The Edwards Family's Child Blog

Some San Diego & Weird Winter Duluth

2012-02-15T18:07:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been so very long since our last post! This image is from our arrival in San Diego December 18th. Ian immediately adored his cousin Hannah and was not the least bit shy.

Sitting on the prehistoric elephant baby statue at the zoo.
Insert seal sound here.
Kissing the seal statue.
Loved the SkyFari sky tram ride. Still talks about it.
Not many places in North America one can play construction trucks in the sand and sun in late December. Pure 'boy' bliss.
Slowly learning kindness and gentleness with both cats.
It helps when you are a cat yourself! Aunt Tami made Ian this knit wool cat-eared hat about a year ago and now it is Ian's favorite hat because - to make a long story short - for the past 4 1/2 weeks Ian has changed his name to Sally Cat from Richard Scarry's Busy Town characters. Mommy gets to be Huckle and daddy is once again Lowly Worm.
Donning the size 4 snow bib pants before going out to roll in and stick his face and mouth in the backyard snow. A great $3.50 find at a secondhand store sale! This winter has shown us strange weather so far with the temperatures fluctuating for the past two months - reaching around 40 degrees F for a few days (!) alternating with a drop near or below zero F for several days after that. Weird.
One of the 'Brrrr!' days for this huddled, little red squirrel on our front deck. Can't quite reach the seed in the bird feeder like those bigger, gray squirrels can - but sure can try to chase them off!
More cute wintertime naked wildlife. This time enjoying one of his favorite activities: playing cars on his new road map town rug. Wasn't sure I should put a nudie photo on a web blog but this is so very Ian these days. 'Till next time!

Silver Bells and Birthday Joy

2011-12-11T18:37:00.000-08:00

Getting into the holiday spirit with making sugar cookies in star, tree and dove shapes. We ate them all within three days. Our beautiful Ian ate the colored sugar meant for decorating the cookies and pooped red and green.

"Here I am . . . rocked you like a hurricane!" Dad teaches son bass guitar and vocals.

Ian and his friend Graham held a shared 3rd birthday party yesterday at the children's museum. (Hope it is o.k with our friends if we post a few images of their kids on our blog.) The kids seemed to have a really good time having their closest friends all together in one place. Thanks to Graham's family for the lovely snacks, marvelous Thomas and Friends cake and make-it-easier-to-leave party favor bags.

Our friends Lynn and Paul drove up from Mankato for the weekend and Ian really enjoyed having them stay with us and was so pleased they came to his party (they were a big help too!).
That's all for now folks -- rock on dudes!

Cool Days

2011-11-16T13:49:00.000-08:00

We woke to a generous dusting of snow decorating our neighborhood today.
Ian is seen here sporting a new western-style snap button shirt dad found at Savers (2nd hand shop). You can't tell but he's grinning because he is naked on bottom (to help him learn to use the toilet).

Posing with some tools he borrowed from the library - and the moose sweater he got last Christmas that finally fits him.
Dry and warm enough (40 degrees) to go hiking along the Superior trail near Enger Tower Park. Ian is a great hiker - much like a little mountain goat.
Ringing the Japanese Peace Bell.
Later that day - to make a long story short - after waking from his nap he insisted on eating his ice cream cone in the car parked in the garage - letting cold air into the house as we supervise him. Boy, kids sure make you keep to any agreements you've made with them....

Halloween smiles

2011-10-31T12:53:00.001-07:00

Near the beginning of October when I asked Ian, "What costume do you want to wear for Halloween?" he replied (four different days) with enthusiasm, "A purple race car!" Since stores don't readily supply purple race cars, I selected a box from our basement, bought a few art supplies, and created a purple race car. I'm glad he liked it.
We went to "Boo and the Zoo" in mid-October and Ian wore the car for a long time around the whole zoo. Ooooo....what did they put in here? Discovering the "treat" side of trick-or-treat.
Waving to his adoring fans aboard the hay ride.

One can put candy in one's mouth better when one removes the purple race car. Making faces with dad.
I love Halloween!

Weekend fun

2011-10-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ian's little friend Lukah and her parents LeeAnn and KC, who shared their extra tickets with us -- we took a ride on the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad along the St Louis River /Spirit Lake tour. The temperature reached into the upper 70's F that day. As the train crossed Mud Lake, we saw two bald eagles perched together on a branch sticking up out of the water.
Ian was excited and talked nearly the whole time. "I like the way it feels," he explained, swaying side to side as the almost 100 year-old coaches creaked and rocked slowly along the tracks.
Here's the apple picking pictures. I'll let them speak for themselves.

Two warm weekends in a row. Ian commented on how nice and warm this friendly farm kitty's back was from being in the sun.

Pumpkins, Apples and School

2011-10-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hi! This is the blogger's wife trying out the blog editor as the blogger hasn't been able to post in about a month. Few things say "Fall" better than pumpkins, apples and new school backpacks. Eric's biggest squash here was approx 36 lbs when he harvested it.

The local wildlife are very active in their pursuit of food lately since our first frost was right on the average date of September 15th (this photo taken before frost). Looks a bit like a bat.
Loves his truck, planes and trains backpack. Dislikes getting dressed.
Making salad in his new kitchen with the produce basket on his noggin.

We'll have more pictures soon from the apple picking we did near Bayfield, WI last weekend once I have a moment more to get them off the camera. This weekend we plan to ride the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad tour train that travels along the St Louis River way. Ian and I went on a hike at Hartley Park this morning and the fall colors of the trees covering the hillsides are fantastic.

It is Autumn here

2011-09-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Currently I am enjoying a three-day weekend before classes start on Tuesday. This semester I'm teaching four classes. Four different classes. I have never taught two of them and I'm making significant changes in the other two. I'm also serving on two committees and will be assigned some advisees soon. It's going to be a busy three months. I'll try to keep the blog updated every couple of weeks, but can't make any guarantees.

Last week we flew a kite with Ian. He had a great time, and even got to hold the string all by himself! Here are some photos:

Upside down boy.

Have a carrot!
Today definitely was Autumn. Some of the maple trees around here are turning red. The low temperature overnight is supposed to be 38 degrees. You can see that we dressed Ian for cooler weather.

I don't know how much longer the garden will survive, so I took a picture of one of my favorites - the borlotti beans I'm growing (in both bush and pole varieties) in the back yard. They will make a great soup if the weather cooperates!

That's all for now. Wish me luck as I endeavor to avoid working sixty hours a week for the next few months.

Ian and the garden - my two kids

2011-08-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It's been three weeks since my last update, so I have a lot of pictures and words to share. Ian is growing fast, as is his vocabulary. Who knows where he gets some of it. He's very good at describing things. For instance, yesterday he woke up from his nap and told Michelle he slept "deep." He's a lot of fun, except when he refuses to put on clothes or gets super cranky from not taking a nap. He's starting to transition out of taking naps now - he skips them about two days a week.

Let's get to the main event!

Throwing stuff in the backyard.

Ian's mom bought him a tricycle a couple of weeks ago. He likes it a lot, but his legs aren't quite able to reach far enough to pedal the thing. He sits on it and pushes himself around.

See the frog on the kale?

Ian and one of his favorite guys! I'm not talking about his dad. Thomas the tank engine came to Duluth for a couple of weekends. We didn't think he would enjoy riding on the train (nor would our wallets have received much pleasure), but we knew he would want to see it. If I don't look very thrilled in this photo, it's because Ian had given my ear a solid kick a few moments before.

We stopped for ice cream on the way back from seeing Thomas. Ian is getting better at eating and holding a cone...

Saw the local baseball team (which plays in a college summer league) on Sunday. They play in Wade Stadium, a beautiful red-brick WPA project from the 1930s. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Ian didn't understand that we were there to watch a game instead of play one. After a few innings we gave him some toys, which allowed us to stay. Occasionally he looked up.

It's the other child - a huge winter squash! This one (Rouge vif d'etamps, or "cinderella") is about fifteen inches in diameter and probably weighs twenty pounds.

The front garden. Squash and cantaloupe vines are taking over!

The back garden. I don't go down here very often - mosquitoes eat me alive unless I put on bug spray. I don't know what they eat when they don't have me to nibble. I'm probably enough to sustain them - at any given time I have about a dozen bites.

p.s. sorry, I haven't joined facebook yet. Eventually I will.

More summer pictures

2011-07-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

I am back with some more photos of Ian and supporting cast.

Before I forget, I posted a bunch of pictures of my time in the Black Hills/Big Horns. Just click on the link for "Our Shutterfly site" on the right. I think it's all family friendly. There is one picture that shows a bit of Brett's underwear (sorry Brett), but that's it.

Here we go.

Bringing in the harvest one beet at a time.

We went to the beach on Lake Superior a few days ago. The water was warm enough to swim in. We met out new friends Sarah (the new philosophy professor at UWS), Rob, and their two-year-old daughter Geneva there. Sarah got her PhD at Oregon - it's good to have a fellow Eugene person here. Ian is happy to have a new kid to play with.

Reading time.

Last Friday we went to Jay Cooke state park (they're finally open after the state government shutdown you may have heard about) for a hike. It was a nasty humid day, but we went anyway.

Ian got tired quickly. His favorite part of the hike was when I would pretend to trip over tree roots. He laughed pretty hard.

Michelle caught me in the middle of making dinner. The lab goggles protect my eyes from the noxious onion fumes. The headphones protect my ears from noxious...no, they're for music.

Nothing is better than having the kid pose with the harvest. This time, it's fava beans. Favas are one of the rare foods (like olives and raw garlic) that I like and Michelle hates. All the more for me, then.

In case you're curious, this is what our house looks like during the summer, complete with monstrous squash vines threatening to take over the entire yard. I hope they do.

Back from vacation

2011-07-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

I have come back from Mankato/Minneapolis/Rapid City/Wyoming. Actually, I got back last week, but have been trying to catch up on work around the house and garden. The garden came to life while I was gone, but so did the weeds. I'm still not caught up with those, and now that I received my copy of "A Dance with Dragons" in the mail today, I'm not sure when I will finish with those pesky weeds.

Had a great time on my vacation, but I will make a separate post on that soon. I'll include a link to all 200+ photos I took. Incredible scenery, plus pictures of Paul and Brett!

Here are some pictures we have taken of Ian since I got back.

On the way to the Greek festival (or Greek Town, as Ian and I call it) last Saturday. With that plaid shirt and those Converse, he looks a lot like me.

At Greek Town. Ignore the fat man calling you out.

With Michelle at Greek Town. It was hot and humid that day. Reminded me of St. Louis summer days.

Going from Greek Town to Napville.

Sprinkler time.

A bouquet of kale from the garden!

Ian had his first taste of popcorn tonight. He liked it a lot.

Be back soon. Look for me on Facebook soon - I am entering the waters of marketing-driven pseudo-communication when I get a chance.

Photos for your perusal

2011-06-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all - since I'm leaving town for an extended length of time tomorrow morning, I decided to post some recent pictures of Ian. Here you go. (Minimal commentary alert - I'm trying to get all my stuff to fit in my backpack while I'm doing this.)

Imagine engine noise as you view this one.

Lukah and family came over last night. She and Ian had some fun together.

Gorilla Man ate a huge banana while posing for his parents.

I'm off to Minneapolis early tomorrow, then Mankato for a night, then off to Rapid City, SD for a couple of days. On Thursday we head into the Big Horns in Wyoming for a few days, then go back to Rapid City for a while. Michelle's parents will be here while I'm gone, so Ian and Michelle won't want for company.

June post

2011-06-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

It has been a bit busy for me lately. I haven't given myself an opportunity to post here in quite a while. I'm almost done with my summer class, then after that I'm off to South Dakota and Wyoming for a backpacking trip in the Big Horns with Brett, Paul, and others. I've been wanting to go on the annual trip for several years, but haven't had the opportunity until now.

We haven't taken too many photos lately, but here are a few to liven up your day:

Ian is wearing his favorite team's hat.

We've had a few days where it was possible for Ian to be naked outside. Not very many. Between the cold weather and mosquitoes, it's hard to go outside without long sleeves and jeans on.

We made a sand box for him out of a little wading pool. He enjoys it. The mosquitoes are thick in the back yard, so we have to be careful.

Today we went to the nature center about a mile away from our house. Ian was telling us something, complete with finger gestures. I managed to take a picture of him in the middle of his speech.

Eating a snack with Mom.

Holding hands with the blog author.

Spring is here!

2011-05-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Yes, non-freezing weather is with us now. I don't think I've ever looked forward to Spring as much as I did this year. I've been busy with school, of course, but when I get home I work in the garden. (That explains the lack of posts.) Today was the last day of finals week. Just one more assignment to grade, then I can relax. Also, I get to attend my first graduation tomorrow as a faculty member. This would be exciting, but I seem to recall that graduations are boring. One of my students did invite us to a post-graduation party, so that should be fun.

It's a good thing I brought my work computer home because the cat and I conspired to destroy our home computer this morning. He knocked over a glass of water onto it, which eventually caused it to die. I managed to back up all the important info (pictures, my dissertation[!], etc.) before it kicked the bucket, which is kind of like a dying person dictating her will before letting go. Time to get a new computer, I guess.

As a consequence of not posting for a while, I have quite a few photos to share.

Eating an Easter sucker. It took Ian a couple of days, but he finished it.

Ian wanted to carry his doll, so he strapped on a pair of his mother's underwear.

