Goin' To Get Deedle The Movie

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Deedle Arrives

Yesterday we drove up to Alexandria, LA about a four hour drive where we got a hotel room. We drove on a lot of back roads through really pretty scenery. It was a long ride for Chance, it was his first long car ride without a pacifier (more on that later) but after we got there he had a wonderful time exploring the hotel room. We went swimming in the hotels pool. Chance had a good time wondering around the outside of the pool with Scott and then climbing down the stairs and jumping in with me. This morning we packed up and drove the extra 9 miles to pick up Deedle. He is sooooooo little. Rosco was about twice his size when we picked him up as a puppy. As we drove back to New Orleans Chance would periodically point at the cage in the seat beside him. We stopped a few times on the way back to let Chance and Deedle stretch their legs. Each time Chance would talk to him and pet Deedle, he was very cute. After we got home Chance followed Deedle around and he followed Chance around the house. Chance kept getting down on the floor to be at his level and talk to him. He did pretty good petting him except he tried to pick him up a couple times which is understandable since Scott and I would pick him up to move him around. They were very cute together. Deedle kept running between his legs and Chance kept talking to him and getting down on the floor to be close to him. Chance also walked around on his hands and feet to follow Deedle around. Now Chance is asleep and Deedle is sleeping on a pillow on the floor in the living room.
In regards to the pacifier a little over a week ago Chance chewed a whole through his pacifier. Then I gave him another and another which he chewed through as well. He is teething and so I bought him another set of two pacifiers and told him those were his last two. He chewed through the first one that day and the next one the next day that was four days ago. He has not had a pacifier since. The first night was a little rough he went down ok but when he woke in the middle of the night it was hard for him to go back to sleep. Since then it has been getting better and better. He has also started sucking on his toes which is funny. We had not intended to start breaking him from pacifiers just yet but we can't go out and buy new pacifiers everyday either. He is doing ok with it though and we have been praising him for doing such a good job.

Motorcycle

While outside Chance used his new climbing skills to climb up onto Scott's motorcycle. Scott helped him out and they sat on the motorcycle together while Chance pushed all the buttons. They had fun hanging out. We are still really working over the yard. We now have a compost pile and two bushes, a pepper plant, some rosemary and some Confederate Jasmine vines that we are going to weave through the fence when we get that up which we think is going to be next week. We are also getting some bananas on our banana plant, I can't wait to actually be able to pick them and eat them. I do not know how long it takes for bananas to ripen but I think we will be eating them soon. I am writing this on Scott's laptop because mine has died. Someone, I will not say who but he is in both of these pictures, dropped liquid onto my laptop and even though we have let it dry out it will still not turn on and

so it has passed on to the great laptop heaven in the sky. We are looking for cheap laptops to get a quick replacement. Also, today when I sat down to start this entry it began to rain and we had hail pretty good size too. It set off car alarms but we did not see any damage.

18 Month Checkup

Today was a big day for Chance, this morning we went to the park with our playgroup where Chane had a good time wondering around and playing on the equipment. He also got o pet a friendly little fluffy dog in preparation for picking up Deedle this weekend. After the park we came home where he took a quick nap and then we were off again to the Doctor's office for his 18 month check-up. He was very good for the whole visit but about halfway through he was ready to leave. He kept making a sad face ad pointing to the door. He was very good for the doctor. He practiced his fast walking skills, the Dr. said he will be running in no time. Everything checked out just fine. She said he was healthy and

he did not have to get any shots this time which was good news for Chance. He is 33 inches tall and weighs 28 lbs 2 oz. still tall for his age but he is well proportioned. We asked her about hm no having as many words as we hear he is supposed to have but she put any worries we may have had to rest. He showed her while we were there that he understands a lot and that he is communicating by pointing to his juice cup. He makes good eye contact and is very interested in what you are saying and doing and all these things mean it is nothing to worry about if he does not have quiet as many verbal words right now. That he will start talking soon enough and usually with late talkers once they start you can't make them stop so we will be in for a lot of fun when he does start really talking. Anyway all is well with Chance and he does not have to go back to the Doctor until he is 2 years old. This first picture is a little blurry but this was taken this morning while he was playing on the bed and it provides a sneak peek at our newly painted bedroom, we are still making some finishing touches before the unavailing and the second picture is of him at the playground today.

