Special Delivery

What's better than playing with a cardboard box?

Q is for...

Alison was putting together an alphabet train puzzle the other day. When she got to the letter Q, she got excited and exclaimed, "I know! Q is for cucumber!" It's hard to argue with that.



Eli has sprouted tooth number 3, and it appears that 4, 5 and 6 are close behind.



Grandma B and Patty came to visit this weekend, but got a hotel room so the kids could swim. It was Eli's first time in a pool, and he seemed to really enjoy it.



Alison had fun as always and wanted to jump in over and over again. After swimming, we did a little shopping then went home for a nap. We finally got organized again by dinner time, met at Ruby Tuesdays, then went bowling.



Tonight we're batting down the hatches and getting ready for another winter blast. Today's high was around 36, tomorrow is -9 with lots of wind and a little snow. Just another day in North Dakota!

Twooth!

Good grief time goes fast. Jennifer's been working extra hours and Alison has taken a real liking to playing on the computer, so my blog time has been very minimal.

I spent a little time with Alison playing in the snow in the front yard a while back. It's nice to be in the yard, but it will be even better when summer gets here and I can get grass planted. We built the beginnings of an igloo. The snow wouldn't stick together well enough for a snowman, but there was a pretty thick crust that made good walls. Once it was "done", we knocked it over and went inside for hot cocoa.






While Jennifer was working on Saturday, I spent the afternoon teaching the kids the finer points of rooting for the Packers. I got Eli into his Favre jersey and got out to the TV just in time to see the score change to 14-0. I tried to stifle my response - I think it came out something like "What the hmbhpf...!" Alison came in just in time to see the first drive for a touchdown, and spent the rest of the game yelling "da da, da da da da! Go Pack Go!" See? Told you she was smart. :)

Eli spent the weekend working on tooth number two, and it finally erupted on Sunday. He's now got his two bottom front teeth in, and is much happier now that they are out.

How do you like them apples?

Eli nearly slept through the entire night last night. He had shots yesterday for his 6 month checkup, so he was pretty wiped out, but it's a promising sign.

We were met with an incredible sunrise this morning. I had to run out into the snow and snap a few pictures. Pajamas and Sorel boots. I'm glad nobody was taking pictures of me.

After the sunrise, we fed Eli apple puree for the first time. We used a jar of Grandma Janes's applesauce and ran it through the Magic Bullet to make a very smooth puree. Eli loved it.

New, new, new

We're starting off the New Year with all kinds of new stuff. Alison and Eli started their new daycare today, and by all accounts it went really well. Eli also sprouted a new tooth today. He was pretty cranky last night, and by the time I picked him up this afternoon his bottom tooth had erupted.

In addition to a tooth, Eli is much more mobile. He's not crawling yet, but he's become a proficient roller. He was playing on the floor in his room on New Year's Eve while we were cleaning. I checked on him and he was in the middle of the room and after a minute or so, managed to get himself under his crib. He has now gone from the middle of the bedroom where his toys are at to the stack of bills next to the desk in the amount of time that it took to write this paragraph.


After we got home Alison saw that we had a new movie. She was very excited to watch "Rat tat toody". So her French needs a little work. We watched "Ratatouille" while having pizza for dinner.

Eli had a bath after dinner and shortly after it started, Alison came running up to me and screamed "Daddy! Daddy! I turned Eli into a porkypine!" She managed to get control of the hairbrush and give her brother a lovely updo.

If you'll note, back on December 9th I had an idea for "Dirty Jobs". Well, as luck would have it, we're watching last night and what do we see but Mike Rowe changing diapers at a daycare. I started to talk to Jennifer about something while it was on, and Alison looked straight at me and said, "Daddy, watch the show. We're learning about babies." If you're interested, look for the episode called "Spray Insulation Technician".

Just after that was on, I turned off the TV and started to have a talk with Alison about her first day at her new daycare. I had Eli on my lap during the conversation, and everytime Alison would talk Eli would start to laugh. It got very funny when she started dropping markers on the floor. See for yourself: