Saturday Adventures: Downtown, Juggling & Baseball

To be accurate, this should probably be called "Weekend Adventures".  And yes, although very random, all of those things were included in our weekend.

Downtown.  For once, the temperatures around here have dropped below 100 degrees.  Friday night was beautiful outside.  I mean absolutely beautiful.  And I wanted to get out. of. my. house.  And to some place other than the park.  I like the park.  Just was tired of it.  So we headed downtown.  They have a sculpture walk and Brooks has been interested lately in statues.  So that was fun for him.  They also had some live musicians along the sidewalks.  We learned that Brooks has no problem with a guy and a guitar but four saxophone players are somehow frightening.  Who knew.  Then we walked to the toy store, which to my surprise was open at 7:00 at night.  So we went inside and played with balls and scooters and trucks.  I love Child's Play Toys!

Juggling.  Chris heard on the radio that the World Juggling Federation was having their annual conference right here in Sioux Falls.  Juggling is fun.  So we decided to go!  (Random, right??)  They had events going on all week, but Saturday night there was an event called "Juggling Games".  We had no idea what that meant, but it sounded fun and it was free.  So we went!  Immediately upon arrival we realized that these "juggling games" were not necessarily meant to be a spectator event.  Because there were quite literally eight other people there.  All of which I guessed to be parents of the teenage jugglers below and they all apparently were familiar with each other.  We received many "who are these people?" looks.  We were the outsiders.  We sat down anyway.

And within a few minutes we learned what "juggling games" were.  A group of teenagers (mostly boys) were gathered with all of their juggling apparatus.  I'm guessing they all participated in the workshops during the week.  And over the course of the next hour a gentleman set up different challenges and competitions for them to complete.  Some for prizes, some not.  They were not professional jugglers, but when the "easy" challenge was "Whoever juggles 5 balls the longest, wins" ... we knew they would be good.  And they were.  It was actually really fun to watch.  They juggled 5 balls.  Then 7 balls.  Then 5 clubs.  They juggled on chairs.  They juggled in pairs.  They threw them in the air.  They juggled on stairs.  (Ok, not really on stairs.  I got caught up in the rhyming.  Sorry.)  Brooks watched for the whole hour!  Carter "watched" for 10 minutes.  All in all.  A pretty fun event for a Saturday night.


Baseball.
Brooks completed the library's reading challenge this summer and one of his prizes was a pair of tickets to the Sioux Falls Fighting Pheasants.  Never heard of 'em?  Don't feel bad.  They're a (very) minor league baseball team and they're not very good.  But Brooks was excited to go see baseball guys and Chris was excited to take his boy to a ball game.  So Sunday night they donned their baseball caps and sweatshirts (it was pretty cool and rainy) and headed to the ballpark.  Chris said Brooks sat through a whole inning!  That's not too bad for a three year old.  He was, of course, asking for food the whole time but Chris made him sit for at least one inning :)  After that they bought hot dogs, chips and lemonade (which Brooks promptly spilled) for "dinner" and watched some more baseball.  They wandered around the park for a while and then headed home.

Chris and I have both learned to temper our expectations when it comes to these kinds of events.  If you go thinking you're going to sit and watch a whole baseball game, you will be sorely disappointed.  Life with little kids just doesn't afford you those kinds of opportunities.  But I was proud of Chris because he went and just enjoyed the experience of being at the game with Brooks ... of spending time with his son - even though they didn't see much actual baseball.  (But remember that they're not any good, so it wasn't a huge loss :)

Brooks hangin' with the pheasant!!

First Hair Cut

Well, today was the day.  The day I knew was coming but kept trying to put off.  The day Carter received his first hair cut.  I've been coming up with excuses for weeks on why we should not cut his hair.  He's too tired to cut his hair.  He's too active now.  I'm too tired to cut it.  This is the hair he was born with.  We can't just cut it off.

His baby mullet had been forming over the last several months and although I didn't like it at first, I grew to become quite attached to it.  It was kinda blonde and when wet it was curly.  I'd play with his hair while he nursed, running my fingers through it and twisting it into perfect little curls.  And I figured, if there was any time in your life you could pull off a curly mullet, it's when you're 11 months old.

But it was starting to bother Chris.  Not the fact that he had long hair (ok yes, that bothered him too), but more the fact that folks were starting to mistake him for a girl.  When Carter was all tucked into my Boba carrier and no one could see his definitive boy clothes, they would sometimes call him a girl.  And, well, that just wasn't going to fly.  Not in this masculine household.  (sigh)  So it was time.  No more excuses.  It was time to cut his hair.

