Just Keep Swimming

A few weeks ago, I made plans with our friend Angie (mom to Zavyen and Rowan) to take the kids swimming this afternoon at the best indoor pool for kids. We'll be heading out in about half an hour. I haven't bought a bathing suit for Malcolm in quite some time and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that (1) I can find his bathing suit, and (2) it still fits him. I'm also hoping that he will actually want to go swimming. Last time I took him swimming while we were in San Diego, he didn't seem to really enjoy himself.

Don't Mess With Texas

We just returned from a lovely, long weekend spent in Georgetown, Texas. My dad & stepmom bought a house in Sun City last May and it was our first visit out there. They love it there and I can see why. Malcolm loved being outside, playing in the waterfalls and driving golf carts. We spent most of our time in Georgetown but did get to see a little bit of Austin on Sunday before we flew back to Seattle. I prefer it over Houston hands-down. We had lunch at Threadgill's and I loved that they had a ton of vegetarian side dishes for me to choose from. I got to eat real southern cooking, meatless-style: black-eyed peas, garlic cheese grits and turnip greens with sweet tea to drink. Delish! Oh! And I can't forget the dessert: banana pudding. I ordered it for Malcolm but he was just interested in the whipped cream and cookies. More for me!

A First Time for Everything

Today was our first parent-teacher conference. I appreciate so much that the teachers at Malcolm's preschool do this. We got to ask questions and she asked us questions. One that struck me as funny was Malcolm's eating habits. At snack time at school, Malcolm is always the first kid to finish eating (if he eats at all). Who wants to eat when there is so much fun stuff to do?! He also has a gross habit of chewing up food and spitting it out. He does this all the time but it was something that she had never encountered before. It started when he was younger and would shove way too much food into his mouth and couldn't chew it. The habit of overstuffing his mouth has stopped, but not the spitting out of food. It occurs most often with cheese and apples.

Another first for me - I was bitten by a dog yesterday. Malcolm loves dogs and always wants to go say, "Hi". I always ask the owner if the dog is friendly before we approach the dog and I always let the dog smell my hand before I let Malcolm near it.

A mom had her two dogs, on leash, in the play area of the playground. We went over to the dogs and I asked her if they were friendly and she said yes. As I reached my hand out to the Boxer, it bit me hard enough for me to have a deep gouge in my thumb. The owner was shocked; she said it had never done that before. I was too flustered and also bleeding to get her contact information before heading to wash up and get a bandage.

As we were walking home, Malcolm and his friend, Han, were climbing a set of stairs when the same dog came running up and lunged at Han. It was off-leash and obviously in front of its house. The owner called out to it to come inside. I am incredibly relieved that neither of the boys were bitten or attacked by this dog. I've got a call into my doctor to see if I need to go in for a tetanus shot and antibiotics.

I'm still undecided if I should search out the owner and talk about the situation. I understand that dogs can be unpredictable and I hope that she is more cautious with her Boxer. She had both of her dogs in the play area of the playground which is illegal in the city of Seattle. Can I count on her to keep the dog a safe distance from other people, most importantly children?

30 months

Our little Malcolm turned 2 and a half yesterday. To celebrate, I took him to the doctor's today for a check-up and fun vaccination shot. He is doing great and actually jumped up to the 10% curve for his weight. His weight has always been a bit of a strain since he was born. For much of the past year, he had fallen completely off the charts. He's continued on the 10% curve for his height.

Yesterday, he decided to sleep until 9 AM and skip his nap. Today, he's taking a long nap. I ponder waking him up so we can go outside and enjoy a bit more of the sunshine, but I figure he must need his sleep. Speaking of naps, I believe he just woke up. Time to go crash trucks with my little guy!

Neglect

Hi Blog,

I neglected you for a whole month. I'm not sure if I've ever done that before. I can make up a lot of excuses but I'm sure it wouldn't change anything. I'll try to tend to you better from now on. I know it wasn't the best way to start a new year, but I'll do my best to change my ways. Sorry.

Love,
Kris