It Is 5:22 PM, As Of This Moment, The Videos Work

Just you wait until he can really talk. I'm going to teach him to say, "Andale! Andale! Eppa! Eppa! Arriba! Arriba!" and dress him in an all white outfit, a red kerchief, and a big sombrero.

John's Country Twin, Cletus

John went to music class on Thursday morning, but he really didn't enjoy it. It seems the class was a little to "earthy" aka hippie for him. So, that was a bust; however, he did enjoy a lovely walk with Maureen on Larchmont.

When he got home for lunch, he decided to take off his shirt and turn into Cletus. Cletus is the type of person you'd see on an episode of COPS when they are out in the 909. He insisted that he eat his lunch as Cletus. It's a good thing it wasn't that cold on Thursday.

An Art Shot

Screamfest at the Yellow Balloon

For the most part, John enjoys most things. He grew to enjoy Joey's Gym. He's doing much better with baths and hair washings. He's drinking from his sippy cups; however, there is just one area that he just does not like: HAIRCUTS!!!

He has such a lovely head of hair, but he just hates sitting in the chair. Maureen and I have to basically hold him down as his stylist, Adriana, tries to cut his hair the best that she can. I fear that we are scarring him mentally because he just HATES it. He screams sound like the scream I gave out when a lit match head flew onto my skin (Maureen just laughed when that happened). Anywho, he looks like a nice young captain of industry with his hair cut. Don't you think?

Sorry About The Videos

There seems to be some glitch with blogspot. They claim it has been fixed, but it seems to come and go. Check them out. There are some choice ones in the last couple of posts.

Wakey Wakerson

John felt quite good after a day at the gym. He took a good nap and look at his reaction. I'd say he was refreshed and relaxed.

A Very Good Boy

Maureen and I met Grammy at Fiddler's Bistro for lunch. We weren't sure how John would behave since he has a mixed track record over there. He likes to run around and cause as much havok as possible. I'm pleased to report that he was great today. He had his lunch. He allowed us to eat lunch. He even got to take a walk around the restaurant. It had been a while since we'd been out to a restaurant and it was a nice treat.

The Gym Part 2

There were no tears this week at the gym. John was quite excited. He actually just wanted to get in there as soon as possible to run around and have fun. He even enjoyed circle time. He clapped when everyone else did. There were some pushy kids, but he still had his fun. Maureen's taking him to music class on Thursday, so that should be fun.

For the next 6-weeks, John will have a 1-hour gym time. We'll visit the lovely French cafe below the gym for a nice treat like a pastry or muffin. We saw other parents and their children from the gym when we stopped in yesterday. Apparently, that's the place to be after the Chipmunks do their thing.

How Do We Know John Is Feeling Better?

Well, he's running around in circles. He's making car noises and he's talking up a storm. That's how we know. It's quite a relief. For a while, he just wasn't himself. He couldn't sleep at night. He'd just want to watch Oswald all day. Anyone who has ever seen an episode of Oswald will know that it is quite painful to watch Oswald non-stop for over an hour.

Speaking in Tongues

Our little man is quite the polyglot. Not only does he speak his own language (as seen in the video of his monitor), but he also speaks English and Spanish. During out torrential downpour yesterday, John looked out the window and said "agua outside". He looked longingly as if he wanted to go splash around, but Grandma would have none of that.

He's also starting to say all sorts of things. He loves to say "what" and he'll even say "whoopee" from time to time. He's quite expresive.

Latest Happenings

It seems like Our John had regressed somewhat in his sleeping patterns. He was waking up and crying at all hours. He'd only want to climb into bed with Maureen and watch the same episodes of Oswald over and over. We like to think it was his nagging cold

and some new teeth that really drove that behavior. Last night, he was back to reliable sleepy boy. Look at our little angel.

There's A Party and We Don't Know Who's Been Invited

After putting John in his crib this evening, Maureen and I were chatting when we heard John start to talk over the monitor. We don't know to whom he was speaking, but it sure sounded like he was having fun.

Maureen Wasn't Exactly Lying

As you can see, John does use his sippy cup. More water lands on his shirt than in his stomach, but he does drink from it.

Skinny Minny

Friday was John's 18-month check-up with Dr. K. John is quite well. He still has a head the size of a kasaba melon and he's perfectly average in height. He is slightly under weight. He's in the 10th percentile. Maureen seems to think that his cold has something to do with it. You'd think a boy with me as his father would have no problem putting on weight. If he doesn't start bulking up, we're going to have to start giving him MetRx in his milk. That should help him.

