Piano for 6-Hands

Just a good photo of Christopher and his compatriots (Colleen's cousin's children Ben (top) and Max (bottom).

Christopher's Bed Time Ritual

I finally got a decent video of Christopher's bed time ritual of the last month or so. He was a bit more distracted than he usually is (I'm chalking it up to the presence of the camera by his "cheese!"..."cheese!" verbalized clear as day during the video). Thought some people might like to see this video...its pretty cute stuff...

Christopher's Latest Trip to the Park

A while back, I believe I made a post where Christopher was pictured in a swing for the first time....around 11 months...

He wasn't at all interested in the swing at the time, but things have changed...a mere 7 months later....

...and some bonus footage of Christopher on the slide. To set up the scene: Colleen was posted at the steps of the slide while I was posted at the slide-end. Colleen would chaperone Christopher up the stairs, he would walk to the top of the slide where I taught him to sit on his backside before sliding, then the push-off. He would go down the slide, I would help him down, he would run around to the step-side of the slide where Mom was waiting to start the whole process again. We were successful in training Christopher the entire process...until....

Christopher Using a Fork...and all by himself...

We've been allowing Christopher to use utensils on his own (as noted on earlier blogspots)...and I am proud to say that he has officially "mastered" the fork. The spoon still gives him the figits, but the fork? No, the fork is yet one more obstacle that "The Man-Child" has conquered...behold while Christopher crams his mouth with freakish amounts of watermelon...as if he were a squirrel gathering acorns in preparation for the up-and-coming harsh winter months. He has obtained the official "Watermelon Forker" award...watch and behold his mastery...

New Piano Pictures

I discovered late last week that Christohper can now climb up on the piano bench. His height has kind of snuck up on me, as has his ability to climb pretty much anything. So we just made a time of it and I let him play away, but I now make sure the piano bench is pushed in when I'm done playing. I'm thankful that he has pretty decent balance for such a lumbering and tank-like child.

The First Notre Dame Game of the Year

For those who might not be aware: my in-law family are all HUGE Fighting Irish of Notre Dame fans, while I am a mere fan-by-proxy. There is a get-together with every televised game where the food is plenty (although not healthy) and the drink flows as free as the mighty Shenandoah. The family are all brightly adorned in Notre Dame blue and gold (sometimes pink). Cheers and jeers are shouted and yelled with eager hearts and souls whose invested moods hinge on the success or failure of the mighty Irish while they battle through the trenches under the watchful eye of "Touchdown Jesus". Yes, these are the Saturdays that Fall brings...and these are the festivities that encompass this glorious day.

(I only took pictures of the kids...who wants to see a bunch of pictures of grown folk drinking and acting foolish! Sorry about the blurry shots up top there...Christopher had stuck his thumb on the lens of my camera and I didn't know it until it was too late. The kids were posed and the shot had to happen right then and there.)

Christopher's New Chicago Gear

One of the main goals we (and by "we" I mean "I") wanted to achieve is to get Christopher all geared up with Chicago sports team gear. So, we found a few Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears outfits and stocked up on them for the year so that Christopher could "represent" appropriately (and by "represent" I mean "represent what Daddy likes since he has no opinion or, for that matter, doesn't even like to watch television!...not to mention that he seems to prefer running around in his underpants than being fully clad or adorned in such silly things...clothing? phooey!) Regardless, here are 2 of the many outfits we got for Christopher's "showcasing-what-Daddy-likes" outfits. Don't worry, there will be more pics of more outfits to come! Until then...