Superdad!

So Tuesday is my day to stay home with Anders, I also work a half day from home Tuesday.

Today he took a nice three hour nap in the morning which allowed me to get a bunch of work done. So when he started his afternoon nap I decided to take one too.

When I woke up Anders was still asleep so I decided to do a little more work. He woke up soon but over the baby monitor it sounded like he was entertaining himself so I decided to finish up what I was doing. After about 10 minutes he started crying so I went to investigate.

I found him sitting in the middle of this:

First of all I'm not sure how he could reach the fish food. Several times I seen him try to do pull-ups on the fish tank to try to reach a pacifier or something else he's thrown up on top of it but he doesn't have the arm strength required to lift himself up. At least I don't think he does.

Second I'm not sure how he unscrewed the cap. It's not hard to do but he's never shown much ability to open containers.

Anyway, the good news is I don't think he ate very much of the fish food. Although you can see from this picture that he did manage a sample or two.

He was very sorry.

When I asked him how it tasted he got all excited:

After I got him cleaned up and changed the sheets we went out in the back yard, he explored while I wrote a couple emails.

After about 10 minutes I heard a bonking sound which I ignored until Anders started crying. I turned around to see what was up. It turned out that he was bonking his head on the bottom of my car which he was completely underneath. Obviously I didn't have time to get the camera which is unfortunate because it would've been a good shot.

So that was our day together, now I'm going to go put him to bed.

Ok, so I have a problem.

For the last several years we have been going to a local flea market on Sunday mornings.  There is a variety of vendors there - antiques, food, records, bikes, plants, dollar store crap, etc.  The picture below is today's flea market haul.  

From left to right for those who are interested: a Dietz lantern (Will's newest interest), a North  America Amphibians field guide, a Tonka traxcavator (look it up), a VW bug (covered with lady bugs, obviously I picked that one out) a mini Tonka dump truck, a big Tonka dump truck, and a Great Northern Railroad fire extinguisher.   Oh and um, my problem...a 1963 Schwinn Hollywood bike.  I fell for this bike the moment I saw it and it was still there when we were done.  It is a one speed with a coaster brake and a pink and white paint job.   The seat is pink and white too.  It is really great.  I haven't had a bike with a coaster brake in I don't know how long and it took a little getting used to as I rode to a plant sale in our neighborhood this afternoon.  So my problem?  I really have a weakness for bikes - I now have this bike, a 1972 Schwinn Breeze, Will's old mountain bike, and my road bike, oh, plus half a tandem.  So 4.5 bikes.  Plus I'm pretty sure I can take full credit for the 2 bikes that Anders has.  Well, admitting it is a start, right? 

The garden picture for Carrie's challenge.  I just refilled the bird feeders yesterday and the Chickadees found the feeders really fast.  Unfortunately, the sparrows did too and they were the reason I got turned off filling the feeders in the first place.  I need to go buy some safflower - sparrows supposedly don't like safflower.  

The following pictures are from our weekend (last weekend) in Wisconsin at Bill and Kathie's place near Hayward.  

There was a fair amount of pinball playing.  Henry is fascinated by the monsters on Monster Bash.  He likes to have somebody downstairs with him when he plays, but especially for when Dracula shows up.  He also wanted to know which monster was my favorite, and wasn't very satisfied with my answer of Wolfman, but did like my answer that I liked Bride of Frankenstein (does she have a name?) because she has cool hair.  It seems that Anders might be interested as well.  

Anders had to deal with a life vest again.  The last time he wore one was in May and he really hated it.  It makes him hold his head up funny and if he tries to crawl, he kind of gets stuck.  It is pretty funny to watch. 

Anders and Clara went for a ride in the boat.  They both seemed to enjoy it.  Anders liked looking over the side of the boat at the wake the boat made.  In fact, he got quite pestered whenever Bill slowed down the boat.  

Today we went for another 5 mile run.  I went yesterday by myself and finished in 44:16, which was a pleasant surprise.  Today, the wind was in my face for the first half of the run and it was quite a chore to get to the turn around spot.  Anders, however, loved the wind.  He was screaming and squealing with joy at the top of his lungs.  It was funny and not something I have heard him do on a run before.  Despite being a pretty rough run, we got done in 48 minutes and some odd seconds.  

Squash Anyone?

For Carrie's recent challenge: some gardening pictures. 

I love growing squash, but it always takes over the yard.  If you look carefully, you will find 3 giant spaghetti squash hanging on the trellis.  

And only one Acorn squash as far as I can tell.  

And now some obligatory pictures of Anders.  We don't have any pictures of him sleeping since he was a wee babe.  I couldn't resist.  He was taking a late nap and I needed to get him up for dinner.  He loves this puppy and always rolls on his side and hugs it. 

On Tuesday I came home early so that Will could catch a plane.  I was desperately trying to get some reports done and turned in before the end of the day and Anders was particularly busy.  He wandered off and I took a few minutes to catch up on those reports. I decided I better check on him and discovered him half way up the stairs.  Here are some shots of him climbing the stairs the other night. 

Sometimes he has to rest.  

And today he got busy in the backyard.  He is especially fond of water.  

And then later, he was very quiet and we discovered him in his favorite corner of the living room.  This is where we keep the phone.  He seemed to have snuck over there.  

He is also starting to stand on his own a bit and lately has been wanting to feed himself with whatever utensil I am using.  He is actually quite good at getting the food to his mouth, that is when he isn't waving it around in triumph for getting it away from me.   There is a lot of food on the floor after meals these days.