Chin Happens

Today was another first for Rooney. Today was the first time Rooney earned a Band-Aid.

When Rooney and I were at our coffee house playgroup, he was climbing around the furniture and literally trying to climb the walls, when he slipped, fell and cut his chin on the metal railing in the shop. Man are they quick these days. I was obsessing on a milk option from the shops menu board, for my friends son, when this happened. I just heard a sickening THUD and then cries. Rooney is not much of a screamer so there weren't any of those horrific no breathing moments. The shop owners brought us over some supplies to clean Roonster up and a Band-Aid. I tried very hard to get it on him, but he was a little agitated, so he went without. Soon he regrouped and was ready to play with his friends again. He did great the rest of the time we were at the shop and the boys even invented a great booster seat game.

Sherry's son Alex was scooting himself along on the floor in a booster seat when the boys joined in. Parker and Rooney started pushing Alex's seat from behind while he scooted. Then Parker hopped in and took his turn and then Rooney. They were really cute playing in this little booster seat, climbing all over each other and just acting like total boys. Of course, as it often happens when boys are rough housing, someone got hurt...and it was Rooney. He fell off the booster seat and split his chin open again. More tears and blood but I still could not get the Band-Aid on him!

When Rooney woke up from his nap this afternoon, he was still Band-Aidless and bleeding a little. I finally had an epiphany! Mike's mom brought colored bandages with her on their recent visit. I got the bandages, put one on my chin, let Rooney feel it and then put one on him. I told him I would wear mine as long as he wore his. He had the Band-Aid on for about an hour! That has to be a record, somewhere.

Finally...A Sleepover!

This weekend was a big weekend for us, Rooney and Aunt Annie. For the first time in probably over a year he did a sleepover at Aunt Annie's house! I don't think the length of time was intentional (Rooney's not talking yet) but Cuyler has been asking for quite awhile and I think maybe Aunt Annie was feeling a little cuddle deprived lately.

I do not think there was alot of hesitation to have Rooney over, the big question really was where is Rooney going to sleep? I think he is too big for his Pack 'N Play now and he has never slept in our bed, so it was really questionable how well he would do sleeping in Aunt Annie's bed. And then, how well would Aunt Annie & Uncle Jim sleep? I would imagine it's been several years since Cuyler has slept in their bed. Am I right Cuyler?

Things seemed to work out- no big crying fits and no one peed the bed. Mike and I are so appreciative of Annie and Jim. We got a wonderful night away and Rooney got to be cuddled all night. Sounds like everyone won. Of course we looked at his picture over dinner and every once in awhile we caught ourselves wondering how and what he was doing? He was in very capable hands we knew, so not too many worries.

Annie even took some pictures of their time together. Looks like he had a great time:

Cuyler Pushing Rooney On The Swing










Rooney On The Slide










Rooney Orders A Drink











I was really floored because Rooney learned a new skill while at Aunt Annie's...celebrity impersonations!



Here he is doing his best Keira Knightley...

2 Lattes A Day

I know 2 posts in one day may be considered overkill but something kind of funny happened this morning that I wanted to make a note of.

Today Rooney and I went to storytime at Barnes & Noble like we always do on Wednesdays. After storytime we usually go to the attached Starbucks with a couple of other moms and grab some coffee and yak. Rooney and I were walking down an aisle at Barnes & Noble, on our way to the Starbucks, when Rooney stops in the middle of the aisle, bends down, says "Oh" while pointing at a book. There was a man standing not very far away reading and as I was about to look down at Rooney I notice the man smiling while he was looking down at Rooney. Then I saw it! Rooney was bent down, saying "Oh" and pointing to the Starbucks symbol (on a book about Starbucks)!

I'm not sure how I should feel about this, but I guess I am glad that it was a mermaid and not the Golden Arches that Rooney was recognizing.

Daddy's Day

I wanted to write about this last week but Rooney's Father's Day gift to Mike was, of course, a surprise until Father's Day so I had to wait. Now it's been a week and the gifts have been open so the magic has worn off a little bit!

Oh well.

I was a little worried after Mother's Day, but on Sunday Mike got up early, made his own oatmeal and went to play football. The beers after the game may have been questionable, but it was his day, so Rooney and I just waited in eager anticipation of his arrival home to lavish Mike (or Daddy) in love and our little gifts.

