Nightmare on Nelson

So, maybe I'm not a great parent after all, but you gotta admit this is a funny picture.  Walt and I were awaiting our first trick-or-treaters, and he was alternately amused and terrified by my $1.49 last minute costume.  This was a terrified moment.  Hey, I was the one with a twenty pound chicken on my lap.  You should've seen my face behind that mask. 

Not to worry, Walt soon made friends with a good witch who stopped by for some candy.

Here's Walt trying to get away from the kids who came by dressed as Tyson employees:

He didn't get very far.  He still can't crawl (or fly).

And finally, here's our sweet little rooster in his natural habitat of pumpkins and mums:

A Boy and His Dog

Evie has finally figured out how to make this baby thing work for her . . .

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Happy Birthday . . .

To a fella who will teach a kid . . .

how to walk in the clothing department . . .

how to appreciate Christmas lights in October . . .

and how to eat ice cream!!

Happy birthday, Putty!!

Picnic in the Park

While it's a bit chilly here in Mempho today (and hey, we're not complaining -- it's about time!), it was absolutely perfect yesterday, so we took the opportunity to join Chris, Kate and Meredith Lareau for a picnic in the park.  And wouldn't you know it, we turn our backs for one second and Walt is putting the moves on Meredith!

So, Josh and Chris separated the two and took Walt off for a walking lesson . . .

I don't think the lesson helped much, but Walt got a ride on Daddy's shoulders anyway.

Random Pictures for Your Perusal

Not feeling very verbose tonight, and I know you'd rather just see pictures of the kid anyway, so here you go . . .

Hangin' with Daddy and Evie in the front yard.

He wouldn't smile no matter what we did, but still pretty cute.

Making a break for it.

What to read, what to read . . .

Now he's smiling!

Zoo Crew

While Daddy was off neckin' out at the NASCAR race this weekend, Walt and I had visitors -- the lovely Shannon and Ellen Blalock.  They came so we could help Shannon celebrate her birthday on Saturday.  And celebrate we did -- with a trip to the zoo!  It was Walt's first trip and Ellen's second (she previously visited the Nashville zoo).  I think Ellen was a little more impressed with the whole experience than Walt was -- he seemed to have trouble actually locating the animals in their "natural" habitats.  I tried to point them out, but he would generally get distracted by the water feature separating us from the animals and end up staring longingly into the "stream".  I noticed, however, that the animals he did see (and was amused by) were of the black and white variety -- the penguins and the pandas.  Not sure if that was because their high contrast made them easier to pick out or because they reminded him of Evie.  "Look!  A swimming Evie!"  "Look!  An Evie eating bamboo!"

I think he did also notice the elephants, despite their lack of high contrast coloring, but they are elephants after all -- kind of hard to miss.

Every 3,000 Miles

Like all good fathers, I've already discussed with Walt the importance of routine maintenance on vehicles and durable goods.  I guess he took me seriously, because Ginger took this picture of him under his crib a few days ago.  I can only guess that he was checking the springs and railings.  I'm so proud of him. 

Actually, he rolled under there.  He rolls everywhere.  On this his nine-month birthday post, there is still no progress on the mobility front.  He sits, reaches, pulls, grabs, kicks, flops and rolls, but he still hasn't crawled that first step.  On the other hand, Walty has been quite vocal as of late.  He will talk himself to sleep and talk to himself while he's in the car and talk to us when he's demanding his dinner.  It's extremely cute, as are most things he does, but, again, we are rather biased.

Another more recent development is clapping.  He will, on occasion, mimic us clapping for him.  He also likes to "help" Mommy clap by putting his hands outside hers while she claps.  He still likes trash better than toys.  If there is a piece of cardboard or discarded paper in a room, he can usually roll to it pretty quickly if he doesn't get distracted by a certain little black and white dog.  While the lack of mobility has certainly dampened any hopes we have about professional sports, that hasn't stopped us from trying.  Walt likes his miniature basketball.  Thanks to some coaching fom Gram and continued practice, he has learned to roll the ball to us.  Really, he just throws it straight down, and it usually ends up bouncing off of his extremely chubby legs in our general direction.  But he seems to understand that when we roll the ball to him, he's supposed to get it back to us.  He should be tops in the assists category.

