Grass and the Big Blue Ball

A close-up of the mohawk...Colleen hated it...I thought it was funny...he didn't care one way or the other. I win. Next time she'll give him the bath!

Some random pictures of Christopher. From top left clockwise: (1) Christopher playing with Colleen's giggling blue stuffed-animal thingy. It giggles and vibrates. He loves it. (2) Christopher playing my piano..he loves that too (3) Christopher checking out another book. He seems to have an incredible affinity for books (which I absolutely love) (4) Christopher dancing (5) Just a cute picture of the boy.

Christopher has been learning to adjust to contrasting textures. So we've been slowly getting him onto grass, dirt, and sand (coming soon). This wasn't his first time on grass, but this is the first opportunity we've had for a photo-op. He was obviously not a fan....as one can tell from his facial expressions (especially the picture on the right).

Here Christopher was playing outside at the Tierney Family Memorial Day Cookout. As you might be able to tell, he's a walking machine now. He's actually running in the last picture. He's a real mover and shaker now...and, now that he's walking over 50% of the time, he's officially dangerous. The two children in the photos with Christopher are two of Colleen's cousins children, Kaylee (3 1/2 yrs) and Benjamin (almost 3 yrs). In the top picture, we once again see Chrstopher's disdain for sitting on grassy surfaces. That will change when he gets more accustomed to it, but it is funny to watch his expressions nonetheless.

We got Christopher a large ball when we were at the Target store in East Windsor, NJ. (yes, they actually have a photo studio) I can honestly say that its the best $2.50 investment we've made for him to this point. He spends at least 1/2 hour a day playing with this ball. He likes to throw it (at least attempt), but most of all, he likes to get on top of it and let it roll him over wherever it rolls him over...as depicted in the last photo above.

Below is a good picture of his godmother, Jaqueline with his amazing profile...how is that not like a professional photograph? Okay, I can think of tons of reason why it isn't a professional photograph, but it is cool, no?

FINALLY

So, the kid's been taking "steps" for the last week or so...but, for some odd reason, would never actually attempt at home (aside from the previous post where I mentioned that he took 2 steps unassisted). He'd be fine stumbling around his Nana Marianne and Pop-Pop Culley's house...and his godmother's (Jacqueline) house...but we'd bring him home...encourage and encourage...and he'd just kneel down and crawl...almost as if to spite us...getting down to crawl to his destination and smiling to jab us in our egos' ribs....but...finally...BAM. Now he's walked further, but I'll take what I can get. Enjoy.

A few weeks back we went to the Jackson Outlets in Jackson, NJ, to go Christopher shopping. He was outgrowing his clothes and he needed restocking. Times are hard, and because neither Colleen or myself is very handy with the sewing needle(s) or machine we opt for the discount outlets...so sue me. Regardless, we ran into a kiosk where some dude was selling NFL merchandise and Colleen's mother bought Christopher a Chicago Bears dinosaur that rolls around the floor playing a really loud and obnoxious song...but Christopher loves it. Check him out trying to catch it.

Christopher's 1st Official Illness

We wake up this morning to Christopher screaming in his crib around 5 a.m., which is wierd because he usually wakes up no later than 6:15 and we sometimes have to wake him up to prevent me from being late to work.He is usually he's not screaming and he always wakes up happy.

Well, this morning was different. As I mentioned before, he was literally screaming. Colleen went in to get him and discovered he was burning up. She took his temperature and discovered it was a low-grade fever (101.5 oF or something around that). Now, for those of you who are following, he's had 2 teeth for about 4 months now until the last 3 weeks. Now he has 4 breaking through currently and 3 more big-ol'-bumps around his gums where more teeth should be sprouting soon. We initially pegged it to his teeth, gave him some baby Tylenol and tried to console him a bit. He just wasn't his usual spritely and chippery self this morning.

Our appointment was at 11:00 this morning, when we learned that he had strep throat. He caught it from our day care lady's 9 year old son, who had apparently had it for some time before they caught onto it. She warned me, and I relayed the message to Colleen, but we'd forgotten until about 9:00 this morning. This was the motivating factor of us trying to get him into the doctor. He's now on Amoxicillin (which I'm allergic to, so we have to watch him closely for any side-effects from that) TiD and Tylenol PRN. He seemed to be feeling a bit better after his first dose and a 5 hour nap this afternoon.

So, Christopher's first official illness turns out to be strep throat (I don't know which strain). He's able to be around public tomorrow evening...which is when we'll have to clean all of his toys. Oh the joys of parenthood....although I admittedly wouldn't give it up for anything.

Just Some Random Pics

Here are some random pictures to keep everyone who pays attention to the blog updated on Christopher. We've been very busy and keeping up the blog has proven to be somewhat difficult as of late. Colleen's new job requires a lot of home time and I've been busy studying for the Praxis: Music Content Knowledge test (which I passed with some relative ease), applying for and trying to expedite my certification process so I can take over the music teacher position after the current teacher retires, and all of the other paperwork and red tape that entails this whole process....a royal pain in the ass, but a chance to do some good things with some kids who can really benefit from a good music program (hopefully I can accomidate them).

