After 19 months of consideration, I think we have finally settled on Mom's official granny name. She will officially be known as "B", and although the pronunciation has been decided, the spelling is still up for debate. Mom suggested "Bee", so she'd have an excuse to start investing in a wardrobe of yellow and black granny sweaters covered with bee-shaped appliques (as if being a grandmother is an excuse for poor fashion). I thought "Bea" would be more appropriate, cuz what grandma wouldn't want to be thought of as a "Golden Girl"? For now, until we reach an agreement or until Alex vetoes all of our ideas and comes up with something completely different, I'll just refer her to her as "B", aka Grandma Boettcher, aka Gramboe, aka Granny B, aka whatever else Alex decides to call her.
Now that we've got that covered, let's talk about how much fun we've had with B while she was here. When Alex woke up Sunday morning, he and B read some books, then went downstairs to play with the new front loader truck that B brought him and eat some sweet potato pancakes and strawberries for breakfast (not pictured).
B tried to put A into his jumperoo, but he was less than cooperative when it came to putting his feet through the holes. As you can imagine, that makes it hard to jump. But A didn't seem to mind and sat patiently like this until B started to feel guilty about leaving him in there, bent in half with his feet in his face.
Bathtime with Alex is always fun and B never misses an opportunity to partake in the festivities.
B brought Alex a new fun bath toy - a mama turtle with a baby turtle attached to her rear by a string (according to B, it was a grandma turtle and her grandbaby). When you yank on the baby, the mama's arms paddle and move them through the water. That baby must've been fatter than he appeared, cuz the mama was a little sluggish trying to drag him around.
But Alex really loved it. It was so sweet - A gave the baby turtle a kiss...
...then tried to eat it. Maybe turtle soup should be the next item on our "foods for Alex to try" list.
Apparently that little turtle didn't fill him up, cuz then he tried to take a bite out of the tub guard.
Once A was good and pruny, it was time to pull him out, aka time to admire himself in the mirror.
The next day, we had a relaxing morning and then got ready to run errands.
Alex wanted to drive B's Jag-oo-ar, but we thought he oughta master the art of walking before he tries his hand at driving. Plus, it would be especially hard to reach the steering wheel from his backward-facing carseat.
B left for home early Tuesday morning, so we got one last morning of fun before she hit the road. We were sad to see her go but were comforted in knowing we'd see her again soon, namely for Timothy's graduation on the 17th. That will be the first time the whole family, as in Timothy's family and mine, will be together since A was born. And it will be the first time they will have to share him since then. Should be interesting...
I've spent the last eight hours on the corner or West and Dixon with my "God bless Arkansas" coffee mug, belting out showtunes and collecting change from sympathetic passers-by so that I could afford to upgrade my storage package on Picasa. I'm not sure whether people enjoyed my singing or were hoping I'd stop if they gave me money, but I eventually collected enough cash and am now the proud owner of 10 gigs of space to store my pics. My order won't process until tomorrow, so you won't get a blog post 'til then, but I wanted to let you know that future blog posts will indeed contain pictures and not just my incessant rambling. Hopefully that info will help you sleep tonight...
Granny B is in town!! She arrived just in time to wake Alex from his afternoon nap and hightail it to Bentonville for a birthday party. My good friend and ex-coworker Adela has a son named Lathan who was having his fourth birthday at Pump It Up, one of those party places that has all the inflatable stuff that kids can jump around on. We weren't sure what A would think about it, since he can't run and jump like the older kids. But he had a ball - almost as much fun as us adults did!
Granny B and I took turns taking Alex down the giant inflatable slide. Scaling that made-for-kids, sort-of, kind-of, ladder-like, rope-pull stairway with a 22 pound hyper-active monkey clinging to my hip was no easy task. I'll admit, I panicked a couple of times that I was going to lose my balance, or grip, or both, picturing the smooshed bodies of the half dozen kids left in my wake after I toppled heels-over-head down that stairway. Luckily, Granny B and I both made it through the ordeal unscathed and actually had a really good time sliding. Alex, on the other hand, still isn't completely sold on the whole sliding thing. He doesn't act scared, but he never seems to be gung-ho about trying it again. But we keep making him do it anyway, as if sliding is an acquired taste. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will grow on him.
