Our Exciting Week

Last weekend we took the boys and Parker to the Irish festival downtown. It was a lot of fun, as you can see.








Dan also got to take a field trip with his school to the William and Mary 's sunken gardens where they flew kites. He had a really good time. These pictures were taken by one of the college students who works at the daycare.







I had to call Daniel's doctor twice this week for medical mishaps and run him to the office once for a completely separate emergency. When I call now and I tell them Dan's name they recognize him immediately and change from the official businesslike persona to asking how DanMan is doing. Perhaps I should relocate my office into their building?

Dan had vaccines last week and ended up with a rash in those spots last Saturday night. The Emergency nurse wanted us to take Dan to the ER -- Saturday night, Downtown Richmond, City Hospital... ummm. no. I put some ointment on them and they were fine. Reaction to the band-aid. Then on Monday Daniel fell at school right into the sharp end of a cabinet. I will post a picture here, but it doesn't do the injury justice. I have never seen a goose-egg before, but now I can say I have. It was an actual EGG on his head. I almost passed out. The daycare ladies were beside themselves. However, ICE works! The next morning the swelling had gone down considerably (which is when this picture was taken) and the next day the swelling was gone. He is a tough kid. I held it together pretty well until we got to the doctor's office and they rushed him back and said he DIDN'T need a catscan for a skull fracture. Then I hugged the doctor and the nurse.

Finally last night, I got him ready for his bath and noticed that he had a tick under his arm. Yikes. Luckily it hadn't been there too long. Bear was a trooper.






In lighter news, Daniel started drinking out of a cup this past weekend. Not only do you get to witness this, but you can see him using some of his sign language. Man, that 'more" sign gets used every day.
Enjoy!

Almost Forgot

As I was updating our blog and adding new features, I realized that Godzilla, who is nominally mentioned in this blog, hasn't had a lot of face time. So, I dedicate this post to Godzilla.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

In an effort to try to get all of us out of the house and into the fresh air, we went to the 7th Annual Richmond Air Force Kite Show this weekend. Eric and Daniel (and Mark and I) had a blast! We went with another family down the street who have kids Woob and Dan's age. The kids got free kites and there were very few mishaps -- crossing strings with a professional is a No-No in the kite flying world, so luckily we only crossed strings with other luckless parents.

Here is Dan in the shirt Uncle Ken bought him... Kenny - we only washed it once andalready it says "I have friends in NDON." Probably a good example of why we kicked their butts in that little skirmish we call the Revolution...

Ummm... apparently Daniel had a dirty diaper when I took this picture.

Here are the boys going to the kite show. The sociologist in me had to note that each of them had an electronic device in their hands. Even DanMan had a "cell phone." What a generational statement!

That's all for now> Ken, I'll post pics of the deck next time.

The Beginning of March Blog!

Has it been a month already? Sheesh, time is flying.

Eric has had a busy busy busy month. As you may or may not remember from grade school February was black history month so most weekends Eric had some project or another to do for school. I had forgotten how fascinating George Washington Carver can be :) ( Remember him? he's the peanut guy. )

He also had his Blue and Gold banquet and Mark was able to go to that with Woob.

Woob has been burning up the neighborhood with his new bike. He and Parker are fast friends and sit and play Yu-gi-oh all day long or get on their dueling DS Lites (if you don't know, don't ask. by the time you have to know it will have changed!)

Daniel gets VERY excited to see Eric. The other day he was so excited to see Woob when they woke up in the morning that he said "Eric" clear as a bell. Here is a video of Dan saying words the way only Dan can say them. (Oatmeal = NumNum; Brontosaurus = BwaBwa ---- always the same words, so we know what he means).

My folks and Ken visited this past month. We got to take DanMan to the Circus. I was suprised at how much he enjoyed it. we stayed through the intermission which for a 16 month old is a long time! We had awesome seats as you can see. Of course, at the end Dan was a little tired and the clown thought he looked pretty sad. If you know me and know how much I HATE clowns, I made a big effort to take a picture with one!

Eric got to see the family too. He even got Uncle Ken to play Clue (over and over and over again!)

Daniel got to enjoy some spring weather earlier this week... we got the bubble machine out. He can say "bubble." He also ate one or two of them by accident.

Dinner at our house is pretty entertaining. Apparently broccoli makes the boys laugh pretty hard... perhaps I'll make it more often.



Here is Grumpy making Daniel work for a living...






Dan also likes to unload the dishwasher (even when there are dirty dishes in it). Apparently he gets in there when I'm not looking -- Mark emptied the dishwasher the other night and fished out a ballpoint pen that "someone" (who shall remain nameless... Wallace???) had stuck in the silverware basket.

Before I log off, I should remind everyone to check out our WalkAmerica Website (www.walkamerica.org/StaceyRae) Dan and I are doing the five mile walk again this year. If you want to contribute to this wonderful cause to help the March of Dimes, you can head to our website and sponor our walk (wish us luck!) Our goal this year is $250 and we can't do it without you!

We are so proud. . .

We have taught Daniel lots of things in his first 16 months of life. Because of us he knows how to walk, say "night-night", sign the words "milk," "eat," and the ever-popular "cookie." He knows that nighttime is for sleeping, daytime is for being awake and that Pooh Bear makes a good pillow. But, our greatest achievement as parents has finally been fulfilled this week. Enjoy.



Eric is pretty proud too this week. He got a brand new bike to keep at his Virginia house. This is Eric with his friend Parker who lives down the street from us.






And finally, a picture that makes you ask: "who are the books supposed to be putting to sleep anyway?"