Rock 'n Romp - Part Deux

Saturday dawned warm and windy, with promise of some serious weather by afternoon.  And Mother Nature didn't disappoint -- except the Rock 'n Romp hopefuls who were planning a fun afternoon rocking out in a Midtown backyard.  But after June's RNR (that went on with a sparse crowd despite similar downpours and threats of tornadoes), the planners had an alternate indoor location lined up. 

So, after rousing Walt from his going-on-three-hour nap (NOT a good idea, in case you were wondering), we donned our raincoats and headed to Strings and Things to join the rocking already in progress.  Upon arrival, we paid our cover and signed what Josh determined to be a non-binding release of liability form before settling in for the show.

At this point, Walt was still less than awake.  But after a few minutes, he managed to get to at least get to his feet.

Walt never made it to the stage, but a whole bunch of other kids did . . .

I think Cory Branan (who is pretty big-time around here) is usually a solo artist, but on Saturday, Lyle Lovett's large band had nothing on him.

The little girl in the pink skirt is destined to be a bass player -- she maintained total concentration and never cracked a smile the whole time she was up there.

At one point between songs, Cory Branan muttered something like, "You think you're prepared for anything when you accept a gig, but this . . ."

He was definitely a good sport.  And speaking of good sports, Walt finally got over his grumpiness at being awakened prematurely from his nap and got into the groove.

And by the last song, he was rocking and romping with the best of them.

Rock on, Walty.  Rock on.

Cub Nation

Daddy here.  You know, the good thing about having a son is that you can force sports upon him.  You can also force professional sports team allegiances on him.  Even if they don't happen to be your own.  So, because Gram, Uncle Stephen and Uncle David have such unflappable devotion to the Cubbies, Daddy made the following purchase for Walt a couple of weeks ago in Chicago.

He and Evie are very excited about being new baseball fans.  I told them both about the approaching playoffs.  The chill in the air.  The pennant races.  Joe Buck.  They were thrilled.

Then I told Walt that the Cubs are currently 19 1/2 games back of first in their division.  And I told him that the Cubs haven't won a World Series title since 1908.  He was less than thrilled.

Don't worry Walty.  As Uncle Stephen always says, "Next year is their year."

20 Months or The Many Faces of Walt

I believe it was Jack Handy who once said, "The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face."

First, there is the innocent face . . .

Yeah, no one's buying that one, Walty.  Then, there's the "You talkin' to me?" face . . .

We're all real scared, tough guy.  There's the sultry screen star face . . .

You may need to lose the baby face before you start getting offered leading man roles, Sweet  Pea.  Then, of course, there's the yogurt face . . .

Uh, Walt, you've got a little yog . . . oh, never mind.  And the getting-licked-by-Evie face . . .

And finally, the I'm-bored-of-having-my-picture-taken face . . .

But here at the end of his 20th month, as Jack Handy so astutely observed, the mouth part of Walt's face is doing most of the talking.  Whenever I start getting him dressed in the morning, he wants to know if we're going to the "cark" (park) or "poo" (pool).  You definitely have to put on your "hock" (socks) before your shoes.  And before he goes, he would like a "cuh" (cup) of "glk" (milk), or maybe some "wahr" (water) and some "cahcuhs" (crackers).   And then there are all of the other things he says that he thinks make sense, but they very much do not. 

A few of his favorite things at 20 months, in no particular order . . . trucks, Evie, my bag of nail polish bottles, cheese, crayons (not coloring with them, just dumping them out of the box and putting them back in), Slicky, trollies, long car rides (KIDDING!), wearing shoes, the balloons at the grocery check-out, hats (on other people), yogurt, and jelly beans. 

Despite what all his other caregivers (grandparents, teachers, friends, etc.) will tell you, Walt has definitely started to assert his will in a very big way this month.  He has put on several very impressive tantrums after not getting his way and now gets to spend some time cooling off in his room whenever one erupts.  I'll have to say, it's a simple strategy, but it works like a charm.  The tantrum usually stops within 30 seconds of me putting him in his room and walking out, and after I've given him a few minutes to collect himself, I typically return to find a little boy with a sheepish grin on his face sitting in the floor looking up at me.  And that is really when his face says it all, and it's saying, "How'd you get so smart, Mum?" 

