We're back!

We had a good time visiting Cathy's parents in Florida this week. Cathy's Dad picked up on part of our reason for going right away. FREE DALTY SITTING! For some reason, our immediate logging on to the computer or reading books as soon as we arrived (while letting Dalty run amok) was a tip off. Go figure.

I goofed around too much on the computer, Cathy got some good grading in, and Dalty had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa.

Cathy also got to visit her friend Ligia and her one week old daughter Isabel.

We also established that Dalty is still not ready for all day car rides. We spent two days getting down to Florida and two days coming back. I'm going to have to think about whether we drive or fly next time. That TY got to join us made it worthwhile for this trip. I don't know if I'll feel the same way next time.

The most we drove in one day was about 6.5 hours. That's 6.5 hours of driving. We paid for it with perhaps 50% of that time again on various stops. Dalton has figured out that all he has to do is say "I have to go potty" and he gets a stop. We haven't dared try pushing that one as cleaning the car seat is a Herculean task.

Jack-O-Lantern

We went to the Pumpkin Festival last weekend and picked out a couple of nice ones. When we got home, Dalton and I immediately carved this one and he and Cathy baked the seeds. Dalton was reluctant to pull the guts out because they were "icky". This from the kid who is often coated in a layer of mud when picked up from school. Go figure.

Probably 20 seconds after we finished this one, Dalton started asking to carve the other pumpkin. Cathy and I have been able to hold him at bay so far as we'd like to not have two pumpkins rotting in the house at the same time. We're driving down to Grandma and Grandpa's house this next week so the pictured Jack-O-Lantern is going to need to go in the trash soon (or come with us God forbid).

I've been appeasing Dalton by telling him that Grandma and Grandpa would love to carve a pumpkin with him each day while we visit. I'd love to help, but I'll be grading :)

Hide and Seek

Dalton and I played a little bit of "Hide and Seek" yesterday. It started with one of our more familair games. I guess I'd call it "Dad wins tug-o-war and runs around yelling woo woo." This one works pretty much like the title. Dalton and I play tug-o-war with a birth card of his that has a ribbon attached (you will have to ask him why). He lets me win and then I run around the upstairs with it yelling "Woo! Woo!" while he chases me giggling. Yesterday I decided to get out of eyeshot and hide somewhere. He would come into the room looking for me calling "Daddy! Where are you?" I'd wait until he left the room and then yell "Woo! Woo!" until he came back and eventually found me.

At one point, Dalton decided that he was going to hide. He told me to wait until he was hidden and then count to three. Dalton then went off to hide in Gram's room (the guest bedroom). Cathy was up and following him around to make sure he didn't go anywhere off limits like the bathroom closet. After counting to three, I headed out in the hall towards Gram's room. Cathy was there and said, "Maybe you should try the bedroom (master bedroom)." I assume that she was trying to draw things out for extra suspense. At that point a little voice chirps in from the guest bedroom "Gram's room!" I started laughing and wandered in. Dalton was not in sight so I exclaimed, "Where's Dalton?" My reply came from behind the bed, "Behind the bed!" He's clearly got the counting and hiding part of the game down, but I'm not sure he understands what it is all about.

Today's picture really has nothing to do with "Hide and Seek". I wanted to get a picture of the actual game or of tug-o-war yesterday, but he was having none of it. This is him after his first bath of the day. Surprisingly, I got him to willingly let me wash his hair (on the 2nd bath). I can't remember how I did it. I really need to write things like that down.

Some people watch TV instead...

And of course, you should see the floor.

In goes the dump truck

It's an iconic scene. A parent desperately trying to get an infant or toddler to eat something plays "in goes the ___". We haven't tried this much with Dalty although I can't say what goes on at school. Apparently he feels deprived as last night he started playing it by himself. "Dump truck, dump truck, in my mouth" This is sung to some tune that I can't exactly place.

Note the infant chair (with tray) that he's been insisting on sitting in for the last week despite having unfettered access to adult chairs.

LEUs

Dalton has rediscovered naps at school. It's funny, one of his teachers commented that a number of his cohort have voted naps back onto the island. I've tried to explain to Dalton that most adults would kill to get a nap in the middle of the day. I might have tranlated this to "give up their treat (chocolate) milk for a nap." I don't have any illusions that he actually listened to me. I expect that the lack of sleep just caught up with him (and his friends).

Dalton is pictured this last weekend when he was in a karate mood. Here we were stacking boxes so he could kick them down. We tried to get the perfect action shot, but we just couldn't get the timing right.

We went out for indian food tonight and I noticed that Dalton is a master of skills needed in academia. Professors often think about something known as the least publishable unit (or LPU). Academia can be publish or perish. This encourages some/many to put the minimal data possible into each paper so as to maximize the number of publications. At the restaurant, we ordered our usual saag paneer (spinach and cheese), chana masala (chickpeas), naan (yummy bread), and a mango lassi (a mango flavored yogurt drink with way too much sugar). We repeatly told Dalton that he could have a sip of mango lassi if he ate some chickpeas and some spinach. Each time, he took a tiny bite of each before asking for the mango lassi (his LEU or least eaten unit).

Put the camera away Dad

It used to be so easy to take pictures of Dalton. All good things won't last forever I suppose. Not only has he replaced the natual smile with the forced "cheese" but he often doesn't want his picture taken. Here we have a "train" or a set of benches that sit next to where the train goes by. I'm not sure. It seemed to keep changing.

Note the lack of pants which is the status quo around here. Today we actually have long pants and no shirt going. He's been in the mood to kick boxes around so perhaps it is his karate outfit. I suppose it makes a good balance to yesterday (Talk Like a Pirate Day).

We are having a good weekend here. Yesterday was the "Daniel Boone ripped us off" festival in downtown Christiansburg. It was bigger than in past years which was nice to see. Regardless, it didn't impact our Saturday all that much. We did our normal coffee shop then library morning. Dalton didn't express an interest in the blow up bouncy room or the pony rides at the festival and we weren't going out of our way to get him on them. He'll actually get a chance at the blow up bouncy room this Friday at Roanoke College.

Dalty spent much of yesterday putting together a new Lego house with Mom. Cathy caught the Lego Green Grocer on sale and sent me a frantic email to order it for her for Christmas. I think it sat in the house for a whole 18 hours before being opened. It's partly my fault. I unpacked it because I wanted the shipping box for cardboard recycling. Once it was visible, it became unresistable (to Cathy).