Blog stew

So lots-o-stuff on the agenda tonight, we have been up to quite a bit around here. First off, and most exciting, we have found a house! Hooray! Here's the kiddo in what (as of the 25th) should be our new kitchen.

We put in our offer about a week ago, and after some back and forth they accepted! We have already taken care of the inspection, and thanks to it being a pretty new home (2003) things are all a go. The biggest issue with the place is that it will need to be entirely re-carpeted. It was a foreclosure, thanks economy, and the previous tenants seem to have taken the news hard. At least I hope that is when they decided to let the animals start using the floor as their own personal toilet. If they lived like that before, then ewww. So we are getting all new carpets for the place. So assuming everything goes to plan and our tentative schedule sticks we will close on the 25th and finish moving in by early September. Yay!

In other news, the kiddo has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Finally. He should have been in a month ago, but since moving back here to Vancouver and having to set up and appointment with a new physician- it just took a little bit longer than one would have hoped. Funny thing is this new doctor is in fact an old doctor, he was BL's pediatrician when he was a little boy. Pretty full circle. Hopefully everything goes well, and we will see just how big our boy is now.

On a random note, our child now says squirrel. It sounds more like qwirl, but this has to be the most random word he has learned so far. It's crazy how he picks up words and sounds now. Tonight in the bath tub I was singing him a silly song and he started trying to sing it back to me, in his own words of course, but the tune was there. He has also gotten a lot better, and consistent, and pointing out his body parts and following through with basic commands. He's becoming quite precocious.

To finish it all off, some more water play photos. Nana and Grandpa got him a water table toy for him to play with over at their house. Little do they know that he would rather play with the hose.

Wordless Wednesday: Exactly two years ago today...

*Ha, you thought I had news- didn't you?Nope, sorry, this was old news

Diez y seis

Today my little bug is sixteen months old, and he is a little boy. There still lingers the look of a baby, but even that is starting to fade. He runs and plays like a little boy, he certainly squeals like one. He understands how to play basic games, he likes to race after a ball to beat you to it. I always let him win. He continues to be his own little independent self, sometimes to his and/or our detriment. He runs into everything now, sometimes at high speed. He loves to get in and out of chairs, he especially likes to get into the recliner and lean back like a big boy. He also can...

-Point to his toes, nose, hair, mouth and bellybutton. Sometimes his mouth.

-Say hi, bye, daddy, doggy, birdie, tweet, all done, more, car, truck, chair, water(wa wa), juice, blue, yellow, backpack (thanks Dora), Rusty (the dog's name), shoes, and Pa

-Dance to music, and by dance I mean bounce up and down. Sometimes a little stomping around.

Unfortunately he can also be a little pill who asserts himself more and more frequently. He must be growing up, funny how that happens. Happy sixteen months big boy!

Relay for life

We took part in our local Relay for Life today, something that I have done before but of course this was the first time since BL's dad's diagnosis. It actually has been roughly a full year since his initial diagnosis. There have been some pretty rough points since then, some very rough points, it seems impossible that it has been such a short period of time since that first day when we found out.

It was important for us that the mister be involved in this. During so much of this, our own encounter with cancer, he has been too small and uninvolved to understand what has gone on. He is still too little to really understand it all, but one day I hope to be able to show him these pictures and tell him about how great a help he was to all of us during this frequently dark time.

He was his usual charming self, saying hi to all the people going bye and even mistakenly greeting an older gentleman as 'Pa'. He has started calling my dad this. He also really enjoyed becoming acquainted with our friend Kristen's dog Vito. MR loves dogs, and he especially loves dog kisses. He kept kneeling down to hug Vito and putting his face in front of the dog's, hoping for some licks.

I think we managed to kind of distract ourselves from the full weight of the event until the survivor's lap. As we watched this group come past our part of the track I scanned through the group, landing on the face of one young woman wearing a headscarf and obviously still deep in the throes of her own battle. Then we saw the little girl, not more than four, on her dad's shoulders wearing her survivor's shirt. Quite often in my father-in-law's journey he has reminded us of how fortunate he actually is, in comparison to some of his other companions in the chemo room. He sees mothers in there, and children. People who have not lived to see their own children grow, or perhaps even finished their own childhood. I had to take a deep breath and regain my composure before rejoining the rest of our group, silently thankful for my own healthy boy. And thankful too that though it has been only a year my father-in-law is cancer free, done with his last round of chemo, and only weeks away from his last surgery. It's an ongoing process, but atleast we are over this hill.

Wordless Wednesday: Bad driver

Fortunately he has fifteen more years to work out the details of proper driving dynamics

Best six dollars ever

So amidst all this house-stress I can atleast still look forward to all this when I come home from a long day-o-work. Six dollars on sale from chez Tar-gey, best use of that amount of money ever...

Zoo boo

We made it back to the zoo today, and by we I mean the MR, my mom and me. Poor BL has contracted the cold that mister just finished having, so he was in no shape for trotting around the Portland Zoo. This was doubly sad because they have a dinosaur exhibit running currently, our main reason for going, and BL had to miss out on the male bonding that apparently comes with large, scaly carnivores.

The fun thing about the zoo this time around was that MR definitely took in the animals, he was very aware that they were there and really enjoyed seeing things like the the sea lions and big, slow-moving fishies in their tanks.

The not so fun thing was the same concept but seen in different light, the kind if light that shines on big, scary animatronic dinosaurs that roar. MR was terrified of the dinos. This was both sad and humorous at the same time. Sad because the poor little bug had his legs clenched around me like a vise, and he kept looking around in fright even after we had walked out of the exhibit but could still hear the T-rex roar. The funny part, well perhaps not ha-ha, but it was really just cute and interesting to see my child express fear. We are so used to seeing him be fearless that it was strange to see this new emotion play out.

Fortunately there were plenty of non-roaring attractions around to ensure that MR had a generally good time. He was a very good boy and even got a couple of stuffed dinos out of the deal, so I guess they couldn't have been all that bad.

*P.S. Possible news on the homefront in the next two days, think good thoughts for us!