Happy 11 months!

It's hard to believe, but I am 11 months old today! In just one more month, I will no longer be considered a baby and I will get to sit facing forward in the car... yeah! I am excited about that. We had beautiful weather last week so we spent a lot of time outside. I love my Radio Flyer wagon and rock back and forth to tell Mommy and Daddy to get moving. They just laugh at me when I do this.

Daddy was very excited to shoot his first turkey during the spring turkey hunt. He is new to hunting turkeys (this was his third season) and he must have finally found the right place to be. Mommy had to take some pictures of the thing. It was 21 1/2 lb. and it had a "trophy" beard according to Daddy (fish-tales!) Daddy wanted to wake me up to show me, but Mommy said I would be traumatized for life if I had to look at that thing. This is the picture of Tom the Turkey. He is now in our freezer and is awaiting a grand cookout.

Other than turkey hunting and wagon rides, it has been a fairly low-key few weeks. Daddy surprises me with new toys every so often. Supposedly, the "Go Zebra, Go" was a X-mas gift from Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jamie. Little did I know that my parents hoard my gifts and surprise me when they think I am getting bored with my other toys. I am still a little small for this, but I like the snorting and galloping sounds it makes. I am working on my balance and I think I need longer legs!

Mommy tried to take a picture of my four front teeth. They are officially through the gums (Amen), but as you can see, I don't like her fingers in my mouth. Just not going to allow it!

OK, if you tickle me, I might show you my one lonely one on the bottom, but I still am keeping the top ones covered!

Brushing my sharp teeth

Now that I am 11 months old, here are my latest new tricks. I am facinated by balls (no dirty thoughts) I love to put the ball in the ball popper, ball in the basketball hoop, ball in the dragon... you get the picture. Mommy and Daddy are starting to wonder if I am a lefty since I almost always use that hand for these things. Mommy is very proud of my hand/eye coordination!

Here I am shooting hoops. Of course my Mom has to find a toy that not only shotos baskets but teaches me the alphabet (those Kindergarten teachers!!!) To see me in action, click on the video clip below.

I finally figured out why this toy was fun. The lights blink and it makes music and I can do this over and over and over and over and I still think it's great!

My favorite game is peek a boo. We have played this game plenty of times, but lately I think it is hysterical. I play peek a boo with just about anyone and everything. Here I am playing with the monkey on my shower curtain. I started to get a little "crabby" (see my towel for clarification) because I have been stuck inside with rainy weather. It's time to bring back the nice, warm days again.

Grass Fire and Easter Grass

Great-Grandma made me this little sweater outfit that was too big until now. Mommy decided this was probably one of the last times I could wear it, before the warm weather hits. I am such a "ham" when the camera comes out now. Here are some photos of me in my little Swedish outfit.

The Grass Fire

I didn't think I would post another blog, but I decided to throw this in last minute. In the past week, we had an eventful one, starting with a grass fire across the road. We were on a "family walk" and the next thing you know, we see some idiots (Mommy gave me permission to use this word) attempting to burn raked up prairie grass. These people (they are not our neighbors but must be hired workers or possibly distant relatives, go figure!!!) started running back and forth grabbing shovels and buckets of water trying to put the fire out. Well, Daddy jumped into action and hooked up our garden hose and attempted to become a firefighter. Our neighbors also tried to help out, but the wind caused the fire to get quite big and a little scary. So the township fire dept. came and I was able to see lots of firefighters and fire-engines. It was exciting but also very STINKY! Luckily, the fire was contained and now we look out to a massive, black field, it kind of looks like a huge, blacktop parking lot!
Good job, Firefighters! The fire is finally out and it was time for me to go to bed.

On a brigher note (no pun intended), Mommy's college friend Rita, flew back to MN from Santa Monica, CA to visit family and friends. We decided to do a quick trip to the cities to see her and also to say "bye-bye" to Mommy's side of the family as they headed to Captiva, FL for vacation (sniff, sniff). Grandma gave me this silly duck for Easter that quacked and made me giggle and laugh. I can laugh on the spot anytime I hear this silly animal!

Grandma is so good at getting me hyped up before bed!

Here I am giving my duck a big kiss!

At Champs restaurant in Woodbury. I smiled and flirted with Rita the whole time we were there. I wish she lived closer to us!

When Mommy and I got home for the cities, we dyed eggs with Daddy that night. They gave me a little "tool kit" to create my own egg, but I decided I wanted to shove the entire hard boiled egg in my mouth instead. Surprisingly, I didn't choke on an egg and none of the eggs fell on the floor. We ended up painting a dozen of them. I still wonder what they taste like on the inside.