For Father's Day, Rooney and I (mostly Rooney), made Mike and his Dad, customized T-shirts. This was an event organzied by MOMS Club and despite being covered in paint by the end, it was alot of fun. Rooney did not really like getting his hand in the paint at first. He squirmed around alot (painted Mom alot) but by the time we were mid-way through the 2nd shirt he seemed to be more OK with it. This is why Grandpa's shirt got alot more handprints then Dads. Mike also got a book from Rooney called "Daddy Loves Me" and they got matching T-shirts that say "Big Guy" and "Little Guy".






In case you couldn't figure out who's is who's...

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

Over the last 6-7 days Rooney's Grandma and Grandpa have been here for a visit. They got to see their new grandson, Super Dave, for the first time! Rooney bonded pretty quickly with his Grandma and Grandpa. Of course, with all the wonderful attention they give him why wouldn't he? Many times he tried the ol' "finger pull" technique on Grandpa but Grandpa's been around awhile and he's no sucker. Rooney also got to spend some quality time with his new cous and no longer appears to be jealous if I hold Davey Jones. Rooney would just climb up on my lap next to us and say "Hi" to Davey Crockett. In one picture you will even notice they are holding hands!

We were all sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go but they'll be back in 12 short weeks. Rooney says "See You Soon"!

Here some of the pics that were taken during their visit. We'll post more as they come in.

KidsQuest

Grandma and Grandpa

Rooney the Bald

After 33 years I thought I had found out everything that was interesting about my ancestry and thus Rooney's ancestry...that was until this week. I was talking with my mother and she mentioned that the President of the new company she is working for was coming by to chat. I am sure my mother (Rooney's grandmother) impressed the President in her own right, but I think it was this little slip of personal information that landed her this job and a leg up with the Pres. After interviewing for her now current position, she wrote a Thank You note to her now employer, and mentioned that she was related to Charles the Bald. She mentioned this because she knew the President was big into genealogy and thought this might be interesting. That was pretty sly. She could have mentioned that she was related to Samuel F.B. Morse, which seems pretty impressive, or that her children are related to Lassie's madame, June Lockhart. Nope, she chose an obscure route, mentioned that she was related to Charles the Bald and only could have topped her slyness if she hit the jackpot with the President and he too was related to Charles (or as we have taken to calling him...Charlie) the Bald! Wow! This little talked about nugget of gold, only came to her by chance when she looked at her family tree (doesn't everyone have one pinned to their wall?) and saw Charlie on there. Kismet!

It gets even better. According to Wikipedia Charlie's great grandfather was none other than Charlemagne. I always call Rooney my little prince (and Little Lord Fauntleroy). I'm sure Mike is relieved to know there really is a reason to treat me like a princess other than me telling him to. So this is all very impressive and Mike should really be counting himself lucky for nabbing me but there are a few low points. 1. It appears that we are French way down the line...way...way down the line (could explain why this is such a little discussed topic). 2. When I think of Rooney the Bald this image is conjured up 3. Charles the Bald, was not really bald. He initially was bare of inheritance thus the bald. Just like all my jobs...title but no money!

And for Rooney, just like Uncle Charlie, thus the name...Rooney the Bald

I'll Have A Double Half-Caf

Being part of a moms group is great. Not only do you automatically immerse your child in activities with their peers, you also meet alot of interesting people and maybe most importantly...you get to know all the coffee shops in town! This may not sound that important but it really is. As a mom, specifically of young children, you are most likely sleep deprived thus the constant need for coffee. You are probably on the go (due to naps, errands or you need something quick before picking the kids up). You need something cheap because...well everything is way more expensive these days. Finally, if you have kids you probably remember what it was like taking a toddler to a restaurant and if you don't have kids we are those people that you hate that bring their toddlers to restaurants!

So now that we know all the coffee shops in town we have picked our favorites. For a place like this it would make very good sense to cater, at least during the day, to us. We can come in big packs, will always spend some type of money and we refer, refer, refer. Plus, if you treat us and our kids well we will always come back. I never knew the power of being a mom. We should really unionize.

Anyway, today Rooney and I met up for coffee at one of our favorite places with a couple of other moms. This place is great because the owners have kids, they keep toys at the shop for our kids and all the kids can basically run amok for awhile. When we started coming to this place Rooney rolled in the stroller. Now he walks in & prefers sitting in Big Boy chairs. Pretty soon he might start ordering a decaf!