There it is.  One last look at the long hair.  It's so nice, isn't it?  I pulled out the scissors and brought in a ziploc bag - you know, to put the hair in.  And when I snipped off the first curl I almost cried.  And then I laughed because I was thinking "this is so dumb that I want to cry".  But then I started to cry again.  And then laughed again at the absurdity of it.  Oh I was so emotional.  And all over HAIR!  I don't think it was so much the hair that I was upset about, but the fact that my baby is growing up.  In a few weeks he'll be one.  ONE!  And this new "big boy" haircut is just bringing us one step closer to toddler hood. 

I did eventually gain my composure and finish the job.  Chris held him on his lap the whole time and was great at distracting him.  And how did Carter do?  I don't think he even knew what was going on.  He was so happy just playing with the toy cars on Daddy's lap, he hardly even noticed me slicing off his beautiful locks.  (Ok, I'm done now)  The result??

All in all there wasn't that much hair cut off.  And I do have to admit that he looks pretty handsome.  As the day went on I adjusted to it and have even come to like his new 'do.  I did still miss playing with it while we nursed, but I guess it's good that people won't mistake him for a girl anymore.  At least I hope not.

Watch Me Grow: 11 Months

Aaaaand in one more month we'll have a one year old.  (deep breath)  I think I'm ready for that.  I think.  Carter is such a wonderful little boy.  He makes us laugh and he always keeps us on our toes.  I'm remembering back to Brooks at this age when he wasn't mobile yet.  He wasn't even army crawling.  So the fact that my 11 month old can crawl, stand, walk with support and climb everything (and has for a while) is still kind of amazing.  Exhausting, but amazing.

Side Note:  The phrase "please sit still so I can take your picture" is totally and completely outside Carter's realm of understanding.  In fact, I'm laughing now just thinking that I even said that.  I mean, really.  This is Carter.  He doesn't sit still.  Ever.  So this is the best I could do.  We started with this picture...

 A little blurry and off centered, but not bad.  He has a nice smile.  Then he immediately stood up to give us this picture ....

And finally we ended with this.  Carter trying to climb off the chair and onto the desk.  Notice my hand there to keep him from falling on the floor.  These three pictures were all taken within about 20 seconds.  

And such is life with Carter.

Here's what new:

Eating:

• Carter has earned the nicknames "Shoveler" and "Scoop" in our house.  He loves to eat and food goes into his mouth by the handful.  Then he holds his hand in front of his mouth to keep it all from falling out.  Grace and tact while eating are not his strong suits.  But eh, he's 11 months old.  We'll let it slide.
• Carter started using the sippy cup more this month.  We introduced it a month or so ago and he didn't really seem interested.  But now during a meal we'll offer him some water.  He seems to like it.
• He still eats pretty much everything.  But, because he's so smart and just a bit stubborn, he's started to notice when we put something different on his tray than what everyone else is eating.  Last night Chris, Brooks and I had breakfast for dinner.  I cut up a nectarine for Carter until his eggs finished cooking and he had NO interest in it.  Not when he saw everyone eating something else.  He did eventually eat the fruit, but only after his eggs were all gone.
• We've given Carter tiny bits of dairy.  I mean, really tiny.  I'm super gun shy about giving him cheeses and such since I had to cut it out of my diet.  But I'm back eating all dairy now and the little bits Carter's had, he seems to do ok with.
• Carter's still nursing.  I don't know how often.  I stopped keeping track.  Probably a little less than last month, but I can't say for sure.  He does still nurse for comfort.  I have the nickname "pocket" in our house because when Carter needs a little extra love, he goes right for his mama kangaroo to be held.

Sleeping

• Not much has changed this month.  Carter goes to bed around 8pm and it usually awake by 7am.  He'll wake once or twice in the night to nurse.  He still takes a good 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon.
• I'm hoping this isn't a trend, but last night Carter decided sleeping in our bed was far better than sleeping in his bed.  He woke up to nurse as usual but when I put him back in his crib, he started crying.  I pulled him back into bed thinking he was still hungry, but as soon as he laid down (in my spot) he rolled over and went right to sleep.  Huh.  So this is how it's going to go.  We snuggled for a half hour or so before I put him back into his bed.  More screaming.  I let him cry for a bit thinking he'd go back to sleep in a minute or so.  Not the case.  Back in our bed he came.  And there he stayed for the rest of the night.  I wouldn't say that I hate having him there, it's just that Chris and I sleep terribly when he is.  That 20lb baby is a bed hog and we are both shoved to the edge of the bed.  And we hardly move all night for fear of rolling over on him, which leads to stiff necks and numb appendages.  Oh, and the fact that he mindlessly twiddles the back of your arm while he's sleeping??  Not cool.  Hopefully tonight he'll rediscover his love for his own bed.

