Hanging Out

Scott was called away on an emergency (read bs) trip to New York again on Wednesday but before he left Chance and Daddy got a lot of bonding time in. It was reallycute. This time when Scott was home you could see that Chance really enjoyed his Daddy time. They hung out on the couch together and with their toys as per the previous post. Chance would practice the guitar every morning with Scott and they would exercise together at least once per day. Exercise is Scott lifting Chance up and down while Chance is hanging upside down and then doing curls with him while Chance rolls down Scott's arms and then gets rolled back up for a belly kissy. Chance loves the exercises. He laughs out loud every time. When Scott left this time Chance got really nervous about me getting out of sight. He seemed to really understand for the first time that Daddy was gone. It was sad. If I would walk out of sight he would cry it was a very nervous panic cry that he has never had before. He got much better each day. We need to come up with a better ritual for when Scott leaves to hopefully help Chance understand what is happening better. Also we are really working on the company to give him a set schedule so they can't just change it all the time. He was called out on 3 emergency trips in the last 3 1/2 weeks. Two of which were not really emergencies (see why I say bs). This makes it hard on me and as Chance begins to understand more it makes it hard on him too. These two pictures were take a couple days ago. In the first one Chance doesn't look comfortable but he sat there for a while and then he got his blanket and hung out a little longer.

Boys and Their Toys

Scott with his Blackberry and Chance with his Yatzee game.

Hanging Out

For the past couple days we have mostly been hanging out here at the house. Painting the bathroom next door and just spending time together. On Sunday, we got a baby sitter and Scott and I went to an Oscar party at the Prytania Theater. The Prytania Theatre is the only Single-Screen Movie Theatre in Louisiana. It is also the oldest operating theatre in New Orleans and was opened in 1915. It is the coolest place to experience a movie that I have ever been. It used to be a theater house with live plays that has been converted. There is a balcony at the back and boxes at the sides to sit in and a real old style lobby and box office. It is really a whole different movie experience. They showed the Oscars on the big screen, everyone clapped and cheered when there favorite would get nominated or win an award. Drinks and hoers derv's were included and there was trivia with prizes during the commercials. It was a lot of fun. When we got home Chance was asleep and the babysitter said he was very good and only cried for a minute after we left. It is sad to leave him when he cries and the older it gets the sadder it gets because he gets more words and more aware of what is happening, that we are leaving. In the morning he was ready for us to come get him out of his crib and he was a happy camper once again. I used to have all the Mr. Men and Little Miss books and I think I have told you before that when they were re-released I bought every single one for Chance even though he wasn't around yet. Well, the other day we were walking through Target and I saw Mr. Men shirts and had to get them. This is his Mr. Grumpy shirt, he wasn't particularly grumpy this day so the last picture is his most grumpy one.

Yumy Apples

I eat apple pretty often and usually I cut the apple up into slices for myself. I jsut like them better that way and I always offer Chance a slice. Even though he loves apple sauce he will never eat the apple slice. He usually chews it for a second and then spits it back out. The other day I took an apple and just took a bite without cutting it up. Chance became very interested in the apple then and reached out his hand in his 'I want that' gesture. So I handed him the apple. When I did he started eating it just like I had. He made little teeth marks in the skin but couldn't bite through it so I showed him to bit where I had already taken a bite, where the skin was broken and then when he figured that out he really started eating it. He ate that area almost down to the core and then handed it back to me and crawled away, he was all done.

Pillow Fort

Today Chance was sitting on the couch watching his new favorite cartoon , ok really it is his only favorite cartoon since he does not watch that much TV and the only other thing I know he likes is Elmo he is jsut mezmorized by Baby Einstein so I am not sure if that means he likes it or not. Chance had pulled the blanket that I leave on the couch all around him so I started piling pillows around him too. He thought that was funny and played peek-a-boo with me inside his pillow fort for a while. His new favorite cartoon is Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends it is a very cute little show that comes on Cartoon Network. Now I have to praise the Apple TV because it lets us watch what we want and nothing we don't and it is cheaper than cable. We can watch Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends without all the otehr crappy stuff that comes on before and after it not to mention the commercials. It makes me feel better about letting Chance watch one episode knowing that he or I won't get sucked into watching hours of television. When the episode is over it is over that is it another one doesn' start right after it so when it goes off I tell Chance that we are done watching TV for now and we go do something else. Usually in the morning we will watch Ellen because I like Ellen and then in the afternoon we will watch a Foster's then after Chance goes to bed I might watch a movie but that is it. I love not having the TV just running in the background all the time.