At the zoo. This llama very badly wanted the food pellets we had. Ian wasn't so sure about her.

Ian is wearing his new "Papa shirt." He likes it a lot.

Mom is reading a funny line from a book. This a rare photo of the upstairs bedroom/office. Not that you can see much more than the bed.

He picked this dandelion for his mom.

Here's Ian outside the big garden in the back yard. I've spent quite a few hours back there in the last three weeks.

Picnic time in the front yard. That's cherry juice running out of Ian's mouth, not blood.

It's the friendly neighborhood sociologist grading exams on the front porch. We had such a nice morning that it seemed a crime to stay inside.

Easter

2011-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Since I last placed an entry on this blog, I developed horrible heartburn, gave up tea, am going through withdrawal (which lasts a while), have a nasty chest cold, and haven't been sleeping well. Needless to say, I feel like something the cat dragged in. With all of that in mind, I'm going to post some pictures with minimal commentary.

Eating Dad's birthday cake.

Look what the cat dragged in.

Ian loves to wear my grungy old Cardinals hat that I bought on the hottest day in 1999 at Busch Stadium. We'll have to get him a Mariners hat soon.
The zoo had an Easter event yesterday. Ian talked to the bunny and felt its fur, but wouldn't pose for a picture with it.

Ian and I built this. He did more of it than you would think.

Hunting eggs in the front yard this morning. Note the lack of snow. I guessed that all the snow would be gone by Friday the 22nd. There is a big pile of it on the north side of our house that hasn't melted yet, so it looks like I was wrong. Damn my optimism.

That is it for the moment. If you could spare a quick thought and wish for my speedy recovery, I would appreciate it. I have to teach classes and have endless meetings tomorrow.

Eric turns 37, tells kids to get off lawn

2011-04-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings, everyone. I have come back from Madison (reluctantly - I almost called Michelle and told her to pack up our stuff!), celebrated my birthday yesterday, and am ready to show you some pictures from the last three weeks.

The weather warmed up a bit early in the month. We took Ian to the local church playground, which has a great climbing/sliding structure. In the background you can see the clumsy blog author falling out of the tube.

We bought a couple of polar bears for Ian - he loves them. He used to sleep with a pair of stuffed animals. Now he sleeps with his hard, rubbery polar bears. Here they are jumping from iceberg to iceberg in our driveway (i.e., an extension of the polar regions).

A rare shot of Ian with his mom. Sorry, Michelle fans - I've been busy. Some of you might like that t shirt he's wearing. I like it because it fits.

Eating a bowl of frozen cherries. He couldn't get enough of them for one day, then I guess he got tired of them.

Garden time! Last weekend I dug a couple of garden plots in the front yard. The backyard garden plot was a boggy mess, so I left it alone. Note the absence of snow in these pictures. Amazing.

This is the partial pile of stones from the first plot. There were a couple of near-boulders in there. I started on the second plot shortly after this picture and worked about five hours on Saturday getting everything dug. I wanted to do more on Sunday, but my hands were so bruised from hitting all the rocks with the shovel and hoe that I had to wait until Tuesday to finish.

Ian shows us his shrinking belly. He's using his food energy to grow tall now instead of round.

I couldn't decide which of these to post, so I put them both up here.

I left for Milwaukee and Madison on Wednesday morning. Had a great time in both places. Got to spend some time with my friends (and kick-ass historians) Merose and Ken (who now have the blog address - welcome!), ate some great food, and stayed up far too late. Oh yeah, and I went to a conference... Anyway, when I left for Milwaukee, it was spring here. Crocuses came up in the flower patch. Almost all the snow was gone. When I woke up Saturday morning, this is what greeted me. Four inches of snow. I had to shovel the driveway on my birthday. The weather here is absolutely nuts. The cold doesn't bother me too much, but the snow...it snowed here on November 13 - since then, we've had continuous snow on the ground with the exception of the last week. Calgon, take me away.

Hope all of you are doing well. Talk to you soon.

Placeholder for the next post

2011-04-13T20:08:00.001-07:00

Dear all,

I meant to post some more pictures of Ian over the weekend, but have been too busy with other things to get it done. Right at this moment I am in a hotel room in Madison (a block away from the Capitol building!) attending yet another conference. I was going to post from here, but I forgot to load the photos onto my work computer.

I will post more photos when I get back to Duluth on Saturday.

Eric

p.s. happy 9th anniversary to Michelle and Eric!

Portraits of Ian

2011-03-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

So much for updating this every two weeks...

Hi everyone. We've done quite a bit since I last checked in here. I came back from Seattle and Tri-Cities, though I almost decided to stay. It was great to see family and friends, even if it was for too short a time. Next year that particular conference is in San Diego, so I'll have to bring along Michelle and Ian.

Speaking of those two, they were sick for a long time. Both of them caught a nasty cold that I brought home from school. It's the third time both of them have been sick this winter. Ian developed his first ear infection because of it, so he has been using antibiotics for the past week. He's almost done with them.

The weather is finally starting to take a turn for the better here. There's still plenty of snow on the ground, but it's melting at a good pace. I got some seedlings started today for planting at the end of April. We walked around the backyard and the surrounding woods, which made me remember why we bought this place - it's quite lovely back there. You (yes, you) should come here and visit us.

Picture time.

Hippie alert.

Ian likes watermelon. Notice that most of the pieces have a bite taken from them.

It's so dry here during the winter that Ian's hair is always flat. The only exception to this is right after a bath/shower. When it wasn't curling it was getting in his eyes, so Michelle took him to the haircut place a few days ago.

Caught in mid-jump. This is still pre-haircut.

He asks to wear his soccer pajamas all the time. Pre-haircut. Wait for it...

A post-haircut portrait with his father. Sometimes Ian wears pajamas all day. Last week was spring break for me, so sometimes I wear pajamas all day.

We played basketball this morning. I was "shirts" and Ian was "skins".

That's all for now. Hope you are enjoying Spring.

Ian's artwork

2011-03-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving for Seattle in a couple of hours, but I wanted to get a post up here before I take off for a few days. I'm looking forward to getting out of the Winter Wonderland for a little while, but feel a little guilty that Michelle and Ian have to stay here. I guess travel is one of the perks of being a professor, but still, I'd like to take along the family.

Here are some recent photos:

Ian and his mom having fun outside. I took this picture from the comfort of our living room. I don't play in the snow anymore.

Naked legs having fun on his dump truck.

The soap making goggles are an endless source of fun.

This is Ian's finest artistic creation to date. (We won't talk about how he wrote on the walls with a pencil.) You'll never guess what he used to make the picture: blueberries! He stamped one onto the paper over and over again.

If you're in Washington, or will be in Washington soon, it's likely I will see you at some point over the next few days. If not, well, we'll see you some other time.

Eric

Ian's favorite place in Duluth

2011-02-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I'd better put something up here or all of you will think I've abandoned the blog.

Everything's great here except for the fascist governor of Wisconsin trying to take away our rights. I talk about that all the time, though, so I won't bore you with it here. It's good to see so many people willing to take a stand against it, including some of my students.

We go to the train museum downtown pretty much every weekend, but I remembered to take the camera last week. As the title of this post indicates, it's Ian's favorite place. He talks about it constantly - he would go every day if he could. It's a very nice museum, but the trains don't change, so it gets a little old for Michelle and me. Good thing I like trains.

Michelle and Ian are on the big Milwaukee Railroad steam engine. The Milwaukee RR ran through Othello, of all places. It's why Othello came into existence in the first place. There's no other reason to go there unless you like potatoes and onions and big ugly water towers.

Standing in front of a big rotary snow plow. They have some footage of it in action - it's quite impressive as it cuts through ten foot tall drifts.

Ian and I climbed in to the biggest engine of all - the 227 steam engine. On previous visits he didn't want to go into it, but he was brave this time.

Working the controls on the 227. We probably shouldn't let him do this, but it's so tempting to pull some levers and turn some knobs.

A couple of days ago we babysat Ian's friend Lukah for a couple of hours. She did okay until Ian woke up from his nap. He yelled and ran around, which is what he likes to do, but Lukah didn't like it. She spent most of the time clinging to Michelle, but she did relax toward the end of her stay. Here they are in a happy moment sharing Ian's trains.

Here's a picture of Lukah "feeding the dog." She didn't want her broccoli, so she gave it all to Ian. He ate most of what she gave him.

Bye.

p.s. if you're going to Seattle for the Pacific Sociological Association conference next month, I will see you there! I arrive on the 9th, so if you get there early let me know - we can hang out.

Entertaining ourselves at home

2011-02-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. We've been confined to the house for the past 10 days or so - the weather's been bad (as usual) and Michelle has been sick. She came down with the flu, which turned into mild pneumonia. She's starting to feel better now, so that's good. For a while she had no energy and was running a fever for a week. I had to take a couple days off work in order to look after everyone. It would have been more, but I only have to teach one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it's at 8:30 in the morning. Needless to say, I have fallen behind at work.

Ian has kept us entertained with his antics. It was more fun to stay home with him instead of going to school. Here are some pictures from our time together.

Ian grabbed his mom's soapmaking goggles and wanted to wear them. He wouldn't keep them on for a picture, though.

"Okay, Ian, smile with teeth." I like his tie-dye/monkey pants combo.

Ian is getting blow-dried after a bath. Normally Michelle gives him a bath, then I dry him off with the blow-drier. I did double duty this week until Michelle felt well enough to bathe him. He enjoys bath time.

Ian's potty training is proceeding well. He makes a deposit every day, and we feel comfortable letting him run around the house without any pants on for a few hours. He likes to read while having a seat, as you can see. It's a family trait.

Ian learned how to play "Ring around the Rosie" at the early childhood education class a couple of weeks ago. He likes to play it with us as often as possible, even when he's naked and wearing snow boots. He said he was going to work on the school bus (like his dad), so he wanted to put on his boots. I don't know if the bus would pick him up without pants on.

"We all fall down."

Talk to you again soon.

The second semester begins

2011-01-26T16:21:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Sorry for neglecting the blog so much lately. I'm back in the classroom as of Monday, which means I'm busy for the next few months, but I hope to bring you updates here more often.

We haven't taken too many pictures lately, but we did catch Ian's antics a few times. Here are some examples.

Waiting for our order at the local pizza joint. It's not the best pizza in the world - not even close - but it's only three blocks from our house.

It took him a while, but finally he warmed up to the sled he got for Christmas. We pulled him to the hardware store and back, then up and down the driveway a few times. It was too cold for such an outing, but sometimes we have to go out anyway. Once Ian's cheeks turned purple we knew it was time to go in.

Yet more fun outdoors. One of the games that Ian and I play is throwing snow. Usually he's inside and I'm on the front patio shoveling snow. I throw snow at him, it hits the window, and he loves it. I caught him trying to throw snow at me while I was inside, so I took a picture.

Michelle caught Ian and his dad relaxing on the bed. My beard is very long in this photo - I gave it a trim yesterday. Now I don't look like a mountain man. I didn't want to trim it, but it was so itchy that it was driving me nuts.

That's it for the moment. Hope your new year has started out well.

Wishing for an end to Winter

2011-01-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

Hello all. My winter break is almost at an end. I have to start preparing my classes, finish up an article, and do a couple other things before classes begin on the 24th. All I've been doing the past few days is reading fiction and looking at gardening catalogs. I can't wait for the snow to melt and for spring to arrive. I'm sick of winter. I think we'll have to move somewhere warmer within a few years!

Ian has made a few big strides lately. He has played with other children without his parents present (courtesy of an early childhood education class [which he calls "family school"] in which we are enrolled) and, most notably, he has made a few deposits in his little potty. Toilet training begins. He seems interested on occasion, and we try to encourage his interest without being pushy about it. All in time. No hurry. He enjoys being naked, so it's easy to let him run around without a diaper on, then take him into the bathroom when the time seems right.

Here are some photos to chase away your winter blues. I'll exclude the pictures of Ian sitting on the potty - one day he'd be quite upset with me for sharing them with the world.

Michelle gave Ian her old keyboard for Christmas, then regretted it almost immediately. He's getting the hang of how it works now, but for a while all he would do is make horrible noise. When he wasn't doing that, I was playing chords using the option that kind of sounds like flatulence. Ian always asks for the "fart sound" when we turn it on.

He borrowed his mother's shoes and tracked mud all over the house.

Reading the latest bestseller with Dad.

Oh, what the hell, here's a picture of Ian sitting on the potty. Isn't he cute?

Winter break

2010-12-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hello all. Ian is sitting in my lap as I type, which makes this entry quite an effort. He wants to touch the mouse pad and type in random letters.

We had an uneventful and somewhat lonely Christmas. It was hard spending it away from family and surrounded by two feet of snow in every direction. Lately I've been getting cabin fever from being cooped up in the house all day. I am happy to have a break from the university, but it's nice to get out every day.

Here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy looking at them.

Here is a baboon that was hanging out on one of the spruce trees next to the driveway. I love seeing faces in otherwise inanimate objects, so I got a kick out of this.

Michelle and Ian next to the tree. You can't see it, but the tree leans quite a bit to one side. There wasn't much of a selection of potted trees around here.

We put Ian to work shoveling the porch.

Now you can see what our house looks like when covered with snow.

Ian thought that opening gifts on Christmas was an extension of his birthday celebration, so he said "birthday party" as I took this photo.

