Surf, Sun, Sand, Seafood, and Spud

Off to the beach!

I had a meeting at UNC Wilmington on Friday, so we packed up the kid and headed east. Travelling with a small child requires some 500 lbs. of food, toys, clothes, bedding, diapers, stroller, toys, food, and toys, so packing for a trip takes us a bit longer than in previous years. We throw food at the cats and head out the door and hope Spud takes a nap while we drive. Otherwise he gets bored and screechy.

On Thursday night we had a sunset seafood dinner (me: delectable shrimp, Claire: scallops) at Oceanic restaurant in Wrightsville Beach, with tables on a dock right out over the beach and the water. Nice!



After my meeting on Friday, we had lunch at Flaming Amy's Burritos in Wilmington. We did not leave Spud unattended.



Our hotel had a pool. Spud seemed happier running crazily and dangerously around the edge of the pool investigating garbage cans and detritus than actually being in the water.



We headed south to Fort Fisher, a confederate fort that was attacked by the union in 1865. Much of the sand walls of the fort have been eroded away by the ocean, but these are still standing. We tried to encourage Spud to walk along with us on his own, but every stick and bug and rock captures his attention. He doesn't make good time, and doesn't even stay on the sidewalk. He's goes rogue at every opportunity.



At Ft. Fisher beach, we continued to show Spud how much fun the ocean is. He continued to refuse to touch it.





Fort Fisher also has a nice aquarium. We needed an indoor activity, because it was ghastly hot out, and an air conditioned facility full of eye-catching fish was just the ticket. Spud pointed out all of the fish for us.







On the trip home: home-made peach ice cream!

The Spud Lexicon

Spud's word power is growing. Here is an up-to-date list of all the words he uses with regularity. Plus translations. With a little studying, you too can learn to speak Toddler.

"Keeeee" = kitty; his very first word. Spoken with delight and squealy high volume upon sighting a cat. The cats usually respond by grouchily slinking away. I swear I can hear them sighing in resignation sometimes.

"Daddy" = Daddy, but also Other Daddy (Mommy); Daddy apparently means "parent".

"Uh oh" = uh oh; he's just dropped something and you need to come pick it up, or he's about to drop something that he no longer has any use for.

"Dish" = "this", means 'can I have some of this?', or, 'what is this?'

"Hello" = telephone; he wants to push the buttons on the hello. Oh, how he wants the hello more than anything. Except for:

"Cacku" = Cracker (graham); the most delicious snack. Requested several times a day.

"Tink you" = Thank you. He's so polite. Although he usually says this when he wants you to take something from him.

"Eat" = I'm hungry. Must eat now.

"Eye" = eye; usually a warning that he's about to show you where your eye is by poking you directly in it.

"Shoe" = shoe; along with eat and eye, the words that sound the most like the real thing.

"Doddle" = either bottle or bubble, depending on the usually obvious context.

"Teekle" = twinkle; a request for you to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

and finally,

"Shasha" = Viscacha, a South American rodent related to the chinchilla. Long story.



Although not really a word, he also shakes his head "no" when he doesn't want the food item you are offering.

These are the words he can say, but he understands a lot more. Say "spin-a-rama" (known to every video football player), and he will begin spinning and smiling until he falls down. Always good for a laugh. He can point out the Moon and Sun in a book if you ask him too. Although he only says the word eye (as he pokes you in it), he can also point to your ear, nose, mouth, and belly button on request. If your belly button is not exposed, he will start rummaging through your clothes for it.

"My Symphony"

"To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich;
to study hard, think quietly,
talk gently, act frankly;
to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely,
await occasions, hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony."

By William Henry Channing

Baby Blog Book

Spud's first year as documented on this blog is now enshrined in a magnificent book made of an old-school, pre-digital material called "paper". The book was created by Mommy using software available at Blurb.com. Someday Spud will be able to read about the icky details of his early life, including the color of his poop in the first week of life and the frequency of his barfs. I am certain that his future girlfriends will want to read the book cover to cover on their first date, so I will leave it out on the coffee table where they are sure to find it.

This wonderful tome is a [slightly belated] Father's Day gift and a great way to remember the first year of our Adventures in Parenthood. Thank you Claire!

Boone Baby

We took a short trip up to the mountains on Friday to cool off a bit. Unlike Charlotte, Boone is an actual college town, with hippies and fun bars and a funky walkable area near the university (Appalachian State). But hey, Charlotte has some of the best strip malls in the entire country. Claire and her family lived in Boone for a while in the 90's so she knows her way around the town.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant, and while we waited for the food Spud honed his artistic skills with some crayolas provided by the waitress. He's...not very talented.



Then we fed him bits of our own food directly off of his work of art. Don't tell Child Protective Services about this (Hey, if we gave him a plate, he'd just throw it at somebody and break it).



Then we went for a hike on a nice trail south of town. We mounted him up in the Baby Backpack. Daddy's back will be just fine by the end of next week.

Here I am teaching him the manly art of throwing rocks at water.



Hi ladies.



The trail followed a nice stream.





We found a blackberry patch and split the ripe ones 3 ways. I am proud to say that we are teaching our offspring how to survive in the wilderness (as long as there are lots of blackberry bushes, he should be ok).



Happy summer!

Summertime Spud

We went to Amelie's French Bakery for 4th of July breakfast. I happily drive the 20 minutes it takes to get to NoDa for one of their chocolate croissants. When Spud wasn't pilfering bits of my croissant, he was practicing his walking and running into things and falling down in a heap.



He enjoyed his very first summertime watermelon. There really is no better way to eat watermelon than to just dig in and get your face all up in there and just try your best to breathe.



And he enjoyed his very first 4th of July sparklers (held by me in the foreground). Unfortunately his bedtime is hours before dark settles in, so we had to light them in daylight. Not quite as impressive, but I think he got the idea.

Cousin Rob

My cousin Rob was in town this week. He writes his own music and has 3 Cd's and was performing a concert at the Providence Road Christian Church. He got in touch with me on Wednesday and we met on Thursday night before his concert.

Rob and I have met only once before, exactly 30 years ago in June, 1980. We went on a road trip together with Spud's Great Grandmother, travelling across California. We went to Yosemite National Park, saw a Giants double-header at Candlestick Park, walked among the giant redwoods, saw Mt. Whitney, met our Uncle Cook (my grandmother's brother) and Aunt Wilma, went to our first rock concert (Pablo Cruise, NOT Santana as I has incorrectly recalled all this time), saw burrowing owls in the desert, learned to juggle from another uncle (Dan? John?), discussed the lyrics in a Cars song and debated the existence of God, washed our grandmother's boyfriend's cars, ate at Denny's for nearly every meal, met a 75-year-old who taught us how to balance salt shakers in a pile of salt, rode the roller coasters at Disney Land, and boogie-boarded in the Pacific Ocean. For a couple of barely-teenagers, this was quite an adventure.

Oh, and I stayed out of the bathrooms in the San Francisco airport per my mother's instructions. Apparently there were gay predators lurking there, just waiting for impressionable young teens to wander in so they could teach them to dress flamboyantly.



While we were talking and catching up, some guy kept making funny faces at Spud. That's who he's looking at in the photo, off to the right. Dude: get your own kid!