Oдеяло Закончен!

It's all done!  I actually finished it a week and a half ago, but I never got around to taking pictures of it until tonight.  I had a lot of fun making this blanket, and now that I know I can do it. . . who knows? Maybe there will be another in the works sometime soon.

Gabe gave it the snuggle test, and I think it approved.  Here he is trying to get into his crib just so he can snuggle with his new blankie.

My Chick-a-buns

People in Missouri, particularly the older crowd, have some funny pet names for babies. Examples are "pun-kin" or "sweet-ums", and I discovered a new personal favorite at the library this morning when I took Gabe with me to return a movie.  The librarian called him "chick-a-buns." It just kind of grew on me.  Chick-a-buns.  It sounds like it could be a cutesy, colorful children's book.  Maybe I should just copyright the name right now in case I get ambitious in the future.  Anyway. . . from here on out, just because I like the name, we can refer to Gabe as Chick-a-buns.

 Here are some pictures of the chick-a-buns at the park on Friday.  It was Wellness day, which meant that there were no classes.  A lot of people left town for the long weekend, but a few of those who stayed (including Phil) went to the park to play ultimate frisbee.  Chick-a-buns and I went too.

Saturday, while I was lying in bed, sick, Phil and Chick-a-buns had a great time watching ESPN together.  I got up to get a drink of water and saw this: a perfectly content Chick-a-buns just sitting there, actually watching the TV.  He stayed like that for at least half-an-hour!

Today, I decided to finally try some gel in the Chick-a-buns' hair.  He certainly has enough of it.  Turns out, he has too much curl in it to hold any shape for any conceivable amount of time.

After the gel-party, I started to fill up some bottles of water for our budding food storage, and gave Chick-a-buns a pear to keep him busy.  And, boy it did. . .

Below is the Chick-a-buns playing catch with the pear.

Putting the pear in the dishwasher.

Trying it out on his foot.

And trying it without pants.

The pear kept him entertained for awhile, but eventually he got tired of it.  And then, just plain tired.  So Chick-a-buns and I went down for a little nap. (Watch out - no make-up, or shower :))

I hope you don't mind all the pictures of Chick-a-buns.  I sure don't.

Toys Just Aren't Enough

Here is Gabe with his toys.  Everyday (almost), while Phil is at school (because he would probably moan seeing the huge mess we make), Gabe and I dump out his toy box in the middle of the room.  Yes, this pink diaper box is his toy box, and it works beautifully.

Despite the fun-ness of the toys, however, unless it's a ball of some sort, Gabe resorts to playing with other things that tickle his fancy.  Kitchen items are always a big hit.

And today, Gabe discovered something else that he likes to play with/eat: laptop keys.  Yes, you heard/read me right. Laptop keys.  Phil and I looked over at him standing up to the couch.  And he was just a-chewing away.  I couldn't remember giving him anything to eat, so I stuck my finger into his mouth, rather carefully mind you, to avoid the fangs, and drew out this:

Quickly, Phil and I looked down at his laptop, and sure enough, the 0 was missing! Oh boy, nothing is out of his reach!

Immortality

You may all be thinking that you are about to read a post about the immortality and the eternal life of man, and while a discussion on 2 Nephi or Alma or even Moses would produce some great ponderments, the immortality I'm about to write about is of a different kind: cell reproduction.

I just finished a book, at the suggestion of my friend Nicole, who recently graduated in English Teaching, which means she really knows her stuff when she recommends a book. This book is called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  Very interesting biography of the woman whose cells were the first to be reproduced indefinitely. These cells were used in laboratories all over the world to find the cure for polio, to test the effects of space travel on humans, and to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy on cancer patients.  This book explores the woman whose cells were stolen from her and the effects that this knowledge had on her descendents.  Makes for an interesting discussion on the rights of patients vs. the rights of doctors/researchers.

Solitaire

Who says you can't play ball by yourself? Gabe does it almost everyday in the kitchen :)

Bubble Buddies

Gabe started his Bubble Buddies swim class at the Aquatic Center today.  I signed us up with his two friends, Levi and Austin, and their moms.  Other than the water being a lot cooler than the pool at Grandma and Grandpa Ross', he really had a lot of fun. 

 The three of them are the only ones in the class, so we have the entire pool to ourselves.  We float them around on these large, flat, square floaties and let them kick and get used to the buoyancy.  The whole time, Gabe just lay there drinking the water that had pooled in the middle of the floatie.  He also tried to crawl around on top of it.

We floated them on their backs and had them play with rings and balls, and we even dunked them, which, remarkably, they didn't hate.  Here's Gabe pictured with Levi.

Wrist Warmer

Yep. I made this. Only one, though, because it took too much patience and diligent counting. So, I'll always have to keep the other hand/wrist in my pocket to keep it warm.

This next picture is a heart warmer.  It's Gabe with his sponge.  He loves this old, worn-out, dingy, dirty sponge.  Every morning, he crawls into the bathroom, pulls himself up to the tub to grab the sponge, and sticks it in his mouth.  First he sucks it dry.  Completely.  He gets every last drop. Then off he goes crawling and exploring, all the while holding the sponge in his mouth.