back from the beach

Last year this was me at the beach:



Me, this year, the same beach:





We had some big times, especially Cousin Connor and me



but we didn't take too many pictures, given that we are all relying on getting copies of the pictures YaYa took with her new kick-heiny camera:



So - when YaYa delivers the goods, I'll share all of our doings, for good and evil. There may even be nudity.

day fourtwenty

You'd be amazed how busy a summer can be. I thought it was going to be easy street - days by the pool, dusks of sipping umbrella drinks, sleeping 12 hours a night. Well, some of those things have happened - I do sleep 12 hours these days, at least when I am at home. But the days slip by, and at the end I am busy and exhausted, and can't really account for what I have accomplished that day. For example:

Diary, June 6: woke up, ate Kix and banana. watched that show about the sloth on PBS. what is a sloth? whined a little bit to indicate boredom/sleepiness. Took a nap (2 hrs). Woke up. Ate bean salad, yogurt, half of sweet potato. Them mom and dad pretended that one was reading to me, but while the other was attempting to cut my hair.

I do enjoy being 2 lbs lighter now that they cut off most of my locks. Anyway, then I played with stacking rings and toy cell phone. Then I attempted to use the high chair as a battering ram to knock down the baby gate leading upstairs.

Whined again. Took nap (2 hrs). Woke up. Ate chicken, green beans, shells and cheese. Was driven around neighborhood in stroller. Took bath. Went to bed (12 hrs).

So basically, I eat, sleep, and play a little in between. This isn't really that different from what I was doing this time last year.

day four'o'four - Come thou long expected Biped

Well, the day has finally come. I can really walk - hardwoods, carpet, grass - makes no difference to me.

You don't believe me?

Believe it. Note, however, that dad didn't realize you can't rotate lil' movies the way you can rotate digital picture files. Just cock your head to the right. In fact, those of you who can read lips behind pacis can see me mouthing, "No dad, turn the camera."

NB - there ain't no sound

more pictures are coming

I can't find the camera, so we don't have any new pictures. We'll find it this weekend I assure you. News of the week is that I'm walking. Not really like my younger, precocious cousin Connor (notice I didn't say 'more precocious'). He's rambling all over the house, judging from the innumerable internet movies his proud (duly) parents continue to send (taunt us with). My steps are calculated - completely efficient and rational. If I need to get from mom to dad, and the distance is less than 4 feet, I'll walk. There's hardly room or time to get down and crawl. If I need to go from the armoire to the sofa, I may walk. Otherwise, it is still much faster to use the 'My Left Foot' crawl that many of you have seen.

OK. Have to go. We're going out to lunch at a restaurant that actually sells tater tots. Never had them before, but I'm expecting big things.

day threeninetysix

So this is what grass is like? We have green stuff in our yard at home, but it has lots of clovers and sticks and pecan shells and rocks and patches of dirt in it. I thought I knew a good reference point for the word 'verdant.' Now there is a whole new understanding since I played in my YaYa's yard.

By the way, does anyone know how to give a 13 month old a haircut? I'll be home tomorrow. You can come over and give me one then. Or you can just leave suggestions.

day threeeightynine

There aren't going to be any pictures for a little bit. I'm on a road trip with mom. We took off to give dad a little space to study for his exams. And it seems that when his creative juices aren't flowing, mine aren't either. So . . .

I know. If you haven't already, you can watch this, and entertain yourself until I come back with hot new pics and witty commentary.

http://www.thankyoustephencolbert.org/

Try to watch the videos, if you haven't seen them.

In truthiness,

Barritt

day threeeightyone

Dad's away at school studying for exams, and mom is momentarily disposed with finding a broom.






In the meanwhile, I'll help myself to some Cheerios . . .






. . . and I think I'll make a chicken quesadilla.

New Post coming soon

We've got some great pictures coming, but we just need to decide which ones to use. Don't give up on us.

day threeseventytwo

I was a little miffed by the lack of birthday comments I received, but I suppose many of you are timid and apprehensive of leaving comments on the world wide web, believing that somehow your personal identity or credit card information could be stolen by such risky activities.

Anyway, it's been hot and sunny in the classic city, and I fortunately have a roof on the modified rickshaw that my parents are constantly toting me around in. The pictures are for all of you, both the savvy and the wary.



Go ahead. Leave a comment. No one is watching.

Happy Birthday to Me - now do we start over with counting days, or keep going?

365 days ago, I was born. Where has the time gone? What was I doing a year ago today, you must be asking yourself? Furthermore, what have you spent the last year doing?

Maybe you met all four sets of your quarterly goals, and your portfolio increased its value. Maybe you are among the dozen or so women I know to give birth in the past year. Maybe you became a dad for a second time. Or you ran a marathon. Or you survived yet another Chicago winter. Or you passed your PhD comps. Or you started your own private law practice. These are all noble accomplishments, and I commend you for them.

But at the end of the day, are they anything compared to:

1. adjusting to life outside of a womb
   
2. learning to breathe through the mouth and nose
   
3. learning to eat through the mouth
4. learning to scream
5. learning to drink from a cup
6. learning to stand up
7. growing teeth
8. growing hair, getting it cut, and growing it back
9. sleeping 11 hours in a row on a regular basis
10. moving to the Classic City
11. sitting in the bathtub by myself
12. eating hundreds of Cheerios, one at a time
    
13. smiling and laughing on demand
14. occasionally eating rocks

The answer is clearly in the negative. So to celebrate my superiority, we had a little birthday party. Grandpa and YaYa came down for the festivities. Riotous it was indeed.