New Discoveries:

• Preferences.  Carter is starting to figure out what he wants and doesn't want.  I want to eat. I want to play in the garbage can.  I want to climb in the cupboards.  I want to climb the stairs.  I don't want my diaper changed.  I don't want to get dressed.  I don't want to sleep in my bed.  I don't want to get out of the bath tub.  And Carter isn't shy about sharing his opinions either.  Trust me.
• Kitties.  Last week we went to my friend Katie's house and their farm cat just had kittens.  They're about 4 weeks old so she brought them out for the kids to hold.  I was surprised when Carter gently patted the kitty on the head.  I was not surprised, however, when he then smacked the kitty several more times on the head.  I then, proceeded to play keep-away until Katie put the kitties away.
• Toy cars and trucks.  And really, anything with wheels.  He LOVES to push the cars along the floor.  He loves to flip them over and spin the wheels.  It's so fun to see him choose a favorite toy.  Carter loves cars.  Fitting, huh?

New Abilities:

• Throwing.  Carter has learned to throw things.  Things usually don't go very far because he hasn't quite figured out when to release the object he is trying to throw.  But he will.  Oh, he will.  It probably wasn't such a good idea to buy solid wooden play food for the kitchen set.  Guess we'll be putting those up high.
• Drumming.  Carter loves to hit things.  He will take a brush, plastic spoon, bubble wand, pool noodle or any other long object he can hold and beat it against things.  Everything.  Most of the time it's not a big deal.  Until I saw him smacking one of Brooks' plastic golf clubs against the TV screen.  Not ok.

Carter was NOT happy when Daddy took away the golf club.

Carter drumming while Mama makes lunch.

• Signing "all done".  It's usually accompanied by screaming or smacking his hands against his tray, but somewhere in all the commotion I see the sign for "all done".  I'm sure it would be much simpler if he just signed it, but Carter seems to have a flair for the dramatic.
• Waving "bye bye".  When you wave at Carter he'll now wave back at you.  And it's so cute to see him wave bye bye with his chubby little hands.  So so cute.
• Talking .... sorta.  Carter says "mamamamama" and "dadadada" fairly often.  I'm still not sure if he can assign those words to the appropriate person, but it's fun to hear him "talk".  He's always babbling and jabbering.  He has lots of words to say and he tells all kinds of stories.  We just can't understand them ... yet.
• Pointing.  Carter likes to point at things.  Sometimes is something in particular.  Other times I think he's just trying out his pointer finger.  I try to see what he's looking at and tell him what it is.  I know he's starting to communicate and I want to "listen" as best I can.

Can you see why we're so busy in our house?  Carter is a very passionate little boy with strong opinions/convictions about things.  Which can be a good thing when that energy is channeled into something positive.  That's our goal anyway.  We pray a lot.

Carter is his "pocket" at Falls Park.  It's a nice place to take a nap :)

Juuuuuust tall enough to look out the window.

Most of the time Carter is not wearing pants around our house.  When I change his diaper I literally have to pin him down just to put on a new one.  And I'm usually too exhausted at the end of it to put his pants back on.  That, and he's usually long gone as soon as I let go of him.

Carter loves spaghetti!

Climbing.

More climbing.

Still eating non-food.

Saturday Adventures: The Outdoor Campus

It was a beautiful Saturday night last night and we decided we needed to get out of the house.  Chris wanted to go the Outdoor Campus, so we made that our destination.  The OC is run by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks department.  They have an indoor building with different activities and learning stations for kids and they runs all kinds of outdoor/nature classes.  When we arrived the building was closed but we walked around back to their outdoor activities and walked along some trails.  There's also a small pond on the grounds.  First we started by picking rocks on the "beach" and tossing them in the water.  Then we had our shoes off and were wading in the water.  Then before we could stop it, Brooks was sitting in the water.  With his clothes on.  I wanted to be mad but he was giggling and laughing so much I could hardly be upset.  Carter would have plunged in too, but I kept him at a dry distance.  We had a lot of fun and captured some pretty good photos too.

Notes from our Vacation

We spent Wednesday through Saturday at my parent's house in Green Bay last week.  For the last two years I've made a trip home, just me and Brooks.  But this year Chris decided he didn't want to miss out on the fun.  And, well, since we had one more baby since last year, that made 4 us.