We are in the Pacific Northwest afterall.

One Week Off Due To Illness

So sorry for the absense. We've been sick! There have been some cute moments missed since I've been gone but I managed to catch a few. Here's a little of what you missed:



In an attempt to get Rooney to eat anything I have resorted to tater tots and ketchup dipping sauce. Rooney really seemed to enjoy dipping





I thought I was going to catch a picture of Rooney actually eating the tater tot...but he had other ideas. He would just lick the ketchup off & then re-dip. Out of the 12 tots I made him, I think only 1 actually got into his mouth. This experiment did allow for Mike to do his fantastic Napoleon Dynamite imitation though.





On this day, I was sick and calling the MD, so Rooney was basically left to his own devices for entertainment. He is playing with Cheesie in a laundry basket. Almost an all-time low in being pathetic






In this picture I think he realized how pathetic this was and was signaling me for help. It was much easier just to snap pictures







Remember I said "almost an all-time low in being pathetic"...here's Rooney posing with his all time favorite toy ever...our Szechwan and soy sauce bottles! You may recall the post I wrote last year that featured the first picture of Rooney with his beloved sauce (Quick Like A Cat, October 2006). The obsession never ended






"I love these bottles...I love these bottles..."

How To Draw A Cheesie In 3 Easy Steps

This weekend I got pretty sick with a nasty cold. Thankfully Mike already had Friday off of work and I got to spend the day in bed. I laid around so much in fact, my kiester was sore by mid-afternoon. That smarts. Hmmm, I had no problem when I was a teenager. Anyway, the brunt of my illness was Friday but Saturday, Sunday and today have been kind of bumming around the house days. I think I might be fighting a sinus infection right now, and thankfully it was rainy today, so Roonster and I have had to come up with some indoor stuff to do. One thing that Rooney has been wanting to do more and more is color. He knows where I keep his crayons and he will go to the cabinet, shake it of course, and then sign Help to me. (He's become quite the little sign master lately, unfortunately he can only keep about 3 active signs. Once he learns a new one or remembers an old one another sign to sign seems to fall by the wayside. Now that he is using the milk sign again he can't seem to shake his head Yes anymore.) So we drew some pictures and did a little coloring. As you can see one of us did a portrait of Beloved Cheesie. Rooney was so excited he showed Cheesie his portrait. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of that, but here we have Rooney pointing out all of the intricacies of drawing Cheesie.

After that the coloring didn't last long and Rooney moved on to a Cheerios box for amusement. For a minute there though, I could feel that Rooney thought I was so cool.

Mother's Day: Friend or Foe?

I know it has been a little while since I have posted. I wanted to post about Mother's Day several days ago but our memory card was corrupted. I lost several cute pictures of Rooney that I was going to post. I found a substitute memory card and shot a few this afternoon.

Mother's Day was really nice I think. Rooney and Mike let me lounge around in bed all morning, they made me quiche for breakfast, served it to me in bed and then presented me with a massage certificate as a gift. What a great gift and I need it badly. I am fastly becoming Rooney's favorite jungle gym. As a matter-of-fact shortly before this picture was taken he was sitting on my head.

Mother's Day afternoon, while Rooney napped, Mike and I worked in our yard a bit. It is becoming very overgrown and something had to be done. We worked for 2 hours and have about 24 or so to go. Maybe by next spring. New stuff keeps popping up and I have no clue what alot of it is. When we were clearing out our front bed we were guessing whether the plants we were pulling were friend or foe.

We had a lot of foe!

Sun's Up!

We've had a string of really nice days this month and Rooney can barely keep himself indoors. Good for him, bad for me. He's been known to pull my finger outside while in our jammies.

One of my friends said I would be known as the crazy pajama lady! I was hoping for a better crazy lady name though.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of our park and backyard pictures.

Rooney in the backyard

Philip Arnold Park

Newcastle Beach and Park

Blackmail!

Last weekend we had our Housewarming. Last weekend was incredibly stressful. The renter for our old house was moving in on Tuesday (May 1st) and the house was not anywhere near done. Mike had finished up tiling the shower (thanks for all your help Jim) but there was still 1001 things that needed to be done. However, after months of getting home late and all weekends going to the old house, we decided we should spend one day to celebrate our new house. A lot of family and friends came over and we pulled it off! However...we managed to not take 1 picture! I'm sure the afternoon was chock full of picture moments. Just to have taken a few of baby Dave would have been great.

