What's Bloomin'? Edition 4

Violet - Viola odorata. These pretty little flowers are coming up throughout the lawn. A lot of people consider it a weed, but I really like to see the purple color against the green of the grass.  They smell nice, too.

Tulips - Tulipa spp. This is the first year we've really had tulips in the garden. Well, we had some the first year we lived here, they were a gorgeous light yellow with a huge bloom. We got to enjoy them for one day before the deer came and ate them. We have a major deer problem here Our house backs up to one of the many green belts within the city, and the deer come out at night and early in the morning. It's a big battle, we've lost A LOT of plants to the deer, and we have to be careful what we plant and where we plant it. Their favorites appear to be hostas and tulips. We even make a habanero pepper juice to spray on the plants they like the most. It works but we have to reapply it frequently. J's mom gave us about 20 tulip bulbs last fall. We ended up putting them in the front yard, as we now have a fence up and figured that would be our best bet. And yay, they left them alone! We also recently watched this program on PBS that features a really interesting history on tulips. You should watch it. 

Carolina Spring Beauty -Claytonia carolina. These wild flowers were already established in one corner of the yard when we got here. They are so delicate, and I love their soft pink color.

Kalanchoe - Kalanchoe spp. We have a huge planter filled with this succulent, and it's in full bloom right now. The original plant was actually quite small and was a table decoration at our wedding shower. It's almost nine years old! It actually only starting blooming again two or three years ago.

Korean Spice Viburnum - Viburnum carlesii 'Aurora' This plant has the most amazing smell of any plant ever (in my opinion). A friend of ours has a really huge bush at her house, and after I smelled it I knew I had to have one. We strategically planted it below the bedroom window. I'm not kidding, I wish I could bottle up that scent and save for year round. Unfortunately the blooms are pretty fragile and only last about a week. It seems to grow really well here. It has almost doubled in size in 2 years.

Beans

Yesterday I met my sister and her kids for lunch at Subway. Her little boy is 7 and we were discussing food. We were threatening him that if he didn't eat all of his chocolate chip cookie, Ian would. He takes his chocolate chip cookies very seriously.

This led to a discussion of what foods he did and did not care for.

C: I don't like beans.
Me: You don't like green beans?
C: No!
Me: What about chili?
C: No!
Me: Is there any type of bean you do like?
C (furrows his brow in concentration): I like the chocolate covered ones.

Me, too C, me too.

After lunch we ventured to the local park. My niece A has been to this park before. But C, as they were getting out of my sister's van says, 'I love this park! I haven't been here before, but I love this park!'

Her kids seemed to have a good time. Ian, on the other hand, was a bit of a grump. We had to cut our park trip short. I'm fairly certain that he's cutting 3 upper teeth at one time. Ouch. This morning he was chewing on a toy and burst into tears. Poor little dude. Tylenol seems to do nothing, so I tried Advil. It seems to help a little, but he just wasn't his normal chipper self.

But my sister to manage to get about 5 minutes of smiles and giggles out of him. Aunts are the best.

10 Months

Dear Ian,

Another whirlwind month has gone by. You, my little man, are 10 months old today.

Your biggest accomplishment this month has been crawling. It was slow a deliberate at first,  but within a week you picked up the pace. You started out just using your arms to pull yourself forward, but just in the last week you've added in the legs. You do not get up on your knees and crawl, and I'm not sure you will as you seem to be getting along just fine on your belly. As my mom says, you doing a spectacular job polishing the floors!

I am officially chasing after you, all the time. Game on! The baby proofing of the house is in full swing. Well, it's a work in progress anyway. You add to the things-that-need-to-be-moved list daily.

This whole crawling thing has opened up a whole new world for you. Toys? Those are old news, folks. Your new obsessions are the vent at the bottom of the refrigerator, the speaker wires, and the VCR (which come to think of it, hasn't been used in about 6 years).

But by far your favorite toy is still a pot. Go figure.

You had your 9 month check up about 3 weeks ago, and holy moly you weigh a whopping 21 pounds! You're killing my shoulders when I wear you in the Baby Bjorn.

You have so. much. hair. At least when compared to other babies your age. I'm fairly certain we're going to have to get it cut before your first birthday because it's almost in your eyes.  It's so soft, and always smells good. And it has the cutest swirl in the back.

