Getting out

Dustin is now a pretty easy-going baby, although I wonder at what point I shall stop calling him a "baby."  At day care he's out of the baby room, and into the "wobbler" room.  It's a staging ground for kids who aren't babies, but aren't toddlers.  I suppose this is akin to a "tween" later on in life.  Who knew there are so many subtly different stages we pass through!
There are times that he is fussy, and if we're lucky, we can quickly remedy the fussiness with the typical mama-combatants: food, milk, nap, or diaper change.  More often, the fussiness stems from boredom with our house, and getting out the door is the obvious, necessary, and immediate remedy!

Last weekend Jeff went up to Seattle to spend some time working on coding with his best friend Hasan. Dustin and I, left to our own devices, got out the door a fantastic amount, and had a very fun weekend, as a couple photos below can attest:

A jubilant Dustin at the petting zoo at the Multnomah County Fair. (May 27th, 2012) While pigs and sheep in confined spaces was a real treat to behold, Dustin prefers chasing the neighborhood cat.  Given Dustin's wobbly speed, the cat has very little concern about ever being caught.  But it's guaranteed entertainment, until the cat gets bored.

Dustin pushing a tricycle at Cafe Au Play here in Portland, OR. (April 29th, 2012)  While it looks like he's pushing the tricycle in the regular fashion, he was generally pushing it sideways around the patio. His joy for pushing things is immense: he will certainly be a terror on a trike once he gets going!

Why do they call it Mother's Day?

I was hearing about this really important day called Mother's Day.  It seemed like everyone was talking about it, and they said it was really special for Mom, because it was her first.  But when it finally came, I thought the day was more about me then Mom, so why do they call it Mother's Day?

Let me go into a little detail about how the day went.  I woke up in the morning and Mom quickly arrived to feed me breakfast in bed.  Then Dad got up shortly after that to fry some eggs.  He knows that I love eating eggs, so he made enough for both him and Mom to feed me.  They took me outside to enjoy my bagel while they both looked at me lovingly.  Then we moved on to the morning play, where I got to try out the new hat and toys that Grandma Jean sent.

The morning was quickly fading, and I was getting sleepy, as Mom and Dad were getting all my stuff ready for the day's hike.  They said that we were going to start a new tradition of hiking to a waterfall on Mother's Day.  Just as I was about to fall asleep they loaded me into the car.  There is something special about the car's rumble that just soothes me to sleep.

When I woke up, we were at the hiking spot, and Mom and Dad suited up, which took way too long.  I got to ride in my favorite position on Mom's tummy in the Ergo, or is my favorite position on Dad's shoulder?  Either way, I got to ride in my favorite place.  Dad also taught me a new game of spinning circles.  This dizzy feeling is going to have to be explored thoroughly.

All in all it was a really good day.  I can't wait for next year's Mother's Day, or should we call it Dustin's Day?

A stroll (er) in the park

Today was a glorious, beautiful, sunny Saturday! Grandpa Goetsch is in town, and we spent the day at the Portland Saturday Market.  Dustin decided to take the helm behind the stroller. A little bit of background information is important here.  Fact One: Dustin loves to walk, but still strongly prefers holding on to something while he's walking.  Fact Two: Dustin has recently started to be more clingy to his mama, showing a preference for that special lady over pretty much anybody else.  At the park today, Dustin's love of walking surpassed his love for being held by his mama!  His little fists held tight to the stroller bars, as he pushed and toddled along behind the stroller.  When I picked him up, he cried and cried, until I set him back down, so he could grasp the stroller, and walk along some more. He continued on for over a half hour, at which point we set him in the stroller seat, and he fell promptly to sleep.

Impromptu Photo Shoot

We found this tree while looking at houses on our bikes, and we thought it was too good to pass up. So, we stopped for our first Dustin photo shoot. Hope you enjoy.

Camping at Willapa Bay

Jessica planned a field trip with her class to Willapa Bay, and needed to do a recognizance mission to make sure she knew where everything was. That was all Dustin and I needed to hear, and we quickly started packing up the tent and sleeping bags. We didn't even care that the weather was projecting rain, and we even convince Caitlin and Nate to join us.

When we got to our camp site, we found a huge puddle right in the middle of the site. Dustin suggested building a raft to pitch our tent on, but we figured that it would be easier to move campsites. We found a great site with lots of moss that Dustin loved crawling on.

This was also the first trip that I put Dustin on my shoulders as we walked towards the beach. He just loved being up there with large smiles, bouncing up and down, and pounding on dad's head. I'm really glad he likes being carried that way, because he is getting quite heavy to carry in our arms.

Throw it again, Dad!

Well I finally got myself to the local juggling club, which meant that I had my clubs floating around. Dustin being the explore every thing guy, immediately jumped at the opportunity to stick something new in his mouth. Jessica wasn't too happy about that, but what can you do?

Just before leaving, I thought that I would show Dustin what juggling was. He absolutely loved it. Every time a club was thrown in the air he would laugh and laugh. I did drop a couple of times (like a good juggler should), but he didn't like that very much. He just stared at me until I did a kick up and then he laughed and laughed.

I definitely think we have a future juggler on our hands. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we will form a father and son duo. A Dad's dream come true.

The Magic Mirror Experiments

Mom would always take me to this magical place where one of the walls had a magical portal to another dimension. I know this, because there is another Mom and Dad in there, and they have a kid of there own. I don't mind, because I know my parents love me here.

I always found it quite strange that the other-dimension Dad would only show up when my Dad showed up. I thought that was quite the coincidence, and so the scientist in me (thanks Mom) told me that I had to track down how this magical portal worked and how to get to the other side. I carefully planned out many experiments, which I kept hidden from the other dimension. Luckily Mom provided the perfect cover with her Elimination Communication. She just loves to see me pee, but that is a different story.

So, this has been going on for a couple of months now, and I have made the biggest breakthrough. That portal is not really a portal. Those people in the wall are us. That's right, us! Now I can see what Daddy is doing behind me without turning around, and that's how I found out he was so proud of me when I figured it out. He laughed and laughed for hours. Mom was pretty excited too.

Now what else can I figure out?