Instead, I decided to feature the work of an up and coming artist. You may recognize the name...Rooney. There may have been a little help from his assistant...Dad, but I think the skill is evident (please ask Mike why his hair is trapezoidal).


















Speaking of my little angel, he is doing great. He is a little under the weather right now (which explains the outfit) but he's still up for having fun. I took him grocery shopping with me today, and despite the green snot flowing from his nose, he was still able to flirt and wave hello to all the ladies.

Waving hello is something new he has started to do. He has waved "bye-bye" on and off for a little while, but waving hello is totally new. He has also reached that dreaded age of the "finger pull". Whenever he wants to go upstairs, outside, downstairs etc. he'll grab my finger to go. It is cute and I am relishing in him becoming more attached to me, but as we all know that is also a double edged sword. Oh another new thing he is doing is when he hurts his hand he put it to my lips for me to kiss.

Speaking of kissing, Rooney has also found how fun it is to freak out mom and dad! I don't want to say he's starting giving kisses because only sometimes he'll lean in to give you a kiss. Most of the time when he does it his mouth is open. We prefer to not kiss his teeth or tongue so we tend to bob to the side. However the dogs don't know to do this, or care for that matter, and Rooney now leans in to give them kisses. OK that is kind of bad enough because we all know these 2 dogs are lick happy but tonight Rooney started to do that with his tongue sticking out! Ewwwwwwww! I saw the look in his eye though. The mischievous, "how-am-I-going-to-gross-out-my-parents" look.

He thinks he has us. We'll see about that though. Next time I'm going to take a picture and file it right next to the blackmail naked baby photos.

Big Boy Blues

Rooney is becoming such a big boy. He is talking now. Not with words so much, but with his hands. All of a sudden his signing has taken off and it is absolutely amazing to me that all needs can be fulfilled with 4 or 5 simple signs. When you think about it what else does anyone really need to know other than: 1. Help 2. Eat 3. More 4. Milk and 5. All done. When you go to the bathroom in your pants & fall asleep where & when ever you want, there really isn't much more to say. Just in case, he can also tell you Yes or No with a simple head nod.

Not only is he talking, but as you can see, he is exploring the world with his own little laptop (he's surfing the web with Mom. He's he one on the left.)

Being a big boy is alot of work. You start getting all these new responsibilities dumped on you. Besides all the yakking, you are expected to start feeding yourself, sit still occasionally, carry your own books, and the worst of all...walk all by yourself! Thank goodness for Rooney he tackled that whole walking issue and got a car.

Conveniently it has a parent push-bar on the back. That's for when he's too tired to Fred Flintstone it.

After all those responsibilities, sometimes you just need to kick back and take a little time for yourself.

Ahhhhhhhhh!

The Many Names of Rooney Wade

Dusting off the old quill and parchment to bring you another post. If you've spent a lot of time around either Susan or her sister, you've probably received a new nickname. And, not to toot my own horn, but I've bestowed quite a few sobriquets in my time.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to list and explain some of them. This way, 30 years from now, we'll understand WHY Rooney is known as "Sweet-Angel-Bear-Lamby-Kitten".
Yes, this is one of the "affectionate" (or as a more cynical member of the house may say "girly" (that Rocco is so cruel)) names Susan gave to Rooney. There are others as well; I think Baby Bear is one of the more commonly used ones. Of course, this must get confusing to the other small gentlemen in our house, who have also been referred to as Baby Bear. Similarly, we have Mr. Barky Pants (Courage when he's acting up) and Mr. Fussy Pants (Rooney when he's acting up). And when Susan and I talk about what Rooney was up to that day, we often refer to him as either "The Boy" or "His Highness".

Then there is the class of names that are derivations of Rooney. There's been Rooney Toons, Roonster, Roons, and Prunes. A name that's seen a lot of circulation lately is Roonald. I really like this one: it's the unofficial formal form for Rooney. I also throw in Rodney on occasion, just so that when school starts Rooney will know to answer his teachers on the first day.

Finally, there's a goup of names that have no explanation (aside from the ones that I give).

