They grow up so fast

Finn's decided that he likes corn on the cob. Personally, I think he likes butter and salt and accepts a little corn as a bonus. But it is definitely a sign of him growing bigger and having functional teeth. His technique is non-traditional, attacking the cob from the end rather than he side, but it worked for him. We tried to explain the more conventional system of eating corn to him, but he would hear it. He stuck his fingers into his ears, plugging us out.

He also has been getting back into meat as long as it is ground or slow cooked so it is very tender. Barbecue chicken accompanied his corn, but his favorite part is dipping into sauce. More than dipping just chicken and ribs, he dips quesodillas into salsa. The cutest part is that he quietly says "dip, dip, dip..." as he does it.

Summer foods are so much fun.

Baseball with Jackson

Last night Jackson invited us out to the old ballgame. Finn and I took him up on the offer and headed down to the game while Sarah went to a neighbor's jewelry sale party.

I forgot to bring the camera so this is an old picture of Finn leaving the GABP. However, some guy at the park took our picture so everyone can see it here. We are pictures 15-17.

Finn ate for the first hour of the game having skipped lunch which extended our stay. For those who are interested (if any), he ate half an avocado, crackers, tomatoes, olives, pretzels, and an orange.

We left at 9:00 and Finn went to be too late again. I think that he as stayed up too late for all of May. The late sunlight really delays our moving him to his bed. But he did get to see the Reds snap a 7 game home winning streak.

Scared of dogs, but likes straws

After Rowan's party back at the end of April, we went over to the mall to do a little shopping. With small children, all trips to the mall include a stop at the pet store. It turns out that Finn is now terrified of barking dogs. He still makes the "woof woof" sounds when he signs "dog", but the real thing brings tears very quickly. This picture is during the smiling time. We are now trying to re-acclimate him to dogs slowly.

After the mall we went to Finn's favorite restaurant, City BBQ, for dinner. For the first time, he used a straw to drink his water. He did so well at it that we have now replaced his sippy cups with ones with built-in straws.

We failed to predict how long the day would last, and after dinner we realized that we had no diapers left. That's when I improvised: stuff the pants with paper towels and cut leg-holes in a plastic bag. I think that is what our frontiersmen ancestors did.

This picture is extremely embarrassing and shameful to us as parents. However, if this blog is nominally about his adventures, this was certainly one. Despite our fear and massive amount of straw-drank water, there wasn't a major no-diaper incident. We now keep a whole extra pack of diapers in the car.

Baby Sign Language Works

We've been pretty faithful in trying sign language with Finn since he was about 6 or 7 months old. Now he has over 50 words he signs. We think that it has helped a lot in reducing his frustration in not being old enough to speak much, though he does say "ball" almost constantly and says bubble and recently picked up the words "turtle".

We realized how well he communicates in sign language the other night while we were out on or patio. Another resident came out while I was holding Finn and Finn started to talking to him. He explained that Jim could expect to see "trees", "birds", and "airplanes" while I translated. Jim mentioned that maybe a helicopter would come by and then Finn made that sign as well. That type of desire to share and explain would be impossible for him if he didn't have sign language.

To teach him sign language, we've tried to find objects that he takes particular interest in or that stand out in our daily life. When they appear and he notices them, we show him the sign we looked up on www.aslpro.com. That opens the door to many more signs than provided for in traditional baby sign language books. For example, we have many ambulances and firetrucks that drive by each day. He always stops what he's doing, looks at us, and signs "ambulance".

While many of his signs are foods, his other favorite category is animals. They are usually used used during book-time. It seems that all kids books are filled with varied animals and that expands vocabulary.

When we were in DC a couple weeks ago, we took Finn to the National Zoo where he really put his learning to use. One of his favorite places (maybe going back to his Wisconsin roots) was the farm exhibit with the a nice Holstein cow. In the above picture he was doing his best cow impression.

Here he turned to show everyone that he knew it was a cow. He's doing the sign for cow while saying "mooooo". Not that he gets every animal right. For a while all inside animals were cats and all outdoor animals were dogs. Now there seems a pretty even split between horses, dogs, cows, cats, and the occasional mouse (often a chihuahua).