It's an eight hour drive to Green Bay, so we decided to start our trip after Chris finished work on Tuesday.  The plan was this ... leave by 5:30pm, drive until 9, stop and prepare the boys for bed (go potty, jammies, diapers, etc), and drive the rest of the way there while the boys slept.  Here's how it actually went .... left at 6:30pm, stopped at 7:30 because the baby was literally screaming to get out of his car seat, stopped again at 9:30 for the bedtime routine stuff and then finally drove all the way to Green Bay.  Oh, and the sleeping part?  Carter caught on and snoozed the whole way there.  Brooks, however, was awake until midnight.  Mid.night.  At which point he was so tired he was crying to go back home and sleep in his bed.  After about 30 minutes of "shhh, don't wake the baby" and "it's ok if you fall asleep here", he finally gave in and slept.  We arrived at 3:30am.  Oh, so late.  I mean, I see 3:30am all the time while feeding a baby, but there's usually several hours of sleep beforehand.  We tucked the boys in, said good-night to our parents and fell asleep at 4am.

So the driving through the night thing was not such a hot idea.  But there were two good things about it.  1. We didn't waste a whole day driving and 2. Grandparents are great at playing with kids while mama and daddy sleep.  We did a lot of playing while we were there and there's so much to try to remember.  Here's a few observations I made during our trip ... in no particular order.

It takes a full two days to recover from staying awake until 4am.

It's so nice to wake up and have breakfast made for you.  That's my kind of vacation.

My dad has a stuffed bear cub named "BooBoo".

Carter loved BooBoo.

I really miss my mom.

Toys from 25 years ago are still fun to play with.

I love my parent's house.  It's quiet and there's trees.  (two things our current house lacks) And it smells nice.

Brooks insisted on wearing his Boston Red Socks t-shirt, just so he could show Uncle Adam.

Uncle Adam was very proud.

Wisconsin makes the best.cheese.ever.

Eating a fresh, squeaky cheese curd just minutes after it's made is an experience everyone should have in their lifetime.

Chris loves cheese.  Perhaps a bit too much.  I caught him putting cheese curds on top of his ice cream.

It's fun having geese eat out of your hand.

My dad makes the best grilled salmon.  Ever.
No, seriously, it's amazing!

It rained in Green Bay.  I miss rain.
Carter was not very interested in nursing during our vacation.
Cribbage is a fun game.  Even when I lose.

The children's museum is really cool.

I don't recognize most of down town Green Bay.

Without help, I would totally get lost driving in Green Bay.  Still.
There is no such thing as a nap schedule on vacation.
Brooks is much better behaved at Grandma and Papa's house.
We should spend more time at Grandma and Papa's house.
The Olympic opening ceremony was really weird.
I like cupcakes.

I haven't been to a baseball game in a long time.  They're fun.
When the sway bar on your van breaks it makes a loud clunk followed by a grinding noise.
My dad is really good at fixing sway bars.
I love my dad!
Bay Beach is still a really cool place to go.
Bay Beach is not, however, a good place to go on a Saturday morning.
Carter NEEDS to move.  As in, he will scream at you if confined too long.
Almost everyone we spent time with commented on how well behaved and polite Brooks is.  That makes me proud.

We went on a double date for the first time since Brooks was born.  It was fun.
My best friend, Theresa and I don't see each other nearly enough.
I am incredibly proud of her.
Her fiance is perfect for her!
Carter does not like to ride in the van during the day.
Brooks does great riding in the van during the day.
Brooks hates long trips at night + Carter hates long trips during the day = no more long trips for the Anderson family (at least not for a while)
A portable DVD player and lots of snacks were our saving grace during this trip.
Despite our road struggles, it was still totally worth it to spend time with my family.
On the way home, we considered moving to Wisconsin.
Probably won't happen.
I still giggle when I stand under the Jolly Green Giant statue and look up.
We weren't really ready to come home.  Could have spent a few more days in Wisconsin.

Well, that's about it in a nutshell.  Here's a few pictures from the week!

Scray's Cheese.  Where the magic happens.

Carter and Papa Dave

after watching Uncle Adam play softball

The ONE thing Brooks wanted to do on this trip was ride the carousel.  And ride it he did!

Carter rode along too :)

Riding the train with Grandma Marty

All this playing wore Carter out!

Me and Theresa.  I love that girl!

BooBoo

See?  I bet you're giggling now too!