The Park

We learned a valuable lesson in car real estate this weekend. As in our car is not big enough for our entire family. We had a friend's birthday party to attend at a park on the water near our house on Saturday so we thought it would be a great occasion to bring Lucky and Quentin and at least see if they can coexist in one vehicle. We made it about three blocks and that question was answered with a resounding, NO! We put Lucky in the shotgun seat and Carrie and Q in the back. We didn't think Q and Lucky would be safe together near each other. When Lucky is in the backseat he spends the majority of time trying to get to the front seat. It turns out that feeling is reciprocal and when in the front seat he really wants in the back seat. Within that three blocks Lucky shifted us into neutral three times, attempted to jump over the armrest and join Quentin in his car seat all while maintaining a constant whine of let me out of this car. It's official, if we ever hope to travel anywhere as a family we are going to need a bigger vehicle. And no, we are not getting a minivan.

After turning around and dropping the Luckster back at the homestead we eventually made it to the park, albeit an hour late, but we made it. (Add one 20 pound person to your family and you will no longer make it to any engagement on time ever again). It was Quentin's first trip to the park where he went for a ride on the swings, witnessed a professional magic show and played kickball (he was 2/3 with 2 RBI's). They had a pier for fishing so we checked that out and saw some fish and a lot of folks having minimal luck fishing, but they all appeared to enjoy the beautiful day in the sun. Quentin was great all day. He took nearly a three hour nap earlier in the day allowing for us to get some errands ran and some always needed R & R. It put him in a great mood for the afternoon where he was well received by the other party goers. He had a fellow infant at the party so we got the scoop on the next month's activities while Quentin moves from nearly 6 months into 9 months. According to these parents that's when the "attitude" begins and instead of crying because they need a diaper change, are hungry or just generally tired he will begin to cry when not getting his way. They also have a six year old, who is writing a novel by the way, and said that you can work that attitude away with some solid parenting. (We took a class so I'm sure we are totally prepared for teens, and whatever else they can throw at us)! They were parents that have not/will not buy into the Generation "me" and we think we will be similar parents.

Since feeding Quentin a once a day diet of rice cereal in the evenings he seems to be sleeping through the night with a fair amount of regularity. Do we dare say we have made it over the hump? We shall see, but he definitely enjoys eating with a spoon. Yesterday he was ready and waiting mouth a gap impatiently wondering when dad would stop the airplane game and actually get it to his waiting tongue. I also found his nose, his chest (clothes), his hair and he had a good time spitting it back out at me. When mom feeds him some how that doesn't happen. This in turn brings Lucky over because we are still using the ghetto highchair, which means we don't have one yet and are sitting him in his chair on the floor. Then the dog wants to lick him up and down, eat the food that's been spit all over the place, and stick his big old snout in my face. Let's just say it's an interesting, messy, entertaining ten minutes and a family event all at the same time. The picture today is of me feeding him. I call it, "Surprise! Dad's feeding you today." Can't you just see the excitement in his face? There is a lot of love there.