One of his favorite animal signs is "monkey". He has a favorite pair of pajamas with a monkey of the shirt that allows him to sign monkey. He had a blast while at the DC Zoo with all the monkeys and the giant ape house.

One of his first signs was "light" since he saw it each time he woke up and went to bed when we turned it on or off. The other day he got one of our little flashlights and was fun running around the house playing and telling me how much fun he was having. This game continued until he decided that shoving the light in his eye would be great fun too; then he lost his flashlight.

It was tough at times and seemingly futile, but he picks up new signs almost daily now. The new challenge is to keep adding to our vocabulary as fast as he can learn. I always figured that babies used sign language only to communicate needs or wants, but seeing that he wants to participate in a conversation or relate experiences is amazing.

Rowan throws a pretty mean party

As is evident in this movie, there was a ton of fun at Rowan's first birthday party. A side note: on this blog, "blog" is short for "back log" since Rowan is now in his 14th month. All the cool kids were there, the sun was shining, and the bubble machine was in overdrive. I think a Miley Cyrus tribute band was there too.

Finn hasn't gotten the concept of yielding to another boy's special day so when Rowan was opening his toys Finn went off into the other room and played with Rowan's toys. His favorite thing was the bubble machine that created a constant river of bubbles. All the kids played well together, watching each other play and swapping toys.

Now Finn, Rowan, and Lola are all toddlers and not babies. Personally, I love that. Babies are cute, but kids are fun. More photos here

Keeneland

Finn is a gambler. He plays the ponies. He knows how to read a racing form before he can read. The proof is in the picture below. Well we'd be terrible parents if we didn't feed his vices, so we went to Lexington, KY to see the races during Keeneland's spring season. It's nicer and gets quite a higher caliber of horse than Cincinnati's own River Downs. This is not to say that River Downs isn't nice, but the experience is quite different. Think frat house basement kegger compared to sorority house dinner. In theory they are similar but in reality they are very different.

Finn was very excited about the horse and kept signing horse at each one that when by. He even did it for the horse I picked in the seven race. Yes, that was the last horse to finish. That's persistence.

He fit right in while leaning on the rail. He was a natural, picking it up right from the beginning. But it wasn't all horses, betting, and swilling $8 miller lites. Finn liked the statues of other kids in fancy clothes too. He especially like the Miami Vice guy and tried to take his sign from him. The little guy was unfazed and never moved during the whole meeting.

Finn told me to bet on Pyro in the Kentucky Derby in honor of cousin Chuck. That didn't work out so well. It seems he is unable to pick the winning horse. Like father, like son.

Baseball Photos

Finn and I have headed down to the old ball park quite a bit lately. I've mentioned that before, but now I have a couple more pictures to add.


The Reds have been doing much better lately, but last night they lost after having a 4-0 lead. Nice.


Finn seems to pay attention and loves to clap when the crowd does. He isn't scared of the firworks if he sees the flash before the bang. He also loves the playground at the stadium. Soon he'll be running the timed lane to first or measuring the speed of his pitch too.

'Round the Globe

We've got quite a bit of travel ahead of us which made me think about how I haven't put a new SotW out yet. Here's a favorite of mine (not Sarah's) from Nappy Roots.

They're not quite from Cincinnati, but Kentucky isn't too far and it seems like good timing given the primaries coming up across the Ohio River from us.

Adventureland: Target

We went to Target to get a few thing a couple weeks ago and figure it would be fun to dress Finn in tan pants and a red shirt. Perhaps he'd be confused for an employee and hilarity would ensue.

No one was confused, but Finn thought it was fun nonetheless. There is the Hot Dog Palace, Dress Shirt Island, and the Outdoor Furniture Oasis. Since he has never been to an amusement park, I'd imagine Target is the biggest adventureland he has ever been to.

Here he tries to "help" by hiding behind some merchandise to hear comments made by unsuspecting shoppers. He mostly heard "Finn get out of there....wait, let me take a picture first."