We braved the snow in the backyard a couple of days ago. Ian was kind enough to pose for some pictures by the shed. I tried to open the door to the shed, but the snow had drifted against the door. No luck.

This morning we took Ian to the local YMCA branch. They have an open gym for kids on Monday and Thursday mornings. I don't usually get a chance to go, but I went with Ian and Michelle twice this week. It's fun to watch him play with other kids close to his age. I'll be able to go with them for a couple weeks longer, but after that it's back to the grind.

Take care,
Eric

p.s. Ian learned how to say "See you in Hell" today. Another milestone reached!

Ian turns two

2010-12-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this on Monday, which was Ian's actual birthday, but I've had a lot to do. It's finals week in the Frozen North, so I've been designing exams and grading until my eyes bleed. I hope to be done with everything by Christmas eve, but we'll see...

Ian turned two on Monday. On the day before, his friend Lukah had her second birthday. Lukah's family invited us to a shared birthday party - all of her extended family members were there. We were going to invite some of our new friends, but there was a schedule conflict. Ian had a wonderful time. His parents enjoyed meeting some new people and watching the kids open presents. We'd like to give a big thank you to Lukah's parents and family for making us feel very welcome at their birthday celebration. Here are some photos:

Ian is drinking "Lukah's juice." If we give food and drink a possessive name, he's more likely to consume it. Usually this means a Thomas the tank engine name.

Here's Ian with the blog author and his new engine Toby. He didn't let go of the engine for a couple of days.

I'll confess that I don't understand having an ice cream cake in Duluth in December. It tasted good, though.

Eating the cake. It didn't make as big a mess as the toasted marshmallow did last night - we have no pictures of that, but fire-toasted marshmallows and zero degree weather don't mix.

Ian had so much fun that he fell asleep on the way home!
Michelle and I took about thirty pictures while we were there - we didn't get a good picture of Lukah and Ian together. Darn it.

Here we are watching Thomas. It's the only thing we watch. Currently we do not have a TV, so we use the computer for viewing any videos we may want to see.

Perhaps we should call this blog entry "Ian and his dad" - Michelle seems to be missing from all the pictures. It's strange because usually I'm the one who takes all the photos. I guess I need my moment in the spotlight too. If you want to see pictures of Michelle, you'll have to wait until next time.

Almost two!

2010-12-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Finally I'm updating the blog. It took me long enough. Now that it's almost the end of the semester, I find that I have quite a bit less free time than I used to have. Unfortunately, the blog has suffered because of this. Never fear - I have some pictures to share, even if some of them are two weeks old.

We got Ian a balloon before Thanksgiving. He loved shouting "balloon!" and batting it around. It's still hanging around, but Ian isn't as interested anymore. He still plays with it every now and then.

Paul and Lynn came up from Mankato to visit us a couple of days after Thanksgiving. We had a great time while they were here. Paul had a program on his computer that took photos with crazy effects, so we spent quite a bit of time playing around with that. I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time. (I'll spare you the photos, unless you really want to see them.) Ian enjoyed seeing Lynn and Paul as well. Here they are enduring our baby photo albums while Ian looks on.

Enjoying a morning muffin. Ian is one of those people who just likes to eat the top of the muffin.

Now he's wearing my studded leather wristband, which unfortunately I don't have much of an excuse to wear anymore. Ian looks like a prince of Hell!

Working on a sticker design with his mom. He didn't eat much of his dinner, as you can see. That's becoming a common occurrence - he'll go without eating a whole lot for a couple of meals or a couple of days, then suddenly he eats everything in sight.

Ian saw the doctor this afternoon about a minor sinus infection - she said that he is very verbal for an almost two-year-old. We knew that already. He's already saying four-syllable words and making short sentences. Every day when I come home from work, before I have a chance to take off my coat, he says "Watch Thomas with Daddy."

The little guy turns two on Monday. He's having a party a day early with his friend Lukah, who is turning two as well. I'll let you know about his fun time. It's supposed to be three degrees F on Sunday, so we'll try to stay warm.

Winter wonderland

2010-11-21T03:05:00.000-08:00

Apologies for not having posted in a while. School has kept me quite busy in the last couple of weeks. This morning I've had insomnia, so my sleep loss is your gain, I suppose. It's either update the blog or grade exams - this is much more fun.

I have a lot of pictures to post, so I'll keep the comments to a minimum.

Ian loves his new Thomas stuffed train and bedding set. Thanks, Nana and Papa! His grandparents are visiting us right now - one of the first things he told them was "Welcome to Sodor." If you have seen the show, this will make sense.

Deer in our backyard. The doe was very large - the photo is a bit misleading.

Squirrel on our front porch. She was trying to get to the bird feeder without success.

It snowed a lot last weekend. We got about eight inches. Most of it has stuck around. I took this picture when there were about three inches on the ground.

Ian enjoyed playing in the snow for the first time. It's been too cold to let him go outside for very long, if at all. The snow is crusted over now because it gets so cold at night.

Another photo of the winter wonderland we live in. These are the spruce trees in the backyard.

Self portrait of the blog author in his fancy winter coat. Supposedly it will keep me warm in temperatures as low as -40 degrees F. Hope I don't have to put it to the test!

I walked around the neighborhood last weekend after it snowed. Here's one of the photos I took of the surrounding area.

Ian and his mom having a little post-bath fun.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

New House

2010-11-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

We moved in to our new house last weekend! We signed all the papers on Friday the 28th and took over all of our stuff the next day. Thanks go out to Ken, Suzan, and Merose for their kind assistance.

Now we're in the process of getting everything put away. It's taking quite a while. Hard to get much work done when you have a little boy around trying to help. In spite of all that, we've just about got the place set up. All we need to do is put the books in bookshelves, hang up pictures, babyproof a couple of cabinets, and find a piece of furniture to fill in the huge gap in the living room.

I've posted photos of the new house before, so now I'll put up some pictures of the backyard.
Here's Ian with a snow ball. It snowed a few days before we moved in. Almost all of it is gone now except for a few spots that are always in the shade where the snow fell off the roof. The house has a metal roof, so the snow slides right off. I hope no one is standing under it when it goes!

The previous owners built a shed in the back yard. As you can see, it's surrounded by spruce trees and has some south-facing windows. We don't know what to do with it. It's too nice for a tool shed (or a chicken coop, as Michelle suggested), but it's too far from the house to be of use for anything else. If it were wired for electricity, I'd make it my summer office.

Michelle is standing next to the big garden space. It's pretty far away from the house, but I think it'll work okay. Note the high fences - these are a garden necessity because of the large number of deer that wander through the yard...

Ian is showing us some evidence of deer in the yard. He almost stomped through the steaming pile, but realized it was poop just in time and backed away. It's probably good fertilizer - I should throw it in the garden.

The sweater that Ian is wearing in this photo has a story behind it. When we first started trying to have a kid (back in 2002 or 2003), Michelle happened to see this sweater at a local second hand store. She bought it and couldn't wait to have our eventual child wear it. Well, of course, it took a little while for that child to show up. We never got rid of the sweater, though. Now Ian is big enough to wear his shark sweater that we've been holding onto ever since he was negative six years old. We knew someone would need to keep warm in the winter.

Ian loves Thomas the tank engine. The afternoon before we moved in, I set up the train table (courtesy of Ian's Nana and Papa - the actual train and track are from his Uncle Paul and Aunt Michelle) so that he could play while we got all the stuff in the house. In the past week, he has played with it for at least three hours every day. He loves it. His favorite engine is a little purple one named Lady. He asks to hold that engine whenever we go for a car ride.

That's enough for now. I will forward our new phone number and address to you as soon as I can. Wish us luck as we prepare for the onslaught of a Northland winter.

Halloween at the zoo

2010-10-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. We're doing okay in Duluth. Only eight days until we buy our house. This month has dragged on and on as we wait for closing day. We've gotten out of our lease, so we don't have to worry about paying double next month. My classes are okay (at least two out of three are - the less said about the third one, the better!), but I work too much. We'll see how it goes the rest of the year.

Last weekend we went to the zoo with Ian. They have a "Boo at the Zoo" event for a couple of days in October.

Before we left for the zoo. I like the fact that he is wearing black and has an attitude in this one.

He wore his bumblebee outfit for a few minutes, but hated wearing it. He's getting too big for it and it was a little too warm for all the extra padding. This is the only picture I took where Ian has a smile on his face while wearing the costume.

Ian refused to wear the hat for more than a few seconds. This was the only picture I could get with the full outfit.

We met KC, Leeann, and Lukah at the zoo. Lukah is dressed as a monkey. They like to give each other "knuckles," which is what they're doing here.

We took Ian to the Childrens' Museum not long ago. It seems a bit small to me, but it kept him occupied for over an hour. He kept running and running. It is in the same building as the train museum, which was of much greater interest to me. Ian liked it too, but I'd enjoy exploring it a little more when I get a chance. I like trains.

I got some new winter boots not long ago. Ian was the first to give them a try.

Bye for now, everyone.

Happy 22nd month birthday, Ian!

2010-10-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

12/13/08 to now!

Fall Colors

2010-10-06T19:07:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've uploaded any pictures of Ian. Here are some.

The little boy loves his doll. He carries her everywhere, throws her on top of leaf piles, etc. In case you're curious, Ian thinks he's a big boy now - he's trying to get through his days without taking a nap. He has succeeded on at least three occasions, including tonight. I don't know how he does it.

Here are Ian and his mom in downtown Duluth on their way to Pizza Luce. Good pizza. We even got to hear some live music, including the obligatory Bob Dylan cover. He was born in Duluth, in case you didn't know.

Walking through some leaves by City Hall. Fall came early this year, especially compared to Eugene. All the maples started to turn red at the end of August.

On Sunday we went for a hike with KC, Leeann, and Lukah. We explored the Spirit Mountain area, which is a downhill ski park overlooking the St. Louis River just outside Duluth. The fall colors were amazing! I'll show you what I mean.

The creek that flows through the area.

Approaching the lunch spot on the ski slope.

Here's a view looking back toward Duluth/Superior.

Zoomed in version of the above view. Here you get a good view of the bridge I ride across on my way to work.

Lukah and Ian having some chips. They got along pretty well.

Group shot. Lukah is hogging the spotlight!

On the way back down. Ian didn't want to go in the backpack, but he has more energy than us, so we have to keep track of him somehow.

We are buying a house

2010-10-01T16:49:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Just a quick post to let you know that we have reached a purchase agreement on a house. Our closing date is October 29. We'll be moving in the next day!

I took a few pictures of the interior. I neglected to photograph the backyard, but you'll see some pictures very soon. It's on an acre of wooded land just inside the city limits of Duluth. There's a large fenced garden plot already prepared, which decreases the amount of work I'll be doing in the spring. There's too much grass to mow, but I'll see what I can do about decreasing that. You can never have too much garden space. At some point, though, you stop being a gardener and end up as a farmer, so I'd better control my urges.

Here are some shots of the interior:

In a bedroom. You can see that the windows are all new. Much better than the ones in our apartment (which are covered with lead paint).

A bathroom. Exciting,eh?

The view out the living room window.

This bay window in the dining room will be an excellent bed for the cats.

The basement kitchenette as viewed from the family room. I guess it's more of a wet bar than anything else. If I put a dorm fridge down there I can put it under the counter, drill a hole through everything, and install a tap for my homebrew! One can dream, anyway. There is a bathroom through the far door.

I was wrong - we did take a couple of photos of the exterior. Here they are:

Now all that's left is to wait four weeks!

Come up here and see our new house! Yes, I'm talking to you.

I promise to have Ian pictures next time.

Still Busy

2010-09-27T19:56:00.001-07:00

Greetings to all. Yes, I'm still busy. I am getting used to the hectic pace now, though. Always lots to do and not enough time to get it done. In the meantime, Ian keeps growing in body and mind. He is so smart! It seems like he says a new word every time he opens his mouth. He knows so many now that we stopped keeping track about a month ago. If we say it, he tries to say it too. (Which means I have to watch what I say!) For example, one of his favorite words is "recycling". It took us a couple of days to figure out what he was saying, but we got it eventually.

Ian loves taking baths. Usually he gets one every couple of days unless he gets especially messy (e.g., see below).

He got a haircut a few days ago. We loved his long, tousled hair, but it was getting in his eyes.

It was warm enough last weekend that we took Ian to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone of his very own. He loves it, but tends to make an unholy mess.

More ice cream goodness.

Ian loves having books read to him. He'll sit with us until the sun goes down if we're reading one of his favorites. Literally until the sun goes down, as you can see here.

It's hard to eat anything around here without little Ian getting his hands into it. I was eating my cereal when he decided he wanted some too, so I sat with him while he dipped his hands in and ate his fill. He had no patience for the spoon this time.

Looks like Ian (and his parents) may be getting a new home soon! We'll keep you posted right here about any developments.

Busy

2010-09-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hello, all. The first couple of weeks of the semester have been a very busy time for me. I haven't updated the blog in a while because I haven't had much of a chance. I've been either in my office or out of town since the beginning of the month. Right now I'm at home, so I'll share some pictures with you.

A couple of weekends ago we hiked around in Hartley Nature Preserve, which is in the Duluth city limits. It was a nice area - lots of spruce, pine, and alder trees. Growing underneath the pine trees were a whole bunch of fly amanitas:
Don't eat them - they're both poisonous (severe gastrointestinal irritants, among other qualities) and hallucinogenic.

