Sunday, April 5, 2009

Official Toddler

I keep planning to write about some of his/my favorite toys, but then we end up doing something interesting and picture-y and I put that off again. ( I know, I know, I use interesting in the very loosest of ways.)

Oh well.

Monday was his actual first birthday, and we celebrated by taking him to the doctor to get some pretty painful shots, and a blood test.

Before

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After

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This was the first time he got shots in the arm, and it was horrible.
The MMR actually burns and, because of the way I had to hold him, you could feel every muscle in his body tighten as she pushed it in.
I hated it, but that's it for shots for a while, i think.


Lil Man came in at the 50th percentile height and head wise, and dropped off of the charts weightwise.
Accordingly, doc instructed us to fatten him up some.
So, if you see us out and about feeding him chicken nuggets and french fries, we have doctor's orders. I promise.

Doc also told us to phase in cow's milk, but he just decided to reject all of Mommy's supply and stick to the bovine juice.
Mommy can now go back to being a non-grocery item and doesn't have to worry about mechanical milking (some call it pumping) which will free up our schedule alot.


To treat him that evening he had his own personal mini-cake from Southside (of which, Mommy and Daddy ate 2/3)

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Mid week, Mommy had to spend a couple of days in New Orleans for work, so it was Man House around here.

Just cigars for breakfast and beers for dinner, with Chuck Norris movies for lunch.


Actually, the only real difference was him getting a little messier than usual when he ate .

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He's trying to learn to feed himself, but hasn't figured out that horizontal bread is easier to bite than a vertical slice.

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Friday night was Downtown Alive where he played his new favorite game called "Drive the Sippy Cup Into the Ground to Spill Milk Everywhere", or DTSCITGTSME, for short.

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He also used a toy ball as a late April Fool's prank to trick people into thinking he was pregnant, but it didn't work.

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After seeing people struggling with strollers in the crowd, and knowing that Festival, more DTAs, more ROTRs and Crouchstock are coming up, I got a late birthday present of a Kelty FC 3.0 backpack carrier.
(I promise it had nothing to do with me not being able to turn my neck on Saturday morning after carrying him on my shoulders Friday night.)

The thing is a bad**s beast and came in quite handy on Saturday.


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While the weather is still nice (actually bordering on hot), we took the opportunity to visit the Baton Rouge Zoo.
Memberships between BR and Zoo of Acadiana are reciprocal, so it was free.

Granny Lynn rode over with us and spent the day with both of her grandkids, as Paul and Caroline met us there.

What I expected to be a short walk through the zoo ended up being a 5+ hour visit, which included multiple meals and at least one nap per kid.

He still isn't good with camouflage or small, stationary animals.
Add bright color, movement, or size though, and both kids enjoyed themselves.

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After lunch,taking advantage of the Kelty's sunshade, Riley passed out on my back for about 45 minutes. He was more popular with the crowds than some of the animals.

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so as not to exclude Mommy, which he has done with is vocabulary, he also rested on her for a good while.

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The day mostly consisted of Granny Lynn and I showing animals to the kids, while Uncle Paul showed Mommy how to use our fancy new camera, while, in the process, getting better with his fancier, newer camera.

We did sit down for a while for lunch and later again for ice cream, which seemed to be Riley's favorite part of the day.

He ate all but the two or three bites I was able to sneak out of a good sized cup.

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Riley has also been initiated as a true cajun, by carrying his milk in a "koozie" whenever we leave the house.

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Overall it was a great day. You can tell Caroline was spent by the end.

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Sunday we just relaxed around the house and didn't do anything.


Just kidding. We'd never do that. We instead went to a softball game, because I think this is the last weekend of home games.

Riley has been paying a lot of attention lately to toy balls, but was having trouble keeping up with Ashley Brignac's warm up pitches.

He was quite confused and, rightfully, a little scared.

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and wrapping up, here's a couple of pics that didn't really fit anywhere.

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And since i know people here care about my opinions, here's a couple.

Facilities-wise, the BR zoo was about the same as I remember it. Way nicer than zoo of Acadiana, and way cheaper, but those are both due, at least in part, to its government funding.
I was quite surprised though that despite being cheaper, and being the "festival" they call Zippity Zoo Days, the crowd wasn't nearly as trashy as our last few visits to the Zoo here. Don't get me wrong, there were some out of control kids, but not nearly as much smoking and cussing as we've run into here. It was kinda nice.
Still don't like BR though. :)
(that should satisfy the misanthropic readers, a few of which have outed yourselves)


And as for my new toy, the Kelty FC 3.0, here's a short review.



I've had my eye on this since we were creating the baby registry, but the price tag always put it a little out of what appeared to be responsible reach.

It was totally worth it though. based on my research, it is one of the top 2 or 3 back carriers out there.

The amount of storage is very impressive, plus the diaper bag detaches, and is good for on the go activities.

I'm a pretty small guy, but it was comfortable all day. Probably 4.5 or so hours of total carry time, and i probably didn't have it adjusted right because we bought it on the way to the zoo.

That being said, it was very easy to set up and use, I just never took the time to really tune it in.
I was only a little sore at the end of the day, but I think that is more form my complete lack of physical fitness than form any design defect in the pack.

It weighs less than 8 lbs, so its comfy to carry even without a kid in it.

So, once your kid outgrows the Baby Bjorn, I think this pack is a good next step up, if you think you'll get to use it a fair amount. I'm really surprised that I don't see more at local events.


The end.

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