Peter, Perpetual Partier

So, it was Memorial Day weekend and the weather turned out pretty nice. Saturday was somewhat low-key, we ran a few errands and did Saturday evening Church so we’d be free to loaf around on Sunday (Peter was flirting with a 5 year old girl behind us, even offering her his little bottle of water). That was pretty much it.

 

Sunday we were going to stay at home all day and not burn up any gas, but we wound up going to some open houses (there were very few since it was a holiday weekend, but the weather was ideal for showing off a house). We also brought out the big baby-carrying backpack Aunt Sarah got us last year and took Peter for a walk. He loves it, maybe because it gets him up at our head height, or maybe because the seat isn’t as smooshing as a Bjorn or other carrier and he has more freedom of movement in it. Whatever the reason, now when the carrier comes out he crawls over to it and starts clapping.

 

Late Sunday evening a line of thunderstorms came through the area and blew stuff hither and yon. Both Peter and I slept through it, as did his mom, who woke up when the power was knocked out but then fell back asleep. We both woke up a little later and realized that the house was completely dark, even the clock radio, so obviously something was going on. I stumbled around in the dark and found a flashlight, and Peter’s mom called the power company to let them know about the lack of juice out in the boonies. Then at 4:55 the electricity returned. All the while Peter was sound asleep.

 

Peter woke up early at about 7:30 (as he did all weekend, much to his parents’ chagrin) and we hoped it would mean that he’d go down for a nap at around 9:00, leaving him refreshed for setting out at 10:00-ish for his Granny’s house for lunch with Granny & Aunt Sarah. Alas, he was not feeling the need to nap, even after trying to coax him into it. Since he wasn’t taking the bait, I took him for another walk in the backpack while his mom got ready for the day. Then we headed out, about 45 minutes later than we had hoped, and wouldn’t you know it, Peter fell asleep in the car.

 

Once at Granny’s (after about 10-15 minutes of sleep), Peter got charming and did many cute baby things like making a mess of his lunch, smearing it on his face and hair, and playing with a superball on a glass top table. He was offered the opportunity to take a nap, and passed on it.

 

By mid-afternoon we headed over to Auntie Trucker & Uncle John’s house for the annual Memorial Day cook-out. Peter started out sluggish but perked up after a while. It was getting up into the 80’s and Peter was getting kind of warm, so we took off his shirt so he could get some breeze on him and show off his ripped physique. There were a bunch of people over there, including his cousins George, Jonah, Josh and Hannah. You could tell that his energy level would rise and fall throughout the afternoon and evening, and that he was inclined to play with his cousins, but his sluggishness interfered with his intentions. Again he was offered the chance to nap and refused. When it comes to parties like this, Peter is essentially a sponge, soaking in all the action around him. There comes a point, though, when a sponge has absorbed all it can and needs to be wrung out. Peter doesn’t want to be wrung. So instead he flops around and drips, figuratively speaking.

 

Anyway, we left shortly after 7:00, and Peter was nodding off by the time we got on the highway. 20 minutes later we are exiting and a none-too-weak wind kicks up from the Northeast and mommy and I watch the thermometer in the car drop from 82 to 58 in about 5 minutes. Peter, this is what Wisconsin is like, if you hadn’t noticed.

The past couple weeks

Ok, yes, I know it's been a little too long (which is a polite euphemism that means "too damn long") since I've updated ye olde blogge, however I do have a good excuse or two: head colds a-plenty / parties up the ying-yang / Spring! / work / house hunting / alien abduction / freezing fingers that are too numb to type. Pick any of those that you are sympathetic to and say "ooooooh, poor Peter's Dad."

 

When last we met, Peter had just turned exactly one (leap) year old to the minute, thanks to pre-set automatic posting. At that very moment Peter was slung across his mama's back like a load of overpriced textbooks as his parents, Aunt Sarah and Granny were schlepping him around the Madison farmer's market. We had taken him to get portraits taken the evening before (I'll post them later, I swear) where he displayed his propensity to do a pursed-lip grin while giggling. And he destroyed a birthday cake for pictures. And indulged in what seems to be an addiction to helium balloons (he can spot any helium balloon  at about 100 yards and point to it). Anyway, I'm prattling.

 

Several days later I started developing symptoms of the annoying head cold that seems to be wandering around the state. By the time Peter's birthday party came about the following Saturday my sinuses were giving me more trouble than I had had in a long time. I would recount the events of the party in detail if I could, however most of my time was spent blowing my nose. However, Peter's motor was running all day long, and whereas in the past he would have been none too happy about being the center of attention, this day he performed the task admirably. He was charming, he mingled well, he helped clean up, he did it all.

 

His cousin George had his 2nd birthday party the Saturday after Peter's. Again, Peter did just fine. A couple days before that, though, he started coming down with that head cold along with his mom. Mine had pretty much gone away by the time they got it. At one point Peter even had a good chest-clearing cough that wound up messing up our comforter. At least he felt better afterwards.

 

We took him to the doctor for his one-year check-up last week, and his measurements were back at the 75th percentile for height and head girth, and 50th for weight. He's 30 ½ inches tall and just under 23 pounds. All systems are go for him, too. The strawberry spot on his back is fading nicely.

 

In developmental news, Peter is close to walking. If you hold out your hands for him he'll grab hold and walk around with you. He'll stand by himself for about 5-10 seconds now before gently lowering himself to the floor. He's still a great crawler, so he's not rushing into ambulatory movement.

 

I'm sure I will be reminded of things I neglected to add here. But it's the Friday before Memorial Day, so my brain is already on vacation.

One Year

Peter is exactly one (leap) year old right now.