Easter and More!

Who are those good looking boys?!? It's hard to believe that only a year ago Mr. C was still in Mom E's tummy and Little I was just discovering what he could do with a bat and ball. Now Little I is practicing hitting balls as I toss them to him and Mr. C has begun crawling (more on that to come in a later post)! This Easter weekend was a bit unusual for us. Mom E had a close family friend getting married in Texas and flew out to Ft. Worth with her parents for the wedding while I stayed home with the boys. This worried me for a number of reasons. I was initially concerned that Mr. C or Little I would really start missing Mom E and feel sad or distressed in her absence. As it happened, my sister and her family were traveling back through Birmingham from Spring Break in Disney World on Friday and stayed with us through Saturday. Consequently, Little I and Mr. C had distractions aplenty! I'm sure they missed Mom E, but the time with family really seemed to help. Little I was perhaps the most excited about the visit. He really loves his cousins and even thanks God for them nightly. Other prayers of thanks come and go--thanks for trains, cars, toys, the colors green and blue, the park, the science museum, etc., but "Aunt Ellie," "Uncle Joe," and their kids are regulars. We spent most of Saturday at the science museum and having fun around the house. My sister and her family left late Saturday night, leaving me with Sunday to manage the boys by myself...Easter Sunday. As you can see, I actually managed to get the boys dressed (in clothes Mom E set out before she left), and we even made it to church (albeit a few minutes late).
Everyone was excited to see Mom E later Sunday night. To my surprise, after just one weekend in Texas, Mom E stepped off the plane sporting . . . cowboy boots! GG and Papa, who were also at the wedding, sent a little gift for Little I from Texas--his very own cowboy hat! For Christmas, Aunt Anne made the boys a tepee and headdresses. As you can see, we're now all set to play Cowboys and Indians!

Not Quite Ready for Bedtime

This is minute-long video is worth watching if for no other reason than you get to hear Mr. C laugh. Enjoy!

Broccoli and Pilates

It's about time for another developmental update, not to mention another cute picture of Mr. C smiling. Mr. C has become a food-eating champ. He has moved beyond ordinary baby food and can easily handle crackers, banana bites, and even small finger veggies like peas, carrots, and broccoli. Mom E and I were quite impressed by Mr. C's enthusiasm for veggies. His foray into broccoli remined me of an old video I took of Little I when he was this age. He was also an advanced eater, especially since he already had top and bottom biters by 6 months. As you can see, Little I's reception of broccoli was not nearly as warm as Mr. C's was.


In fact, even now it's a struggle to get Little I to eat his "little trees," despite the fact that I tell him that giraffes and dinosaurs eat trees.

In further baby developmental news, Mr. C has started clapping and has a fine pincer grasp. Also, he has finally managed to turn from his back to his stomach, which is a big step towards crawling. He continues to do extremely well sitting up, but hasn't figured out how to get there without assistance. Rather than use his hands to walk himself up to a sitting position from his stomach, Mr. C tries to do a straight power-crunch from his back. The result is undoubtedly a wonderful Pilates move--one that Mr. C can hold for an admiralably long time. But as you can imagine, Mr. C simply doesn't have the power to power-crunch his way up to a sitting position. Mom E, who is in a Pilates class herself, has optimistically said that Mr. C is building a really strong "core."

Snow!

This morning, the Robertsons awoke to a treat: Two inches of snow had fallen overnight and an additional two inches were predicted to fall by noon! Friends and family from Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Finland just shrugged their shoulders. "So what?" Right? Well, consider that I've been living in Alabama for the past twelve years and I can only remember one other snowfall in the state that was of snowman-building quality and quantity. That is a long time. Also, Little I has never experienced snow in Alabama; one time we saw some flurries, and I tried to get Little I excited about the "snow," but he kept wondering what the fuss was about. There was no difficulty getting Little I excited this time. Snow!?! "I want to touch," he said as we opened the window to grab some. Build a snowman? "Yes! And a pumpkin," he told me driving home from church. What? "Daddy shave snow off car," he explained. This was going to be a lot of fun. We got home and bundled up to build a snowman. Little I was very excited, even after I told him we couldn't build a pumpkin. Making a snowman consisted of me pushing boulders of snow while Little I ran around with some neighborhood kids who were also making snowmen. At one point he tried to throw a snowball at one of the kid's granfathers, but I think he missed. Mom E and Mr. C joined us for a few pictures before we made a break for the warm house. After we had come inside, Little I took a toy baseball and basketball and stacked them to make his own snowman. The beauty of his indoor snowman was the basketball served as his "pumpkin." Unfortunately, as I write this blog entry, the snow that stopped falling at noon has already melted. It has become a sunny March day, and our towering snowman, if not already a watery carrot salad, is certainly a remnant of what he once was. We'll miss you Birmingham blizzard of 2009. We'll anxiously await your return in 2015.

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

Holidays are tons more fun with family. Especially Valentine's Day. This Hallmark holiday is waayy overrated, unless you make a big deal about it like Mom E did for the kids. She had heart-shaped felt bags with treats in them for me and Little I and gifts wrapped up for Little I--a wooden Thomas the Tank Engine, the Troublesome Trucks, and some track for them to ride on. It has been a big hit all day. Mr. C got a new toy to grab and chew, but he didn't seem to realize it was a holiday. Rather than fight the crowds and spin the roullette wheel of eating out on Valentine's Day, we're continuing our tradition of eating in. I make dinner and Mom E makes dessert. We're having filet mignon, salad greens with homemade roquefort blue cheese dressing, and roasted root vegetables. For dessert, it's made-from-scratch brownies and vanilla ice cream with a mixed berry sauce. Right now, Little I is considering eating some heart-shaped Jello. So here's a Valentine from us to you, we hope your day is special.