Picnic

Today the weather was just beautiful for a picnic. After Chance's nap we took a blanket and out lunch outside. Chance had some crackers and some peach sauce as well as some of my sandwich and some apple juice. He decided to skip the slice of cheese today. Chance really enjoyed being outside with the sun and the grass. Just the feeling of being outside makes it fun. We at our lunch and then just played around on the blanket for a while before I received a travel phone call and we had to go in the house. This was lots of fun though, I think we will do it again soon. I think my goal with the yard will be to make it so it is comfortable and safe to do things like have a picnic any time we want. The yard is uneven, there are dips in it that I would like to fix and we need to get underpinning on the house all the way around. I am not a good gardener at all but I have started doing gardening research and hopefully together Scott and I can figure it out. Another Chance developement is standing. I haven't been able to get a picture because I need to be there for support but when Scott gets home maybe we can get one to show you. I started yesterday with a new game "helicopter" I stood him up and told him if he could stand up on his own we would play helicopter. He stood there and I gradually took my hands away. He jsut kept standing so in a minute I picked him up and whirled him around the room like a helicopter. He loved it so after a big hug we did it again and again he stood up by himself. He did it again today and now he is doing it longer than yesterday. Today he stood for so long that he realized he was standing on his own and started to laugh at himself. He is so funny.

I loved this first picture because he looks so little and the next one where he is stuffing crackers in his mouth he looks cute with his feet crossed. And in the last one just look at that pose.

Working with Scott

Scott is coming home Wednesday, Yeah! When he was here last time we spent a lot of time working on the house as we will when he is home this time. Chance was wondering around outside when Scott was tearing up some of the walkway. The path where Scott is sitting in this picture used to be a little path between two houses and where Chance is used to be another house. The pathway was brick and at some point someone covered it with pavement. That is crazy because the brick might not be really even but it is so pretty. One of our pet projects is to rip up the pavement which is what Scott is doing here. It is pretty easy to get up it just takes time. Chance loves crawling around outside.

Jester Hat

We finally got him to wear the Jester hat that he got at Mardi Gras. Only long enough to take the picture though, then he pulled it right off. P.S. that's a sudo happy face

Playing with Flour

Today when looking for something to do around the house I thought of a suggestion I read in a magazine not to long ago. So, I put some flour in a pan and we had some fun in the kitchen. At first Chance did not want to touch the flour. He would poke at it with his little index finger and pull away but when I stuck my hand in and moved the flour around he dug in to. We got flour all over ourselves and all over the kitchen floor. Chance tried to drive it around the house but I told him we were going to confine our mess to the Kitchen and he seemed ok with that. He had fun watching the flour dust off of his jeans when he patted his hands against them. That was our main event today and if tomorrows weather is good I think we might jsut have a picnic in the backyard, besides isn't that the kind of thing backyards are for? That tongue reminded me of something, Chance's latest noise! He sticks his tongue in and out making a Blah. Blah, Blah noise. For the last few days pretty much any time his pacifier is out of his mouth he is making that noise and he thinks it is funny if you make the noise too.

HA HA

HA HA I now have the power HA HA!! My post today is about having to leave home EARLY to go to New York. It really sucks!!! But I gues emergencies ar emergencies right? Anyway, just dropping the blog to tell my lovely wife that I love her. ... The little monkey too.

cheers

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

This is a picture of Chance after he had stacked up all the new yogurts that we bought at the grocery store. He just sat down and and took all the yogurts out of the grocery bag and then stacked them up and when he was done he found his pacifier and then his sippy cup and sat back and admired his handy work.

Scott and Dan made Valentine's Day cards for me and Chance on Tuesday before Dan left. Dan went home to Montana to stay for a little bit so we are looking for a new tenant for our the other half of the duplex. We placed it with a listing agent though so it should be rented in no time. The cards were so nice and it was cute to think of two grown men making cards from construction paper all on their own.

Our Valentine's day was interupted withthe news that Scott has to leave for New York tomorrow but if he has to stay past Tuesday the company is going to fly me and Chance up to hang out with Scott. I'll keep you posted on all that.

