A Wilder Summer

Rock + WBL water = Happiness

Love dumping water out of my pool

Sitting in my lawn chair like a big boy!

I've got to hang on somehow!

Enjoying the July 4th parade with mama

Coming out of our shell

Well, it's been a quiet couple of months in Lake Wobegon, my hometown. Winter seemed to drag on and on and we fell into the warm embrace of home and solitude. The next thing you know it's May and it's beautiful. The birds are singing. Leaves are leafing. Flowers are well, you know. So it's time to get out...out of the house and out of our ruts and experience spring. Not that the work and book reading and beer brewing that's occupied our time in late winter into spring weren't satisfying, they just weren't very noteworthy. 

What has been noteworthy has been of course Wilder's progress. He's walking, running, and dancing. He has 3 distinguishable words amongst his toddler vocabulary: mama, dada, and his favorite food nana (banana). He eats with his spoon, until it just isn't fast enough then it's back to grabbing and stuffing. I also like to think that he's stacking blocks at 2 year old + level! (see below video for current sample of additional physical skills)

So here's to spring, coming out again, and the summer to come.

For the love of Tupperware

We've granted Wilder free reign with the tupperware cabinet and he's taken full advantage.

Some Winter Fun and Some Winter Not so Fun

We're pretty well settled in for the remainder of winter here. Only six more weeks right? I think groundhog's day is right around the corner... Anyway, we've been doing our best to get outside whenever possible, which doesn't seem all that often given the averageness (i.e., normal temps) of this winter.

Since the holiday break we've had a few highs and lows. Highs include: increased Wilder strength/mobility (ranges quickly between rooms, kicks balls, intermediate stair climber, etc); more talking (I swear every once in awhile he says Ma-Ma and/or Da-Da and actually means it); and he moved up to the next car seat size. We were also able to visit Angie's brother (Jeremy), sister in law (Mandi), of course their son Luka last weekend in Austin (MN). Good times were had by all: Wilder and Luka had play time, Angie and Mandi got in a yoga session, Jeremy got some time with the boys, and I got out for a ski at awesome (not being sarcastic here) Forestville State Park (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/forestville_mystery_cave/index.html). To cap it off, we met Angie's folks at the Owatonna Holiday Inn (where they were attending a conference) for some time at the waterpark. After some initial shell shock (the place was absolutely packed with kids!) Wilder had a bunch of fun splashing in the water. I'm getting pretty excited for White Bear Lake beach days next summer.

Of course, what comes up must come down. Like domino's, this past week we all came down with the stomach flu. We've been trying to pick up the pieces since. First Wilder, then Angie, then me. On Wednesday I was at a meeting and joked with a friend how it would be as it would strike at like 3:00 AM. I was sooo wrong. It came at 7:30. We're pretty much back on track now. However, Wilder had been acting inexplicably squirrely for the last 3 days until Angie checked his mouth and found that he's breaking 3 more molars in simultaneously. Poor guy's mouth must be really bugging him.

Well, here's to the rest of winter and may this be the last of the really brutal cold snaps (current temp = -6, forecasted low = -15).

No really, I don't want to go outside

ok, it's getting better

now that was fun

Splashing at the waterpark!

Thanks grandma & grandpa for taking us to the waterpark!

If I'm stuck inside I might as well have some fun with Mom

The world is a completely different place through the Tupperware lens

There are too many captions for this one:

1. You can watch as much Barak Obama as you want!
2. Now you know where you were on that historic day
3. The president now speaks in complete sentences so this is educational TV
4. Nothing soothes the troubled child as the smooth delivery of Barak Obama

Finally, something that we can all listen to

If you're like us and have eclectic taste in music and find there is a limit to how much Raffi you can stomach check out Wonderground Radio. It's a kid and parent friendly HD channel offered by MPR. You can get it by live streaming from the link list or if you actually have an HD radio it's an alternate channel with The Current @ 89.3 on the FM dial. I've been hearing ads for this for a couple weeks but hadn't had the wherewithal to check it out until now. Glad I did

Year #1

Wilder's #1! Well, here at B3 we knew this all along. Anyway, it's been quite a year to say the least. From the original Boxing Day Miracle, to your first sugar buzz (see the Pictures-Pictures-Pictures! link for birthday pics), to this very moment as you lie sound asleep: everything has been a first. Now you get to have 'firsts' even though your first year has passed. A privilege granted to all that inevitably becomes more infrequent as time passes.

It's been amazing getting to know you this year and watch you grow. You cannot imagine how excited we are to see what happens during year 2! Happy birthday sweet boy.

Christmas

Wilder had a fantastic 1st Christmas! It's very convenient that his most favorite thing is to rip pieces of paper into smaller pieces of paper. He probably would have been even happier if (under the layers of wrapping paper) his actual gifts were more paper.

Thanks to all the family and friends that made it special.

Walker, Kitchen Ranger

This is some unfinished business here. Wilder officially began walking in the first week of December, while I was in DC on a work trip. Here he is a month ago:


Here he is now:

b3.2

You may be asking yourself, why b3.2? The answer may be: what took so long? This is obvious, and perhaps not so obvious. The obvious is that our sweet little boy is now a year old and is already working hard on his second year in this world. The not so obvious is that we've been fortunate to upgrade to a new computer that is not slow, riddled with disease, etc.