Your getting the hang of this whole solid finger food thing. We're doing less and less of the pureed stuff now. You don't have much patience for it anyway. I know we're probably not supposed to give babies your age sugar, but I'll admit we gave you some ice cream, which you liked. And cookies? You turned into a baby piranha trying to get that chocolate chip cookie from me.

Speaking of piranhas, you got another tooth this month. The order of teeth is supposed to go lower central incisors first, then upper central incisors. Well, you decided to skip the upper central and go for fangs next. A little strange, but that's cool. You don't have to follow the book.

As you eat more and more, you nurse less. I know this is the way it goes, but it makes me a little sad. I suspect that you might self wean around a year. A year wasour goal, so that too is okay with me.

By golly you skipped the whole sippy cup and have jumped on the straw bandwagon. I suppose that will be easier in the long run.  It's kind of cute to see you sucking out of that straw anyway.

You spoke your first word this month, and I was surprised that it was Mama. It made my heart melt.

It continues to amaze me how fast you are learning new things. I'm afraid I'll forget to mention something here. Oh, you've just started to pull up, not to a standing position, but up to your knees.

Can you slow it down just a little, I'm trying to savor every moment.

I love you so.

Saturday Mornings

They say that having a child means that, in a way, you get to relive your childhood.

What do I remember the most about childhood? Saturday mornings, still in pj's, parked in front of the tv with a bowl of Cheerios. It was a ritual at our house. And it was imperative to sit 1 foot away from the screen . . .yes, I do wear glasses now.

Talking to my parents later, they told me that they very intentionally taught us at an early age how to prepare ourselves a bowl of cereal and operate the tv. Saturday morning was their morning to get to sleep in. Genius plan, I say. I'm taking notes.

We had one of those console tv's that looked like a piece of furniture. You know, one of these. The buttons didn't depress, they were temperature sensitive, and I used to see how lightly I could brush my fingers against it and change the channel. Only your skin could make it change channels. Toys, pencils, etc. would not (believe me, I tried LOTS of items).

I even took it to another level. My brother taught me, at the ripe old age of 4, to operate the VCR. So, not only did I watch my cartoons, I recorded them and watched them over and over again all week long. That's a lot of Smurfs and Loony Tunes.

Mysteriously, my parents never complained about this habit. My sister, however, is permanently anti-Smurf.

I suspect that Ian approves of this ritual as well. Only instead of Smurfs and Looney Tunes he's watching Martha Speaks and Dinosaur Train. This past Saturday I relived my childhood just a little.

I shared my yogurt, he shared his Cheerios.

It was pretty awesome.

What's Bloomin'?, Edition 3

I guess we'll officially call it Spring and keep our fingers, toes, and legs crossed that we don't get a late frost.

March Bells/Forsythia - Forsythia intermedia. These bushes always make me think of my sister, because they're usually blooming during her birthday. I wish the blooms stayed on the bush longer. Did you know this  plant is in the olive family?

Geranium - Geranium spp. I have had this geranium since before J and I got married, so it's probably over 10 years old. I had this awesome apartment when I was in college, we called it "the Penthouse," as it was the attic of an old Victorian house in the Fort Sanders neighborhood in Knoxville. It had a balcony which had a great view of downtown, and when I first moved in I spent a quarter of my summer pay on pots and plants to fill it up. That was the first year I gardened, and we still have a couple of those original plants, this Geranium being one. Over the years it has morphed into one long stalk with lots of blooms coming off of it. It stays on our sunporch, mainly because of the support it gets - I think we would have to stake it up if we took it outside. Anyway, it blooms year round on the porch.

Paperwhite - Narcissus papyraceus. They always have these on sale at Christmas. I bought this bulb mid January, on sale, for fifty cents. I planted it in a pot and stuck it out on the sunporch, promptly forgetting about it. Last week I walked out and smelled a wonderful perfume like smell, and was surprised to see it blooming. I didn't realize until I looked it up, but it's actually a type of Daffodil. Huh.

And Phoebe Says Whoa!

Phoebe has just flat out amazed us with how well she has dealt with Ian. This is the cat that, whenever someone under the age of ten entered our house, would run in terror and hide under the bed. She would stay there for hours, then come out looking all frazzled. She wouldn't be back to normal until the next day.

We take her outside on a leash and she is fearless - until she hears a child's voice from three streets over. Then she freaks out and runs for the back door.

