Love Lush Young

I sat my Lush bag down on the couch and now that Chance can crawl up on the couch and down again it took no time for Chance to spot the bag and head off to investigate. He pulled out a glittery bubble bar and as soon as he got it out of it's little bag he put it in his mouth which was when I had to take it away. By that time though he was already covered in glitter. I don't think he got a taste of it because he didn't make much of a face. He is not old enough to get Lush baths yet but when he is I think he will love them. I should put some bubble bath in his bath one time to see what he thinks of it, he will probably like that. Right before I took these pictures He was looking at the camera and it would have been the perfect Lush commercial.

Hanging with Miss Carly

Today we met with a friend of mine from Barnes and Noble. She was looking for someone to walk around the French Market and since that is only a few blocks from our house and as we all know I just sit around the house most days. It was the perfect opportunity to get out and visit with a friend. I put Chance in the backpack carrier and off we went. We left the hosue around 1pm and walked all through the Market then down Decatur to the Lush store and Urban Outfitters. We really lucked out with Lush in that they were still in the middle of their after Christmas sale and we got a lot of free stuff, Yeah!! Oh and for you people who haven't been to Lush, just go you will thank yourself. We did not get home until after dark. Carly came in to visit a little bit longer after we got back which is when these pictures were taken. Chance liked playing with Miss Carly's glasses. Thanks for coming over Carly it was fun hanging out with you.

Brushing Teeth

Scott and I are not very good about brushing our teeth, it is just one of those things. Recently I have been making an effort to brush my teeth in the morning and at night with Chance to get better habits for myself and to start Chance off on the right foot. I have had one of those little rubber things that goes on the end of my finger to get him u

sed to brushing. He is always really interested when I am brushing my teeth and now that he has four teeth of his own I got him his own little tooth brush. I gave it to him for the first time yesterday and he took right to it. I bushed his teeth a little first and then he wanted to hold the tooth brush. At first he really inspected it but then when I opened my mouth and said "brush your teeth" he stuck it inside his mouth and moved it around. It was so cute. Now if I can just remember to brush my teeth and keep up the routine he will be a good little tooth brusher. I forgot to tell you something about his first check up he is allowed to drink whole milk now so we are going to start making the transition to real milk. I gave him some today and he made a little face at first and then drank a bunch more before putting his sippy cup down to go play.

One Year Checkup

I don't have any new pictures to go with this post but I wanted to give you all the update on Chance's one year checkup. And I will give you an old picture from before Christmas, he has such an "ah Mom" look on his face in this one. Well, we took it easy today not doing anything except a little cleaning around the house before Chance's appointment. Chance was very active in the office and wanted to crawl around everywhere. He is 26 pounds 3 ounces and 31 inches tall. Which puts him in the 95 percentile for his age. In other words he is a big baby but he is growing proportionatly for him. Everything checked out just fine and the doctor said he really paid attention to things and made really good eye contact. She said that even though he wasn't saying a lot of words he was communicating which is very important and she could see that he understood a lot of words and that was a big step to him trying to say the words for himself. He got two shots, a PPD test and a finger prick today. He cried a little with the shots and test but then was ok when I picked him up. But with the finger prick they had to get blood to fill two little circles on paper and with the first circle he was ok not even crying but when she started with the second circle he got very angry. It was as if he was saying "look I have been really good here but now you need more blood forget it!" We did get the blood though and he got a bandaid with little soccer balls on it. He looked so sad sitting there both thighs red from shots his arm red from the test and his finger in a bandaid which of course he was holding way out from the other fingers. I picked him up and gave him a big but gentle hug. He got a lead test today too that we should get back in a week or two. We are doing this one because we have lived in old houses since he was born and old houses tend to have lead paint. After his shots the visit was over and we went straight home. Usually Chance just sleeps after a visit with shots but not this time today he jsut started playing and went about the day like nothing happened. His next visit is March 24th for his 15 month checkup where he will get some more shots, poor baby.

Aquarium

Today we had a busy day. We started with a trip to the Aquarium of the Americas with our play group. Chance and I had been to the Aquarium before which weirdly enough I don't think I mentioned here. I have lots of pictures from that time as well as this time which you can find by clicking 'New Photos' at the right. I have always really liked animals and greatly enjoy both the Zoo and the Aquarium so last time we were here we bought a year long pass to both places so we can go anytime we want without having to worry about how much it will cost, Yeah! Chance also really loves animals he seems mezmerized by them sometimes and wants to get close to them. He likes getting right up close to the tanks at the aquarium and will touch the glass and watch the fish swim around and around. Today we watched the zoo keepers feed the penguins and Chance was right there listening to the man talk and watching the penguins swim waddle around. He is so curious. The other women in the group jsut walk and talk but I, like Chance am actually interested in learning some things so we stayed behind to finish the penguin feeding. We caught up though and went on watching all different kinds of fish. Chance has really started pointing to what he wants and a new game is to point when I am holding him then I will take a couple steps in the direction he points and then he will point again and I again take a few steps. He thinks it is fun and I am learning what he actually wants instead of just walking blindly in the direstion he first pointed. Turns out he wanted to watch the sharks swim in thier tank because he took me right to them twice. Also, last night we had the screen door closed but the solid door open and our niehgbours were sitting out on their Stoop across the street. Chance crawled over to the door pointed out the door then pointed up to the door knob and then looked at me and made a noise to get my attention then he repeated the pointing and and noise. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the stoop and then opened the screen door and sat on the first step. Chance crawled down the first step and sat there with me for a few minutes jsut like the neighbours were doing and then he crawled back inside to play. Also today he crawled into the bathroom then pointed to the bathtub then to himself and then made the noise again. He repeated it a few times. He wanted to take a bath. It is so much fun , He is comunicating. While at the Aquarium today he was really interacting with the displays too. He pushed buttons and felt the scales of the fish and crawled under this one tank that you can look up into over and over again. They have a play area for the kids and he had fun crawling around and discovering all there was to discover. We watched the otters swim around in their tank too. It is like Chance can tell that it is a living thing but it is different from him and he is just so curious to find out what it is.

