Army Slither

Mr. Cole has been kinda clingy and grouchy lately.  I think he's teething.  (Isn't that the standard answer for any baby illness/grouchiness/change in behavior?)  I tried to get a peek at his mouth, but it ended about as well as you would expect when putting a finger in a mouth with two razor-sharp chompers just rairin' to chew.

Anywho, I spent a good portion of the afternoon with a baby literally attached at the hip.

This made Cole very happy.  And me very tired.  (Slings are great, but you're still luggin' around an extra 23 pounds of baby.)  Doesn't he look so content?  His expression is something along the lines of "Yeah, I totally got what I wanted.  I've got this lady wrapped around my little finger.  Which I am now going to chew.  *Nom*Nom*Nom*"

And maybe he does, a little.  But could you say no to that face?  Besides, they're only babies for so long.

I later experimented with the 'back hold', where the baby rides on your back.  This was great until I felt him trying to bite me, which ended the experiment rather abruptly, much to his dismay.

Fortunately, he was later appeased with the swing.

When Cole's not feeling clingy, there's nothing he likes better than to crawl around the house and explore.  Well, I don't know if crawl is the right word.  It looks more like a painful army slither, or (as Lance said) he's awkwardly swimming on the carpet.  Well, whatever, it gets him where he wants to be!

p.s.  Did you like the fig leaf on Spencer in the shower?  Just thought I'd show off a little of my mad video editing skillz.

Spaghetti Dinner

As you can see, Cole really likes spaghetti.  Especially cut up meatballs.  And flinging the spaghetti on the floor?  Totally fun. 

Cole was the messiest of the three boys, but oddly, not by much.

Baby Cage

Now that Cole is mobile he has become a little, chubby destruction machine.  He's curious, fairly speedy, strong, and (most dangerously) sneaky.

Thus the baby cage is back out.  And he loves it.  (Well, for about 15 minutes at a time.  But that's enough for a shower!)

And no, he doesn't also defy gravity.  That would be a terrifying and completely unfair new superpower.  No,  for whatever reason the picture won't turn.  Stupid Blogger.

Self-portrait Tuesday: Chillin' at the Park

Dreaded Chore

Time to sort and store the boys' clothes.  Time to put away anything that's too big (I shop end-of-season sales), too small, or for the wrong season.  Time to put away all of the infant stuff because Cole is now a great big beast of a baby.  Time to get rid of those articles of clothing that couldn't withstand repeated stains, skidding on the knees, or other little boy abuses.

I HATE this chore.  I don't know why.  I just do.

Time to sigh.  *sigh*  And maybe drink a Cherry Coke Zero.

That's Josh

Want to know what kind of child Josh is?

This afternoon we made some bar cookies for Family Home Evening tonight.  Josh was my good helper, and by helper I mean he made the process twice as long and five times as dirty as necessary.  (But you already knew that about Josh, right?  (Or any other three year old for that matter.)

The bar cookies were finally done and I pulled them out of the oven.  Josh, hearing me in the kitchen, ran in to check things out.  I set the hot pan on a cooling rack on the counter.

Me: Josh, don't touch the bar cookies.  They are very hot!

Josh: Okay.

Josh climbs up on his chair to get a closer look.

Me: I mean it.  Do NOT touch them!  The pan is still VERY hot!

Josh: Okay.

Me: If you touched them it would hurt.  A LOT.

At which point Josh very deliberately stuck two fingers out and touch the pan - for several seconds - before squealing and pulling his hand away.

THAT is the very essence of Josh.  Testing everything I say, no matter how common sense it is.

Heaven help us all when he's a teenager and I have to warn him about the dangers of texting and driving, pre-marital sex, chainsaws, and baggy pants. 

Dr. Destructo Hiatus

Dr. Destructo used to be quite a regular feature on this blog.  (Remember this?  And this?  Or this?)  But he's been on hiatus lately.

Until last week.

I keep two of my extra dining chairs in the office.  (My dining room isn't really big enough to hold all eight.)  Usually the boys leave them alone, but for some reason Josh recently decided that was the chair he wanted to sit on while playing computer.  I had caught him a couple of times leaving back in his other (smaller) chair, and had warned him about that.  So when I heard a loud crash and a cry from Josh, I had a pretty good idea what had happened.

I was right.  The chair was on the floor, in pieces, with Josh writhing around on top.  I'll be the first to admit that I was more concerned about the chair at first that about the child.  But that's only because I knew he was okay.  No blood!  No broken bones!  He was fine.  Better off than the chair.

My poor chair.  Just look at Dr. Destructo's work:

(These pictures were all taken after I had kind of pieced it back together.)

Good thing I have a handy husband.  A little wood glue and a clamp later and voila:

You can hardly even tell that the chair was ever broken.  Good job Lance.

Hopefully Dr. Destructo will go on a long vacation again.  And soon.