Take Two

On Sunday, after the water had warmed a bit, Sawyer decided that maybe playing in the little pool could be fun. He showed off his pool toys to grandma, who braved the chilling waters of the big pool.


Meanwhile I served as lifeguard. Had anyone started to drown, I was prepared to fling myself in after them. The little red chair (that Scott bought for Sawyer) would probably have come with me, however, since it took three people to remove it from my butt.

New pool

It's Memorial Day Weekend on the bay and temperatures are topping 80. Let's break out the sunblock and take at dip.


Wait a minute. This water it's, it's, it's COLD!

What's so funny?

No taste

If there is one hard and fast rule at the Armstrong household it's: Check the Expiration Date. I hate to sell my parents out on this - they are brilliant, hard working people dominated by their Type A personalities in most dominions of life. But that leaves little time to grocery shop, no less sift through the cupboards and the refrigerator looking for products whose date has passed. Spend enough time at the Casa de Armstrong and you eventually learn your lesson the hard way. The first time I brought my husband home to meet my parents, it was the unopened bottle of Bailey's that was so congealed it wouldn't pour. Then there was the blue cheese dressing, two years past it's expiration date, that he innocently poured on his salad. Last weekend, it was the organic saltine crackers I fed my son. My parents are deeply fascinated by Sawyer's recently-acquired self-feeding skills. At the 100 Day Birthday Party for our goddaughter Olivia, Sawyer sampled almost the entire Korean menu. He clawed at my arm (note to self: cut fingernails) trying to pull the hand that was cutting his next bite closer to his mouth. Faster. Among the things he devoured were Japchae, a clear noodle dish, Bindaetteok, a green onion pancake, Dotorimuk, an acorn jelly and Nokdumuk, a similar mould made of mung beans. I barely ate myself, trying to keep him stocked with bite sized chunks. If I turned away, he'd just grab the food off my plate. Everyone at the table chuckled at the vigor with which he inhaled this newfound cuisine, and I was so pleased with myself for raising a son with such diverse taste in food. Back at home the next morning, my mom, who had missed the Korean fete, was interested in an encore performance. We filled Sawyer's tray with bite sized pieces of mango, papaya and watermelon. It was like feeding an animal in a zoo. It's entertaining to watch his primordial attempts at using thumb and forefinger to move food into his mouth. And then to see his reaction as new flavors hit his palate. My parents started digging through the cupboard and fridge looking for more things to feed him. Can we give him a cracker? My mom asked. Sure. I said. A saltine would be good. She found some round organic saltines. I checked out the box. No expiration date listed. Must be safe. They had a slightly strange odor, but they are ORGANIC, I thought. He bit into the first one and immediately opened his mouth and let the crumbs fall back out unchewed. I should have taken this as a sign, but, he persisted and ate the first cracker. Then my dad suggested adding some cheese to it. We found one of those garlic herb spreads in the fridge, spread it on cracker number two and handed it over. Sawyer licked all the cheese off and then ate the cracker. By the time he started working on cracker number three, I was beginning to think that this looked like a pretty good snack. I spread some cheese on a cracker for myself and took a big bite. I chewed a few times before a wave a nausea washed over me. It tasted like rancid oil. This is awful, I told my dad. I spit what I could back into a napkin. What? he asked. It can't be. This is good cheese. He too fixed himself a cracker and took a bite. There is simply no way to capture my dad's reaction for you unless you know him. Suffice it to say I almost wet myself from laughing. He made a beeline for the water dispenser on the fridge. Several subsequent Ohs and Yucks and it finally crossed my mind that I should take away the cracker that Sawyer was happily mowing. (I woke my mother from a nap to make her taste the cracker, barely able to control my hysterics as she bit into it. Again - priceless reaction.) Three hours later I was still burping rancid oil and unable to shake the taste after only one bite. Sawyer, on the other hand, flew into hysterics when I snatched away his THIRD. The whole experience made me second guess my aforementioned pride in Sawyer's sense of taste.

Waterworks

I put a crisp clean shirt on Sawyer and took him out into the yard for a long overdue 9 month photo shoot. Before sitting him down, I mopped his face and chin. Nevertheless, the photos were junk. Before I fired off the first shot a river was pouring from the corner of his mouth, down his chin and had soaked his shirt. His top teeth are coming in and the drool is unstoppable. Strings of it stretch across the room wherever he goes like some sort of incredible water web - from the board book he just chewed on to the rattle in his hand to his chin. If Sawyer were a super hero he could ensare his nemisis in droolcicles. Bibs are useless. He hates them. He chews on them. He pulls them off. All we can do is hope he finishes teething soon.

Let's see a close up:

Sweepin' the Clouds Away

You Are Big Bird

Talented, smart, and friendly... you're also one of the sanest people around. You are usually feeling: Happy. From riding a unicycle to writing poetry, you have plenty of hobbies to keep you busy. You are famous for: Being a friend to everyone. Even the grumpiest person gets along with you. "Super. Duper. Flooper."

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

I was thinking about Snuffleupagus, Big Bird's imaginary friend on Sesame Street. He was by far my favorite character. Apparently he's still on the show, only he isn't imaginary anymore. Sometime in the mid-80s the writers decided that it was a bad idea to teach kids that adults might not believe them. So, Snuffy came out of the closet and there he has remained.

While trying to find out what ever did happen to Snuffleupagus, I found this fun Sesame Street personality quiz that tells you which character you are most like. I wasn't exactly thrilled about turning up Big Bird - he's so uncomfortably tall and his snore could wake up the neighborhood - but I guess it doesn't hurt to be the "sanest" person around.

Here's some other fun facts I learned about Snuffy:
-His first name is Aloysius
-His grandmother lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
-The species was indigenous to Hawaii.
-He won "Longest eyelashes for a fictional character" in the Guiness World Record Books
-He has a younger sister named Alice.

Thinking about Snuffleupagus just reminds me that my son is growing up in a different world - one where a wonderfully complex Grover with his awkward speech pattern and a propensity to faint is giving way to the googly-eyed Elmo .. . a world where kids probably don't even watch Sesame Street anymore what with Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network running kids' programming 24-7. When I was of the Sesame Street watching age, we got 26 channels with cable (only 13 actually aired programming). PBS aired two hours of childrens' television a day - Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, 321 Contact and the Electric Company. I always had to turn off the TV after Mr. Rogers, unless I pretended to fall asleep on the couch. I wasn't very good at faking though. My mom only had to smile at me and I blew my cover.

Of course, we don't even have tv right now, so I was thrilled to discover that when the time comes I can rent the original "Old School" Sesame Steet from Netflix, complete with Super Grover, Mr. Hooper and imaginary friends.

Hairspray

My college roommate Maria and her husband Reid (great name) recently had their first baby Sadie who, like Suri Cruise, is blessed with a full head of hair at 10 weeks of age. Maria said that people actually ask her if her daughter wears a wig, which reminds me very much of how people think that I actually shave Sawyer's hair into a Mohawk. Come on people, theriously! But then I saw this site: Baby Toupees.