Feeding Himself

Chance has been feeding himself finger foods for some time now but I have been reluctant to give him the spoon to try feeding himself for fear of the mess that I knew would come of it. But the other day I broke down and gave him the spoon and to my suprise he put it right in his mouth. Then he dipped it a few times in his fruit sauce and put it back in his mouth. the first night the spoon would go in upside down a bit but the second night he had it turned the right way and fed himself the whole second half of his yogurt. Now he can get it in the jar and to his mouth almost everytime. He is still messing but he has good control of the spoon. Better than I thought he would after jsut a few days of trying. Now he really likes to feed himself. After I feed him about half of whatever he is eating then he wants to feed himself the other half. Another thing I have noticed that he has started doing is prefering to hear the same book over again at bed time. I will read him a book and when I turn the last page and say 'the end' Chance turns the pages back to the first page and then holds the book open and looks at me as if to read it again. When I start reading again he turns the pages at the right time without me even having to ask him to turn them. He has been having a little trouble with night time over the last week and so we are trying to push his night time back by half an hour to 8:30 to see if that helps, we will let you know. Look at those two silly faces. P.S. thanks to Scott for handling the blog last night.

Hijacked the bloggie doo hickey thang

I have totally hijacked the bloggie doo hicky ma thingie, and I would just like to say "hi-de-ho" to everyone out there in the chance bloggyverse. I would also like to say, I liked the grammys, and chocolate milk, and hair tonic.

This is a picture of rayna blogging, I believe there may be a smaller picture of me on the screen inside the picture of rayna blogging, sort of a time warp trippy do wippy banana.

Rayna is an excellent blogger, she can blog your socks off. I am not but this has been a real barrel of monkeys. OOO EEE AAA Eeeee OOOh, I am going to go now and pick the lice off of my bretheren and fling poo.

cheerio

Scott

Peek-a-Boo

Chance has been playing with and under blankets more and more. He is really going to like forts when he gets older because even now he loves to sit under a blanket. After sitting under it for a while he will start to play peek-a-boo with whoever is available. He is so cute when he does this because at first he will cover his whole head up then uncover it but then he will only cover up his face and eventually he will barely be bringing it up to his face at all but he still has the accomplished/I'm getting attention look on his face. He will also wrap himself all up in the blanket and roll around in it. Most of the time he gets out of the blanket on his own but sometimes he gets so tangled up we have to help him out a little but either way he is super cute.

Did I mention there were parades?

Scott was called out on major (Stupid) assignment and so he flew to Detroit Monday night. He will be back Wednesday. The most sucky part of this is that Tuesday is Mardi Gras and so Chance and did Mardi Gras alone again this year. We got up and since the parades today are the most popular plus everyone is out of work and school because Mardi Gras is a state holiday we decided to walk instead of drive to the parade route. The weather was great and the walk let us see all the sights of the French Quarter on Mardi Gras. We did not walk over to Bourbon so I didn't get too many amazing pictures of costumes but I did get a couple pictures of some Mardi Gras Indians who were setting up just a block from our house. They wear huge elaborate costumes with feathers and beads, they are very pretty. We only watched one parade today the Zulu parade. There are two big parades today but since Zulu was running so late and we had already way passed Chance's naptime We took off after the first one and headed back home. Half way home Chance fell asleep, he was so tired and very good through the who

le parade. He likes to watch the floats and the bands pass by he even caught a strand of beads at this one. He was scared at first but got over it quickly when he noticed there was a strand of beads on his arm. He got stuffed animals and even a covited Zulu Coconut. The throw to get when you go to the Zulu parade is one of their hand painted coconuts and one of the gentlemen on the floats handed it right to him. I thanked him, which you should always do if someone gives you a good throw and now we have a throw to keep for Chance. Another interesting thing happened while we were waiting for the parade to roll by: a window blow out of one of the buildings across the street from where we were standing. The building had huge plate glass windows and when the wind gushed by it jsut cracked and fell to the ground. No one was hurt but the police had to move everyone away and block off the area. It was exciting for a few moments. On te way back home we passed by this ingenious costume for kids and parents I took a couple pictures and had to show it off here. This might be Chance in a few years. First picture is Us waiting for the parade to pass. The second is Chance with beads on the way home. Third Chance in front of the house passed out. The rest of the pictures can be found in the same place as all the others.