18 Months Old

Chance is 18 months old today. He is running around like crazy, he still is not at a full run but he is working on it and everyday he is getting faster. Scott came home on Friday night so we all just hung out today. We do not have many plans for this weekend but we have a full week this week, more on that later. Anyway, Chance is communicating a lot more as well instead of crying he is actually trying to tell us things. He will point or take our hand and walk us to something then point when we can not reach whatever he is after. His word count is still not very high but he is communicating a lot and he understands over half of everything that we say, he also follows direction well and he has surprising me recently by understanding things that we ask him to do that we never have asked him before just by understanding the individual words we are saying so we are not too worried about him not saying a lot of actual words, we will see what the Doctor says on Monday which is when we take him for his 18 month appointment. He is also drawing well scribbles and circles which seems to make a difference in this list. He became more picky with his foods a month or so ago but it is actually loosening up a bit now. He also self feeds with a spoon and a fork and as he learns to use a fork he is becoming better with it than he is with a spoon because things fall off of a spoon when you turn it and if yo poke it right the first time then things do not fall off of a fork. he brushes his teeth no problem and will take off his shirt with little to no help as well as his diaper and thank goodness there was nothing in it the time that happened. He climbs on all kinds of things as I have posted before but has yet to climb out of his crib which is a good thing. He has started taking toys apart and putting them together and all I have to say about that is, poor Mr. Potato Head. We are not worrying about the potty training yet but he might be showing signs I am not sure yet. I found this list here. Chance found the paint roller and began rolling it through the house, thankfully it was a new roller.

Most toddlers should be able to . . .


Draw a scribble well

Run well

Become picky about certain foods

Say at least 15 or 20 words

Feed self with spoon

Some toddlers will probably be able to . . .


String more words together to make phrases or puts together pairs of words

Talk more clearly

Brush teeth with help

Take off an article of clothing alone

Jump around

Some toddlers could possibly be able to . . .

Take apart toys and sometimes puts them back together

Show signs of potty training

Climb out of crib and high chair

Take off clothes

Draw circles

Understand two part directions

Ducks, Playground and a new Friend

This morning we spent around the house. Working on painting our bedroom. I have mentioned we are doing that right? If not

then after getting a good start on the yard we have started working on painting our bedroom which should be done by this weekend. I will post pictures here when we finish. Anyway, after Chance's nap today we went to City Park, even though it looked like rain it missed us completely so we had a good time. I bought a loaf of bread to feed to the birds while we were there. There are waterways that run all through the park and there are always birds around but this is the first time I have taken anything to feed to them. The first place we stopped there were lots of birds around which turned out to be too many. As soon as they saw the plastic bag the bread was in they came waddling toward us. There were about 30 of them ducks and geese and pigeons all coming toward us. The geese were as tall as Chance and with so many of them I decided we should go to another area of the park so we got back in the car and drove around to the playground area. Chance had a good time playing, he is starting to climb up the steps and walk around on the play areas which is still a little scary for me but he loves it. We fed the rest of the bread to some ducks that were floating in the water near the playground - much less aggressive ducks I might add. Near the end of our time in the park a dog befriended Chance. He was there with another family but he kept bringing his tennis ball over to Chance and dropping it at his feet. Chance did a wonderful job gently petting the dog.

Sunflower

Check out my metroblog.

http://neworleans.metblogs.com/2008/06/10/a-sunflower/


P.S. Chance is doing 100% better. By the way he acted today you would never know he was sick yesterday.

Sick Baby

Chance was not feeling well today. He ate breakfast with no problem but as the day progressed you could tell he was starting to feel sick. I put him down for his nap early and when he woke up he was running a fever. We just vegged out for the next couple hours. He was laying around on the couch when he got sick. It was the first time he has thrown up I think all the other times it would be considered "spit up" when he was little. It was so sad because you could tell how stunned he was after it happened because he had no idea what had happened. I ran him a bath to clean him up and he felt much better for a few hours after that but then around 6:30p he started lazing around again. So we rested on the bed while I folded clothes and then I gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed early. He has been sleeping peacefully ever since. These pictures were taken a couple days ago. Syed, Becky and Sherri brought this truck for Chance when they came to visit. He loves pushing it around the house and climbing into the back of it.

New Heights

I am not sure if I told you this but the other morning we walk into the living room and find Chance standing on the arm of my desk chair leaning over my desk to reach something on the top of the hutch across the back of my desk. I ran in and grabbed him and all was well. This morning I walked in and found him sitting on top of Scott's desk. He had used Scott's desk chair to climb up there too. Since he was not in any immediate danger of falling I took a moment to get his picture.

Happy Father's Day

Dear Scott a.k.a. Daddy,

You are our favorite Daddy in the whole world. We both miss you so much when you are away, sometimes we do not act very grateful for all that you do but we want you to know we appreciate all the hard work you do for us. You are a wonderful Dad. You are strong, fun and loving, showing Chance he can learn and have fun within boundaries. The way Chance lights up when you come home, smiles then runs to you for "up, up" proves you provide him all he needs in a daddy and more. We love you.