• Shinsy: When we put Rooney into his car seat or high chair, sometimes his pants ride up to his knees, exposing his shins.
• Flo-Jo: Sometimes, though, only one leg would ride up, leaving him looking something like the famed track star (sort of)
• Fat Joe: When Rooney is sitting too far forward in his car seat and I need to strap him in, I often tell him to "lean back, Fat Joe"
• Bama: I gave this one to Rooney one day at the dinner table after he stuffed an entire handful of goldfish in his mouth. I called him the "Cramma from Alabama", or the "Alabama Cramma". This was later shortened to just "Bama".

It's Rooney Wade not Wayne Rooney

This morning was Rooney's first soccer class. The class is for 18mo to 2 year old kids. Roonster was definitely one of the youngest kids, if not thee youngest, and it seemed to me some of the other kids had already been in this class before. That was OK and Rooney seemed really intrigued by them. Especially this one little boy with a mohawk. I have to admit his haircut gave me some ideas for Rooney's next one.

There were also kids in this class who's parents were real hardcore. You could tell they were already working with their kids on "no hands" and kicking. This one little boy was decked out in a whole soccer outfit, including little Adidas indoor soccer shoes! I was intimidated by this kid. Rooney seemed to really enjoy playing with the ball. I tried to work with him on "no hands". I'm not sure if he was really getting it or maybe he really just liked the goalie position. He did end up running and kicking the ball and he laughed alot, so I think we had a good time.

It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Super Dave

Today I am going to deviate from talking about Rooney. I really want to talk about him but yesterday was a special day and we should give yesterday its very own post. So here we go...on April 12th Rooney's cousin Dave was born!

Happy Birthday Super Dave!

David Alexander

Week in Review

"So let me get this right, he's not allowed to eat peanut butter?"






Courage ready to Superfly Snuka Rooney and Cuyler








"Man, these are the best crackers." "Have you tried these crackers?"







Easter Morning: Trail of Babies

Desean Vivo Los Dos Cheesies!

(Can you tell the real Cheesie from the fake Cheesie?)

We finally did it! We were able to purchase a second Cheesie for Rooney off of Ebay. I was starting to believe we would not be able to find and purchase a 2nd one. I kept getting outbid on Ebay because we absolutely refused to pay $49.99 for a baby security blanket. However, I was recently lucky enough to find one on there that was lightly used. Obviously this drives the price down quite a bit and I was able to purchase Cheesie #2 for a more reasonable price. Rooney has not yet born witness to the two Cheesies. I was afraid his little head might start spin and his whole world might implode, so we decided to reserve #2 for #1's bath time and as a stand in if #1 , god forbid, were to become lost.

I think Christmas just came early for this branch of the Wade family.

Feliz Navidad

What Smells Like Jam But Is Cheesie All Over?

Through the moms groups, playgroups, and other mom/baby activities Rooney and I participate in, we've made alot of friends. The amount of little friends Rooney has is great, more than I could have asked for, but nobody seems to come close to his best friend...Cheesie. I've written about Cheesie many times before but this little blanket really is his best bud. I took some pictures this morning to illustrate just how close they've become.







Best buds in deep conversation









Sharing a little breakfast










Remnants of breakfast








Not only a great conversationalist but also a very dapper hat





Parker, Rooney's other best bud, need not worry though. Cheesie will never be able to talk, but Parker can say "Roon, Roon".

Here Come the ABC's...again and again and again...

Rooney has become obsessed lately. He has always liked his They Might Be Giants cd's but recently that's all he wants to hear or see. We own both the cd and dvd for their Here Come the ABC's release. I will normally play the cd in Rooney's room, as his "play" music, when I need to take a shower or be Rooneyless for a few minutes. However it has progressed and all he wants is his cd, or most beloved dvd, playing in every room. To be honest it has its benefits, this is how I am getting this blog post written but we do have our limits and I have to get him distracted with other things sometimes. Besides They Might Be Giants Rooney also really loves his Megablocks. We will often sit on the floor and create huge towers. I love these moments because you can actually see his little brain working figuring things out. So I took a little photo shoot...



Still in the ABC Zone









The masterpiece begins to take shape









Sometimes you have to tear it down and rebuild to get it right








Attempt #2










The sign of a real artist...always re-examining




We used every block creating Rooney's masterpiece (twice) and then it all got torn down to start again the next day. Rooney seemed relived and right away asked for the ABC's!

I think we need an intervention.