Ian enjoyed the hike quite a lot. He was so happy that he gave his mom a big kiss. He likes to kiss us on the lips.

Based on the pictures above and below, you can tell we like to dress Ian in stripes. Also, you can see here that his lower molars are just about grown in.

Last weekend we drove down to Mankato to see our friends Paul and Lynn. As a bonus, Brett and Kris were visiting them at the same time. We enjoyed ourselves immensely down there, but it was much too short a duration. Note to all of our friends: move to Duluth.

Here are Michelle and Ian relaxing on the back porch in Mankato:

They're probably looking at everyone throwing around the football. My shoulder hurt for a couple of days after that.

Brett and Kris:

I didn't take a picture of Paul and Lynn together because they never sat still enough for a photo. Instead, here's one of the blog author playing a tune on Paul's steel guitar.

I'm not very good, but at least it sort of looks like I know what I'm doing.

We miss our friends already. Pretty soon it'll be time to move back to Eugene and start the commune. Hone your survival skills and save up your money, everyone who's interested.

I just got back from a conference in La Crosse. It was a long drive and my hotel roommate snored (yes, college professors from cheapskate universities get to room with others, even if the other person is a LOUD snorer), but the conference was useful. Glad to be back in Duluth with Michelle and Ian, though.

This morning we looked at some more houses. We may have found a winner! I'll tell you more later in the process.

End of summer

2010-09-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Classes have started at the university, so I haven't had much time to update the blog lately. I try not to take any work home with me, but I fall asleep so early that I don't have much free time during the evenings. Now that it's the weekend I can give all of you a glimpse of what we've been doing.

We went to the Lake Superior zoo a couple of weeks ago. It's a pretty small zoo (especially compared to the San Diego Zoo, which we've visited multiple times), but they have some nice exhibits. Ian was very cranky for most of the time we were there - he needed a nap. I strapped him into the baby carrier and he fell asleep promptly. He went to the zoo again last week (we have a membership) and was throwing tantrums. We've had the misfortune of bringing Ian to the zoo only when he needs a nap. Note: in the background is our friend Leeann and her daughter Lukah, who is eight hours older than Ian.

Ian loves nothing more than sitting in a basket full of clean clothes.

Ian like to kiss us on the lips. I tried to take a picture of Ian kissing his mom, but he gets so distracted by the camera that he stops whatever he's doing and either poses or runs after the camera wielder.

Sitting on the front steps eating a frozen treat.

Today our real estate agent showed us a few houses. One was a clear standout. It may be the one we end up buying, which would be fine with us. We're going to keep looking, though. The prices here are so low compared to Eugene that we can afford to get a fairly nice house.

Ian has gotten tired of being strapped into his high chair for meals. Sometimes he throws a fit, like he did tonight. Recently we acquired some kid furniture from the chair of my department, so we decided to have Ian eat dinner there. He was happier. Note the artwork on the wall, which Ian co-created with his mom.

Have a happy labor day weekend, all.

First visitors & Ian explores Duluth some more

2010-08-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings once again. I suppose I should be working right now, but I don't feel like it. I'll tell you about our week instead. I spent a lot of time in workshops, and it looks like I'll be doing the same thing this week. I need to get a day planner to keep up with all the meetings, lunches, trainings, etc. that I have. I'm almost finished preparing for the first day of classes (9/3), but need to do a bit more work there. Other than that, I'm ready for the semester to begin.

Last Thursday we decided to explore the Superior Municipal Forest, which is the third largest city forest in the U.S. Don't ask me what the first two are. It's full of aspen, birch, alder, green ash, spruce, and white pines, with a very occasional red oak. Usually you'd find this mix of forest up in the mountains or in a boreal (i.e., cold weather) forest. We live in the latter.

Ian enjoyed it, as you can see. The forest has a lot of cross country ski trails, which we may use in the future. I've never skied in my life, so we'll see how that goes.

On Friday, we had our first visitors. Mark, Mara, and Quinn came down from Winnipeg to see us. For those of you who don't know them, Mara and Mark were fellow grad students at Oregon. Quinn was born in Eugene, but didn't live there very long. They stayed the night in our cramped quarters, but we ate well while they were here. We had a chance to explore the Canal Park area on Saturday morning as the heavy fog rolled in from the lake. Ian followed Quinn around the whole time they were here, which Quinn didn't like, but he would make sure that Ian was coming whenever we went somewhere. Of course, we forgot to take pictures until they were ready to leave. Here it is:
This is my first appearance on my own blog in quite some time. Now we'll have to get Michelle's passport updated soon so that we can visit them.

Yesterday morning we looked at the outside of a few houses that we might be interested in buying. We found a clear winner, so we'll have to get moving on it or else someone might buy it while we're still getting our loan amount approved. There were a couple of others that were nice, but they were a little more expensive. More on the house search later.

After the search we went to a local park along the river. There were train tracks along the water. It was obvious that no train had been on them in years, but I was paranoid, so we didn't stay on them for long.

Ian spent his time gathering big rocks, which is one of his favorite pastimes. Here he sits in peaceful contemplation of his stony treasures:

Michelle spent her time looking for frogs. We found a big green one with yellow stripes and black spots.

That's all for now.

My commute to work

2010-08-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I bought a new bike. The old one got a bit beaten up during transit. I told myself that when something else went wrong with it, I'd get a new one. I could have fixed the old one, but it would have required buying a new rear wheel rim and setting aside a bunch of extra time. It served me well for eleven years of hard use, so it and I parted on good terms.

Yesterday I put the bike through its paces by riding it to work and back. We live in Duluth, but I work in Superior, so I have to ride across a long bridge to get there. It's about five miles to school from the apartment. A long ride, but nothing I haven't done before. I haven't been on a bike much in the past year, so I was prepared to get tired.

The ride there was good fun - it took about thirty minutes to get to my office - but there was a nasty headwind on the way back. It added at least fifteen minutes to my trip back to Duluth. I was so tired when I got home that I took a nap.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Not very far onto the bridge. Lots of work left to do. It's called the Bong Bridge (hee hee!).
This is a view of the end of Lake Superior/beginning of the St. Louis River from the bridge's zenith. The rail bridge is open to allow boat traffic to pass. It's a beautiful view from up there.

Looking back toward the bridge arch. Nothing left but downhill riding!

My office from the doorway. Sorry about the blur. It's pretty roomy, even if it doesn't have much visual appeal. It is about the size of the offices of full professors back at University of Oregon. Maybe bigger. The university is constructing a new office building for the humanities and social sciences, so I'll lose my massive office next year. The new offices are quite a bit smaller, apparently.

View from the other corner. The old computer is now gone. They replaced it with a brand new laptop with docking station this morning. Also visible is my Eugene mug and a sign on the cabinet that says "Big Brother is watching you". It's left over from the previous tenant, but I like it.

p.s. I took the bike trip again today. The way home was much easier without the headwind.

Bonus! Ian pictures!

Reading with Mom after a bath. The "Trucks" book is his favorite by far. It's just pictures of trucks. He loves it.

The shirt Ian is wearing is one of the last pieces of clothing my mom gave him. One of her favorite things to do was hunt for clothes at second hand stores for her grandchildren. Ian's cousins probably have a closet full of stuff Mom got for them. She didn't have a chance to get much for Ian, but she did send us a few things.

One of these days I'll get Michelle to take some pictures of Ian with his dad. Until then, here are the two of them together again.

Bye.

Looking for fun in Duluth

2010-08-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. We are doing okay in Duluth. We've been together here for the past ten days now, which is nice. Ian has been enjoying himself. He enjoys having books read to him. His favorite is one with pictures of trucks. We didn't set out to socialize him as a stereotypical little boy, but it looks like it may be happening anyway. I won't even talk about the headbutts....

We're starting to look at houses to buy, but I think we'll have to save up a bit first. There are some really fine homes around here that are pretty affordable, so we look forward to finding one that suits our needs. In the meantime, we're stuck in our tiny apartment. The world's smallest two-bedroom place, or so it seems.

On to the pictures!

Here's Ian during his first night at his new home. This was before we unloaded the truck. I was sleeping on an air mattress (which was an improvement over the floor), while Michelle and Ian slept on the futon mattress I somehow managed to bring in from the truck by myself.

Laughing at the cat's antics.
See the dish drainer in the background? Welcome to my life the past several days. I am the designated dishwasher. We do not have a mechanical dishwasher, so I do (a lot of) dishes at least once a day. Hooray for manual labor!

Here we are in Enger Park. It's up on the big hill that surrounds Duluth. A quick note about Duluth's geography: the land rises several hundred feet (a couple hundred metres for you non-US readers) from the lakeside very quickly, then plateaus after that. I'll show you what I mean in a moment.

This is Enger Tower. Out of context, it looks like something you'd find as part of a European castle complex. Nope, it just sits on top of a hill in Duluth. It's six levels tall. We climbed all the way to the top and got a tremendous view of the surrounding area. Easily my favorite part of Duluth so far.

It was windy up there. Ian enjoyed climbing up the steps. We let him do it by himself until the last flight, which had a bunch of pigeon poop on the steps.

Here's an example of the view from the top. Here you can see downtown Duluth, the (moderately) famous Lift Bridge, and the sudden slope I mentioned earlier. It was a beautiful day to take in the view.

Ian decided he wanted to play in the fountain at Portland Square park just northeast of downtown. It wasn't really warm enough, and we weren't prepared for a water-soaked baby, but when he gets the urge, you can't stop him.

Closeup of Ian having fun! It's so close that you can see his molars coming in on the bottom.

Okay, that's it. Hope all of you are doing well. Most of you will receive soon our updated address and such. Take care.

We're in Duluth

2010-08-04T08:59:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone. We are all in Duluth now. I don't have much time for writing anything right now, but thought I'd share a few pictures of Ian from his trip to San Diego.

Next time I'll have some photos of Ian in Duluth.

We're all doing well. Our apartment here is about half the size of our (much missed) former house in Eugene, so I've spent the past few days trying to organize everything. The kitchen and the main bedroom are in usable shape. The second bedroom is a storage room. Stuff is stacked from floor to ceiling.

My office at the university is ready to go except for the computer - they should install that later this week. The office is in a converted dorm, which isn't so great. It's a huge office, though, which makes up for the location. We're moving into a new building next year, so I'll have to enjoy all the space while I can. The new offices are going to be quite a bit smaller.

Hopefully we'll get internet access at home soon so that I can update the blog a little more frequently.

Eric

My last day in Eugene

2010-07-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I haven't forgotten about this blog, but Ian and Michelle have been in San Diego for the past week. As a result, I don't have any new pictures of him. Hopefully Michelle is taking some pictures of Ian so that I (and you) can see what he has been doing.

Right now I'm sitting on the floor in our house with two cats and not much else. The moving truck left yesterday. Everything is clean. I had to sleep on the floor the past couple of nights. My air mattress sprung a leak. I went to REI and bought a Thermarest pad, but that's pretty much the same as sleeping on the ground.

I won't get to see Michelle and Ian until the 30th of this month when I pick them up from the Minneapolis airport. I miss them a lot. I talked to them on the phone last night. Michelle told me that Ian knew who he was talking to. He did say "Dada" over the phone. When I see Ian next, he'll be quite a bit different. Hope he still remembers who his dad is. I don't like being separated from him for so long.

I was able to see Brett and Kris, though, which has been very nice. I'm going to miss seeing a few other people by a couple of days, which I regret. Hope all of you have a good time in the Redwoods.

Goodbye, Eugene. For the most part, I enjoyed living here. I met some friends for life, got a PhD (which was bittersweet, but I suppose that goes without saying!), and was able to appreciate the natural beauty of the area. While I lived here I lost my former college roommate Jason in 2001 and my mom in 2009. I miss them. Sometimes I feel like Mom is with me, so I talk to her. I know that's not a very "agnostic" thing to admit, but it's true.

I'm ready to leave.

I look forward to the next period in our lives. You are welcome to visit us anytime. No matter how busy I get, I promise to keep this site updated on a semi-regular basis. I may have to turn over the reins to Michelle at some point.

Eric

Pre-move photos

2010-07-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'd better get this thing updated while I have a chance. Ian is napping; since the work I need to do involves packing dishes and taping up boxes, I have to wait until he wakes up.

Here are some photos you might enjoy.

It's been hot outside lately, so Ian gets to play with the sprinkler in the backyard. He loves being naked outside. It's hard to get him to come back in.

Ian learned how to use a spoon recently. He's not very good at it yet, as you can see.

Sounds like Ian is awake now, so it's back to packing and cleaning!

Late June

2010-06-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos of Ian - presented with minimal commentary. Been a while since I've put up an entry here. Apologies for the delay.

He enjoys looking at a photo album filled with pictures of his relatives. He's going to see a bunch of them next month in San Diego, so maybe he'll recognize them when he sees them.

Messy eater. Still hasn't figured out how to use a spoon.

Ian discovered how tasty a frozen fruit bar can be.

He liked it so much he stole it from his mother.

18 Months Old

2010-06-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Today Ian turned eighteen months old. We celebrated by going on a morning walk and letting him play in a sand/water pit this afternoon. On to the photos!

I took this picture toward the end of his nap a few days ago. Not sure how he can sleep like that.

Looking handsome, as usual.

Ian is showing off his new pajamas. We've had them for a while, but it's been too cold for him to wear short sleeves to bed. Now that summer seems to have arrived, his wardrobe is changing too.

