al...lakazam...allakaZOO....

So, this post should have happened almost a week ago. Last Monday we went back to Dr. Tuten, Alder's orthopedist. This was the first visit in six months and though we feel comfortable with Alder's progress, we are always a bit anxious to hear what doc says. And we always remember the fear and crossed-fingers that we carried in that office with us the first few times... Dr. Tuten said his feet looked great. Not much more to say. He did some firm pushing and bending, felt no popping or clicking, Alder was unphased, and wham, 'keep doing what you guys are doing and come back in 6 months'. A bit more than that, of course. We asked for his opinion on mobility and doc said that club feet kids are typically a month behind the 'average' and then boys are another month behind that. Said that he looked like he would be just fine moving through stages but of course we are always aware to keep a eye on things to make sure they are staying straight.

We also asked about how Alder's feet will sometimes get sort of purple or blue, especially when cold and moreover when in a carrier on us. In fact, Les had someone notify her in the grocery store once, that her child's feet were blue. It does look sort of crazy. Interestingly, doc said that club feet kids tend to have only one artery per club foot rather than the normal two per foot and that there are no adverse effects caused by the missing vessel. This was good to learn. Think we would have heard/read by now...

So anyway, more and more now when we leave his office we realize how fantastic a doctor he has been. Beyond just doing a good job with Alder, but by just being positive along the way and making sure that we had all our concerns aired before he walks out. He's obviously very busy but not too busy to realize where we are as new parents, with such a question mark hanging, be it small or large depending on the time.

Anyway so that's worth some celebration to say the least. But the "magic" comes into play now, and ironically, speaking of mobility. It's interesting how before you have a kid you have this scheduled string of events in mind. At 6 to 8 months they will start moving around, probably army crawling, then they crawl the old standard way on all fours, then pulling up, then cruising, then walking at about a year - or something like that. But it is not always that way, we now know.

It was that mosquito-larvae-whipping-about-on-the-rug first to get around. This lasted a couple of weeks - I don't really remember to tell the truth. Then army crawling for a week or so, maybe two. Then almost two weeks ago he cranked out his first several 'steps' of "crawling." And in the past two days he's pulling up on various furniture, poking his head up into another dimension of this world, his world. So, while on one hand we are happy for this to validate that he is coming along well re: his feet, but at the same time, we shudder at how our ideas of how things will progress are completely frayed before our eyes. All fun stuff!! So, some pics.

A crawling pic. With a glimpse of toofies number 7 and 8 on the bottom. Molars must be coming because he is still slobbering copiously and randomly grinding his fist into his face.

Here's a shot of potty time. EC (elimination communication - see earlier post(s)) is still going well though we feel pretty certain that the biggest obstacle for us is the fact that he spends 4 days a week at the sitter. It's hard to get him used to peeing and pooping in the potty all the time when he is basically used to peeing and pooping in his diaper during the majority of the week. Besides, many of us might know first hand from college years that its hard to restrict potty time to the weekend - or was that ...? (Sorry, had to.) But no worries; whatever we catch is cool and we are still pretty successful with catching poops because we can very much tell when he is about to go. I guess a goal here is that as he begins to understand what he is doing (i.e., peeing and pooping) he will not be scared of the potty and will therefore transition more easily.

The duo...smiling (above) and thumb-sucking (below).

It is more amazing every day how that little noggin of his is like a sponge. He is constantly remembering more words and objects, even when we aren't intentionally trying to teach him. We said the word bird today and he whipped his head to the window. He points at things. We gave him a wooden car Friday and today when we came home from a walk, we asked him where his car was. He immediately searched, found it and went for it. I only wish I could remember things as swiftly as he does.
Little pic of a lettuce harvest from our little garden. Its finally pushing out good amounts of greens so we don't have to buy them...and I be derned if they are so much more tasty!!!

Here's one of the first bipedal moments.
Splinter time. He loves to bang stuff together and when we do with any amount of rhythm, he starts his little dancing.

OK, that's enough for now I guess.

Everyone have a wonderful week.

First Camping Trip

And we chose Kiptopeke State Park. Went with our friends Janet, Dan and Sylvia. Wonderful way to spend a rainy Richmond weekend - on the sunny southern tip of the eastern shore. Wondeful way to spend a sunny Richmond weekend for that matter. We spent only one night and had all the basic amenities in the nearby vehicle, but we packed in some relaxing fun, something we all needed. It was a good trial run for us and we are now determined to make this happen again in a bigger way soon.

Little bit of walking on trails and the beach. (Thats POLLEN(!!) on the deck here.)

Here's little Sylvia doing what she loves most...guiding mommy and daddy around by the hand.

Little bit of hanging around the campsite watching Alder and Sylvie play on a quilt.

