Dallas arboretum...

Attended a first birthday party on Saturday at the Dallas Arboretum for our friend Finnegan. Fender loved the flowers, but preferred to play with the monkey grass. We took tons of pictures, so I'll post quite a few. The birthday boy, Finn, is standing with Fender in picture number three. He is such a sweet, good natured little boy, much like his parents. We had such a good time.
 
 
 
 

Tons more pictures...




Watching the bees on the flowers in the picture below...

The last one is the tall "monkey grass", Fender's favorite.

Dog pile...

Here are a few pics of Fen with our pack of Pits the past weekend. The solid black is Aeon, the mom of the three others. Ours (Sebastian) is the big black and white one, and the only male of this group. Grams also has the smaller black and white one (on the chain because she leaps 6 foot fences in a single bound) and is only baby sitting the brown one (Morty, shorty for Morticia)until she can find her a good home. Fender keeps them all in check.

 
 

Oops...looks like a feeding frenzy and Fender is the snack.
 

Ah, thank goodness, they just thought I needed a good cleaning...less work for mom. :)
 

Water sports...

After pitching practice (see videos in previous post) it was time to clean up in the kitchen sink.
 

 
 

Here's a picture of Fender trying to give a peppermint to two of the three dogs mom brought with her for her visit. Yes, they are all American Pit Bulls and all the epitome of the true bully breed characteristics. In case there are any of you who still actually believe the bad rap they get of having a bad nature, it couldn't be more opposite. They are incredibly good natured, and love people to a fault...which actually makes them bad guard dogs because they want to love on everyone they see. (Unless they get a bad owner who wants to train them to be possessive and mean tempered, they just won't be that way naturally....and I am not making this up.)

Their strength, and patience make them perfect with children of all ages. Just this weekend I caught Fender playing in their food bowl with two of the dogs trying to eat at the same time. They all share their food with each other and were happy to share with Fender too. These dogs have actually let kids pull their ears, bite them, pull their tails, sit on them, etc etc and they don't even seem to care. No other dog I've ever had would let anyone do any of that stuff to them...mind you, I hope Fender doesn't ever do any of that to any animal "We like to pet animals softly and sweetly." :)

Anyway, the two pups (well, 2 year old adolescents) you see here are actually two sisters of our dog (Sebastian). The fourth dog we had is the mom of all three, who actually had a litter of 10. I'll try to take a good picture of all of them with Fender, but it is hard (okay...probably impossible) to get them all together for a posed picture.

Kitchen pitching...

Fender shows off his mad (left handed) pitching skills.

"Watch out Daddy, here comes the fast ball."


"I'm a pitcher, not a catcher, folks."


"The outfielder feels left out."

Non-update...

Fen was sick with ear infection/sore throat, but is doing well now. Then, I of course, come down with whatever he has because I spend so much time with him when he is sick. I'm still mending. Plus my mom has been visiting since Thursday so I haven't had time or felt like posting anything new. Just wanted to reassure anyone still checking out this site, that an update is coming. If not later today, then certainly this week. Hope you've all had a great weekend. Cheers for now.

Worms and snails, tattoos and tails, that's what little boys are made of...

On Saturday Fender and I went to a vermi (worm) composting class. After we explored the small garden and played with dirt and worms, Daddy helped Fen dawn his first tattoo.
 

That's a worm in his hand...
 
 
 

Just a cute picture showing off how much Fender looks exactly like his daddy.

Texas blooms...

Fender discovers the flowers of spring. The first picture was taken a month or so back. The last picture was taken this past weekend.
 
 
 
 

18 months...

Fen had his 18 month check up today (that's 1 1/2 yrs to those of you who don't convert quickly in baby age). All was great. He got a Hep A shot...not sure that is standard or not, but it was for this doctor and hopefully there won't be any harm in it. He gets part 2 of that at his 2 year check up in 6 months.

He weighed 28 1/2lbs and was 32 1/2" tall. He talks all the time. Says things like ball, baby, spoon, shoe, tattoo, 'night 'night, and on and on. He tries to say balloon, but it comes out nuhnoo. If you ask him to say anything, he will typically give it a shot and come pretty close to whatever you've asked him. He still uses sign language for more words he still can't say. At the moment, his teacher says he can and will talk more than the other kids, I'm not sure that's good for me, who likes the occasional peace and quiet. :)

Most notable lately is the way he tries to sing his abc's already. He can say a, b, (skips c or says b or d twice), d, e, f(occasional effort), g. Sometimes he even gets some of the tune right. So much fun! He can count with you (one, two, three, four) but hasn't shown correlating fingers in sign language or indicated at all that he understands the quantity of anything. Guess we need to work on that more.

All in all, he's learning, going, and growing strong. I think he is a pretty good boy. He isn't without the occasional tantrum now, but they don't tend to be obnoxious, horrific tantrums just yet. He doesn't like to be told no, and even though he knows a tantrum doesn't get him what he wants, he still prefers to give it a try. :( Sorry in advance to any of you out there who may have to see one of these in action. And if I could ask...please try to keep the giggling to a minimum, when one is in progress, it only serves to make me laugh too, which prolongs the tantrum if he thinks we're not serious. :)

Here are a few misc photos from the end of march.
 
 

This photo was not staged...all by himself, he climbed up in the chair for breakfast, put his milk on the table, grabbed the paper, and started reading. :)