Tuesday was election day and Riley's first chance to sport his "Born Libertarian" onesie. Despite his support, it was not a good day for libertarian-ish ideals (except in Massachusetts). Oh well. Is it ever?
Instead of watching the election results, Riley opted to get his first haircut in our driveway by our neighbor, Miss Jeanne (a professional stylist). He needed a little trim around the ears and a little evening out in the back.
Once he's a little more calm, he's off to to see Maurice and his clippers. That'll be the fourth generation of Wallace boys that Mo will have cut.
Fast forward to Saturday and the annual Heartwalk, where, as usual, Aunt Sherie rounded up a team in memory of her daughter, Cousin Cassie. This year Joan had onesies made for the babies to match the adult shirts. Cassie's Team had 4 babies (Riley, Caroline, Gabe and Whitney)
Riley went along for the ride with Whitney, daughter of our high school classmate, Emily, who happened to be in town.(they live in Japan).
About halfway through, Riley decided it would be more interesting to be carried by my Dad than pushed by his own Mommy.
A short while later, Whitney also decided that carrying was the way to go, and Joan was left pushing an empty double stroller.
Saturday was also the last UL home game that we'll be making this year (the real last one is on a Wednesday).
The weather was great and Riley discovered that he is much more interested in watching flags than in getting handshakes and high-fives from the football players.
He tried to be a big boy and take part in the adult conversations, but found out he would rather just play "pat a cake"
He also got to make new friends by meeting Ms. Amanda's family (very nice people), and getting reacquainted with Eli D (now 14 months old).
Eli was very well behaved and didn't seem to mind all of the harassment from the two babies.
The game was a bust for the Cajuns, but Ms. Amanda and the softball team were presented at halftime, recognizing their terrific success last year. They'll be getting their Sunbelt Conference Champion rings in soon. Then she'll be able to put the smackdown on my brother if he gets out of hand.
Riley also started "crawling" this week. He's not yet up on all fours, but he pulls himself around to get to what he wants. Since crawling doesn't really show well in still shots, I'll just pepper you with some cute pics.
with his Godmother, Lesley
With his Poppy
Chillin' in the tub
and doing his best John Popper impression (with a cell phone)
From henceforth, I write this post very carefully.
I've written passages about poo, and I've made snide comments about politicians and the medical establishment, but now I'm going to tiptoe into religion.(kinda sorta)
Sunday, Riley got us kicked out of a building, and, of all places, it was a church.
Even worse, it was not because of his behavior, but because of his mere existence.
Let me frame the scene for you.
On Sunday morning, someone who is virtually a family member was being baptized in a local church. To be nice, I'll change the name and just call it Cardinal-Direction Waterbody Denomination Church, or EBBC.
We headed on over to EBBC on information that the baptism would be just before the start of the service. Because Riley went straight from the crib to the carseat, our plan was to go for the baptism then slide out to change him and figure out what we would do from there.
So, we walk into the sanctuary/studio and past a few greeters. Halfway to the seats we get to a woman we'll call Ms. Bad-Perm McClown-Makeup, or Ms. BM (pun entirely intended).
She asks if we need directions to the preschool. We explain that we'll be keeping Riley with us.
She responds that this is an adults only service. That's fine, I respect those wishes, but of course there can be minor temporary exceptions, right?
We explain that it won't be an issue, we'll only be staying in the main room for the baptism, then we'll slide out when the rest of the service starts.
Ms. BM lets us know that she's not going to be able to let us do that, and reiterates that this is adults only, and that our only two options are to leave him in the pre-school or go to the family room.
We again explained that were there specifically for a baptism that we were told would be occurring at the start of the service, and the baby would be gone before the service really started.
Ms. BM was having no part of it.
Obviously, the mindless drone was not gifted with much common sense, or human emotion.
At that point I calmly(much to my surprise) handed her the program/flier that I had been warmly greeted with and we turned around and left, missing the event that we had arrived for. ( I missed a great Mitch Hedberg opportunity there, but I figured the wisest use of my vocal cords at that point was, for safety sake, non-use.)
I fully respect, though I don't favor, the idea of an adult only sanctuary. When Riley makes even the slightest noise at Asbury, I step out with him (even though they're cool with a reasonable amount of noise.) But if you expect me to go dump my kid off in a nursery with absolute strangers or watch the baptism of a close family friend from a tv instead of allowing my well behaved child into the sanctuary for 10 minutes, after which we would leave when the service starts, then you................
Ok, enough of that story. I figure no one can get mad at me for retelling the facts, but I should avoid editorializing. Hopefully my readers are such a sophisticated lot that they will see the bottom line without me typing it out.
On a lighter note, and giving us some "good people" street cred, Riley is giving away food.
Ok, it's unintentional on his part, but still.
Joan is churning out much more than Riley is chugging down. You can freeze milk, but only for 3 months. We've gotten to the point of throwing stuff away.
Fortunately, in a few places around the country, folks have established "milk banks" where women are able to donate excess food which is given to poor and/or sick babies. Joan has hooked up with a milk bank out of Austin that provides to Louisiana and Texas. (so we know the kids have access to good music)
They pay all of the shipping and provide all of the materials needed, Joan just provides the milk.
Its a pretty cool concept, even if it does seem kinda creepy at first.
Hopefully, they'll be able to take advantage of the fact that Joan's milk is dairy free (isn't that a paradox?) and get it to a baby that has an allergy similar to Riley's.
Unless he starts walking, the next week should be slow, assuming, of course, that we don't get kicked out of any other churches, or other purportedly family friendly establishments.
That shouldn't be a problem because I know a few people that really like Riley at our church.
How could you not like this goofy mug?
1 comment:
Thanks for inviting us to the walk! It was great meeting all of your family and chatting with them. Riley is clearly advanced because he held Whitney's hand.. he knows a good woman when he sees one. :) I'll see you guys during our next visit!
Post a Comment