Easter Morning

On Easter morning, I woke up to a wonderful basket full of fun things! Mommy and Daddy gave me (oops, I mean the Easter Bunny) gave me a monkey towel for swim lessons this summer, sand/water toys, a Leap Frog wheel, and a flip-phone. I was more interested in the green, crunchy grass in my basket. I thought it was a little strange to touch, but even more interesting to taste! What I liked most about Easter was the ham and carrots that I ate, along with the banana cream pie (thanks Grammy Lois!) Mommy didn't love the diapers the food created, but I thought it was worth it. We are really disappointed that we didn't take a family picture on Easter (Mommy's scrapbook page just won't be the same now!)

Discovering the weird green stuff. I would rather play with the grass then my new toys, go figure! Wow! Look at my wild hair!

I am not really loving the taste of this. I would rather eat peas and green beans!

Happy Easter!

Doctor Visits and Tidbits

Two weeks ago, right after Mommy and Daddy got back from Cozumel, I decided that I owed them a "pay back" for them leaving me, so I developed a viral infection. It lasted a good 4-5 days and my parents scrambled to find sitters for me so they could be at work. Thanks to auntie Judie, I was able to hang out with her and go for some walks in the stroller. Mommy didn't think I was acting sick at all, besides the fact that my temp. hovered around 102! She even caught me pulling myself up on my toy shelf, which is my latest trick. I grunt and groan and eventually, I can pull myself up if I really work at it!

I didn' t know that Mommy was watching me. "Grrrrr" I said... I wanted my music cube!

Almost there

Nothing to see here! Besides my drooly face (still cutting 5 teeth by the way)

Some of my other new tricks, besides pulling myself up, is that I play pat-a-cake with Mommy, I can stand for a few seconds unassisted, and I am now army crawling on my belly. I decided that crawling on all fours is only for backwards motion and to stress my Mommy out, I have decided to army crawl. It is almost a must for me to wear long sleeves to avoid rug burn. Here is a short clip of me playing pat-a-cake with Mommy and Daddy.

Last week, I had my 10 month appointment, since Daddy "forgot" to take me on his day off when I was 9 months old. So, I went with Mommy (she never forgets) and here are my stats: Weight= 19.07 lb, Height = 2' 3" and head circumference= 17.48 inches. All in all, I am in the 25% in all of these areas. Quite proportionate I might add! I don't think there is much hope for me to be a basketball player. I liked this doctor's appointment because I didn't need any shots, although in two more months, for my ONE YEAR (YIKES!) I will need quite a few of them.

Before my haircut

To prepare for my pictures this past weekend, Mommy asked Daddy to take me to get my 2nd haircut. She thought it would be "OK" to not do the salon this time, so Daddy and I set out to Sports Clips. UNFORTUNATELY, they were closed, so Daddy took me to Great Clips. Mommy wasn't too happy because she says that I look a lot like Larry from the movie "Dumb and Dumber." They cut my bangs straight across instead of "fringing them." I guess you can tell the difference. To make up for it, she is putting "product" in my hair and will probably insist that Daddy doesn't take me anywhere without her from now on.

After my haircut (Mommy fixed my bangs so that you wouldn't see the full affect)

HELMET NEWS: I have GREAT news to share about my helmet. I saw Mike last week and he said my head is symmetrical and that we could decide whether or not to discontinue it. Since I have only worn it for one month, we decided to continue with the helmet during naps and bedtime only. Mike was very happy and surprised to see how quickly my head re-shaped itself. Mommy still thinks it's a little flatter in the back, but a big improvement overall. We are going to go back in two weeks and see if all looks well still. If so, we will stop with the helmet and I can save this for head protection as I am learning to walk (ha!)

Yes, I finally fit into my Chucks. Thanks Uncle Jimmy! Sorry about the sideways picture.

Happy Easter! Since it is a little hard to keep up with the blog on a weekly basis, I am putting in my adorable pictures that were taken this weekend. I went to have pictures taken at the portrait studio because they advertised a live bunny. We thought this would be fun, so I got all dressed up in my Easter outfit for the occasion. I did a great job, until they introduced the cute little bunny. I pulled on its ears, tipped the bunny out of the basket (luckily it didn't escape), and nearly squashed it because I was squeezing its fur so hard. I guess they aren't as hardy as our Golden Retriever, Liberty. The lady decided our portrait session was done about this time, so luckily I was in good spirits before this mess. Mommy and Daddy were a little embarassed about the bunny situation, but the lady seemed to understand "a little." Here are the pictures from my big photo shoot! Happy Easter! This is before the big spill
I'm such a handsome man. Don't I look like a CEO?!?!
Mommy and Daddy's favorite picture!