A Large Part of His Brain Is Also Devoted to Waffles

Waterfalls

We are embarked on a great journey to Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania.  Virginia, to hang out with Grandpa while he got his heart worked on, New York to go to a wedding, and to Pittsburg to visit Aunt Megan and Uncle Brian and Cousin Marcus.  Here are some waterfalls that we've seen along the way.

Great Falls, VA

Ithaca Falls, NY

Taughannock Falls, NY, near Cayuga Lake

Hector Falls, NY, near Seneca Lake

Behind the falls in Watkins Glen State Park

Toddler + Warm Muffin = Smile

Did He Have a Lampshade on His Head?

Every day we get an 'activity report' from daycare.  Today, he ate all of his lunch (good news for Daddy) and took a good long nap (good news for Mommy).  He apparently did not get a diaper change (alarming for both parents.  More likely, the teachers are just slacking off on the documentation again.  Give us the BM information!)

Apparently they are making him eat dirt.  We will have to look into this.

The 'Special Message' on the report today was also modestly alarming.

 No more root beer for you, mister!  



Dancin' Tie-Dyed Hippie Slacker

One of his favorite "movies" is "Movie Music," which Grandpa and Grandma Chadwick gave him.  He watches it almost every day.  The music reverberates in our brains like the little beads in a maraca.  It hearkens back to the Itsy Bitsy Spider days of the bouncy chair.  At least he's getting some exercise.  There are other times though that we question the value of television for a toddler when he just stares at it, his eyes all glazed over.  That might not be healthy.

A Taste of Summer

Charlotte held its annual 'Taste of Charlotte' downtown last weekend.  A mile or so of booths lining the main street, selling food and food-related and food-unrelated items.  You walk along, you spy something that looks potentially delicious, you sample.

We tried some sushi.  The trick was to keep Benjamin from poking all six of our eyes out with the chopsticks.

The bubble machine was a huge hit.

So was the fountain.  I think he wanted to get in and cool off with that other kid.  He looks pretty happy.

It started to warm up by noon.  We ended up hitting the smoothies pretty hard. 

Via a combination of strolling, getting Daddy to carry him, and self-propulsion, Benjamin made it the whole way to the end and back to the car.



Sparkling Natural Wonder, Overwhelming Toddler Indifference

The fireflies are here!  Those flashy bugs are one of the major elements of summertime for a kid, so I'm glad Benjamin is growing up in a place that has them.  Does Charleston have fireflies?  I'm sure it does.  Pocatello did not.  It had cockroaches, hobo spiders, and crows.  And the very occasional moose.

No, I did not take that photo.

I actually spent a few moments wondering whether to teach Benjamin the word "firefly" or "lightning bug".  It seemed important.

We let Benjamin stay up until dusk, an hour after his 7:30 bedtime, so he could see the show.  He was delighted for a few minutes, but then started looking at other things (sticks, cars driving by, airplanes).  I was hoping to see Magical Wonder in his eyes for an extended period of time, but it quickly dissolved into what looked a little bit more like Typical Boredom.

Hot

Nothing says "Summer" like watermelon in the swimming pool.  OK, scorching heat and unbearable humidity say "Summer" too.  Hence the need for the watermelon and swimming pool.

Charleston Road Trip

School's.  Out.  For.  Summer!  So we decided to go down to our brand new city by the ocean and have a look around.  On the way down, we stopped and bought Benjamin a cake/lolli-pop (only in America).  It was not immediately clear to him that he was supposed to eat it. Is it a toy of some kind?  We have yelled at him so many times for eating things that he isn't supposed to eat (leaves, sticks, coins, the Nerf football, the cats) that he's probably a little gun-shy when it comes to tasting new objects.

Finally, he took a bite.

We drove around James Island and Mt. Pleasant, two suburbs of Charleston that we might live in.  Then we went to one of the nearby beaches, Folly Beach.

We went seashell hunting.  Aunt Larissa and I used to hunt for shells at Assateague Island on family beach trips.  "Snail shells" were the coin of the realm.

We spotted sailboats, wind-surfers, and airplanes.

The first time we went to the beach, he didn't want to touch the sand or the water.  The second time, he liked the sand but still hated the water.  This time, eh, the water's not so bad.

As long as it's less than shin-deep.

 Grandpa has a story about me at the beach when I was a toddler.  I fearlessly headed off down the beach for a long while before I realized I didn't know where I was.  My Dad was following at a discrete distance to secretly find out how far I'd get before I looked around and realized I was lost.  Benjamin headed off down the beach himself on this trip, but he was after the kite-surfers that were about a half-mile down the beach (I don't think he has a good grasp of distances just yet).  He kept turning around to make sure that I was following and to shout detailed yet incomprehensible instructions to me ("Man Kite!  Two!), but I think he would have attempted the journey on his own if I hadn't grabbed him. 

Wussat?

He stopped saying "Dis?" cold-turkey last month and replaced it with "Wussat?"

Wussat?  That's a merry-go-round!

Four successive rotations:

Kempa: Expert Plumber, Electrician, and Bedtime Storyteller

Kempa came down from Blacksburg again to visit and help us unhook and re-hook our kitchen plumbing before and after our new "granite" (monzodiorite; sorry, we're geologists) countertops were installed.  They look great, but now everything else in our kitchen looks like shit in comparison.

Kempa also took over the pre-bedtime storytelling duties.  Plumbing, electrician-ing, and Grandpa-ing...Kempa does it all with style and aplomb!

On Saturday we went out to NoDa and got egg sandwiches at Amelie's and then went to Smelly Cat for delicious coffees and hot chocolates. 

Sweet Stuff

Benjamin went to the doctor for a (slightly late) 2 year checkup and to get a polio booster shot.  He has now topped 30 lbs, so carrying him is becoming more of a challenge, especially considering all 30 lbs is usually flailing wildly.

His shots have always been administered in the same special room in the doctors office.  For the first time ever, he looked around the room and immediately knew where he was and started crying preemptively.  His brain is now capable of remembering, which means he is now capable of harboring long-term grudges.  He has become a high-level sentient and aware being, like Skynet. His evil powers can only increase now.

His fury about the shot was short-lived, because he got his very own lollipop.  He enjoyed it immensely, although probably didn't enjoy having both of his parents hovering over him and incessantly reminding him to lick it and not stuff the whole thing all at once down his gullet.

We went for a bike ride last weekend and he got to try some honeysuckle.  Our fears that he would subsequently see every plant as possibly edible appear to be unfounded.