You'll see that along with the switch in the look of B3 there have been some changes in how the links are displayed. On the right hand column of your screen there are a series of links. To see many more pictures (and video) please feel free to click on the link Pictures-Pictures-Pictures under the "Related B3 Content" heading which will bring you to our Picasa website. The "Our Friends" heading lists, well all the blogs for our friends that do blogs. Feel free to check out their sites. Finally, the "Links" heading has our job websites and some of our favorite websites. This will be added to as we go along. You never know, you might like these websites too.

Thanks for checking out b3(.2) and have a prosperous 2009!

Santa's cool

So we've managed to find Santa, along with a Christmas tree with Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt. If by "Ga!" he means he wants a tricycle, I guess he'll have to wait as he just started walking...one thing at a time! We thought this festive picture was very cute! If that wasnt enough, Wilder has indeed decided to walk his first steps this last week. They all said "it would go by fast" but its hit at hyperspeed! Wilder was only walking but at most 10 steps, and quite tentatively at that, last Monday and only a week later he was running circles around our kitchen island (video coming soon to a theatre near you)! Its 90% "Yes I can!" and 10% ability. He's always had it in him.

Happy Holidays!

Eye of the Tiger

-Playing with the pumpkin

-1st jack-o-lantern: bottle + thumb

-Time to trick and/or treat

-Roarrrr

-Just in case you confused Wilder with someone else

Test Flight

Sea Change

Our little guy is now on the go! A few weeks ago he figured out how to fully crawl. Where did he go first? An outlet. Viewing crawling as only the stepping stone that it is, he then quickly gained the strength to pull himself up on objects.

No more turning your back for bathroom breaks, a coffee warmup, or even glance out the window. He can now legitmatly get into trouble. Let the bruise collection begin!

His rapidly expanding set of teeth (4 plus 3 more ready to come out) adds an additional element. Recall that first there was the Supa Sleepa (1-3 months), then the return of the Supa Sleepa (5-7 months). Now we've got the Supa Crib Climba. The crib just happens to be the best gym for Wilder's new skills. Padded floor w/a bumper. Sides to shimy up. Railings to grasp-->pull-->hold and then chew. No kidding. You can put him down with his eyes closed and by the time you hit the door he's on his way up. When you turn to close it he's staring back wide eyed with a mouth full of crib rail. Hopefully, the veneer doesn't have extra lead. Eventually, he becomes too exhausted to stand up and then falls (literally) asleep. We are reminded daily that we should "wait until he starts walking" for the real adventure to begin. I can't imagine that it's a lot worse, though I do lack imagination from time to time...

In other news. We're on the cusp of other changes. I speak (of course) of the end of summer and the impending fall. We spent Labor Day with the Schimdts at Lake Calhoun. The pics are on the picasa site. After today, we're definitely looking forward to cooler temperatures and next stages. Things just seem easier to handle when it's 60 instead of 90. We constantly worried about Wilder's heat and sun exposure the last few months. Time to put his clothes back on, walk around in the weakening sun, and soak up the last few rays. Maybe even play in a leaf pile or two.

Here's a little more action.

Sock Monkey Box

BEST TOY EVER...at least for that day

To see the rest of the summer story check out the picasa site. Lots of pics from the baby cabin jam, Schmidt Aquatennial, etc.

Talking & Rolling

I hope this tides you over until I can get a more substantive post going. There are, however, new photo albums on the picasa site at: http://picasaweb.google.com/larix37

Natural Born Eater

1st solid food!

Goodbye Kaiser

Kaiser went to the big dog park in the sky yesterday. Old age had caught up to him at last and he was laid to rest before the worst could come. He was two months short of 12 years. 12 years! Can you remember what you were doing 12 years ago? I happened to be 20 and beginning my junior year at UMD. Perfect time to get a dog right? Time has flown by. There of course have been a few (ok maybe more than a few) knocked over garbage cans, missing loaves of bread, run-ins with various small mammals (e.g., skunks, porcupines), roll-o-ramas in poop/dead things, etc to add weight on one side of the scale. On the other hand, his entertainment potential was huge (e.g. rumbling gait, propensity to lick clean spots on the floor, his summer haircut, etc) and of course there was his deep (often melodic) howl every time you came home. He was also the great protector who scared away that creep trying to get into Tiffy's old house while Brenda was taking a nap. Most of all he was my wilderness companion. We walked many a mile; ate next to many campfires; and slept side by side under cloudy, rainy, hot-mosquito infested, cold-snowy, and clear skies. It's safe to say that we've been through thick and thin.

I took yesterday off to focus on Kaiser before his journey. We took one last walk along the railroad tracks by Brown's Creek north of Stillwater. Even though the pace was less than a mile per hour, the old Kaiser was still there. He had his spark and still wanted run down the ravine to the cool and shade of the stream; oblivious to the fact that it would be impossible to get back. With some guidance we made our way to an accessible spot and I helped him get into his old hole for a dip and drink. He was happy and for a moment age had been erased. On our way to vet he asked me to thank all the people that helped take care of him over the years and apologize to any enemies that he might have made along the way.

I'd like to think that this DP in the sky has a few amenities to your liking buddy: miles of trees, grass, and water; rabbits to chase and beaver to swim after; bushes that bear strange fruit such as loaves of bread, sticks of butter, steaks, and the odd 1-1/2lb chunk of summer sausage conveniently located at head level; no ticks or deer flies; and a constant temperature of 40 degrees with a sunny spot for a little warmup and nap. Goodbye Kaiser.