Walking on the trail by the river this morning. It may have been the first time in world history that anyone has paired a Ramones shirt with bright orange shorts.

Ian picked flowers while his mom looked on in approval (and a constant undercurrent of concern/worry).

Time to go home! Ian's tired and ready for a nap.

Visit from Relatives

2010-06-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my dad and sister came down to Eugene to see us. They enjoyed Hanging out with Ian, and the feeling was mutual. Ian is at a very fun age right now - he loves to be around other people and will talk to and play with them all day.

Here are Ian and dad spending some quality time together.

Aunt Tami loves her nephew, and Ian loves his aunt.

A photo of three generations of Edwards men. Ian was a little tired when we were posing for this one. We'll see if we can get a four generation picture in a couple of decades. No guarantees for five generations, though. I think Dad and I may be gone by then!
Finally, we have Ian posing for his aunt's camera. He was giving us his "bad attitude" face. A future punk rocker.

Going to the Zoo

2010-05-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went to the Oregon Zoo in Portland. We'd never been there before. Since we're leaving the state soon, it seemed like we should avail ourselves of the opportunity.

We timed the drive up there with Ian's usual nap schedule, which worked out beautifully. Portland is a two-hour drive from here - Ian slept most of the way. The blog author took a short nap as well.

It was raining intermittently when we arrived. We had to wait out one long rain shower while eating lunch, but other than that, we stayed dry. Ian remembered his rain jacket, but his father forgot his. Rain jackets are for wimps (and little children), anyway.

Ian seemed to enjoy the animals on display. We have visited the San Diego Zoo on many occasions, so we're a bit spoiled, but the Oregon Zoo is pretty nice. His two favorite activities had nothing to do with the animals, however. He pushed his stroller all over the zoo. The only times he stopped pushing were when we picked him up to look at animals and when he tried to push other families' strollers. Ian has a one-track mind.

Ian had a great time playing the drums in the African savanna section of the zoo. I think I know what we'll get him for his birthday.

You would not believe what a good boy he was during the day. He only got upset when we tried to put him in the stroller when it was time to leave. Oh yeah, he threw a mini-tantrum in Powell's bookstore when Michelle wouldn't let him spin the book racks and steal books from other children. Other than that, he seemed to enjoy the trip.

Ice cream and a thunderstorm

2010-05-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hello again. We are all doing well. Ian continues to impress us with his development. He said "Hi Da" to me this weekend when I said "Hi Ian" to him through an empty toilet paper tube. Next time I'll list all the words he knows how to say. I can't find the list right now. His vocabulary is growing so quickly that it's hard to keep track of all the new things he can say.

Last Saturday we finally had a sunny day. We took Ian to the park in the morning, where he found a little friend. Ian spun her around on the merry-go-round and helped her mom on the see-saw.

Later we went to the grand opening of the new birth center. Ian got to see Patricia, the midwife, and Stacia, the doula, who were present at his birth. He spent most of his time stealing strollers and pushing them around. Thankfully there wasn't a baby in this one or we might have gotten into trouble.

After that we went to the ice cream store and got a couple of cones. Ian liked the coconut flavor.

Sunday afternoon we were talking to our neighbors when it started to sprinkle. Then it began to rain. Then it rained harder. And even harder. And harder still! Then we saw a bolt of lightning followed by an immediate clash of thunder. The storm passed directly overhead. I'm sure this is no big deal to those of you in the midwest or southeast, but we rarely get thunderstorms here. When we do, they're wimpy. This one reminded me of a St. Louis thunderstorm.

Twenty minutes after it started, here's what our street looked like after the storm:

Also known as Lake Monroe. That's what you get for living at the bottom of a couple of hills.

The Edwards family is moving!

2010-05-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again, everyone. Yes, we are moving. A few posts ago, I mentioned I had an interview at a university for a tenure-track position. It turns out that I got the job! It's at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, a public liberal arts college in NW Wisconsin right on the border with Minnesota.

We will be moving to either Superior or Duluth, Minnesota. Probably Duluth because I liked it more when I got a tour of the area. I've heard the public schools are better there too. I think we'll be okay there. Lots of lakes for canoeing, plenty of forests for hiking, we have friends there already (hi Leeann and KC, if you're reading this!), Duluth seems like a fun town, and we'll have plenty of opportunity to partake in winter activities like showshoeing and cross country skiing. Of course, it's cold as hell there during winter. I'll be fine with it, but the native southern Californian in the family may require some adjustment. Michelle was born in Minneapolis, though, so she may be able to do just fine there.

The big move probably will happen at the end of July. Until then, we have to get everything packed up and cleaned. I have a class to plan - thankfully I've already taught one of the classes I'll be teaching in the fall.

I knew about the job last week, but wanted to wait until negotiations were over and I sent in the official agreement.

While I'm here, how about some more photos of Ian?
The easiest place to take his picture is while he's sitting in his high chair eating a meal. He looks so handsome in this one.

Ian snatched the hat off my head and decided to wear it himself. That hat is so old and sweat-stained (I got it in St. Louis eleven years ago) that sometimes I don't want to wear it, let alone Ian.

Until next time!

Ian gets a real haircut and eats ice cream

2010-04-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Previously, if you recall, we trimmed Ian's mullet at home, with less than adequate results. Last weekend we took him to a professional for a haircut. Michelle had to hold Ian in her lap while the stylist cut his hair. He was so wiggly that the stylist cut herself during the procedure!

I hope all of you will agree that the haircut looks good.

Here's another shot:

Ian had his first taste of ice cream a few days ago! He loved it. Michelle made the mistake of finishing the cone - Ian saw this and cried until he got to have some of mine. I let him finish it so that he would know that it was all gone.

I have some other news, but will wait to share it until next time.

Ian goes to the park (and the blog author gets older)

2010-04-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. We've had some lovely weather recently, so we've been getting outside with the kid while we can. The rain is supposed to come back in a couple of days. This morning we took Ian to one of the local parks. I remembered to bring the camera, which allows me to share our little adventure with all of you.

Off we go!

Ian spent a long time spinning the merry-go-round.

He likes to hold his dad's hand, especially when walking on rough terrain. I love it when he holds my hand!

I made a few sand castles, which Ian decided to destroy. The good citizens of the castle complex managed to escape his onslaught.

The park we went to has a small wetland and hilly upland area. One of the nicest places in Eugene. Seemed like a good place to turn Ian loose.

Our sweet little boy loves running around, but after going uphill for a while, he got tired. We took him home after this and he fell asleep almost immediately. With his mother's help, of course.

Friday was my birthday. I am thirty-six now. For the most part, I feel younger than that, but my esophagus is about eighty years old. Good old chronic heartburn! To celebrate turning another year older, I brewed a beer last month. It is an all-grain (i.e., no malt extract) rye IPA. About a gallon was aged in a small oak barrel for a week (thanks Terry and Melanie). It turned out great. Easily the best beer I've ever made. Happy birthday to me.

Ian's Nose

2010-04-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Here I am, back from my interview. It went very well. Enough said for now.

While I was gone Ian managed to scrape his nose a couple of times. Actually, the first incident occurred just before I left, but the other happened at the park. Here is what he looked like (pre-scabbing):

Here he is with the scabs formed:
Look at that skin jerky!

The big scab came off this morning. Now he almost looks like he never had anything wrong with his nose:
I am jealous of Ian's quick healing factor. I wonder if all kids heal this quickly.

By the way, I know some of you (especially you long-hairs--you know who you are, hippies!) are disappointed that we cut Ian's hair. All I can comfort you with is that Ian's hair is a lot like mine, and mine looks really bad when I try to grow it out. He is doomed to share the same fate.

100th post!

2010-04-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I'm taking a break from some work I'm doing to bring you some long-overdue pictures of Ian. I am prepping for a job interview - since I'm flying out tomorrow, I'm trying to finish up my preparation. I count myself lucky to have an interview - this is the worst academic job market anyone has seen in a very long time. Every time I apply for a job I'm competing with literally hundreds of others. We'll see how it goes.

In other news, we had visits from Ian's grandparents (early last week) and Ian's uncle, aunt, and cousins (late last week). He enjoyed seeing everyone. Too bad it rained almost the whole time everyone was visiting - we made it to the park only twice. We like to take Ian there every day so that he can burn off his boundless energy.

Ian is growing fast, as the following picture demonstrates:

It also demonstrates that Ian loves him mommy the bestest.

We cut Ian's hair! Both of us got tired of looking at his mullet, so we collaborated on clipping the long stuff in the back.

Before:

After:
Not the straightest cut, but it'll do. I think that's the last time we give him a home cut. We'll wait for it to grow out then take him to a professional in a couple of weeks.

In this photo Ian is showing his ability to recognize pictures. Michelle drew a cat and asked Ian what it was. He said "Mao".

That's all for now.

How about some more pictures?

2010-03-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. How about some more pictures of Ian?

Can't ever see enough pictures of Ian having fun with his mom.

Now he is hanging out in one of his favorite spots - the closet in the dining room. He hides in there and peeks around the corner at us, then laughs and runs out.

Last Saturday was very pleasant, so Ian and I decided to get some work done in the garden. It was the first day of the year that allowed for the wearing of shorts and t shirts outside. He threw compost on the soil, then I mixed it in. I planted some broccoli because it's one of Ian's favorite vegetables.
Isn't he cute?

Ian at almost fifteen months

2010-03-11T15:03:00.001-08:00

Welcome, everyone, to another installment documenting Ian's life. As you can see from the following pictures, he is doing well and is receiving a lot of love from his parents. I would have had this posted a lot earlier, but the website has been misbehaving. Here goes.

Ian enjoys it when one of us reads to him. Usually we can finish only a page or two before he takes the book away. My strategy is to start reading one book, then grab another when Ian takes the first one. It doesn't work - he grabs the second book too.

We bought Ian a spoon so that he could learn to feed himself. So far he knows how to make a big mess with it. An occasional spoonful goes in.

He loves blueberries. Yet another mess-making item. Those stains are hard to get out of light-colored clothing.

Do you like his sock monkey slippers? Ian has a hard time keeping things on his feet, so he runs around with frigid toes.

Relaxing with his favorite stuffed animal.

More teeth

2010-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of Ian for your enjoyment.

Smiling cheeseball. You can't see them in this picture because it's from late last week, but he has two more teeth on the bottom now. Now he's up to four on bottom, three on top. That next top tooth will break through any day now. He does okay when he's teething. He was a little cranky this weekend, but recovered quickly.

Ian just learned that he can build with the blocks instead of destroying our creations. He is demonstrating his skill here.

The above picture is for Brett and Kris (and any other current or former Eugeneans who like pizza. It won't make much sense to anyone else.)

Eating breakfast in the sun in while wearing his teddy bear pajamas. Sadly, we had to retire those after he wore them that day - he's too big for them now. He seems to have been in a growth spurt the past couple of weeks. I can tell he's getting heavier. We'll take him in soon to get weighed and measured.

He's starting to talk a lot more. About half of his words are some variation of "daddy", like "da-doo" or similar things. He calls the computer and the TV "no". When talking to the cats, he says "mao". He can moo like a cow, woofs at dogs, whispers "ball" whenever he holds his soccer ball, tries to imitate me when I make monkey sounds, and says hello and hi, especially to Michelle when she comes home from work. And to strangers at the playground.

Spring pictures

2010-02-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

Spring came to Eugene about three weeks early, so we've been getting outside a bit more than we have in the past few months. Ian enjoys it, especially when we go to a local playground. We're lucky to have three of them within a short walking distance. None of these photos involve Ian climbing around on equipment, however.

Ian and I will go for a long walk or two today. It's supposed to be 63 degrees and sunny all afternoon. Those of you who have lived here know this type of weather isn't usual for February (it's not usual for March or early April, either), so we'll try to take full advantage of it.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures:

I took this one after I gave Ian his morning mom's milk and a diaper change. He likes to relax while holding the bottle. If I take it away too soon, he cries.

It looks like he's swimming in clean clothes. Please ignore my underwear in the foreground.

He doesn't do this very often anymore.

Eating a pancake. His teeth cut right through it! He is cutting two more teeth on the bottom row. Pretty soon he won't have a lopsided smile anymore.

Looking up at Mom on a sunny day in the front yard.

Talking and playing

2010-02-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome once again. Ian's big achievement this week is that he has been talking a lot. Not much of it makes sense, but he's trying to get out some sentences. It's fun to listen to him.

I took this one during lunch last week. I made that shirt for him about a year ago. It finally fits. He looks like a rocker. He looks like his dad.

Both Ian and the cat got some exercise here.

We went to the park along the river last weekend. Spring has come early this year - the bulbs are coming up everywhere. I even saw a willow tree getting its leaves. Anyway, we have had some sunny and warm days here and there. Ian had a great time at the park - he got to run around, play in the sand, and go down the slide, which was his favorite.

Michelle is digging a bark chip out of Ian's mouth.

Just before going down the slide. He laughed and squealed the whole way down then tried to climb back up when the trip was finished.

More slide cuteness.

One more for you that I took today. Ian was chasing after me with some of his blocks. He stopped and gave me a big smile as the camera flashed. He loves to have his picture taken.

More pictures of little Ian

2010-01-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hello all. Want some more pictures of our little boy? Here they are. Sorry I'm being so brief. My external hard drive crashed and died last night, taking with it almost all of my digital music collection and a bunch of other things. Good thing I didn't need it for backup, which was its other main purpose. Later today I will hold a ceremony in which I put on a pair of boots, open the front door, and kick the drive as hard as I can out of said door.