He also liked the giant container of balls. Here's a video of him playing ball in aisle 14b.

It all was too much for him and when we got home he was too tired to play with Mr. Pibb. Finn chased him a time or too, but decided it was naptime before Mr. Pibb had his share.

Highway to the AF Reserves

This week's song is Kenny Loggin's "Highway to the Danger Zone". We're back in Virginny on Air Force Reserve duty and woke up this morning to a couple of F-22's taking off. That reminds me of the opening sequence of Top Gun. That becomes our SotW. Cheesy? yes. Guilty pleasure? definitely.



Finn loves watching the planes and makes the plane sign everytime he looks out the window. He hopes to see one fly by constantly. Hopefully the weather will improve and the flying schedule will increase to his liking.

Boy Still Loves Laundry Baskets

He also loves his rocking horse and his park. Here are some photos. Warning: nothing too exciting. It's just photos of Finn at a playground.

It's nice that he's old enough to really enjoy the playground equipment. I cheat in the pictures. It's really two separate days of playing merged into a single album. We don't have a costume change midway through our park time.

NOTL Disappoints...Again

Newport on the Levee (NOTL) always misses expectations. We wait 6 months and then think that it will be better if we go again. We're always wrong. This time we tried Pacific Moon, a distinctly non-distinct Asian restaurant that offers Korean-Thai-Japanese-Chinese dishes. The food was heavily salted, high on noodles, and low on vegetables.

Finn ate most of the veggies that came with Sarah's plate and all of my garnishes. Pacific Moon is very into garnishing. I suppose if I had to serve terrible food, I'd try and distract the customers too.

After dinner, we waltzed over to Johnny Rockets and got a malt. We forgot that it is almost $6 for a malt that isn't as good as UDF's $1.99 offering, though it does come with whipped cream and a cherry, more garnishing.

We stopped in the art gallery that shows everyone who is too scared to make it Over-the-Rhine's Final Friday what is offered by the artists in Pendleton Art Center. There are some good local artists with much to offer. Our favorite continues to be Donna Talerico.



The best part of it was biking back home. That way we don't have to pay for parking or gas, or deal with the other people driving there. Here's Finn enjoying his bike helmet. He doesn't always like it and we have to work to keep it on, but he definitely loves the ride.

Pinwheels

A couple weeks ago an art project was set up by the Freedom Center down by the river. On our walk we ran across it and Finn found it amazing. The pinwheels reflected the sunlight and would blink in a giant blinking field.

Finn sat and watched and tried to blow them to spin faster. I think that he was trying to figure it out. He has this look on his face a lot. I guess that is what happens when everything in the world is new to you.

The view of the suspension bridge and the big green field makes us excited for the coming of The Banks and the Riverfront Park. What a great place that will be when it comes. (here's my last post on this)

Part of the great part of living in the city is that you stumble across things like this every time you go out. There is so much activity that you find new and interesting things to look at.

Song of the Week

The SotW is chosen by memories of what Sarah and I did when we first met. Back in Colorado we'd go to concerts at the Bluebird Cafe in Denver or the The Underground in the Springs. Mostly these were ska bands like Reel Big Fish, The Aquabats, and The Specials.



Here's a great song from The Specials. These concerts were a ton of fun with the entire crowd dancing and having fun. I thought that cool bands don't come to Ohio until I saw that GWAR is going to be at Bogart's on May 24th. We'll have to call a baby-sitter and get our giant muppet costumes out again for that one.

Fresh Tomatoes!

Congratulations to our good friends Liz and Jeff, who last week joined the ever-expanding New Parents' Club with the arrival of the lovely Lucy Beatrice, formerly known as "The Tomato". Lucy made her appearance at 12:44 am on April 23rd. She's a peanut, weighing just 6 lbs 4 oz, but tall at 19 1/2 inches.

I spoke with Liz and Jeff earlier this week and the new family is doing well - Lucy is eating like a champ and sleeping like a baby, Liz feels great, and Jeff is so excited to now be living with two beautiful girls.

Welcome to the world, Lucy Bea! We can't wait to meet you in person.