Turkey Time

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I had my first Turkey Day and spent it in Madison at my Uncle Keith & Aunt Maribel’s house. I got to meet their dog Jordan and had a lot of fun with him. He even gave me a kiss on the face! Both grandpas and grandmas were there along with Uncle Scott and Aunt Mollie and of course, mom and dad. Poor Jess had to stay home since we didn’t have enough room in the car for him and my play mat. It was a hard decision, but I went with the play mat. Plus, with Jordan there, I figured I would have a dog to entertain me. But I was happy to see Jess when we got home and I think he was happy to see us too. The only real bummer about Thanksgiving was the Seahawks made a pathetic showing against the Cowboys. Yep, I watched football as that is a favorite tradition of both mommy and daddy and they didn’t want me to feel left out.

This week I experienced my first real snowfall. I am not a fan of snow. It’s cold and wet. Not a good combo. Maybe when I’m older and can actually play in the snow, I’ll appreciate it more.

Another big milestone for me – I am now grabbing and moving my toys that hang over my play mat. In fact, I sometimes get such a good grasp that I yank the toys right off their links. I especially enjoy my vibrating dog. I haven’t figured out yet how to pull this toy and make the dog bark and vibrate, but mommy and daddy will do it for me and then let it tickle my face as it vibrates. I also like the chimes and am starting to really like the keys that hang above my head. Even when I’m not on my play mat, I like to grab things. Like the wipe mom uses to cover me during diaper changes so I don’t pee on her. I also like to grab my butt when she is putting on my clean diaper. And I still move my legs a lot – I stepped in my poopy diaper yesterday because my legs were moving faster than mom. I guess I’m easily entertained. I am also entertained by sucking my thumb. I have discovered that I can put just my thumb in my mouth instead of my whole darn fist. Much easier (and tastier).

Grandpa Brian and Grandma Linda visited last week so I’ve been able to charm them with all my noises and facial expressions. One of my favorite noises to make is smacking my lips. I also squeal once in a while, but still no laughs since the first one a couple weeks ago. We (mom, Grandpa Brian, Grandma Linda, and me) went to Chicago to meet a family friend for lunch. The Hu family is originally from China but lives in Chicago for 9-10 months of the year. Grandpa and Mr. Hu have known each other for almost 20 years. It was neat seeing all of the bustle of the dim sum servers (a traditional Chinese meal where servers bring around small appetizer-like dishes of Chinese food and the whole table shares many different plates). Apparently I slept as we drove in and out of Chicago so I missed seeing all of the skyscrapers up close, but I could see them from our table in the restaurant. What a big city. I can’t wait to go back in nicer weather so I can see more of the city.

The other big news from here is that mom went in to work the Friday before Thanksgiving and left me at home with daddy. The few other times she has gone in to work, she brought me and I would just sleep in her office. But that Friday she went by herself and daddy and I hung out. I think it was a bigger deal for mom than for me. I got daddy time and lots of naps so it was a good day for me. I guess she is going in again tomorrow as she tries to ease back into work before going back “for real” in January. Although I have really enjoyed having mommy home, it will be nice to have some new entertainment during the week. She went in again Monday and Gabrial, who will be watching me when mommy goes back to work “for real”, watched me as a trial run. I cried a lot of the time because I wasn’t as used to her. But once daddy got home, I ate and got better. I think if I see Gabrial a few more times, I won’t be so anti-social around her. I think it was hard on mommy to be away from my cute self all day because she sure was clingy when she got home. What’s a boy gotta do to get some time away from the ‘rents? They are going for an overnight trip on Thursday and Friday and leaving me with Aunt Mollie during the day and Grandma & Grandpa Kruepke at night. We’ll see who takes it harder – me or mommy and daddy. My money is on mommy & daddy – I’ll be living it up with my aunt and grandparents and probably won’t even notice mom and dad are gone!

Finally, when I woke up the other morning, the house had a tree in the middle of the living room and snowmen and reindeers all throughout the house. Not sure what strange decorating mommy and daddy are doing, but I better go investigate. Maybe the next time I write I will have an explanation.

Love,
Cameron