Here are some pre-Crash pictures:

Ian is good at sorting laundry.

Further evidence of Ian's laundry prowess. He likes to throw his mother's pajamas and underwear all over the bedroom.

We played a game a few nights ago in which Ian opened the bedroom door, said "Hi Daddy", then closed the door again. He did it over and over. And over. I took about a dozen pictures of him doing it.

I told you I took a lot of pictures of the door game.

Here's what happened when the door game was over. Time for bed, Ian!

Before I forget, I updated our shutterfly page last week. This only happens when I order photos, so if you really want to see a lot of pictures of Ian, you can check there every now and then.

Thirteen Months Old

2010-01-15T10:13:00.001-08:00

Apologies to all for not updating this blog in a while. Whenever I've felt the urge to put some pictures up here, little Ian decides he needs my immediate attention. I spend about a third of my day carrying him around the house. I've become a sort of bipedal horse.

As I said, Ian is thirteen months old now. Still healthy, happy, and mullet-topped. One of these days I'll have to trim that hair, but not now. On rainy days it shapes itself into wonderful curls.

On to the pictures...

Ian's grandparents from San Diego visited us as 2009 turned into 2010. Ian really enjoyed having his Nana and Papa around. He took to them as if he'd been in their company all his young life. Also, for the first time in thirteen months, Michelle and I were able to do something on our own - we entrusted Ian with his grandparents for a couple of hours while we went out. He's never had a babysitter before.

Little boy loves his soccer ball. Not only does he carry it around and throw it...

He enjoys kicking it! Twenty years from now, we may be saying that this is where it all began. Or not.

Last weekend we took Ian to the local elementary school playground. It was threatening to rain, so we went to the closest place. It's two blocks away. Ian had a good time climbing onto the equipment, trying to eat wood chips, and being carried across the bridge as Dad whooped it up.

Walking with Mom.

We have put up two fences to keep Ian out of the kitchen and the back rooms during the day. I place the one in the hallway off the ground a bit for the convenience of the cats. They're too lazy to jump them. A few days ago Ian discovered that he was able to crawl under the gap. The little scamp! I had to lower the fence so that he couldn't get under. Here is one of his attempts. He wasn't very happy with me!

Here is Ian with his favorite book by Dr. Seuss. He loves a particular section of the book - it says "boom boom boom", and he loves it. Before I took this picture, he grabbed the book off the shelf, sat down, turned to the page, and said "boom" over and over. I was so proud of him that I took this photo.

Bye everyone. Ian sends hugs and kisses.

The Edwards family wishes you a happy new year!

2010-01-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the dining room of our house on a gloomy, wet Jaunary 1 morning. Typical winter day in Eugene. It's a new year, though. Lots of things happened to good old me last year - I finished my dissertation and watched Ian change from a tiny baby into a toddler, which were probably the best parts of the year. Of course, my mom died in October, which wasn't so great. I miss her quite a bit. I wish she was here to see her beautiful grandson.

Here are some more pictures of little Ian.

We used to play a game called Where's Ian? I would hold up some sort of vision-obscuring object to his face, say "where's Ian?', then lower it and say "there he is!" He loved it. We still play the game, but now Ian does the action. I just say the words.

Christmas gift time! Ian has been showered with gifts this past month - his birthday and xmas are twelve days apart. He loves it.

It looks like he's falling, but he's actually having a blast rolling around in giftwrap.

We had a few people over for christmas dinner - our friends Tung-yi, Dheen, and their daughter Ela, and Cade. Ian had fun playing with Ela. He followed her around for a while, then...

They scribbled with crayons. Well, Ela drew, and Ian stole crayons from her. Not pictured: Ian tried to eat the orange crayon, which stained his teeth.

Ian and his mother in front of our tree. This is the last year I'm dragging that heavy thing inside. Must have weighed sixty pounds. It's a lot bigger than it was when we bought it in 2002. If anyone needs a nice spruce tree for their yard, let me know.

Enjoy your new year everyone! My goals for the new year are to help Ian to continue to thrive, find an academic job, and start riding my bike around town again. Sounds achievable.

Night before Xmas

2009-12-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone out there. It's been a while since I posted - sorry if you've been disappointed. Ian has been doing well since we last checked in. He has added "hi" to his vocabulary, and today I think he said "bye" when talking to his grandfather, Uncle Terry and Aunt Tami on the video phone. It was too quiet for them to hear.

A couple of days ago he made some scribbles with a crayon after I showed him how to do it. The crayon was too small for his hands, so I picked up some jumbo ones last night and put them in his stocking. Shhh, don't tell.

What else? Ian walks better than ever, he likes to move his body to music, he can go from sitting to standing without assistance, he's starting to throw balls back to us, and can follow very simple directions (like "come here") without any visual cues from us. He's a smart little boy.

On to the pictures.

Michelle likes this picture of Ian holding his soccer ball. She says it makes him look like a little boy rather than a toddler.

Ian is charging me with the ball in his hand. I told him he has to kick that kind of ball, but he'd rather carry it around.

He liked getting Christmas packages from family. He probably spent all afternoon standing on top of this one when we got it. I hate to say it, but he enjoys the boxes just as much as the gifts.

Time for a nap!

Last weekend Ian tried blueberries for the first time. He liked them, as you can see.

Coaster in the mouth.

Here are Ian, Michelle, and our young friend Ela at the bowling alley. Ela almost outbowled us, but she had the advantage of bumpers when it was her turn. Do you like Ian's pirate shoes and rainbow socks? They say "Chicago" on them. Exactly what I think of when I think of rainbows and socks (which is often).

We would like to send our best wishes to all of you. We hope that you enjoy the holidays. We'll be thinking of you.

Love,
Eric (and Michelle and Ian)

Ian's first birthday

2009-12-15T19:57:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe, but Ian turned one year old on Sunday the 13th. It doesn't seem that long ago that we took our little boy home for the first time. If you want to see what he looked like then, have a look through the December archives from last year. He's changed so much.

We took Ian to the pediatrician this morning. He weights 23 lbs 6 oz and is 29.5 inches tall. Dr. Unger complimented us on our care of the healthy and happy boy.

Ian opened his presents Sunday morning. Thanks to everyone who got him something. In this photo he's opening a gift covered with chimpanzees. It's from his Aunt Melanie, Uncle Terry, and cousins Olivia and Morgan.

As you might expect, he had just as much fun with the wrapping paper as he did with the gifts.

My dad is becoming quite a progressive guy. He got Ian a lavender and pink car. Before Ian was born we had decided that we didn't want to give him toys that were the stereotypically gendered norm (trucks, guns, gi joe, etc.). Looks like Dad is helping us out with that!

Here is one of the presents that Ian's grandparents in San Diego gave him. He loved it so much that he was destroying it, so we had to put it away. He chewed on each of the puzzle pieces until the paper on front began to disintegrate. He then ate the paper.

Both Michelle and I were too busy during his party to take any pictures, but I assure you that a good time was had by all. Quite a few people stopped by to wish Ian well and we all sang Happy Birthday to him. I blew out the candle before he (or any of the other youngsters gathered around him) could get burned.

Due to the lack of party photos, here are a couple others that might provide some entertainment for you:

Guess what I'm doing!

Bed head.

Reading with Dad before bed.

11.5 months old

2009-12-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I have a cold, so I'm going to try to keep this short. We got back from my brother's place a couple of days ago. Had a good time with his family, my sister, and my dad. We played a lot of Apples to Apples and Wii Sports Resort. We did manage to leave the house a couple of times. We used the playground equipment at the local elementary school and played a game of kickball. Of course I forgot the camera both times. Michelle and I did take a few other pictures, though.

On the way to Tri-Cities. We stopped so that Ian could get a break from the chair and have a drink.

We almost forgot to light Michelle's birthday pie. That's what you get when your birthday falls on Thanksgiving.

Ian and his cousins Olivia and Morgan.

Ian can walk! He gets better at it every day.

Michelle decided to wear the same shirt as the little boy.

Hanging out with Grandpa.

I took this photo yesterday. It was cold out, so I had to bundle up Ian. It was his first time wearing shoes!

Ian is walking now...

2009-11-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

...but I have no pictures of it. Since Wednesday he's been taking two or three steps before reaching his destination or falling down. Quite the accomplishment for the little guy. Now he is no longer a baby, but a toddler.

I do have other pictures of the little cutie to share. In the one below he is reading his favorite book. He'll sit next to the bookshelf and look at it for minutes at a time. I've had to repair several of the pages because Ian pulls it apart. It's not a board book, and I probably shouldn't let him have it unsupervised, but he enjoys it.

No explanation needed for this one. Just a happy little boy. Those three teeth make him look like a jack o' lantern.

Ian likes to hold his arms up in triumph, as you can see here. He is in the midst of conquering some peas.

Hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday. Ian will get to see his grandpa, his aunts and uncle, and cousins Olivia and Morgan. Michelle and I aren't looking forward to the drive, but we've done it before and survived. Driving long distances with an infant is not fun.

Eleven months old

2009-11-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Ian turned eleven months old two days ago. It's hard to believe that the time since his birth has flown by so quickly. But it has! These pictures will give you a chance to see what a big boy he's becoming.

Getting a kiss from his dad. This happens often.

He's wearing his first pair of big boy pants in this photo. You can't really tell, but he's wearing a turtleneck shirt as well. Looking very 1970s.

Ian is very proud of his accomplishments, as are we. Ian currently is working on standing on his own. So far, he's done it four or five times. He'll be walking on his own very soon.

I just took this one. Sorry about the image being upside-down. Not sure why it's doing that. As you can see, Ian got two flu shots this morning - one for the seasonal variety and the other for H1N1. Since it's his first exposure to flu he has to get the vaccines again a month from now. He handled it pretty well. He only cried for a minute afterward, then fell asleep in the car on the way home. Michelle did okay too. We learned after Ian's first immunization that I should be the one holding him. Michelle was crying just as hard as Ian that first time.

We'll be seeing my family in Kennewick for Thanksgiving. There should be one more post before we leave. Take care until then, everyone.

Halloween Ian (plus a few thoughts about Mom)

2009-11-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I have a few more pictures for you tonight. There are a couple of Ian dressed up for Halloween and a couple more showing how he's doing.

We bought Ian a fancy toy (see background), but he likes the cans we use to weigh it down just as much as the toy.

Ian can walk with assistance now. He's been doing it for two weeks. He takes a step or two on his own but falls down quickly. Today he walked with me while I held one hand only. That was after we played in the leaves at the park. I'm very proud of our little walker.

Here's Ian all dressed up for Halloween. Whenever we put a hood or a hat on his head, he pulls it off in five seconds. We've outsmarted him by getting hats that we can tie or velcro!

I can't resist putting up another photo of the World's Cutest Baby. His grandma would have loved to see these.

----------------

Speaking of Grandma: I just wanted to share a few things about my mom. Most of you never had a chance to meet her; those of you who did may not have known some of what I will write.

-Mom was the second of ten or eleven children. She was a twin. Her brother died. He didn't survive long after birth. Mom was the one who was expected to die, but obviously she didn't.

-Mom had an Oklahoman accent, even though she never visited that state. She was born in Bakersfield, California, to farmers who migrated there along with their families during the Depression. If you've read The Grapes of Wrath, you know who I'm talking about.

-She spent a lot of her childhood working. Mostly she looked after her younger siblings: kept them out of trouble, cleaned up after them, cooked for them, etc. Also she worked in the Oregon bean camps during summers along with the rest of her family. She hated lima beans, which is what they picked.

-In her teens Mom moved to Washington state with her parents. I think she resented her lack of a normal childhood, which led to strained relations with her folks at this point. They didn't get along very well until Mom brought forth grandchildren. I still don't think they got along well after that. But that was over thirty years ago, so it doesn't matter much now.

-Because of her home responsibilities, Mom had to drop out of high school. Her own children got away with having to do very little around the house (for better or for worse) because of the hard work my mom had to do as a child.

-Mom met Dad through their mutual friends Clint and Barbara. Mom got drunk the night they met and spent the night wrapped around the toilet. (Sorry Dad, I had to tell.) I guess she made a good enough impression, though. In order to save Mom's reputation, I will state that she never drank for at least the past thirty years except for a sip of beer, which was followed promptly by a "Yuck"!

-Mom and Dad got married in Moses Lake, Washington on October 24, 1969. For those of you doing the math, Mom died six days before their 40th anniversary.

-I never saw my parents argue or fight, though I'm sure they had their disagreements.

-Mom had a couple of miscarriages before my sister Tami showed up in 1972. She told me a few years ago that she wondered what her other children would have done if they had made it.

-She also miscarried between Tami and me.

-I came in 1974 and Terry followed in 1975. I wrote this because Mom would have wanted me to put us in.

-She stayed at home with us for a number of years. In the mid 80s she started to work outside the home as a housekeeper at a local motel. We got to swim in the pool.

-It was at this point that she learned to drive. Dad taught her. After teaching Mom, I think Dad was through showing people how to drive. I seem to remember that they had several hair-raising experiences while driving around. My siblings and I were more or less on our own when learning - Dad pretty much stopped giving out lessons.

-After leaving the motel industry, Mom did housekeeping for the local nursing home. She left that job after a couple of years because she couldn't advance to a new job there.

