Hungry ducks, stinky pond

It's been a while since I have posted, so a lot of randomness will follow as I try to chronicle all of the happenings from the last couple of weeks.

I guess I'll start out with some fantastic news. We took D to the doctor during the last week of June. He has had some unmanageable eczema that we needed diagnosed and treated. The good doctor provided us with some helpful information and pointed us in the direction of the hydrocortisone. D's itchy skin cropped up at about the time that he became a devoted milk drinker (for him, the 10 oz a day is very devoted); apparently eczema is commonly the result of dairy. (I know, you're still waiting for the good news...wait no longer...). Following protocol for every doctor's visit, D was weighed. In February when he went in for his 18 month appointment, he weighed 19 lbs 11 oz. We had to take him back again in April for a follow-up appointment due to his skinniness only to find out that he'd only gained three or four ounces. I didn't post about that doctor's visit because it was too frustrating. (The doctor also wanted us to take him in for a hearing test since he wasn't really talking.) Well, two months later at this eczema appointment D weighed 21 pounds even!! That means he gained a little over one pound! Hooray and thank you Carnation Instant Breakfast!! So the dilemma at the eczema appointment was for D to either keep drinking milk and keep having skin flareups or quit drinking milk and quit itching. Turns out, with a little hydrocortisone and a lot of Eucerin skin cream (NOT LOTION IT DOESN'T WORK!), D is itch-free and still a milk-drinking maniac! This picture shows his never ending quest to bulk up...licking the whipped cream off of the beaters! (Check out my sweet Photoshop skills Rach! The beater is supposed to look heavenly, dreamy, and glorious! Ha ha!)


Well that reminiscing was a lot more long-winded than planned. I'll try to be more concise from here on out.

The weekend before the Fourth we went to Caliente for some more fun in the sun. Paul went to St. George for a skimboard competition (I know - in St. George???) while D and I stayed in Caliente and played with Uncle Jeff's old cars and trucks at Grandma and Grandpa's house, which, by the way, kept him occupied for almost a whole day. Even though D didn't get to see a real train passing through on this trip, he did get to check out some sweet parked (do trains park?) engines and cabooses. (Don't worry, in this action shot the train is not moving!)


Is the Photoshop thing getting old yet?

We had a great Fourth. It was fun to head back to the old "party" neighborhood and visit with good friends. We went to the big parade and D loved it...although he didn't love the huge balloons. He was okay with Garfield, but by the time Bob the Builder came by, he was rapidly approaching a freak-out. He loved all the cars and horses and marching bands. One of the first bands we saw wore hats with some sort of feathery plumes bursting out of the tops. D kept pointing at the hats and signing "bird". D also loved the fireworks that followed later that night. I wasn't too sure that he would because at the block party the night before he was very disenchanted with Rocket Chick (some girl riding up and down the street on a bike with fireworks strapped on her back). Anyway, he was outside with the boys while we were waiting for the big fireworks to start and I heard a TON of firecrackers going off (Grandpa!). I really expected Paul to bring a sobbing D inside, but instead, an enthusiastic little boy rushed in and kept saying "fire" over and over and over again (unprompted) for the rest of the night, literally, for the rest of the night. He sat patiently waiting for the big fireworks that we watched from on top of the hill and thought they were pretty cool when they finally arrived.

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of other fun things that have happened, but I do want to include a little picture of D and Grandpa feeding the ducks. I seriously had about 1.5 loaves of bread rejects saved up in the fridge for just this occasion. D loved everything about feeding the ducks (even though the ducks practically mauled everyone in sight and even though the water, according to Grandpa and Paul, was very smelly). Now whenever I get out any bread D quacks like a duck.


And on a final note, here are some random updates on D. He is talking a ton now. It is very fun and very adorable. He surprises us with new words all the time and surprises us even more when he repeats not-toddler-appropriate stuff he hears us saying. Whoopfff (as D would say)! Some of his staple words right now are juice, bocks (blocks), up (help), mow (more), bye, whale, ah-pus (octopus), mama, and da-ya (dada). He absolutely loves diggers and loaders. He loves firetrucks. If anything is moving on wheels he makes the hand motion for a horn honking (thanks to the book Bow Wow! Meow!) and won't stop until you make the accompanying "beep beep" noise. If something is very important to him he repeats it, a lot. If you don't pay attention, he will grab your chin and turn your face toward him so that you hear what he is saying. He loves watering my tomato and pepper plants...with ice water only! He loves throwing fallen apples at the fence in the backyard. He loves music. He especially loves his Baby Einstein Playtime Music Box CD and more recently The Beatles. He likes to sing that Beatles' song "She loves me, yeah, yeah, yeah" with me over an over which entails him saying/screaming "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah". He likes to request "mow" (more) for impossible things, like more jets flying over please, and more horses walking down the street please. It is actually very endearing.

I will end for now, even though again I am sure I'm forgetting a lot of fun-ness from the last couple of weeks. Hope you had fun reading this Grandma and Grandpa (because I'm sure no one else could endure this long tirade).