The birthday cupcakes mom made:
















Going,
















going,
















gone.

I'm coming to find you in Birmingham!

Ha ha ha! The domain data for Number 5,000 is:

uab.edu

Apr 6 2006

11:12:37 am

1

0:00

You know who you are. More importantly I know who you are! Uncle Sidney, you can play this off on Aunt Millie, and vice versa, but you share the same mailbox. I will be arranging with cousin Connor to determine exactly the right time to strike with my 'present.'

HIT ALERT!!!!

27 more hits, and we'll be at 5,000. The 5 thousandth visitor gets a stinky diaper in their mailbox. He he he he he he he he he he!

I know where to find you!

Ha ha!




Ha!

day threefiftynine - 6 more days of being zero years old

It's been a good week. I only had to wear pants a few times -I'm getting to wear my 'bubbles' as mom likes to call them. Dad calls them 'eggsuits' for the Humpty Dumpty-esque visage they evoke.

What else? Dad turned 30. We rocked out at the law skool talent show (yes, the 'Law Revue') at the 40 Watt. Mom made an awesome tart, with strawberries. Some kids are allergic to strawberries, but I haven't had one hive since I tried that tart.































I supposedly saw Great Uncle Tom yesterday. I think he was actually my maternal granddad, because they talk and look really similar and both have beards. Regardless, it was big fun.
















compare with this guy, my real granddad















Saw Maddie yesterday. She is growing like a weed. Her blog is also growing like kudzu (see link to right), slowly overtaking all acclaim originally reserved for me. She'll rue the day when she realizes that the changes kind of slow down in a month or two. Then you'll all come back to me. Yes.

day threefiftytwo - happenings

Not much to report here. Still getting my fifth tooth. Waiting out this recent bout of cold weather so that I can get into my Spring clothes, and hopefully get a little bit of tan before my birthday party in two weeks.

Got to go to the bigger kids' nursery at church today. I handled it pretty well. I did drink out of someone else's bottle though. Breast milk, formula, cow milk, goat milk? I have no idea. It was good though.

Pictures:

They talk about in that book Green Eggs and Ham as if green eggs are some magical thing that don't really exist. Well, check that egg on the middle of the left row there. May be hard to tell on your computer, but that egg is as green as . . . as . . . well, trust me, it's light green.

These are from the organic farm we've just found out about. We get a dozen a week, and there is always one green one.





I'm starting to take a little more responsibility for feeding myself.

day threefortyfour

We just got back last night from a trip to Asheville, NC. Mom's birthday was Wednesday, so they celebrated by sharing a hotel room with me, and by visiting a town with a bunch of dirty hippies. Albeit, dirty hippies who run a lot of good restaurants and music clubs. I got to go to a few cool toy stores. I also got to eat my first continental breakfast, which consisted of Cheerios, oatmeal, and bananas. I guess continental breakfast means the hotel does research to find out what you eat every other day and then they get that for you when you come.

We didn't take many pictures. Mom and dad get self-conscious about being 'touristy' in a town where there are lots of tourists. But we took some the other day in Atlanta, whilst waiting for a dinner date with Uncle Rick and Aunt Amy. Enjoy.

day threethirtysix - March Mad-ness

Yes, the ACC tournament this weekend. And there is now a bracket at dad's law school for the remaining 64 people in the moot court competition. (There are even pools for this - NERDS!) But the Mad-ness that I am talking about is Madeleine Mei Hays. She was born on Tuesday, but judging from her looks, she is about 3 months old. It's not that she's huge; it's that she looks like such a mature baby. She'll probably start rolling over next week. Cheerios will come the next week. She'll undoubtedly be eating lamb by Easter.

day threethirty - LawnBoy

You'd think that a kid who has known how to sit up for more than, oh, five months, would have experience sitting in the yard. You'd be wrong. There are a lot of hazards in the backyard. We have two pecan trees. It's too late for one to fall on me (a nut, not a tree), but I could put one in my mouth (a nut, not a tree). The backyard is sort of a buffet of things that I can put in my mouth - sticks, rocks, grass, bark, pecan shells, worms, dirt, bottle caps, charcoal, and so on. Just from this little inaugural trip to my back yard, mom and dad found two leaves in my mouth. After I had been inside for several minutes. No kidding.
But judging from the pictures, I clearly had a good time. But now it's nap time.

day threetwentysix - the trap

the trap















the bait
















the captive

day threetwentythree - part deux

 

day threetwentythree - wagontrain

Apparently I've forgotten how to post, or the baby on the left with the huge teeth ate my blog entry. This is the third time I've tried to get these pictures up and each time I hit publish, the entry disappears into the blogosphere. Suffice it to say, my comments were witty, pithy, insightful and wise beyond my years. I wanted to tell you about the wagon brigade I'm starting with my friend Oliver, the blueberry pancakes I had for breakfast this morning and the uncanny ability I have to balance on two feet while holding on to..............nothing! Unfortunately, I've run out of steam after typing this entry three times, so you get only the teasers above.