I got her when she was about a year old, so I don't know what happened to terrify her so, but I was secretly really worried while I was pregnant. I honestly thought she would hide under the bed for the last few years of her life.

The very first thing we did when we brought him home from the hospital was find Phoebe and put the car seat down right in front of her. She took one look at him, and then? She just ignored him. She didn't even seem to notice when he cried, which was quite a bit. This went on for several weeks, then she did go through a phase of about a month where she sulked. But since then she has seemed pretty content with him.

She doesn't seem to be scared of him, sometimes she will even come up and give him a head butt on the leg.. It's really weird. Most of the time she stays just out of his reach, and oh does Ian smile and laugh and point when he sees her. His whole face lights up.

But the first time she saw him crawl. I soooooo wish I had gotten that on video. We were in the kitchen, it was close to her dinner time, and she saunters in to start the begging routine. Ian sees her from the opposite side of the room, squeals in delight, and starts army crawling towards her. I swear that cat got a, "What the hell?" look on her face. She didn't run away, just sat there and looked incredulously at him as he got closer and closer. It wasn't until he made a grab at her face that she finally walked away and looked at me like, "Do you see what that thing is doing? Don't you think you need to address this problem?"


I did get this clip a few days later.

So yeah, their relationship may change a little now that he's more mobile, but here we are a few weeks in and they're both doing great!

The Little Moments

Here recently I find myself taking just as many short movie clips as pictures.

It's awesome that we live in a time where it is easy and inexpensive to capture these moments. There is really no price tag that can be put on them.

He's growing so fast, at least with these little 10 second videos I can keep these memories fresh forever.

Because I NEVER want to forget moments like this one. 

Party Hats

They are a necessary evil at my job - Elizabethan collars.

So many different names, including e-collar, cone of shame, plastic cone, and my personal favorite - the party hat. Hey, it's best to make them a fun as possible, since they're not at all fun.

Monday morning our tech was bringing up each surgery patient for me to examine. I got a good laugh out of the last dog.

Harry was a Cocker Spaniel mix who had a rough go of it last week. He got attacked by a pack of loose dogs, and let me tell you, he is lucky to be alive. His entire body from the shoulders back were a series of bruises, puncture wounds, and lacerations. He had surgery early last week to repair the damage, and the end result was a Frankendog with drains. Because of the nature of these wounds (bite wounds are nasty), we warn clients to expect  2 surgical procedures, as some of the tissue that looks okay at the first surgery will often die and need to be "debrided" at a later time.

Sure enough, a patch of skin on his back had "died." The skin blackens and dries out as it dies - this is kind of a gross analogy, but it feels like a potato chip - crispy. We go in and remove the dead tissue, and if the dog is healing appropriately there will be a layer of bubblegum pink (ha! another food analogy)healthy tissue underneath. We close the skin over that new tissue and voila, in most cases they heal up fine after that.  Ug, sometimes there ends up being 3 surgeries, but not too often.

So anyway, back to Harry - I promise I wasn't laughing at him because of his wounds. We had sent him home with an e-collar to keep him from chewing his sutures and drains out. Apparently the e-collar we sent home had met some unfortunate end, because he had a new - homemade - one. . . . made out of a Miller Light case.

It was awesome! And not just because it was funny - it meant that the owners were being compliant! Yay, they listened to us!

Honestly, I think 50% of all e-collars sent home go straight in the trash.

I go through the same routine multiple times a week. Dog with a hot spot, cat with an abscess, various surgeries. I address the problem, prescribe the appropriate medications, then bring up the e-collar. You wouldn't think it would be such a touchy subject, but it is.

My favorite e-collar story is about Bubba, a 100 pound fat (not just overweight, but fat) Shepherd mix who came in for a mass removal. I had seen Bubba 6 months earlier for his annual exam and vaccinations. At that visit I found a mass on his hip that I recommended removing. It was under the skin and about the size of a walnut.  But instead of being soft and freely moveable, it was hard to the touch and firmly adhered to the underlying muscle. And let me tell you, Bubba - who wasn't a big fan of the lady in the white coat anyway - did NOT appreciate me messing with it. I explained that I was suspicious the mass was cancerous and  quoted the owner $300 for surgery - that included anesthesia, surgery, and pathology on the mass so that we could see what it was.

As is common, the owner balked at the price and elected to just watch it for the time being.