-Mom worked at a fancy snow cone stand in the summer of 1993. I liked that summer! I mention it because it was her last paying job.

-My folks moved to Spokane in 1996 after the place my dad worked shut its doors. Mom wanted to be closer to her children; we were all living there (or near there) at the time. Terry moved away the following year, I left in 1999, and Tami went to Seattle in 2003. So much for being close to the kids.

-In November 2001 Mom quit smoking. Just like that. We were all very happy when she did.

-The one thing that Mom liked most about living in Spokane (aside from being close to her kids) was living in her very own house. Before then, we had lived in a double-wide trailer in Othello. She wanted a real house, though. Mom took a lot of pride in that place; she decorated it with all of her creations, collectible ceramic creatures, miniature teapots, and all the other random things that Mom loved. The downstairs bathroom was my favorite. When they moved in, Mom thought it needed sprucing up, so she painted a mural on all four walls.

-I think she was ready to leave when they moved to Moses Lake last year. Mom had lost a great deal of mobility, so the stairs were becoming unsafe for her. Plus she missed her family in Moses Lake. My dad had to move there for his work (which proceeded to lay him off this year, but that's another subject), so off they went.

-Mom got to meet her grandson Ian this April when she and Dad visited us in Eugene. She saw him again this June when I graduated. I know that she loved him a great deal.

-She was looking forward to seeing all of us this Thanksgiving. I guess you didn't quite make it until then, Mom.

-I talked to Mom on the phone about five days before she passed away. The last thing I said to her was that I loved her. I miss you, Mom. Rest in peace.

Wow, that was a lot more than I thought I was going to write. I guess that's all for now.

Eric

Ian the almost-toddler

2009-10-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

We're back from Moses Lake and have plenty of photos to share. Despite what the rest of us were going through, Ian progressed rapidly at Dad's house. The new environment and different people must have challenged him. He is almost a toddler now; he walks with assistance, makes rudimentary hand signals, and will not eat pureed food unless he's really hungry.

I'll write a bit more about Mom at another time. Right now we'll look at some lighter moments.

Here he is with Grandpa. Ian was spinning Dad's chair, which was very cute.

We had a gathering last Friday afternoon in honor of Mom. Two kittens decided to crash the festivities. They received lots of love from all of us. Michelle fed them some turkey. To no one's surprise, the kittens were back the next day. I don't know if my dad plans on feeding them (probably not), but they'll continue to harass him for some time.

Ian loved them.

So did Ian's cousins Olivia and Morgan.

We left Dad's house on Saturday. In order to shorten our drive the next day (and to spend more time with them), we stayed the night at my brother's place in Kennewick. We saw my friend Jon from Othello, who I haven't seen in several years. Ian got to have more fun with his cousins. Here he is with Olivia. Looks like he's tickling her, but I think he decided to attack.

I took this last picture just a little while before posting so that you could see what Ian looks like at this exact moment. Notice that he likes to eat his hand with his dinner. He told me to say hello to all. I wish he had a chance to get to know his grandma, but I guess the only way he'll know her is through what we tell him about her. He'll get to sleep under the quilts she made for us, which is close enough to a hug.

Very sad news - be back soon

2009-10-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

My mom passed away earlier today. It was unexpected, so it's quite a shock, to say the least. I'm dealing with the news as well as I can, which is not very well. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning to be with my dad and the rest of the family, so the blog is on hiatus until I get back.

I know you'll be thinking of us. Please send good thoughts to my dad while you're at it.

Hope to be back in a week or so.

Eric

Little Ian the Dress-up Doll

2009-10-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Now that it's October, the weather has turned a little cool. That just means that Ian gets to wear a wider assortment of clothes. He's our little dress-up doll.

Ian is doing very well. He just finished with a minor cold, but other than that he's quite healthy. He keeps me on my toes when I watch him by myself while Michelle is at work. Ian is good at using the furniture to walk around the living room. He'll be walking by himself before too long.

He likes to play with the wedge I put under my pillow to combat nighttime heartburn.

We went for a walk on a cool day last week. We got to use one of his hats we had in storage for a few months - a beaver hat! Thanks Mark, Mara, and Quinn.

Falling asleep with Dad. He likes to listen to punk rock and heavy metal (at low volume) as he drifts off to slumber. Right now his favorite is Diamond Head, but he'll listen to anything as long as I know most of the words.

You can tell that I like to have Ian pose with the harvest. These potatoes were a surprise gift from the compost pile. I knew that some were growing in there, but I was amazed by the size and number of the tubers. Welcome to potato country.

Picking apples

2009-09-29T18:36:00.001-07:00

I'm back again, even though I posted already this morning. I'm in the middle of writing an article - my goal is to have it done by Sunday night so that I can submit it as part of my applications for professor jobs. This is more attractive to me than writing about serious things right now, so here I am.

We went to an orchard to pick apples earlier this afternoon. The weather turned sour today, but we decided to give it a try anyway. It was raining hard at times before we got there, but the clouds parted long enough for us to pick thirteen pounds of apples. The orchard wasn't organic, but they only do minimal spraying, so we were okay with it. For some strange reason, there doesn't seem to be a you-pick organic apple orchard near us. Everything else is organic, so who knows.

On to the photos!

Ian fell asleep just as we were pulling up to the orchard stand. His mean parents woke him up shortly afterward.

We found a little apple for Ian to play with as we picked our fill.

Riding on the blog author's shoulders again. Note that today was the first day I haven't worn shorts in about four months. Goodbye, warm weather.

Whee, that was fun! As soon as we finished picking apples, the rain started again. Good timing.

Now it seems that Ian has come down with a cold. He took a nap this afternoon and woke up sniffling and coughing. He probably caught it at a birthday party for our friend Beth that we attended last weekend. Lots of little kids running around, passing germs back and forth. I'd better get that article finished soon - I'm next in line for that virus, I'm sure.

Ready for Fall

2009-09-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

We're back with more pictures of your favorite grandson/nephew/son of friend/sweetheart. The weather here in Eugene has retreated from summer warmth and toward the iron gray skies of autumn. My favorite time of year. It's especially nice because we can dress Ian in a larger number of outfits. He's our little dress-up doll.

This photo is pre-Fall. Cute baby smiling. Not much else to say. You can see that his two bottom teeth have been in for a while. Two top teeth have made an appearance as well, but after a day or two of protruding past the gums, they retreated! Not sure why. I hope they come back eventually.

Closeup! Looks like we carved the pumpkin early this year.

Playing with his new toy. You can see in the background the wall of boxes and tape we constructed to keep Ian off the fireplace bricks.

Yesterday we bought Ian a new shirt. Pairing it with some overalls we found for him a couple of weeks ago produced the cutest outfit on the world's cutest baby. Here are some examples:

Posing with some wipes after a diaper change.

By the way, I updated our Shutterfly page a few days ago (minus the naked baby pictures). See link on the right if you're interested.

New Ian Post

2009-09-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ian turned nine months old on the 13th. We took him to the pediatrician the following day. According to the doctor, Ian is a very healthy little boy. He weighed 22 lbs 8 oz (76th percentile); his height was 28 inches (48th percentile). Here he is with an unidentified well-wisher:

The squash from my garden is now ripe. I hope. Ian told me that he wanted his picture taken with the produce. Here's the boy with the Carnival squash (and one solitary butternut):

Now he's hanging out with the banana pink jumbo squash. He looks like a little farmer in this one. At least one of those is going to be turned into baby food, which is why he looks so pleased. Squash is one of his favorites so far.

Counting down to Ian's nine-month birthday

2009-09-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Ian will be nine months old on Sunday the 13th. Here are some photos that illustrate how old he's getting. He looks less like a baby and more like a little boy every day.

The organic farmers around Eugene grow the best cantaloupe I've ever had. Ian enjoys it too. He didn't get to eat the whole thing, just a few thin slices.

This picture probably needs no explanation. Oops! We have some more good naked pictures of him, but you have to come to our house to see them.

If you've seen my face when I concentrate, you'll learn that sticking your tongue out is inheritable.

A cute thing that Ian does now is crawling to us and letting us know that he wants to be picked up. I caught him in the act this morning.

You can see his two bottom teeth pretty well here. He has one on top that's coming in. We saw it a few days ago, but it disappeared! I assume that the gums swelled up around the tooth, but am not sure. Maybe it was our imagination.

Ian says hello to all of you and wants to see you (or see you again) soon.

Our first post-birth trip to the forest

2009-09-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone. We went out to the woods this past weekend. We found an easy hike that we hadn't done before - it is called Sweet Creek Falls, which is about ten miles south of Mapleton. (Ten miles from the Oregon coast, for those of you not familiar with the area.) It was a beautiful day and a wonderful hike. The creek was full of small waterfalls and pools carved into the solid rock. Here are some photos we took:

Ian is reaching for a fern while we were taking a break. Michelle tried to nurse him in this peaceful spot, but the sound of the waterfall kept distracting him.

Ian needed a dip in the water to cool off.

Here is the waterfall:

To take this picture I had to scramble across a bunch of boulders in the river bed. I love doing that!

On the way back we saw a very large garter snake. Unlike every other snake I've seen, this one refused to move off the trail when we walked by. We enjoyed the hike quite a bit - we'll have to go out again soon.

Ian knows how to use his pincer grasp. He's been eating small bits of soft food, including o-shaped cereal. Here he is in action. Notice that he is using his left hand. He seems to prefer the left so far.

Cute Ian is all grown up now

2009-08-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I haven't forgotten about the blog. Here are some new pictures of our little boy.

Last weekend we went to the Lane County Fair. We hadn't been there since we've lived in Eugene, so we thought we might check it out. It was only $5 each, which helped sway our decision to go. It was fun, but the fair in the rural county where I grew up was better. Ian seemed to enjoy himself. He occupied his time by looking at people and other animals.

Ian and his mom really liked the pigs. There were a couple of big sows nursing their small horde of piglets. I don't know if you, the reader, have been around pigs much, but they're nasty. Stinky. I would have hurried past if Michelle and Ian were not fascinated by them. I took a picture of the nursing pigs, but I'll spare you. Poor little things are going to end up in a mass production feedlot and slaughterhouse anyway.

Everyone liked the rabbits!

Yesterday we noticed that Ian's first tooth has begun to emerge from his gums! A very exciting development. We'll have pictures once it becomes visible when he smiles. It doesn't seem to be bothering him yet.

This picture shows what he's been up to lately. He climbs on everything he can. Our laps, the couch, chairs (see above), the fireplace (yikes!), the range top, the open toilet, the beehive...if he can reach it, he'll pull himself up.

Ian is eight months old

2009-08-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Ian turned eight months old. He got measured at WIC yesterday - he is 27.5 inches tall (40th-50th percentile) and weighs 22.0 pounds (about 85th percentile). Weight gain is slowing down. Here is what that looks like:

Taken this morning. He woke us up early with a wet diaper and some gas.

He's a fun little baby. Like I said last time, he loves to crawl around and pull himself up using the furniture. He's a little faster now and a little better at climbing all over everything.

Short post this morning. I'm tired.

Crawling and Standing Up

2009-08-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

I would have made a blog entry sooner, but I've been on the disabled list with a sore back. Sharp, shooting pain in the lumbar area. I had to stay in bed all weekend. I probably should have been in bed Monday, but there was too much to do. I'm in charge of most housekeeping stuff, so our house turns into a pig sty if I am unable to do my usual activities. Since my back is feeling mostly better, I'm able to catch up now. I should be doing dishes, but I'll save those for tomorrow.

Last week it got really hot here. Tuesday and Wednesday were both 106 degrees, which is unheard of in the Willamette Valley. Our normal high temperatures during summer might be 95 or so. To escape the heat we went to the coast on Tuesday and to a motel room the next day. It was just too hot in our house for poor little Ian. And poor Mom and Dad.

Our time at the coast last week was very pleasant. Florence was about 75 degrees and sunny, while the beach was too cold and windy to tolerate for very long. Here are Michelle and Ian on the beach:

Here's Ian by the Florence harbor. Watch out, there's a pirate on the docks!

As I indicated in the post's title, Ian is quite mobile now. He crawls well and is able to climb on low objects and/or use them to stand up briefly. He loves the fireplace, much to our horror. I caught him climbing on to his favorite place just a couple of hours ago:

We're thinking about getting a gate to keep Ian away from there.

Sometimes Ian dresses like a big boy. Except for the diaper. Nana bought him a new shirt - I think he looks pretty cool in it.

The shirt is sized for 12-18 month-olds, if that tells you how large Ian is. One week ago he weighed 21 lbs 12 oz.

Final note: last week we said goodbye to Philip and Genevieve, two very good friends we made while living here. Philip got a teaching job in Crescent City, California. Right in the middle of the redwoods. Good luck, you two. We'll be seeing you soon.

Ian's vacation, Part 2

2009-07-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm back with more pictures. It's hot here in Eugene, and it's going to get hotter over the next three days. Over 100 with a bit of humidity. Forgive me if the heat makes my words brief.

Ian was baptized on Friday the 17th of July. It was a very nice ceremony. The godparents, his Aunt Stefanie and Uncle Stephen, were there. His nana and papa (grandparents to you non-Italian people) invited several of their friends to celebrate the special occasion. Here are a couple of pictures:

Here is the whole group at the beginning (minus Papa, who is taking the picture).

Mom is giving Ian a blessing.

Stephen is gouging out his eye.

Now for the water. Thankfully it didn't burn!

