Summer in March

We had some unseasonably warm weather last week, which permitted a variety of activities otherwise not usually undertaken during this time of year.  Beginning with the St. Patty's Day Parade through the city of Syracuse. The parade and the weather certainly "brought out Syracuse's finest," a notable reflection from Matt. It's safe to say that in the future we will not mind if it is too cold to sit this one out....

A rather underwhelming experience overall, as portrayed nicely by the look on Preston's face.

The playground, however, was a success. We are fortunate to have this sweet little park about a mile down the road. Matt frequents it often during the actual summer months for some pick-up basketball, and I think Preston and I will be hanging out there a bit this year as well. They have a pretty nice little playground with slides and swings, and in general it seems to be a low-traffic area for gang-bangers and drug dealers, a rare feature of an inner-city park.  

"That."

Preston took advantage of wearing his Air Jordan's to challenge his dad to a little 1 on 1...

A comparison

March 1, 2011

March 7, 2012







Fun with a Fork

Several months ago I tried handing Preston the spoon to feed himself. I quickly realized what a bad idea that was, and any inkling I had to promote his independence was trumped by my need to maintain a relatively spatter-free eating area. In the past few weeks he has made a few unsuccessful attempts to gain possession of whatever utensil I might be using, but I have been steadfastly committed to minimizing any baby-induced food disasters. It occurred to me tonight, as Preston was ripping the fork out of my hand, that using a utensil to feed himself some finger food would probably not create any more of a mess than it already does, (which on the grand scale I think is pretty minimal). So, besides a few grapes and pieces of scrambled egg being flung in various directions (which was a fun new experience for the dog), the experience was quite tidy. And he didn't poke his eye out, which was my other concern. By far the best part was his reaction to being allowed to hold the fork. He gives a similar response whenever he gets his hands on anything he thinks is contraband, and it's quite entertaining:

 

1, 2, 3 teeth

Preston's teeth are finally coming in. One, after another, after another. #2 appeared last week, Matt caught the first glimpse while playing around with Preston at the grocery store. And #3 just popped out this week. So he now has 1 on top, 2 on the bottom, and another 2 ready to break through on the bottom at any moment. A huge accomplishment really.
In far more exciting news, Uncle Mike was in town last weekend, and he presented Preston with his first ME original artwork:

I have only been waiting about...10 years for a new work of ME art. Many a birthday, graduation, etc. has gone by... if I had only known I had to produce an offspring to get one I would have considered doing it earlier...
Uncle Mike had a good time hanging out with the P-man, as evidenced by these clips:

They also enjoyed watching some college basketball together. Preston was sad to learn Uncle Mike is no longer a UK fan....

Fortunately, Uncle Mike is still a pretty cool guy, so he was forgiven.

Preston is already busy practicing for his future as a Kentucky center:

Go Big Blue!!!

In other news...(this post has been in the works all week, forgive its lengthiness...)
Preston had his 12 month physical today. 2 months late, but who's counting. Per Dr. O'Malley, "he's still plotting his own course," somewhere above the 95th percentile. He weighed in at 29lbs, and is 33.5 inches long. He took all 4 immunizations like a champ, but lets just say I was less than satisfied with the nurse's injection technique. In my best effort to NOT be that obnoxious, know-it-all, hyper-critical nurse-for-a-mom mom, I didn't say anything (it would have been too late anyway). But I think next time I will have to specify which nurse I allow to stick a needle in my child. That's not too obnoxious, right?

Drunk Sailor

Here are a few videos of the Pman and his quest to master upright mobility:
(Warning: video #1 captures more than 3 minutes of this venture from last night, vs video #2 in which I purposefully captured only a brief moment of walking ventures today.)
A few entertaining notables:
1. "The Surfer." The initial pose upon pushing up from the floor: bent-knees, wide-legged stance, and arms out to the side.
2. "The Darth Vader." The progressive increase in respirations, and volume of said respirations. (Walking is tough work!)


                                    

Also, please forgive the outfit in video #2, this was Grandma E's attire selection from this morning... (not that we aren't eternally grateful for the free childcare.)