Zulu Loot

These are just some pictures with Chance and his Zulu loot. I wanted to show you a picture of his coconut and me in the funny jester hat that a nice man gave to Chance but I could not get him to wear it long enough even to get a quick picture so I put it on myself. After we got home from the parade we just lazed around all day.

Chance is getting better at standing on his own. He still is not taking any steps on his own but now when you put him down he will stand there for a little bit before sitting down gently on his own. Also when he is cruising he lets go of his support more and more somtimes to grab things and sometimes to change supports, from the couch to the ottoman for instance. He is on his way to taking steps.

And More Parades

Have you noticed that Mardi Gras is a lot about parades? Well it is and for those of you who haven't come during Mardi Gras yet you should. It is a lot of fun, kids love it, adults love it and as long as you stay off of Bourbon Street you will love it too. It's all about the parades not about the drinking and debauchery besides you can be drunken and debaucherus any old time but when can you see these kinds of parades...Never. Except New Orelans at Mardi Gras. Moving on, Saturday evening which turned into night Mom, Kristy, Chance and I went to see Endymion. It was parading back on it's pre-Katrina route so we got to see it in a different spot this time. Endymion is one of the super Krewes which means it is big, long and has a lot of throws. Also most of the super krewes have at least one celebrity rider. This year Endymion's Grand Marshal was Kevin Costner. The Doobie Brothers and The Go-Gos also were in the parade. Even though he doesn't care or know who Kevin Costner is he did get some beads from him. He looked right at us and then tossed them down to us gently so as not to hit Chance. Now we have a green strand of beads that looks like all the others but were thrown by Kevin Costner. This parade went longer than we thought so we got home a little late for Chance but he was a real trouper. There was no way to get away from the beads though because when we would go back to the chair to sit with him the guys on the top layer of the float would still throw beads right to us. They just can't resist Chance's cuteness. We ended up with a bunch of stuffed animals and beads once again. Now we do have a full picture of Kevin Costner (check New Pictures Link) but the third picture here is actually better than that one which is hard to tell who he is, In this one even though he is missing the top of his head it still looks like him, weird.

Fun With Aunt Kristy

Chance really likes his Aunt Kristy. He recognized her right away and played with her and hung out with her on the couch. Kristy really likes him too, but of course what's not to like, right? Anyway these are a couple pictures of them hanging out on the couch. The first one Kristy was sitting on the couch minding her own business when Chance came along crawled up beside her and squ

ished in between her and the arm of the couch. Where he was quite content to stay for a while until he felt the need to hang upside down so he crawled on top of Kristy and flipped over (see second picture). He really is silly.

More Parades

My Mom and sister came up from Florida for the weekend to see parades and experience Mardi Gras. The parade passes by on the oposite side of the French Quarter from where we live and since it was a little chilly and night time we decided to drive up to Saint Charles Avenue to park and see the parades. There were four parades rolling, three regularly roll on this night and one that was rescheduled from yesterday do to the weather. The first parade, Oshun definately had the best floats and the last one, Muses had the best throws. Muses is an all girl Krewe, they are fun to see because they have unique throws. My Mom took some really good pictures of the floats in Oshun which you should check out at the New Pictures link. This first picture is of the side of Kristy's head, Scott, Chance, Dan and Rayna. I don't know why I am giving Scott the eye. The second one is Chance all bundled up. Scott, Dan and Chance went home half way through the second parade. Mom, Kristy and I stayed to watch the other two parades. Thanks to Scott for bravely putting Chance to bed. We came home with two big bags of beads and other throws, yeah!

Who Stole My Hot Pocket

The other day I brought my lunch into the living room to eat since Chance had eaten his yogurt early that day.

I left my hotpocket laying on my plate and my plate on top of the ottoman. I got caught up doing something I can't even remember what it was and when I turned around Chance had stolen my hot pocket. He picked it up off of my plate and took off with it. Then he sat down and ate about a quarter of my hot pocket. After he had finished eating what he wanted he came over and handed it back to me. I thanked him. He is so funny. He is really getting a personality. He jokes around by pretending to hand you something and then taking it away and smiling. He has also started socially laughing. Laughing when someone else laughs and not just when he sees something funny.