The Steady March Toward Adulthood Begins!

As per the last post, the bear is able to crawl out of his cage pretty easily.  Solution?  No cage at all.  We took him shopping and showed him a few beds so that he could chose for himself, but that didn't work because he just wanted to play with all the brightly colored kids stuff (thanks Ikea).  In the end, we walked out of there with a great little bed for him.  

Kid tested....

Mother approved!

So far, he's slept through the night on this thing pretty consistently (3/4 nights without waking up) and even naps on it (sort-of).  The downside is that a bed means that he's growing up.  Soon he'll be shaving and asking for the car keys.  

This could be a problem...

So it seems that the bear is able to escape his cage with a fair amount of ease these days.  The first time it sounded something like this: "Daddy," crib shaking followed by a long pause, thud, door knob rattling, "daddy!"  Now it's a much more polished act.  Just a slight noise from the crib followed by a rattle at the door.  I caught him in the act without him knowing about it, but the flash gave me away.  He thought it was pretty cool, but for us it just signals a new phase of sleep disturbances.  Notice the sock missing?  

No Good Title, Just Some Random Pictures of the Bear

This almost became the "Why I Hate Balloons" post, because after he begged for this balloon in the grocery store, we couldn't get him to give it up.  It even followed him to the bathtub!  If I touched it he would scream.  It's now hiding in our closet until we need it to keep him occupied.

Cheesiest picture I've ever taken of him.  It's cute, but still cheesy.  

Coolest toy he's ever had (so says his dad).  I showed him a video of what chainsaws do, and he has loved it ever since.  It makes a cool noise and has a ball chain that really spins around the saw.  He even takes it to the table with him to (pretend to) eat.  Our neighbor is a member of an arbor society, so I think I'll have Emmitt take his chainsaw and work on a tree in the park behind their place.  Good way to make friends!

Dinosaurs, Cats with Hats, and Guns! Sounds like a Great Trip!

We made a trip to Springfield, MA to see the Science Museum.  It was much smaller than the Boston Science Museum, but cool nonetheless.  They had a great dinosaur exhibit with robitic dino's that roared and moved.  Scared the snot out of Emmitt, so he white-knuckle clung to his dad for as long as we were in that room.  You may not be able to tell by the picture, but it's hard for me to breathe because he's holding on so tight!  He started to loosen up after a bit, but he still didn't want to get TOO close to those gnarly things!  

There was also a Dr. Seuss memorial outside which was pretty cool.  Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield, MA, so they honored the local boy who made good.  They had sculptures of all the characters in his books, but our favorite was the Cat in the Hat.

The historic Springfield Armory also just happened to be in,... uh,... Springfield, so of course I couldn't help but talk the crew into stopping in.  It is now a museum with displays of weapons made primarily here, but also examples of weapons made elsewhere.  This place cranked out some great weapons for nearly 200 years, including well over 6 million M1 Garnands and nearly the same number of M1 carbines that helped win WWII.

Did I want one?  You bet, but they didn't appreciate it when I asked if I could order one.  They had many significant examples of different weapons here.  The one on top (M1 Garand) and the one in the middle (BAR) are my personal favorites.  

Michelle's Birthday

Michelle had a birthday last Saturday, so we went to a place she has wanted to try out since we've been in Boston.  The picture is of what was left of desert before we had the sense to get a snap of it.  Blue Ginger is owned by Ming Tsai (celebrity chef of TV show "Simply Ming" fame).  Michelle has watched his show for quite some time.  Ming just happened to be there running the kitchen that night, so it was cool for her to see him actually working.  He was chatting up the table behind us, and the folks he was talking to included a guy who has a hand in producing the  Curious George cartoon series.  In hindsight, I suppose we should have thanked Mr. Curious George for the TV show that has single-handedly enabled countless meals to be prepared, showers to be taken, and news to be read without the suffocation of toddler interest.

SpoonMan

Any of you kids who grew up in the '90s remember Sound Garden, right?  Emmitt did his best "Spoonman" impression today over lunch.  

Oh, and that wes' coas' gangsta lean shown here... that's just a deuce blowout in the making.  Thanks buddy.

Temperature indicators (i.e. - why winter sucks)

For those people living in warmer climes, it is pretty chilly in the northeastern U.S. these days (high teens, low 20's as a HIGH temp during the day, with the occasional single digit temps).  Now I can see why housing prices in California are so high!  The side walks out here are a mess with ice and frozen snow, and I've used my yaktracks quite a bit for running this year just to keep myself vertical.  For those living in Boston, prepare for some bellyaching that you've either heard or uttered yourself many times already.

Things I'm tired of: 

1) Shoveling snow

2) Slipping on black ice (that's our driveway - see the dent my tailbone made?)

3) Being stuck inside when Emmitt sees small animals in the snow and wants to go "outhide," 

4) Haunting the same ole' indoor activities to keep Emmitt from going crazy (Bos. Sci. Museum, malls, Home Depot, uh,...Bos. Sci. Museum,...).  No picture here, just insert visual for boredom.

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Upside of bad weather?  Cool pictures of icicles when the sun decides to come out once in a while.