Here are the only pictures I've taken of Christopher since Easter. Just so everyone knows, here's the updates on his development:

1.) He is 28" tall
2.) He weighs 24.2 lbs
3.) He has taken up to 2-steps without assistance by either Collen or me.
4.) He is able to ambulate efficiently and effectively utilizing stable surfaces and other objects.
5.) He crawls faster than Ussain Bolt from Jamaica can run!
6.) He can stand by himself and is currently attempting to reach the doorknob on our front door.
a.) last week, he couldn't reach the doorknob.
b.) this week he can reach the doorknob while standing on his tip-toes.
7.) He has a few words and one phrase down pat, most of which are pretty typical:
a.) Mom, Dad, Hi, Bye, Cat, "All Done"
9.) He's off the bottle
10.) He's off formula and on whole milk
a.) Remember that he was done breast feeding when he was 6 months...he just wouldn't do it anymore.
11.) He's off the pacifier

Easter Day

Easter Sunday on the East Coast. He donned the Easter vest-suit my Grammy got him at Christmas (although we did have to use different pants because those pants were too long and a different button-up shirt because it was a bit big...but the vest and tie were from the original suit). We didn't get any official pictures of Christopher with the Easter Bunny because we refused to get it done at the local mall and pay $27 for 1 sheet of photos...especially photos that probably won't turn out very well. Regardless, we got him to pose for a few pictures at home...he was actually pretty receptive and cooperative for a kid who fought me to get his outfit on.

Some of the other pictures posted below are at Colleen's Aunt Chris' house. Christopher is walking with help now....this time helped by his cousin's (for lack of a better description...Colleen's cousin's daughter's...) baby carriage. The two piano poses were great. He loves playing the piano with his father...great bonding time.

The final picture is Christopher and his other cousin (again for lack of a better description....Colleen's cousin's son), Max. I honestly was digging on his plaid sluggo and trousers. Gotta love the Fuzzy Zeller look.

Happy Easter Everyone

These are his 2 Easter suits. One is from his Grammy Stevie from Kansas (the blue vest) and the other we got as a backup some time ago (the brown vest). We didn't know if the blue one was going to fit him because it was 18 month and we got it at Christmas, which is why we bought the 12 month suit as a backup. They both were a little off-sized. The brown vest was a bit more snug and shorter than I would like it to be, but fit just fine (don't mind the poor tuck job that his father did...Christopher was less than cooperative during this process and we were lucky to even get the vest and tie on him at all.) The blue vest fit good, maybe just a tad big around the chest, but I liked the length. We did have to use the 12 month pants, so either way, it would have worked out. We're opting for the blue vest from Grammy.

Anyways, Happy Easter everyone.


P.S.

Don't mind the old diaper in the background or the big, lipstick-shaped drool mark on the brown vest.

Christopher Birthday

Christopher turned 1 year old today. A quite surreal experience, I must say. One of those situations where you realize that time has passed by before it seemed just to do so. The new isn't so new anymore, but has retained his luster...and I've found myself not recalling how my life was before he came to be skin and flesh. Completely amazing and frightening at the same time...

All philosophising aside...I have birthday pictures....

First, the preparation. Daddy spent Friday night cutting fruits and vegatables and preparing trays for the guest who were to come for Christopher's up-and-coming festivities. Between sessions, Daddy spent a few minutes making runs to the grocery store (for forgotten items, screw-ups, or items that weren't thought of during the planning process) free-handing a stencil for Mommy to follow, dying the icing for the cake, and fine-tuning certain parts of the cake to give Mommy a bit of a break during her all night cake-icing extravaganza. Colleen did the hard part, and did a fantastic job of it if I do say so myself...not that I'm biased or trying to save my butt in any way...honest disclosure.


This was the final product. A few differences from the original cake concept, but, all-in-all, a better end-result. More visual textures and, althought it might not appear to be so, much easier for me to stencil in and for Colleen to ice.

So the party started. We were honestly surprised that we had about 40 people at our house to help us celebrate Christopher's 1st year on this planet. All of the family (in one fashion or another) and a few of Colleen's friends who live in the Philadelphia proximity we in attendance. Christopher was very tired on his birthday though. He has about 6 teeth all trying to force their way through his seamless gumline at the same time and has been on the go with Mom and Dad during their run-arounds to prep for his birthday party. He participated well considering those circumstances. Here are the obligatories: Christopher in his high chair/balloons attached, Christopher with Nana Marianne and Pop-Pop Bob, and the "cake-eating" process. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that he did not just dive right into the cake head firstand make an incredible mess of himself. Instead he picked at it, took a small piece, put it in his mouth and winced a bit. I attribute his lack of interest in the cake to his lack of having anything really sweet prior to the cake (aside from sweet fruits - cantalope, honey dew, et. al.), but who knows. Regardless, he was able to make a bit of a mess of himself, so it wasn't a complete disappointment. We did discover that, at least thus far in his life, he's not a huge fan of sweets.




We then openned presents and played until around 8:30, when we all (Christopher included) decided that enough was enough and he retired for the night. Overall, the day was a complete success. Mommy and Daddy planned and prepared for the festivities effeciently and effectively, and Christopher cooperated, even through the mouth pain and general fatigue from a weeks worth of running around the Delaware Valley area.

I hope he really had a wonderful day, although I know he will never remember it. Surely and event that meant more to Colleen and me than it ever will for him. It was worth all the work for me, so I suppose I could call it a success.