RE: Productivity

Sorry, I'm typing so slowly, it's just that every muscle in my upper body is sore.
For the same reason(s) that I'm sore, there is not much to write about this week.

The lack of interesting stories is because we've been nothing but productive this weekend, in preparation for a little crawfish boil we'll be hosting in a couple of weeks.

In addition to all of the usual weekend stuff we've also: replanted the flower bed, mowed the grass, spread fertilizer and ant poison, installed two bird feeders, pressure washed the house, pressure washed the back fence (why i'm sore), laid sod in dead spots, painted trim for the almost finished entryway, installed 4 new light fixtures and fixed a problem with the breaker box that was causing us to have no hot water.

We did all that plus more that I'm probably forgetting, even with the government stealing an hour from us. But enough of the excuses/bragging.


Loyal readers know that for a few weeks, Riley has been able to walk.

Just this week though, he has chosen it as his primary mode of transport. It's not the smoothest stride out there, but it gets him where he's going......eventually.



He also took a couple of hard falls this week and has a quite lumpy head right now. Joan thinks that he has a touch of brain damage, but given his genetic starting point, I think that just makes it a little more fair for the rest of the world.

Along with walking has also come climbing, usually to play with the magnet on the treadmill.


(his face isnt always that puffy, he's been sick all week, hence the copious drool in other pics.)

His climbing has also forced us to move his crib to the lowest position, which does not make for convenient entry and exit.


He is using his new found mobility to interact more with Jimmy, and will walk across the room just to pet him.





He's also becoming more interested in playing with Anna. They are going to be a team of trouble in a year or so. She'll be the boss and he'll be the gopher. But for now, they just babble at each other and she brings him flowers in the morning, picked fresh from the front yard.





Knowing that he'll be walking outside more, we decided it was time for his first real pair of shoes. We headed to Greenwood Shoes, so that we could actually get assistance with fit.




He has shoes now and, most ridiculously, they cost just about as much as my shoes.


They freaked him out for a little while, and he refused to even stand, but he eventually got the hang and is almost "natural" in them.





We've removed the toy box that hangs under his table since none of the kids can yet reach the bottom, and the opening is now the most coveted spot to play from.





Saturday, after getting started in the yard around 7, thanks to his early rising, we headed to Johnson's for lunch. It was the usual crew of us, my parents, and Joan's mom, but we were also joined by my grandmother. We were there for an hour and a half because it's just such a great place to hang and let him play.







Saturday night we attempted a meal at Ground Pati with just the three of us.
It wasn't bad, but it is nicer to have a support staff. He was all over the booth. First sampling a lemon, then moving on to an orange peel.






Finally, he decided that he wanted my sweet potato fries. I was fine with letting him grab them, until we noticed that all he was doing was putting them into his mouth, pulling them out, and putting them back on my plate before grabbing a new one.




Dietarily, he's getting a good bit of dairy and has become a big fan of yogurt and pudding. He also earned one more Lafayette merit badge this weekend when he ate his first Meche's donut hole.



That's it for happenings.

Here's a few random closeups that I like.








and finally, the only shots at a laugh this week.

It's a good thing his room has carpet, because his dismounts from Jimmy's window seat are not always gold medal worthy.




but he doesn't care.
.
.
.



and last but not least, a game that he likes which I have named "Concussion Derby."
The set up is simple: Put him in a crawling position and you assume the same position, facing him. He will then crawl, at varying speeds, and ram his head into your head. You then overdramatically fall backward and he laughs. Sometimes, when he's really into it, he'll continue ramming you once you're down.

The only downside that I've found so far is that he has also tried to play with a chair, a stool and the couch.