Monday, April 28, 2008

Gone is Mr. Cautious (1 Year and 21 Weeks)

Allergies have hit the Waltons like a ton of bricks this spring. All three of us have been sniffling, coughing, and going through Kleenex like you wouldn't believe. Thankfully, it's not developed into anything else and it hasn't really affected Caleb's mood. Because of allergies, we spent a lot of the week inside but still had lots of fun.

Here's a shot of the Elmo balloon Caleb received at the birthday party last week. It held its air quite well over the course of the week and Caleb loved it (not near as much as the Elmo CD we also got, that we "get" to listen to over and over and over in the car!).



Caleb has enjoyed doing adult-oriented tasks lately, like sitting in our kitchen chairs, carrying his diaper bag, or telling the dogs when to come inside or go outside. Over the weekend, he was trying to help me take some pictures. So, here's Caleb's first ever photo. Watch out Betsy and Ashley, we've got another budding photographer on our hands!!



Along the same try-to-be-a-grown-up lines, Caleb loves our shoes. He can't walk past a pair without picking them up and either handing them to us or trying (and usually getting frustrated) to put them on his own feet. My slide-on New Balance actually work out well for this and he enjoyed marching around the house for quite awhile in them.



On Friday, I bravely ventured forth to Dallas with 80 Riverfield Middle Schoolers and some other chaperones. Many people asked what in the world I was thinking, since I am not a teacher and wasn't required to go. I really don't know what sparked the interest but it was not a horrible trip :) We left the school at 5:30 and traveled in charter buses to Dallas where we visited the 6th Floor Museum of the Texas Schoolbook Depository and learned about JFK. Then we went on to the Dallas Museum of Art to see work by Turner (don't ask me his first name, I was busy keeping up with a group of 6th graders!), the Nasher sculpture museum, then onto Ft. Worth to their relatively new Modern Art Museum. The installation there was the work of Martin Puryear, which was totally cool, handmade sculptures of wood, twine, etc. Unfortunately, we had the docent from you-know-where so the students in my group didn't have a very fun experience there. After dinner at The Purple Cow (amazing double chocolate milkshakes!), we traveled back home, arriving around 11:30. A VERY LONG DAY, especially when I felt horrible with cough and sneezing, but a good time.


We've had continued fascination with the dog kennels. On Sunday, I was washing the mats that go inside them so Caleb thought he should get inside and investigate the change of scenery. He kept opening the door and saying, "Hello, bye-bye".



While I was off gallivanting in Dallas, Caleb got to spend some quality time with his Grandma, who has been very busy and unavailable for their Friday "dates" lately :) Imagine my concern when I call to check in and Mom says, "Oh Caleb has taught himself how to climb up on the ottoman and then do a forward roll off the front, headfirst." Just what any mother wants to hear when she's 250 miles away!! This is just one example of Mr. Fearless. Here's another, a quite impressive video of our future-trick-riding son. (Aaron says it's worthy of it's very own blog post. I don't know about that, but it is hilarious).

Let's see, I think that's about it for last week. Except our friends, the Halls, made an exciting announcement via blog about the newest addition to their family that will arrive around Turkey Day! They are traveling home to BA this week so we can't wait to see them and tell them congrats in person.

Hope you all have a great week!

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