Yours,

Rayna and Chance

Published Photo

Last summer when we were in Portland visiting Scott's family I took a lot of pictures like I usually do when we are on vacation. Ok I take pictures all the time vacation or not. I also posted all those pictures on our Flickr account. A few weeks ago I was contacted by an online travel guide about using one of my pictures from that trip in the new addition of their NorthWest travel guide. This is the first time I have ever had a photograph published sinceI am not really much of a photographer. If you follow this link it will take you too the guide. Schmap Guide

Playdate fun

We went to a playdate at Washington Square Park which is a little park only four blocks from the house. The park has a large grassy area in the middle with trees and a walkway all along the edges. There is also a playground area with two slides and swings. There is a lot of shade and some benches. We had areally good turnout for the group so Chance had plenty of friends to play with. He had a really good time and even learned a new skill. Climbing up the slide. We have taught him to turn around and go down feet first. He has lots of fun sliding down but this time he had his new shorts on and when he got to the bottom he turned around and tried to climb back up. Most of the time he does not make it but this time the shorts let his legs stick to the slide and he made it all the way back to the top. He then slide back down and climbed back up overand over again. We stayed at the park for nearly two hours and Chance played non-stop. It is really getting hot here so by the time we left we were both sweating. One of the children that just happened to be at the park rode there on this little bike pushed by his dad. The bike was a big hit with all the kids including Chance. All the kids had a good time climbing through a tunnel that one of the other Moms brought too. all in all it was a good day.

Chance the movie Pt DeuxDeux

Here is the next chance clip

Enjoy!!

Bathtime

Chance still loves water as much as ever. These are just a couple pictures of him enjoying his bath time experience. He likes me to leave the water running just a little bit now while he is in the tub so he can fill up his cups and try to drink the water. he does not like the way it tastes though and he usually just pours it out. He has also started only wanting a few toys in the tub with him instead of all of them. While the tub fills up he stands on the outside and puts in as many toys as he wants, some squishy toys and some letters but always his cups. We have been puttingsome bubbles in the tub with him too. He likes playing with the bubbles and putting them in the cups. This tim I gave him a funky hairdo.

Picking his own outfit

This morning Chance picked out his own outfit for the first time. After changing his diaper I went to make my coffee and he went back into his room. A minute later he came in our bedroom with a shirt and a pair of shorts. Scott was getting dressed at the time so we asked Chance if he wanted to get dressed too. To that he handed me his clothes and then pushed them at me. Then he went back in his room and picked some socks out of the drawer and came back to hand them to me too. I asked him again if he wanted to get dressed and he pushed his clothes at me again. So I dressed him in the clothes that he picked out today. It actually matches too, an extra bonus. Scott left today for Jackson, MS where he will be for two days. Chance and I spent the rest of the day just hanging out until 7:30p when Miss Cathy came to visit. Cathy is an old friend of Scott's Mom's who we have met a few times when e were in Portland to visit. Cathy is in town for a National Assoc. of Educators of Young Children conference. She is a school teacher who currently teaches preschool as well as high school students. It is great to talk to her and visit. I enjoy getting the perspective of a preschool teacher with Chance. It is fun to watch her watch him with all her experience.

At The Zoo

Yesterday we went to the zoo. Since we have a membership to the zoo it did not cost us anything giving us a great getaway without much trouble. Scott had never been to the zoo here making it even more fun for us all to go. This was the first time we have been since Chance has been walking so well too. He rode in the stroller a lot but he was also able to get out and wonder around. He also seemed to notice the animals a lot more this time. While in the peting zoo area it was one of those hard parenting moments finding the happy middle between letting him explore himself and keeping him from getting eaten by a goat. Fortunately he walked over and pet a few lazy goats and then he walked away to play in the water. When Chance got too hot he just layed down as you can see in the last picture. Even though we started out early it was still very hot by the time we left the zoo. I got a little sun burned on my shoulders but everyone else was ok.

The Lawn

So, I have told you that we are working on our yard and now we can see the end. When we first moved to the house the lawn had lots of sand spurs and vines and weeds as well as not beng very even ground. I knew that in order to be able to use the yard this sumer we needed to do a complete overhaul so that is what we did. We dug up the whole lawn by hand with rakes and hoes starting over a month ago. We finally finished two weeks ago. Then we retilled the land and spread out grass seed. At first not much was happening but then we had an overcast day wth lots of rain and the next day there was green poking up out of the dirt. Everyday it has gotten fuller and more green. There are stilla few patches but it is mostly filled in now. We planted some flowers in the flower bed (good place for them) and are looking for a new rose bush to take the place of one that did not make it and a Magnolia tree to fill out the look. We are still trying not to walk on it too much until it is really established a week or so more. Soon we ill have a great lawn to run and play and have a good time on.