They played GREAT. Seems like typically Alder has not been very fun and cooperative with Sylvia, and we might have figured out that this is because we always get them together in the evening when he is tired and cranky. Thankfully, they had a blast sharing toys and baby wallowing.

We all had a couple of nice walks on the beach.

Alder loved the tent, playing this game he's liking these days where he sits up on Les and falls over to squeal and attack her with kisses.
And here's a crazy one. The last time we slept in this tent was in the Rockies, backpacking after Pete and Jayme's wedding, September 10 and 11, 2007, when Les was days pregnant and we didn't know yet....whoah... and on that note this broke our longest stretch ever of no sleeping outdoors.
This was Alder's second time at the beach but this time he seemed to get it a bit more. Just a bit. Seemed to realize at least that this was one incomprehensible amount of water. I made the bathtime sign (hands up and down on the chest) and pointed to the water and rather than the excited grin he usually gives to that, he gave this blank pause like that was the biggest bath he had EVER SEEN.

Alder loves his sleep. Even if naptime is when we are out for a walk on the beach, he cannot keep his eyes open. We can simply say 'night night' and he immediately puts his head down and sucks his thumb. This is a handy way to get him to chill out when not near the bed...as seen here.

We've got more goodies to share real soon, but wanted to give this post to a monumental event.

uh, "bless you"??

OK, we promise we aren't going off the deep end with the videography...

This is the tail end of Alder having a giggle fit over some staged sneezing. All started in the tub one night when he sneezed, then looked up at me and just busted into laughter. So, like the well-trained parent, I immediately pretended to sneeze too. And he laughed harder... and I kept on. So now, whenever he sneezes, he laughs. Or whenever we want to get a good laugh out of the guy, we give a hearty fake sneeze. Works every time. Who knows why?

Its loads of fun, but we expect it wont last long. We are learning that these little things come and go fast.

Otherwise, Alder has cut tooth number 7 and number 8 is sparkling from beneath the thinnest of remaining gum. Both on the bottom.

He is getting faster at moving around with every wakeful hour. In fact, as of this evening, I think we may have just seen the end of leaving him on the floor in the other room to check him periodically. He's getting fast and realizing that physical limits are breaking down. And this is fueling curiosity that was there already. Alder's world is unfolding before him. Oh, may ours not crash down upon us or drown in the dog bowl...

The weekend held lots of rain for us, which was wonderful for so many reasons. Though we did spend a good bit of time indoors, we used a sunny hour or so to check out the new blooms in the yard and get the hammock up.
Hope you all have a great week.

Catching up

It's been awhile and there is much to say, but I will try to keep it short.

Alder has decided that army crawling is a much more efficient strategy for locomoting and boy is he starting to move! He is still fairly content to sit and play in one spot, but if he happens to be playing with a certain piece of tupperware, for example, that rolls around - he is now very able to go get it. He made his way to Tsuga's waterbowl yesterday and before I could catch him he had it dumped it all over him. Here is a short video of the army crawl. He does use both arms, though this video shows him favoring his left. Jason is asking him if he is going to be careful with the tower of blocks b/c the other day he did not simply knock it down, but gently removed each block one by one...not this time. Anyway, here it is:

Jason has also made significant progress on the garden. The temperatures have dropped again though and if it weren't for the numerous flowering trees and vocal birds, I might not know it was early spring. Here is the raised bed Jason constructed by our driveway and next to the road, in the ONLY sunny spot we have for growing food.

Unlike previous gardens we have had, this will require packing as much food into a small area as possible. Thus Jason has read Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" on the bus the past couple of weeks. Very practical read; shows that ANYONE can grow a good deal of their own food, even in a plot as small as 4 feet by 4 feet. We squeezed 80 square feet out of our shaded yard and will learn a lot as to what we can grow best in this spot, amending the soil with the past year's compost from our kitchen and horse manure from a nearby stable, etc.

While out there piddling around, he has had several positive comments from neighbors, one of which was a request to build one in their yard. We belabored for some time over what materials to use to construct the raised bed in hopes of finding some sort of affordable recycled materials while still having it look "nice" being so exposed to passers by. (Check out Jen and Daniel's garden composed of recycled materials in the link to Jen's blog) We finally decided to use discount, flawed, treated lumber and then line the insides with thick black plastic to prevent possible leaching of trace copper and arsenic (from wood treatment processes) into our food.

Here's dad and Alder in front of the bull bloom forsythia on a warm day.

Oh yeah, and we went to visit Grammy and Pa Pa for easter weekend and had a super time. Alder got a easter 'bucket' which he loves filling up with and emptying of toys. And yes, that is a diaper on Pa Pa's head... protecting it from the wonderful sun we had that day. It is so nice to see little toes and chubby legs more often as the weather begins to get warmer.

Until next time...hope you are all doing well and trying as much as possible to enjoy the arrival of spring. My favorite time of year!