Six months later when Bubba returned I could smell him before I saw him. The walnut size mass was now the size of a cantaloupe, and had ruptured open. It was a big, nasty, infected mess. And weirdly, Bubba acteed like he could've cared less about the oozing second head coming off his hip. He was still happily chasing tennis balls, he hadn't lost any weight, and he still wanted to eat my fingers.

The owners said that as they had watched the tumor enlarge, they had decided that due to Bubba's age that they didn't want to put him through surgery. They new it was probably cancer, but he still seemed happy. The wanted him to just enjoy the time he had left.

But now it was oozing all over their house, and by the way could I take it off now?

I calmy explained that at it's current size that not only  would be almost impossible to remove the whole tumor, but it would also be very difficult to close the void that it would leave in his side. I went on to say that it would be best if they took Bubba to a board certified surgeon and oncologist.

They didn't want to spend that kind of money, so the next day Bubba was on my surgery table. The other doctor at the practice and I removed our first ever Siamese twin. The surgery took forEVER, and I remember the other doctor (who had been in practice 15 years longer than me) saying repeatedly, 'This is NOT ideal.' As predicted, we weren't able to remove all of the tumor, but were able to get the wound closed. The owner didn't want to pay for pathology on the mass, so I'll never know what it was. Boo.

I left that practice 2 years later, and Bubba was doing fine. I'll be darned if that tumor never came back. This after I assured the owner that it would. Bubba was one lucky pooch.

We discharged Bubba a few days later. I always go over discharge instructions BEFORE bringing the animal in to the owner, because if I do both at the same time the owners don't listen to anything I say.

Me (after going over Bubba's meds): Well, the last thing to go over is the E-collar.
Client: The E what?
Me: The Elizabethan collar, to keep him from bothering his incision.
Client (as a look of dawning horror crosses his face): You mean he has to wear one of those lamp shades?
Me: Yes. It's extremely important that he wear it at all times.
Client:  . . . . . .Bubba's not going to like that. . . .
Me: They don't like it, but if he doesn't wear it he will chew his sutures out, and then we'd have to do surgery again. Bubba wouldn't like that very much.

(Neither would I as Bubba hates me a little more because of this whole ordeal, and hasn't been a model patient during his hospitalization)

Client (sighs dramatically): Well . . . I guess we'll see how this goes.

We bring Bubba up to his owner, and it's truly a Kodak moment. His owner cries with joy to see him, and Bubba is the happiest of happy 100 pound, fat dogs. He nearly knocks to owners legs out from underneath him with the e-collar (which, being the extra larger size has a wingspan of about 4 feet). I warn the owner to remove every thing breakable from Bubba's level as he will destroy it.

Dogs and e-collars are funny - they either use it as a weapon, or they stand stone still for several hours until they realize it isn't coming off (then they proceed to use it as a weapon).

Two days later I came into work, and was horrified to see Bubba on the surgery schedule. Apparently the first night at home, Bubba stood up the whole night and didn't sleep. The next morning they took the collar off, and he didn't bother his incision all day long he was sooooo good so they left it off and went to bed. Bubba happily curled up on the end of their bed and went to sleep.

And chewed all of his sutures out during the night.

The receptionist said the owner wasn't very talkative when he dropped Bubba off.

That whole shebang cost a LOT more than the original $300 estimate.

Keep the e-collars on, folks. It hurts you a lot more than it does them.

What's Bloomin'? Edition 2

Hyacinth - Hyacinthus orientalis. A very common spring bulb but still one of my favorites. Next time you see one lean over a take a sniff, they smell amazing. I wish they bloomed longer.

Bridal Wreath Spirea - Spirea vanhouttei. This is a nice little shrub, but it's also invasive. The flowers are teen-insy, and the first heavy spring rain washes them all away.

Daffodil - Narcissus sp. Okay, I know these are everywhere, but the Smith variety is unique - I'll explain that in a minute. But first let me say that these have been blooming in Oak Ridge since January, if that tells you how warm it's been here. Almost every yard here has them, some yards must have hundreds - big clusters of yellow. Our yard? We have five total, and they just opened up in the last week. The previous owner planted many, but only 3 have actually bloomed. The other 2 were some the my mother-in-law gave us. So, without further ado, here are our 5 daffodils.

Here's the standard yellow.

This one is neat - it actually has a double bloom, but a bug ate part of it so it's kind of hard to tell.