Proud Mom and ambivalent Dad reflect on the moment.

Ian, parents, godparents, Fr. Jim, and shy cousin Hannah.

By the way, Ian was a great little traveler. On the way back, he slept during the entire two-hour flight from San Diego to Portland. He had a small meltdown on the car drive home, but it had been a busy day.

When we got back, we were amazed at the size of the winter squash plants. Here we are next to the big acorn squash:

Farewell for now. I think we'll head to the coast tomorrow or Tuesday to escape the heat.

Ian's first vacation, part 1

2009-07-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

We came back from San Diego on Monday. Had a good time there. I'll put up some pictures and provide a little bit of narrative about the journey.

These are in rough chronological order.

It was hot in San Diego. The sun is stronger there than in Eugene, so we had to keep Ian cool. One way was to put his naked little body into a wading pool in his grandparents' backyard. I think he liked it, but I'm not sure.

The next day we went to the beach. The water was cool but swimmable. I went out as far as I could and floated on the swells. Michelle said I looked like an otter. Ian played a little bit in the surf, but mostly stayed in the sun-blocking tent.

So many pictures to choose from. Here's one with his mom. Do you like his little uv-protection outfit?

And with me. One of the few photos of me looking cool.

Nice closeup of the little boy. I don't think his little body saw a single ray of sun that day.

Last Friday Ian was baptized. I'll have photos of that event later. Afterward we went out to eat. So did Ian. I captured him engaged in one of his favorite pastimes. This is one of the few breastfeeding pictures of Michelle and Ian that I can share with everyone.

Last thing for today. Ian started to crawl while we were in San Diego. Before that, he had been pushing himself along with his arms and feet. Now he uses his knees. Ever since we got back to Eugene we have been babyproofing the house so that the little scamp doesn't hurt himself. So far so good.

More pictures very soon.

Our last visit to Ian's place of birth

2009-07-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we took Ian to the Birth Center. Sadly, it closed its doors later that week. Its parent hospital thought it was too far away from the new hospital to be viable, so they are not going to use that site any longer. Supposedly they will open up a new birth center close to the new hospital next year, but who knows. In the meantime, the midwives, nurses, and staff will keep all of the services going at the downtown Peacehealth location - except for labor and birth. You have to go to the hospital for that now. Good thing Michelle had Ian when she did - we would have been disappointed with that option.

Here's the outside of the birth center. It's a wonderful old home that they converted into the birth center.

This is the room where Ian was born. Here's the bed Michelle used to deliver him.

We used this scale to weigh tiny Ian when he was born. He was eight pounds then. Now, as you can see, he's 21 pounds 3 ounces.

A rare photo of all three of us. We will miss going to the Birth Center. Thanks to all the wonderful people who worked there!

Now for a few photos unrelated to the center. Ian has discovered that there's another baby in the house. The baby shows up only at certain places.

He loves playing with his wood blocks.

Our friend Hannah had fun tying a napkin around Ian's head. We all enjoyed the results:

That's all for now. Normal service will resume next week. The family is going to San Diego so that everyone there can see Ian. The little guy is getting baptized as well.

New Car

2009-07-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

We have a new car now. Last time, if you recall, I told you that our old car had been hit by a darn fool. The darn fool's insurance bought it after it was declared a total loss. Now we have another Toyota Corolla, only this one was made during this century. Shiny tan color. A very nice car. Allow our two models to demonstrate:

So easy to use that we let Ian get behind the wheel.

What's that? You want to see more pictures of Ian? Here you go!

I like the starfish on his butt.

Sleeping hippie baby.

Ian's First Baseball Game

2009-07-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all. We've been keeping Ian busy with various activities. He is getting good at scooting around. He had his first fall off the bed a couple of days ago - good thing we put the mattress on the floor a few weeks ago! Poor little guy went head first off the bed. Eight inch falls do no damage, thankfully.

Not much going on here right now. Oh yeah - we managed to turn our car into a "total loss". Some fool on a cell phone rear-ended Michelle as she was coming home. Caved in the trunk. Since our car is a 1995 Corolla, the damage essentially was greater than the value of the car. It's a shame because it's a perfectly functional car, except that it has a big dent instead of a trunk. Now we have to get a new car. With luck, it will last fifteen years as well. Or at least until all the oil is gone and we live in a post-Apocalyptic Hell-on-Earth. But that goes without saying.

Ian went to his first baseball game. We took him to see the local Emeralds square off against the Everett Aquasox. He managed to sit with us for over two hours before getting tired of it. We walked him around for a bit until he was ready to sit down again. He didn't fall asleep until we were almost home. Ian was awesome!

Here he is with the blog author and our friends Cade and Eva.

Other than that event, Ian has been playing for longer and longer periods. Here he is looking especially cute and alert:

Until next time.

Deer Invasion, Part II

2009-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ian is moving around quite a bit now. He'll be crawling as soon as he's strong enough to get his big abdomen off the ground. For now he has to slide and push. Here's a couple of pictures of the little boy in action:

He's taking a break from play to pose for the camera. Ian loves having his picture taken.

Uh oh, he's heading for the door! Good thing he's not tall enough to operate the latch.

Earlier last week we had an invasion from the wooded hills around Eugene. Four male deer decided that our backyard was a great place to relax. This was surprising - aside from the ones we saw earlier this year, we haven't encountered any deer in the neighborhood for about four years. I haven't bothered with deer fencing for our garden for the same length of time. Oops.

Taking a hard-earned rest under the magnolia tree in our backyard. These four black-tailed deer are pretty big. As you can see, they've got some large antlers. I wasn't too confident about shooing them out of the garden if they decided to get a snack.

A closer view. This was taken through a dirty window, so the quality isn't great.

After we took these photos, they wandered through the garden and sampled the kale, lettuce, and some wildflowers. Earlier they had munched on some tomato leaves growing in containers. At least they left the winter squash alone.

Here's one more of Ian. Like the deer, he's an Oregon native.

Adventures with Solid Food

2009-06-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Since Ian has turned six months old, it's time to start feeding him something other than breastmilk. Hooray for Michelle and Ian for breastfeeding exclusively for six months! If you read my dissertation, you'd see why I'm cheering.

So far, Ian has been an enthusiastic solid food eater. He opens his mouth wide and tries to help by grabbing the business end of the spoon and shoving it in. We started feeding him on Sunday - we give him a small amount of food at about the same time as our dinner. The first three days were rice cereal. Today we tried his first vegetable: spinach!

Here are some photos from the rice cereal feedings:

Now for the big mess!

It looks like he's wearing it, but some of it actually did find its way into his mouth. He loved the spinach. It was mixed with mom's milk, which makes it creamed spinach. Who doesn't like creamed spinach?

The Blog Author's Graduation (and Ian turns six months old)

2009-06-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

I have had my diploma for a couple of months now, but last Saturday the university held its graduation ceremony. My family came from Washington (Seattle, Kennewick, and Moses Lake, to be precise) to witness the spectacle. Since I was the first person who walked across the stage, I hope they weren't too bored sitting through 200+ sociology undergrads getting their diplomas. It's good that I went first because my brother's girls got to go outside after that.

Lots of pictures this time.

Here we are - a rare picture of all three of us together. My hood is on upside down, in case you're interested. Velvet goes on top.

My parents and I pose with a fire engine. At this point I was sweating profusely underneath that heavy gown. I don't know why they make us wear such things in June.

Olivia got her Ph.D. too.

All three of my parents' grandchildren. Olivia (7.5), Morgan, (3.5), and Ian (0.5). Morgan did not want to participate in picture taking, as you can see.

This is my sister, my brother, and me. What a handsome bunch.

My dad and Ian. It's hard to separate those two when they're together.

That's all for now. I have more pictures to share, including those from Ian's first non-breastmilk meal. We started him on solid foods yesterday, so it's an exciting time for the little guy.

Yet more pictures of Ian in overalls

2009-06-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

Due to popular request, we dressed up Ian in overalls and took more pictures of him. I didn't think anyone wanted to see photos of my boring old garden anyway.

Here he is!

Maybe I should wear overalls.

Not an overalls picture, but still cute.

He's playing in his "Rainforest Jumperoo", donated graciously by cousin Hannah. He loves it...for about five to ten minutes at a time. If I have to hear that elephant sound once more, I might snap! I get the jumper's little song stuck in my head, so if you hear me making random elephant sounds the next time you see me, that's why.

A big baby

2009-06-02T09:47:00.001-07:00

With bonus garden pictures!

Here is our boy. He's getting larger, as you can see. We think he's preparing to make another growth spurt in height.

On Sunday we went to the Cascades Raptor Center here in Eugene. They have lots of birds of prey that were injured in the wild. We got a close-up look at a lot of birds, including this bald eagle:

I only took a few bird pictures. Wildlife portraits, particularly of those in cages, tend to be on the boring side.

Ian slept for most of the two hours we were there, but woke up as we were ready to leave. He was hungry.

Speaking of Ian, he just woke up. The garden pictures will have to wait until next time!

More fun at the park

2009-05-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello again, everyone.

Last Sunday we went to Alton Baker Park in Eugene to hear Michael Franti and Spearhead play at the ampitheatre. Instead of buying tickets, we (along with Philip and Genevieve) listened outside the gates while enjoying a picnic dinner. Here are some photos from the day:

Here is Ian with Uncle Philip and Aunt Genevieve. Do you like his tie-dye?

Another one with Philip. I guess I should say that Ian is posing with Dr. Philip Mancus, PhD. Philip successfully defended his dissertation on May 20. Way to go!

Ian and Dad (i.e. Dr. Eric M. Edwards, PhD). Oh noes, there's a monkey on my back!

Ian and some lady. Just kidding--it's his mom!

We had to leave before Michael Franti started. It was past nine, which is past Ian's bedtime. He was getting cranky and cold, so we started walking to the car. As soon as we got halfway there, Franti came onto the stage. Of course. Too bad we missed him--Michelle really enjoys his music.

Bye for now.
Eric

Warm days in the backyard and the park

2009-05-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Ian is taking a nap, which means I get to do other things. Here are some more photos to share. Some were taken in the backyard, others in one of the local parks along the Willamette River. All feature a certain cute boy. Caution: partially naked baby alert.

He loves that soccer ball.

Nap time (on his favorite pillow!)

Hope you enjoy these photos. Ian is a smiling, laughing ball of baby fat and fuzz right now - we're having a lot of fun with him.

Happy fifth month birthday, Ian!

2009-05-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Our dear boy has turned five months old today. We had him weighed at the Birth Center yesterday. Looks like his growth finally has slowed. He weighed 18 pounds 11 ounces, which is less than one pound of weight gain in one month. I could tell he's been gaining less - my back has hurt less lately.

In case you're wondering, this is what a five-month-old boy looks like (posing with his mom):

He loves his new soccer ball. As you can see, he is able to sit with a little help from the pillow. It's an exciting time to be Ian.

Bye.

More wildlife in our backyard

2009-05-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Last weekend Ian had his first illness. He had a mild cold. It didn't seem to bother him aside from some difficulty breathing through his nose. We thought that it might be seasonal allergies, but then I got sick on Monday. It's pretty mild, but it limited me to about three hours of sleep last night. If I had an out-of-home job, I'd call in sick. Can't take time off when looking after a child, though. Thankfully Ian decided to take a morning nap. I should be taking one too....

I thought you might like to see the flicker that's taken up residence in the maple tree in our yard. It probably has some eggs in there. Flickers are one of our favorite birds - if you see one in flight, you'll know why. Also, they have a distinctive cry. If you don't know anything about birds, think of flickers as a type of woodpecker. They're bigger than a robin or a blue jay, but not as big as a crow. Last summer we saw a pileated woodpecker at Mt. Pisgah (a park not far from Eugene), which was as big as a crow. Michelle's the one who knows about birds - she should be writing this. Click on the photo to make it larger.

It's finally sunny today after what seems like weeks of rain. Ian and I will go out for a walk later, if I feel good enough. Take care, everyone.

Oh, one more photo. Here's a picture of Bilbo in his new favorite spot:

Guess what? More more Ian pictures.

2009-05-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

"Mom, wake up! I'm hungry!"

Last weekend we bought a pair of overalls for Ian. He looks so cute in them.

More overalls pictures!

I know this entry is a bit light on description. I'll have more to say next time, I promise.

Guess what? More Ian pictures.

2009-04-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Big-bellied baby lets it all hang out on a warm Spring day.

Ian is "screaming for vengeance" in this onesie sized for twelve-month olds. Some of you may be wondering what the background is on some of these pictures. It's a quilt my mom made for us several years ago. One side has a christmas theme, while the other side is...well, it's the other side. Very warm quilt. Mystery solved.

Ian is starting to show interest in our food and drink. Michelle didn't really give him some of her water, but he looked cute in his attempt.

Looks like somebody fell asleep right after his bath!

Cute Ian pictures on my birthday

2009-04-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm 35 years old now. Ian decided to give me a treat to share with all of you. I put him on his belly and had the camera at the ready. Once I held out a toy for him, he smiled for the camera:

I thought everyone would like to see those. They'll be on Shutterfly pretty soon.

Also, we saw some deer in the backyard for the first time in several years. After I took this photo from the kitchen window, they wandered over to the garden to eat the kale. I had to step out the back door to shoo them away.

Enjoy yourself this weekend. I'm having a late birthday party on Saturday - everyone knows that Thursday is a bad day for parties.