Let me tell you something, Kiddo, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Walt Takes a Visit

Yes, Walt has taken his first visit to the Tennessee State Fair with Putty and Nana:

Of course, Putty had let Walt "play" with the camera before going to the fair, therefore all the pictures were quite dark and not visible enough to post.  We've yet to figure out what button is out of place.  You can see, however, that he got close to some of the more gentle animals:

And even some of the not so gentle:

Of course, in keeping with the grandparents-to-parents agreement, he never indulged in what really makes a state fair memorable:

 

No visit to Putty's is complete unless the car gets clean and shiny for Walt to ride in, but Putty just didn't have time.  Walt enjoyed watching the track pull the car through the washing bay:

While Nana and Putty spent some time with close friends during the loss of their daughter, Walt spent time at a pajama party at Abbeys:

Thanks Abbey and Aunt Brenda for helping out!

Apologies

The management of Walt's World wishes to convey its most sincere apologies for the lack of posts, but as you can see from the picture above, we've all been rather busy this week.  The parental units at Walt's World are chairing a conference at church this weekend and have been rather occupied by duties associated with this responsibility.  We hope to resume our regular posting frequency next week.  Until then, please occupy yourselves with the archives . . . consider them the Walt's World "classics", if you will.

Back in the Saddle Again

First of all, thank you for not flaming us here at Walt's World, despite our week-long hiatus from posting.  We left town last Thursday at 1:00 and arrived back home on Monday evening, just in time to put Walt to bed and put him out of our misery.  Make no mistake, he had a great time during the time he spent visiting with Nana, Putty, Great-Granny (in Tennessee), Aunt Gigi, Gram, Granddaddy, Uncle Stephen, Aunt Mimi, Collier, Uncle Chichi, Great-Granny (in Kentucky), Uncle Joe, Aunt Kathy, Martha, Susannah, Aunt Mary Louise, Uncle John, Aunt Kay and Uncle Tom.  A fabulous time even. 

But the parts of the trip spent in the car were no picnic for any of us.  It seems that Walty does not appreciate the modern safety measures that protect him from harm in the event of an accident.  Indeed, from the sound of his screaming starting about 90 miles outside of Memphis on Monday you'd think that we were actually forcing bamboo shoots under his fingernails.  I was this close to taking up interstate power walking as my new exercise regimen.  But now we are all home and recovered from the ordeal and will surely forget about it by the time we get in the 'ol rental minivan and drive nine hours to Florida next month.  With another baby (the lovely Meredith) in the car.  Benadryl, anyone?

Without further ado, I give you pictures from the trip . . .

This one was taken about five minutes into the car trip on Thursday.  If he looks this unhappy that early, you can only imagine how bad it was by 6 p.m. on Monday

Charming Tennessee Great-Granny.

Showing Aunt Gigi the ropes at the park.

Kicked back with Daddy and Putty (or "Tottty", as Walt likes to call him) watchin' the game.

Walt and Collier were BIG buds this weekend.  They each woke up on Monday morning saying each other's names.  ("Wah?"  "Cah-yuh?")

"No kidding, Walt?"

Bestest buddies.

Kentucky Great-Granny was thrilled to see her two favorite Great Grandsons.

The obligatory four generations picture.  (Almost got one with Granddaddy's eyes open!)

Gram is in hog heaven.

Uncle Stephen shows Walt some tricks.

Uncle Chichi (aka David) and Walt run some drills.

Getting a bird's eye view on Uncle Joe's shoulders.  (He's 4' 30", in case you were wondering.)

Susannah and Martha -- the two best babysitters in Barren County last weekend!

Captain Collier and First Mate Walty at your service.

Aunt Mimi passes on all her fishing tips to a young angler.

Uncle Stephen had the big catch of the day.

All in all, it was some good clean fun.