He did, however, love the bouncy house. It was a big inflatable room where kids were literally bouncing off the walls.
If Alex had his own bobble-head doll, I'm pretty sure this is what it would look like:
Once most of the kids had left and the risk of bodily harm decreased by about a hundred percent, we let Alex loose to see what he'd do.
And did he stick to the safe flat area around the perimeter of the room, where it is virtually impossible to get injured? As if! He crawled straight to the big, wobbly hump in the center of the room that cants significantly to one side if you so much as breath on it wrong and climbed right up the side.
As usual, he really enjoyed watching the other kids hop around, and many of them took quite an interest in him, as well. I think that was a big boost to his ego - that the older boys didn't think of him as a little baby. They asked him to join them for a steak dinner and stogies, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Grow a couple more teeth, kiddo, and I'll think about it.
It was cake time, which happens to be my favorite time. So Katie and Granny B enticed A out of the bouncy house and back onto solid ground.
Before cake, Adela wanted to get a picture of all of the kids, which I think is a great - if ambitious - idea. The pictures I took didn't turn out great, but Alex sat still like a good boy, and when the kids all clapped at the end, he applauded right along with them. Plus, I think the shots of the kid on the slide in the background (while the rest of the kids are sitting) are hilarious. Something tells me that boy's mama has her hands full...
Although Alex's daddy was a wet blanket and didn't join us in the bouncy house, he did get a chance to scramble A's brains a little before we entered the party room for cake.
Finally, we really got cake this time, "we" being me, Timothy, and Granny B. Alex got the usual - formula in a sippy cup. As a party favor, he got a really tasty SkyDiamond kite. He doesn't know what it is yet, but on the next windy day, I intend to show him.
In conclusion, the party was loads of fun, and we will surely be seeking out the local Pump It Up when we move to Dallas.
btw, I had several more pictures to share, but when I tried to upload them, Blogger informed me that I have exceeded my upload quota for images, and that I will have to purchase more storage space if I want to post pics. That is also why there is not a good pic of the b-day boy. Sorry Lathan! As soon as I figure out how to get someone to pay me for eating cheese puffs and watching reruns of America's Next Top Model, you'll get more pictures with your blog. 'Til then, Flickr will have to suffice.
B tried to put A into his jumperoo, but he was less than cooperative when it came to putting his feet through the holes. As you can imagine, that makes it hard to jump. But A didn't seem to mind and sat patiently like this until B started to feel guilty about leaving him in there, bent in half with his feet in his face.
Bathtime with Alex is always fun and B never misses an opportunity to partake in the festivities.
B brought Alex a new fun bath toy - a mama turtle with a baby turtle attached to her rear by a string (according to B, it was a grandma turtle and her grandbaby). When you yank on the baby, the mama's arms paddle and move them through the water. That baby must've been fatter than he appeared, cuz the mama was a little sluggish trying to drag him around. 
But Alex really loved it. It was so sweet - A gave the baby turtle a kiss...
...then tried to eat it. Maybe turtle soup should be the next item on our "foods for Alex to try" list.
Apparently that little turtle didn't fill him up, cuz then he tried to take a bite out of the tub guard.
Once A was good and pruny, it was time to pull him out, aka time to admire himself in the mirror.
The next day, we had a relaxing morning and then got ready to run errands.
Alex wanted to drive B's Jag-oo-ar, but we thought he oughta master the art of walking before he tries his hand at driving. Plus, it would be especially hard to reach the steering wheel from his backward-facing carseat.
B left for home early Tuesday morning, so we got one last morning of fun before she hit the road. We were sad to see her go but were comforted in knowing we'd see her again soon, namely for Timothy's graduation on the 17th. That will be the first time the whole family, as in Timothy's family and mine, will be together since A was born. And it will be the first time they will have to share him since then. Should be interesting...
