Melting snow

It has (briefly) warmed up in temperature here in our corner of the snowy world. This meant that all weekend the dirty snow was melting all around the city. This has led to a couple of new problems in our house.

One of our outside walls is leaking water into the basement. Nothing major, but a slow steady seeping wet mess leaking out through the bottom of the drywall. With the melting snow, this became a slightly larger seeping wet mess, but still nothing that a few towels couldn't mop up over the course of a night. We've added fixing this to the list of things to do when the sun finally shines again here.

The second minor problem came later in the evening. Brian and I were just cozying up to watch "Legend of the Seeker" on TV when we heard a large CRASH. Dear Gosh...I haven't jumped that high in a long time. Now, we live in a quiet neighborhood and we know our neighbors, and I don't expect any burglary action while sitting in the house. Yet I can definitely say that my adrenaline started pumping with this un-expected noise. We first check Tam...he's fine and didn't even wake. We check the basement...nothing had fallen and no walls had collapsed. We check the garage...again, nothing had fallen and all windows and doors are intact. I look outside and remember all the dripping icicles from earlier that day. Hmmm...We come to the conclusion that snow or ice must have slipped off the roof and hit the side of the house which caused the commotion. I then ask Brian to go out and check the perimeter (he being the big burly man of the house). We then discover that not only had ice fallen from the roof, but it had dislodged a power line running from our house to the pole across the street. Nothing was disconnected, but the power line was hanging dangerously low so that people or cars couldn't pass beneath it. We concluded that it must be our Internet/cable line based on what boxes it was running from and to. Now who to call about this? Not AT&T who owns the wire since they aren't taking calls this late. I finally just called the electric company since I knew they had an emergency line. An hour later, a gentleman arrived heaved up the line, and temporarily attached it to the house.

Sheesh. It is always something to keep you on your toes.

monkey, monkey, monkey

I really love watching Tam grow up a little bit each day. The world is still such a new, cool, and awesome place to him. He is also certainly developing his own personality complete with likes and dislikes. Currently, he is NOT a fan of meat unless it is pureed beyond recognition. He'll put a cut piece of chicken or beef into his mouth, chew a few times, then slowly stick out his tongue while pushing the masticated bits out and down his chin. Yuck. The silliest thing is that if that pre-chewed bit falls all the way back into his bowl, he will proceed to pick it up and try a taste of it again (as if it has changed in those few seconds). Well, at least he is still eating tons of fruits and veggies.

Lately, one of Tam's favorite thing is to roll around on the couch. Don't worry; this is supervised and he hasn't fallen on his head yet. He likes to sprawl all over the couch, collapsing on one of us or on a pile of blankets. These actions elicit many squeals of delight and infectious laughter. Such a happy, silly boy!

Wordless Wednesday

Last Week - January 2010

Toothbrushes

I'm glad our little booger has finally gotten some teeth. It seemed like forever before the first one made its appearance in November. Now he's got at least 6 in there, and probably a few more in the back. I'm just not the type of mom that wants to get her finger gnawed off as she trying to feel how many teeth her kiddo-bean has. Note: Tam has zero tolerance of fingers in his mouth and lets you know this.

According to all the wise advice from the baby-books and being good parents, we are supposed to start brushing his new pearly whites. The suggestions for tools for this range from your finger to a moist wash cloth to a baby toothbrush. Hmmmm....were any of these writers REALLY parents? We've already knocked off the "use your digit" from the list because of the previously mentioned biting down reflex our son has. I tried exactly once to use a wash cloth. Too much cloth and too little of a mouth. Additionally, kiddo-bean bit down and refused to let go. No wash cloth...check. Third try was the "baby toothbrush", just like the adult version but smaller. Tam's first reaction was to snatch the brush and proceed to run it across his head like a comb. Good job Tam-butt. You recognized that it was a brush and tried to implement it like you do the hair-brush. I laughed by butt off at this sight. I tried again and succeeded in holding onto the toothbrush, getting it into his mouth, and moving it slightly before his ol' chompers clamped down.

This calls for more innovation or bribery.

I went with bribery. Brian and I use the "spin-brush", which is an electronic brush with changeable heads for sanitation. I got Tam his own little head, turned the brush on, and came at him. He was fascinated. Not only did he open his mouth up willingly, but he thought it was so cool that he actually LET me brush his teeth. The only slight problem I ran into was his tongue getting in the way occasionally. It probably helped that I let him play with the brush after we were done too.

Our kid...the gadget nut.

Tam gets a haircut

As I recall, Tam came into this world with a full head of spikey dark hair. Everyone warned us that the hair would fall out eventually. It didn't. And we have tons of photos of his crazy hair sticking straight up throughout his first year of life. Tam got his first haircut at about 4 months. I've hacked at it with a pair of scissors at least twice since then with various success. Tam's hair has lighten over the past months and finally doesn't stick up as much.

Well, this weekend I mentioned to Brian that Tam's hair was looking ragged again, kinda like a mullet (yuck). Brian's reply was that we should just get one of those clippers hooked up to a vacuum like we saw in the movie Wayne's World. This would be in reference to the SuckCut: "Just a trim man; don't buzz me."..."Well, it certainly does suck!" Snicker, snicker. Sorry, a bit of a nod to a great movie that I think everyone should watch at least 12 times. Somehow, with Tam's love-hate relationship with the vacuum, I thought this would be a bad idea.

Instead, I went out and bought a cheap pair of electric hair clippers and was determined to have at Tam's melon hair. I strapped him in the high chair, turned on Sponge Bob Squarepants, and gave him a bunch of cheerios as a bribe. Buzz, buzz, buzz...and no blood. I don't think I did too badly. Brian even said I did a good job, but I'm not allowed to have at him yet.

After looking at the hair trim and its slight unevenness, I was reminded of a fellow blogger's recollections of her first hair cutting experience. She noted that not only will a bad hair cut eventually grow out, but that someone who still poops in his pants isn't going to notice (or care) if his hair isn't fabulous all the time!

Laugh until you pee...

Clean jokes from the baby board I puruse...

1) A man and his wife were driving down the road and not talkign to eachother much at all as they had just had a fight. They drive past a farm and out in the pen are a bunch of pigs. The husband, being snarky, gestures out the window and he says "Those some of your family members?". The wife doesn't skip a beat and syas "Yup, In-Laws"

2) Husband: How about a little sex tonight?

Wife: NO, I have a headache.

Husband: Final answer?

Wife: Yes, final answer

Husband: I'd like to phone a friend.

3) A young brunette goes into the doctor's office and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it."Impossible," says the doctor. "Show me."She takes her finger and pushes her elbow and screams in agony. She pushes her knee and screams, pushes her ankle and screams and so it goes on. The doctor says, "You're not really a brunette are you? She says "No, I'm really a blonde".

"I thought so," he says."Your finger is broken."

4) Bush's position on Roe vs Wade: Eh, he didn't care how ppl got out of New Orleans.