan's 11 mo birthday! I had better get it in gear for the first bday celebration. I see a spreadsheet in my future...............

Blogiversary!

Today is my one year blogiversary! My first post was last Mother's Day---May 11th. Obviously not much has changed. Right?

Last year: typed at the table in the middle of the afternoon with no interruptions. Took 5 minutes, max. I probably even did something crazy like take a nap afterward. Or read the paper.

This year: Thought of this post for 48 hours, started three times, and am now typing one handed, holding a sleeping baby with the other. Took 2.8 days! Don't have time to read what I wrote let alone read the paper!

Last year: 25 pound ankles
This year: 25 pound baby

Last year: I waddled
This year: Callan toddles

Last year: CLEAN house, clean bathrooms, clean floors.
This year: Clean dishes?


Just a few differences! What a masterful teacher young Callan has been! I knew things would be great--but this is just completely beyond my wildest expectations. OH what a wonder that little guy is!

This is How We Do It

One of my friends recently asked me "What is Callan up to? Anything new?"

And the answer to that is that every minute of every day something is new with Callan. He is just changing SO much right now it is amazing. This was made painfully clear to me tonight when I started realizing that I could barely keep up with him. Meaning I was having a very hard time distracting him from what he wanted to do, he might be a little determined. I felt like I spent all night following him, intercepting him, telling him no and why not and then picking up after him. I have a feeling this is the new normal! Here we go!

Here is an outline of our evening...

Go for a walk.

Do a little playing.

Eat dinner.

Help Vegas eat his dinner. (by putting our hands in his food, and our feet in his water)

Make a grocery list. Take Kleenex Inventory.

Check the light bulbs.

Take bath.

Play naked Kitchen. Too much fun!

Oh! Look what we made!

OH man did this make me laugh. I guess that is the danger of diaperless play. Lesson learned.

Look Who We Ran Into

Or, look who came to visit so they could actually, literally run. What I am about to write makes it seem like I should include a disclaimer. OK, just for the record, athleticism may run in my family, but it does not run in these veins. The owner of these veins does not run, unless it is to a great sale, or away from someone scary. I certainly don't do it for fun. NOT fun. Jiggly bits slamming up and down. Not for me. I would need sooooooooooo much help from engineers (spandex, protective padding, levers, straps, all kinds of stuff) that it is just not worth it. Walking is hard enough, I see no need to speed it up. But my little sister does. Aunt Ang ran in her first half marathon this past weekend. Here's what crazy looks like after the race...running through the pain of tendinitis in both knees. Man, it is hell to be fit, eh? But YAY for Angie! And if they didn't have enough crazy in their house, Joe ran the full marathon!!! They both did awesome and are looking forward to their next opportunity. For my part, I made a pie. Huh. I wonder why I am the fat sister!?!?! ; )

But that is not why you are here, are you my one reader? You want to know about Callan!

Well, I hope he wouldn't mind me saying, but he had a pretty great weekend. Lots of time with his NiNi and Papa (what we are trying out for my parents in lieu of Grandma and Grandpa) which is always so much fun!

A visit from Aunt Ang and Uncle Joe. Which means that Callan also got to see something he hasn't had to see in a while--a surgical mask! OK, momachondria caused me to force my sister to wear a mask around Callan for fear of the Swine Flu. I know, is she a great and patient sister or what??? She had a confirmed case at her school, so under the advice of my pediatrician we took 'prophylactic' precautions.

He also got to see the elusive Uncle Grant and Aunt Johanna. Those two are soooooooooo busy. Work, school, a new home and they dare to have a social life. They make me tired just hearing about it!

We had lots of fun, but it sure made us miss everyone who wasn't with us for 'family dinner' Eth, Liza and our GG!