All in all, he's a perfectly wonderful little boy.  I just got back today from my first extended trip away since he was born, and I must say that I missed him (and his mother) dearly.  I can't wait unitl he can go on guy trips with me.  This particular weekend centered around an event that didn't start until after his bedtime, however, and it was very loud.  If you haven't guessed, yes, I went to a NASCAR race this weekend.  There, I said it.  I'm a race fan.  Hopefully, I still get credit for being a good dad if a bit of a redneck. 

Check out the new birthday pic in the Birthday album and look out for an album of pictures of Walt's trip to the zoo.  It should be coming soon.  Alas, Ginger won't let me post an album of my race pictures.  Two words: pit passes.   Yee haw.

Walt's Fast Daddy

So the thing about a marathon is that it's not very conducive to photography.  The person actually competing in the marathon passes by you very quickly (it being a race and all), and most of the time is spent like this . . .

"Is that him?"
"Nope, he's taller than that."
"I think I see him!  No . . . never mind, that guy's shirt says 'Wayne'."
"Look for a red shirt -- he was going to wear a red shirt.  Unless he changed."
"Here he comes!  Here he comes!  Go, Josh!  Looking good!"
"Alright, let's go."

Josh finished with a time of 3 hours and 55 minutes, which was a full 24 minutes faster than his previous marathon.  For those of you who don't know much about running (and let's face it, that's most of us), that is a very impressive result.  He was  just edged out by the winner, who finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes -- clearly that person was using a jet pack of some sort.  However, Josh was very glad to have accomplished his goal of running the race in under four hours.  And we were all very proud of him.  (All of us being me, Walt, and Nana and Putty, who accompanied us on the trip.)  And they gave him a medal and everything!

Walt was quite the trooper on the trip.  He took naps in his stroller, got his diaper changed in the park, ate in hotel desk chairs, etc.  He was even smiling and having a good 'ol time on the plane ride home at 9:30  last night.  He didn't really lose it until we were turning into Nana and Putty's subdivision, but by then, his crib was in sight (even though he didn't know it yet).  I was quite nervous about this little undertaking, but we all came through with flying colors. 

*Make sure the check out the "Chicago Marathon" photo album at left, and see some video of another one of Walt's firsts here:
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Short and Fat

No, I'm not talking about myself (my self-esteem's not quite that low) -- I was referring to my son.  He is apparently in the 75th percentile for weight (19 1/2 lbs.) and the 10th percentile for height (27 inches).  Dr. Sepulveda assures us it'll all even out eventually though.  For the sake of his basketball career, we certainly hope so. 

She also didn't seem to be too concerned about his lack of crawling or self-feeding skills -- she said we should just be grateful that we weren't having to chase after him or pull things out of his mouth yet.  Evie is glad because she doesn't have to worry about him slobbering all over her toys.  Cause that would be gross -- baby germs.  Dr. S did seem to think that he was fairly advanced for his age in terms of babbling.  Can't imagine who he might have gotten that from. (Hint:  it rhymes with "fatty".)

Walt met a new friend the other night when Josh's former tutee (if Josh was the tutor, doesn't that make Dedrick the "tutee"?) came over for dinner and brought his six-month old son, Dedrick, Jr.  Walt crashed kind of early and they didn't get much time to play, but I'm sure there will be more visits in the future.

Say a prayer for Josh this weekend -- he'll be running in the Chicago marathon on Sunday and he's feeling a little puny at the moment.  Also say a prayer for Nana, Putty and me because we'll be trying to negotiate the unfamiliar streets of Chicago amid the throngs of marathon-watchers with a huge stroller.  (I'm thinking about installing a horn.)  Evie, unfortunately, doesn't get to make the trip, but she'll get her own Chicago experience -- Mr. Dane Wendell, her puppysitter, is a native of the Windy City!

Editor's Note:  Dane is out and our other favorite puppysitter, Matt Sugg, is in.  Either way, Evie is in for some attention without distraction from a certain pudgy kid.

Crawling Lessons with Gram

Gram made a trip to Memphis this weekend to hang with Walt (oh, and I'm sure she was glad to see Josh and Ginger too).  While she was here, she decided to help Walt out with his (lack of) crawling skills. 

"Alright, Walt, here we go . . ."

"Like this, Gram?"

"This crawling thing sure is hard!"

"How about if we do some yoga instead?  This position is called 'Down Dog'."

"Boy, Gram, all that crawling and yoga worked up an appetite . . . let's go to Huey's!  I'm buying!  Well, as long as I can use your credit card . . ."

And here's some live action footage of the crawling lesson:
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Thanks for coming, Gram!  We all had fun!