This one is growing in the woods in the back yard.

And these 2 are the ones from  my mother-in-law. The cups are a peach color.

What's Bloomin'? Edition 1

Uh Oh

Well, he figured out that his play mat comes apart.

Check Up

I took Ian in for his 9 month checkup last week. Everything growth wise is right on tract.

Weight 20 lb 13 oz (6 lb 15 oz at birth) - 50%
Length 27.5" (19.5" at birth) - 25%

He did quite well at the visit overall. We didn't have to wait long in the waiting room, but did have to wait close to 30 minutes in the exam room. He spent the first 10 happily trying to pull everything out of the diaper bag. Then another 5 minutes chewing on my purse. Then he wanted down really, really bad - not good. Let me say that I'm probably not as much as a germaphobe as I should be with a baby, but even I realize the floor of a pediatric exam room is not a good place for a baby who is now crawling, and who also delights in chewing on chair legs. He also sometimes licks the floor.  A meltdown was well on the way when he noticed the decorations in the exam room - each room in the office is themed. This room was decorated with giant Finding Nemo wall stickers. His whole face lit up when he saw them, and his jaw fell open in surprise. It was hi-lar-ious. He spent a long time pointing and laughing hysterically at the sticker of the shark, which was about 4 feet in diameter, and honestly (I thought) a little frightening looking.

They nurse came in and pricked his finger to check for anemia and lead (both came back normal). He didn't even notice the finger prick, he was too busy flirting. But the band-aid she put on his finger? Absolutely fascinated with it. Apparently it was also delicious. He even offered it to the shark.

Then the doctor came in looked him over. Everything went fine until he looked in his ears with the otoscope - he was just saying, 'This is usually the last visit where they don't mind seeing me,' when Ian, for one reason or another, started wailing. I think it was just because the doctor was right in his face it may have scared him.

Then the doctor informed me that most babies start walking about 3 months after they start crawling. Yikes!

On The Move

Batten  down the hatches, this baby is on the move. 

Watching a little one learn how to take control of their limbs is fascinating. And a little scary.

He first gained forward momentum last week, this after a full month of failed attempts. He would roll from back to tummy, lift his head and chest up, and reach forward with both arms. This movement would push himself backwards, resulting in much frustration. However, last Tuesday while J was home for lunch he figured it out (yay - we were both here to see it!). He went straight for the cords of our cell phone chargers. He's had his eye on those for months.

So yeah, we're officially baby proofing the house now.

He's not up on all fours yet, just doing the "army crawl." It's funny though, since we have hardwood floors, he smacks his fat little hands on wood like a suction cup and pulls himself forward. He's not even really using the back legs yet. We jokingly call it the "zombie crawl" (if you've seen the first episode of The Walking Dead you'll know what I'm talking about). He is lurching along. 

And here's another shot of him going after, of all things, a cat toy. Never mind that he has baskets full of toys behind him. It's important that he get to that cat toy. You know, because they taste awesome.

What's Bloomin'?, Edition 1

It's been so unseasonably warm here this winter that I can't completely convince myself it's really winter. Neither can the flowers, because they're already pushing their way through the dirt. We even have some blooming already, so I thought I'd share what's blooming at our house at the beginning of March. Gardening is one of our hobbies. By no means are we experts, since moving here 5 years ago we've been learning as we go. We've probably had as much die on us as survive - but every year we get a few more items established. It's so neat to see things come back every year.

So here the blooms as they come along.  I'll admit that both J and I are a nervous wreck that we're still in for a hard frost that will kill what's come up so far. Oh well - maybe we'll get lucky!



Flowering Quince/Japonica - Chaenomeles speciosa. We planted this bush 3 years ago and it has been steadily growing every year. It's always the first of our shrubs to flower. Interestingly, it flowers before it leafs out for the year. It's actually been blooming for a few weeks now.

Lenten Rose - Helleborus orientalis. J's mother gave us this several years ago, and it comes back every year. Love the purple flower. There are several other colors available. I would like to get some more as they seem to grow very well here in the shade - and we have lots of shade in our back yard.

Periwinkle - Vinca minor. I LOVE THIS VINE. Over half of our back yard is wooded, and the ground cover is a mix of Periwinkle vine and English Ivy. I would love to figure out a way to get rid of the English Ivy and let the Periwinkle take over. The leaves are such a deep green, and the color of the flowers match the sky this time of year.