BTW, Maureen was pretty good about tricking Dr. K. He asked about John's cold and she said, "Oh, he's doing so much better and he really loves the cherry flavored Robitussin." Dr. K didn't know what to say until Maureen said, "Ha, ha, I'm just joking." For a minute, I believed her. Also, she told a bit of a fib. She said that John doesn't use a bottle. He's using it less and less, but he still does use a bottle. Shame on Maureen.

Our John Enjoys the Gym

This morning, we went on a fun outing for John. We took him to a fun kid's gym that his cousin Adriana goes to. At first, he was a little overwhelmed and immediately started to cry. He didn't know what to think. I took him outside to calm him down, but that didn't work. It took Maureen's calming influence to talk him down.

Once he got into the swing of things, he really like the slides. He'd say, "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" as he slid down the small and large slides. It was a great time. The other little kids were quite nice to him and didn't push him around. The gym's owner, Ron, was quite accomodating and friendly. He was so happy to have John in his Crickets class this morning. Methinks that we'll be going back to sign up John for more classes next week. He'll have loads of fun and learn to play with others. Also, it's across the street from a gelato shop that Maureen has wanted to try since God knows when.

Plus, the other little kids just LOVED Nicholas. They wanted to poke him and play with him, but Nick just wanted to sleep.

At The Playground

Maureen had the pleasure (I hope) of being alone with both of the boys on Thursday and Friday of this past week. John loves to go on walkabouts that usually wind up at the playground. As always, he avoided the aparati, but just wanted to walk along the fence. I hope he isn't learning how to case an area for some sort of theft. We don't want our boy to be a criminal. I've seen what happens on the show Oz and it's not pretty.

Little Johnny Bobby Has A Wreck In Practice Laps

While doing laps in the backyard, Johnny Bobby had a bit of a tumble. As you can see, it's not too bad, but it stopped him from doing any further testing. The good thing is that he didn't start freaking out and crying out to God, Budha, Allah, Oprah, or Tom Cruise to take him away in his spaceship. I don't know if he'll be ready for Daytona, but he should be in fine form for laps around the backyard.

John Update

Our John has a bit of a cold. It's more of a cough/sneeze, but he had a horrible night last night. He'd wake up every few hours and just be sobbing painfully. At about 12:30 AM, Maureen thought she heard him with a croup-like cough, so she took him into the bathroom for a steam. That helped him out quite a bit, but he had another steam bath a little after 3 AM after we'd watched Oswald to calm him down. He's ok during the day, but come nightfall, our boy turns into quite a handful.

On a more pleasant note, John has started to sing along to music quite frequently. The other night, I was going through Maureen's itunes listings and it came upon "I'm Not Going Anywhere" from Dreamgirls. When Effie started to wail during the song, our John was wailing right along with her.

The Gardener

We took a walk over to Grammy's house yesterday afternoon. We took out the double stroller for the first time. It is super long (it brings to mind the great film "The Long, Long Trailer"), but John seems to be ok with it. He just enjoys seeing the sights and interjecting his commentary. As we walk along the street, he just talks and talks. If we knew what he was saying, we would probably answer.

When we got to Grammy's house, he just went wild. He immediately made a beeline for the backyard. He loves running around the backyard. It's all brick and cement, so I know that there'll be some stitches along the way. I'm sure of it.

After a while, Maureen decided to pull out a little shovel and let him go to town on a planter. He just loves to dig and dump the dirt out (sorry Grammy). He'll help Uncle Rick with some of the landscaping when he's older.

I Love Splish Splash Sploshing

John, Maureen, and I tend to get a bit of cabin fever. Somedays, I'll take him for a walk around the complex. He's very good about holding my hand. He knows that he can't walk around without holding my hand. And, he loves to lead the way. We'll walk around for 20 to 30-minutes and then we'll go home.

Maureen is a bit more adventurous. She'll take him to the park and let him play around in the sand. I'm not crazy about sand, but that's life. Anyway, he loves going to the park and stomping about. He doesn't pay any attention to the structures. He just wants to walk around. I think he may be a competitive race walker when he grows up. He doesn't need toys. He just needs to walk anywhere.

Maureen also lets him splash around in puddles. That's something that I wouldn't do, but she's his mother and entitled to letting him cavort as she sees fit. She knows I'm not a fan, so she takes advantage of her walks with him.

The bad thing about our walks. He doesn't like coming back to the apartment.