It is really great to watch him. After the Aquarium Chance went to sleep on the walk back to the car. We went straight home so he could finish his nap then we went out to Lowe's for some goodies for the house and then at 7pm we went to the monthly Geocaching Event. Like I said it was a busy day but we had fun. Tomorrow is Chance's one year checkup so we are just going to veg out until 2pm when it is time for his appointment. As always I will keep you all posted on the outcome of his doctor's visit.

Flying Home

I am post dating this because it has been a couple days since we got home but we were getting settled from the trip. We flew back home from Portland on Monday. Chance was really good for the whole trip. He is more active now and wants to move and play the whole time but I really should not complain about that. He was happy for the whole ride. We were really lucky on both legs of our trip the planes were small only two seats on each side and they were not full so we got a whole two seats to ourselves for both legs. Chance liked having his own seat to wonder around in while we flew. He learned how to open and close the shutter for the window and how to put the arm rest up and down. These were great games. We had a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah we had to walk out in the cold for a little bit to get into the terminal when we arrived and let me tell you it is cold in Salt Lake City. We made it though and were rewarded with a children's play area just two gates down from our connecting flight, Yeah! Chance had a good time playing there for about an hour before our plane arrived. On the next flight we again got two seats to ourselves and this time we tried some of the cheese crackers the flight attendant was offering. Chance loved them. The flight attendant offered me my own package of crackers because she saw that Chance liked them so much he was eating them all. Both of our flights were on time and we even got home twenty minutes early so all in all it was a really good day to fly.

Busy Day

After we got home from the Chinese Gardens Chance took his nap and then we were off again. This time to Gaynelle and Von's other house where we were to meet Miss Kathy who is a friend of Gaynelle's who we also met last time we were up here in June. Gaynelle and Miss Kathy used to teach at the same school in the area and Miss Kathy still teaches preschool there. She just loved Chance and seeing how much he has grown. It is nice to hear what a preschool teacher has to say about Chance because somehow it jsut feels like she really knows what she is talking about and of course she does. She brought Starbucks and some homemade goodies which we all tried while Chance crawled around and generally played - what he does best. It was nice to see Miss Kathy again. We will have to plan coffee again for next time. We are off tomorrow back to New Orleans. It is going to be a long trip and it is going to be just me and Chance so wish us luck.

Chinese Gardens

This morning we woke up and went to downtown Portland. They have a wonderful Chinese Gardens there that Gaynelle and Von have a membership to so we can go any time we like. I had never heard of the Chinese Gardens before but it sounded like fun so we bundled Chance up and off we went. The Gardens really are beautiful even in the winter. They brought in real artisans and designers from China when they built the gardens and it realy shows. There are small mostly open air buildings with walkways in between them and a lake connecting the buildings and flowing under bridges. Within the building and along all the walkways are plants some of which are flowering even in the cold. There are false windows that create a view of a view of a view with plants in between each window. It really is pretty. I can not wait to come back next time we are here to see what the Gardens look like in another season. There is an authentic Chinese Tea Room in the Gardens where we went and Gaynelle and I had some tea and some mooncake which was suprisingly sweet to be made of beans. Chance was very good and really seemed to enjoy the gardens especially all the water and the waterfall. Grandpa Von took Chance out walking around while Gaynelle and I drank our tea. Chance stands up to the cold very well as a matter of fact most of the time he does not even seem to notice except for his nose getting a little red. Next time we come he will be able to toddle around the Gardens himself. It was really nice to see this little piece of tranquility in the middle of such a large city. It was a great idea to come here I really enjoyed it. These last few pictures are just building in the gardens that I thought were pretty. There are more pictures of the Gardens in the Portland trip folder at our New Pictures site.

Skamania Lodge

We Went for a drive today across the Columbia River to the Washington state side of the Gorge and up the river to the Skamania Lodge. The drive was just beautiful the whole way. There was a little snow on the side of the road but never enough to warrant a stop. We could see snow on the Mountains in the distance and waterfalls on the other side of the Gorge. When we got to the lodge we had some lunch in the restaurant there. Chance has been taken with the waitress' lately and this time the waitress was really into him too. She has two sons with chubby cheeks like Chances. He watched her the whole time she took our order and every time she came back over to our table. The view from the table was wonderful we could see trees and mountains and even some people playing golf on the lodge's course (they must be freezing). Not too long ago Scott got me a nice hard shell suitcase which I have been trying to colect stickers from places I go to put on but so far no where has had any stickers. The nice ladies in the gift shop at the lodge though gave me a couple of the gold foil stickers that they use when gift wrapping things. They were perfect, they even have the name of the lodge on them. Thank you to the gift shop ladies! The drive back to the house was pretty too, we went through a few little towns that were just so cute. I can't think of a way to explain them except Main Street USA with a NorthWest flare. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Picture 1 - Chance with waitress. Picture 2 - Grandma G and Grandpa Von. Picture 3 - the view from our table at Skamania Lodge

Chance and Madeline

Up to this point Madeline a standard poodle simply pulled away from Chance not sure if she should play with him or leave him alone. Not sure if she was alowed to play with him or if she would get in trouble if she did play with him. Today Chance pulled one of his socks off and Madeline got a hold of it. She pranced around Chance with the sock in her mouth and Chance thought it was so funny. Chance crawled after her and Madeline pranced around him all the while Chance laughing. They went around the living room at least twice like that. It was so funny and Chance was so cute.