BIg Leaf Periwinkle - Vinca Minor. We have a lot of this at the front of our property. As the name sounds, it looks just like Vinca minor, but the whole plant is larger. Honestly, other than the pretty blooms in the spring, the vine is a little invasive. We pull a lot of it out every season. But it's better that some other weeds!

First Word

Yesterday I walked into the nursery while J was changing Ian's diaper. Ian was lying on the changing table, and when he saw me he turned his head towards me a smiled. Then, very deliberately, he said, "Ma Ma."

My heart exploded into a thousand pieces. And I cried a little. Oh, he said my name! 

He's been babbling for several months now, says mamamama and dadadadadada. And the bye-bye thing happens sporadically,  but this was different.

The only other time I felt that much emotion is when I first heard him cry, right after he was born.

Spring Fever

The weather here the past few weeks has been heavenly. It's the kind of weather that makes you feel like it can't possibly be real - like it can't really be the end of February/beginning of March and be close to seventy degrees outside. This whole winter has been fairly mild, although apparently the weather before the Blizzard of March, 1993 was very similar. So maybe we'll get some snow? I'd be alright with that, but I'm okay with sunny and seventy, too. Oh, it's so nice to be out of the house!

This baby loves to be outside.

Last weekend I took him out and put him on one of his quilts in the middle of the yard. I was going to attempt to do some yard work - i.e. weeding the flowerbeds and raking the last of the fall leaves away. He sat there and happily gazed at his surroundings for a few minutes. Then he tipped over - he has progressed from face plant tip overs, to much more controlled/graceful tip overs - rolled to the edge of the quilt, and grabbed the grass with both hands. Ha! He is going to be an amateur gardener like his parents! But then, in typical baby fashion, he tried to eat the grass - dirt and all.

I raked up exactly 1 wheel barrow load of leaves away.

Monday was a workday for me, but I got off a little early and made attempt number two at taking him outside. This time I took a twin size flat sheet and spread it out, then I got his nursing pillow and a basket of toys to help keep him occupied.


As I was getting everything set up, the Phoebe cat watched and wailed from the back door. She wanted out sooooo bad. Have I mentioned that our indoor only cat is harness trained? Yup, a cat on a leash. She loves it (the neighbors must think we're nuts). I got her harnessed up, 10 foot retractable leash and all, and hooked her to the chiminea frame.

Finally I got Ian and took him outside . . . . Success! He sat in the middle of the sheet and happily played with his toys.

Note Phoebe to the right, she seemed to guard the baby while I raked. I managed to rake about 3 wheel barrow loads worth before Ian figured out how to get to the grass. This time he didn't roll to the edge, he just pulled the sheet towards him until it was all bunched up in his lap.

Tuesday was absolutely amazing outside, almost T shirt weather. I was determined to get at least some time outside as the Wednesday forecast called for severe thunderstorms. This time I went all out. I took the  Baby Vegas out on the back porch. Then, to make it more challenging for Ian to get to the grass I put bricks on the edges of the sheet. For distraction I loaded up his basket with super awesome not-really-toys toys - a plastic cup, spatula, cell phone, storage container lid, a baby shoe, and a book light. Oh, and don't forget about the cat.

First stop was the Baby Vegas, that lasted about 20 minutes.

Then on to the sheet. Another trick was a hand full of Puffs. He LOVES the sweet potato ones.

The toy of choice for the afternoon was my cell phone. He played with it/chewed on it for at least half an hour. He might have called some folks, too.

Oh, and Phoebe was in heaven. She totally forgave me for applying flea preventative earlier in the day. I got to thinking about it on Monday night, and I don't think I had applied it since early December ( I know, I know, bad, bad veterinarian who lectured about flea preventative several months ago - all I can say is it was a combo of mommy brain and sick kitty who finally got better and then got put back on hat status). Anyway, she was one happy cat.

All in all Tuesday afternoon was a big success - I got about an hours worth of raking done, and Ian was a happy little guy on his sheet. However, he did figure out how to get to the grass. He kinda sorta started army crawling Tuesday morning (!!!!!!),. He was very distracted when he was first outside, but then he remembered and he was determined to get to that grass.

I'm not sure what we're going to do with him outside now. I wonder if they make outdoor play pens for babies . . . .I'll have to look that one up. . . .