liam's ds is good for more than just games...

...the other day, he used it to "send" me a message:

large, thinks he's in charge

When he came to us, Charlie was 10 pounds. At his vet visit last month, he was 35. And he's got a long way to go...

And no, he's probably not supposed to be on the couch. But he was posing so nicely!

EDIT: Sorry, all, I'm being told that Charlie was 45 pounds last month, not 35. I repeat: He's a big dog.

a cat tale

Once upon a time, on a Friday afternoon, Loni and I took the boys and the dog down to the playground (that's what the boys call our fenced-in area with the swing set) to play. And we played. And played. Wore the dog out with fetching and attempting to teach him to jump through a hula hoop (no success there yet), wore the boys out with swinging and crossing the monkey rings and going up and down the slide.

And when it was time to go back up to the house, we spotted it: the most beautiful little gray striped kitten. A stray, but oh, so cute! The boys kind of glanced at it, then were like, whatever, another cat. But it followed us up to the house, and it camped out on the deck until we paid attention to it. Loni went out and picked it up, and it was game over from that point. Max held it like a baby, and Liam couldn't stop talking about how it kept purring so loud because it was saying that it loved him.


It was left to me to explain to the boys that there was no way we could bring another living creature into this house without bursting at the seams. Let me just say, this mom thing is hell on my approval rating in the under-10 set!

Apparently, Henry didn't get the memo, because he continued to flirt enthusiastically with the kitten through the glass door.



The kitten was nothing if not tenacious. It stayed out on the deck when we took Charlie out to pee, and it was still there when Loni packed up to go. So what could I do? I made her take it with her when she left. Luckily, she found the kitten a happy home in a barn with lots of other cats and a little girl to love them all. And thus endeth our story ... at least until the next time the boys fall in love with a pet.

one step at a time...

I'm not sure who is more excited here.

fall-o-ween

Saturday was the Fall-o-Ween Festival at the high school in Walkerton. Liam was on "house arrest" (always, always, always, one of them has to see how far he can push the envelope right before it's time to go somewhere fun!), so Henry, Max, and I went to pick up my mom, and then headed over to check things out. I was worried that Max would be too scared to go on the rides without Liam, and he did seem a little nervous. Luckily for us, we ran into Klaudia's friend Myah, who Max just loves (and vice versa, I think), and she was happy to spend her morning taking Max on ride after ride. He amazed me with how fearless he was -- he even went on the rides designed for older kids! The only rides he didn't go on were two where he didn't meet the height requirement.

Henry seemed fascinated with all the people and things to look at, though he was infinitely more interested in shaking up his cup of milk and laughing about it. Myah even took him for one pass down the bouncy slide -- an experience I'm sure he is eager to avoid for the foreseeable future!

summer's end

...and Henry is finally old enough to go in the bike trailer, so we decided to take everyone for a ride. What a process! All the tires needed to be pumped up, all the bikes/trailers/helmets/equipment needed to be dusted off -- and all with three anxious kids hopping in anticipation. Finally, we got Liam on his bike (he still refuses to take the training wheels off, even though we're sure he would be fine without them) and Max and Henry in the trailer, and we set off for the park. And then we discovered that Liam wouldn't be able to ride very far after all, because he's grown so much that his knees were hitting his handlebars every time he pedaled! So it's looking like there will be a new bike in Liam's future. We did have a fun time at the park -- check out the three swingers! -- and Henry seemed to really enjoy his first ride.

everyone loves henry's birthday gifts

Henry got a baby swing for the swing set from Yami and Papaw, and he seems to like it quite a lot. So does Liam. Max and Liam are also constantly fighting over the miniature four-wheeler Aunt Bethany got for Henry. It's way too small for them, but that doesn't deter them at all. Poor Henry barely gets a chance to muscle in on the action!

in which the baby is left to put himself to sleep

We still have a few kinks to work out of this system.

henry at one

Our baby is officially a toddler! Henry had his birthday last week, and we've been "celebrating" by passing a flu virus from one to the other around here. Today is the first day in over a week that we haven't had at least one kid home sick from school. Ah, the trials of parenthood!

But about Henry. He is, according to his pediatrician, in "the age of mobility and curiosity." I can't think of anything that describes him better. He is into everything. He particularly likes to open drawers and fling their contents all over the room. Barring that, he likes to crawl up to my desk, stand up, and pull off everything he can reach and fling it all over the room. For some unknown reason, Liam has a collection of acorns upstairs in his nightstand drawer, and every night when the boys are getting ready for bed, Henry is in that drawer, and I end up pulling six or seven acorns out of his mouth. Not at one time -- he waits until I'm distracted with one of the bigger boys, then he's over there like a flash, squirreling (hah!) a few into several hidden locations before he pops the first one into his mouth. So while I'm dealing with the first one and guarding the stash in the drawer, he's reaching for a second (hidden) one. Sneaky little devil!


Henry's birthday party was Sunday, and due to the aforementioned plague, attendance was very low. Klaudia made the cakes (see below -- they are awesome), and Bethany brought her over to drop them off, but they didn't stay long in an effort to avoid infection. Which left just my parents. And that was just about perfect for a laid-back Sunday afternoon celebration.


The cakes are Mario themed because these kids love them some Mario Bros. Henry got his own smaller cake (chocolate) while the rest of us enjoyed a larger (yellow, my favorite) cake. The were delicious! Seriously, I don't think I've tasted a better yellow cake. And Klaudia obviously did her research because the mushrooms and star are just right, and I love that she put "1 up" on Henry's little cake. She better watch out, or she may become the official circus forticus baker!





Henry was a little uncertain about his cake and what he was supposed to do with it. He finally got some frosting on his fingers, only to frown at it and then try to shake it off. He did this several times, and as a result the walls and door were covered in a Jackson Pollock-like coating. Eventually, Max stepped in to show him how it was done (a job he lobbied for tirelessly).




It's hard to believe Henry's a year old already. It's gone by so quickly! He's got teeth, he's cruising, he feeds himself and drinks milk instead of formula, the whole works. He's even starting to say a few words regularly, including mama, dada, uh oh, and cat. And judging from his suddenly disrupted sleep patterns, I think he's about hit another major milestone. Walking, maybe? We'll keep you posted.