A day in the life, by Allen

Hi, I'm Allen, and I'm a baby. At least, that's what they keep calling me.

Here's how my day goes: Around 8 or 9 or so, Mommy decides to finally come and get me out of my bed. She gets me earlier if I yell a lot. Interesting power, this yelling. I may have to explore it further.

Then we go out to the kitchen, and I see Daddy. Eating cereal and reading the paper. "Hi, buddy!" he says to me. This makes me laugh. I like to listen to Daddy. He makes some very interesting noises.

Then, Mommy and I watch game shows while she feeds me a bottle. I like "Family Feud." And "Blockbusters." Mommy thinks it's OK for me to watch game shows because they're educational. I like how Richard Dawson kisses all the ladies.

After my bottle, Mommy feeds me cereal and fruits. I like bananas best. But Mommy gives me applesauce, peaches and pears, too. And prunes. I get "three yummy spoooooons of some yummy pruuuuuunes." Mommy sings that to me. She says I save my prunes in a pouch inside my cheek so I can spit them up later on my shirtie. Ha! She's right!

Around 10:30 or so, I start to give Mommy the signal that I want to go back to bed. She's not very good at understanding the signal. I yell and whine and wiggle as hard as I can, and she just says, "OK, OK..." Eventually, she catches on, and we go in my room to drink another bottle. I like bottles. Mommy sings me "The Rainbow Song" and the one about the birdies in the trees: "I hear the birdies in the trees... and the sound of the breeze... it puts me at ease... as quick as you please..." etc. Mommy rhymes a lot.

After my bottle, I'm pretty sleepy. I'm happy when Mommy gives me a kiss, puts me in my bed and closes the door. Sometimes I play my fishy music. Sometimes I cuddle Grammy Shark. I like to go to sleep.

I have no idea what Mommy and Daddy do when I'm in my bed. But I'm sure it's not important.

After a while, I wake up and practice my moving. I roll over and back. I wiggle sideways. I try to sit up. I can't always do what I want, and it starts to make me mad. I start yelling. Mommy eventually comes to get me.

Sometimes after my nap we go to the store... now I get to sit up in the cart like a big boy. I like this very much. I can see everything that's going on, and lots of people smile at me and tell me I'm handsome. After that, I get to have another bottle. I like bottles.

Just before 3, the big yellow bus comes and spits out Emilyn. Yay! I had almost forgotten about her! She is one of my favorite people. She never stops moving, never stops making noise. I like that in a toy.

Round about 3:30, on most days, Mommy disappears. I have no idea where she goes. But Emilyn and Daddy stay with me, and that's great. They are both very fun. Soon after I notice Mommy's gone, I start to give Daddy the signal that I want to go back to bed. He understands me much better.

Daddy changes my diaper. We play a game called "Monkey Feet." I get that diaper with my feet every time. Then he feeds me a bottle. He says some words from my favorite books. He does it without looking at the book! That's amazing, and it makes me laugh.

After my bottle, I'm pretty sleepy. I'm happy when Daddy gives me a kiss, puts me in my bed and closes the door. Sometimes I play my fishy music. Sometimes I cuddle Grammy Shark. I like to go to sleep.

I have no idea what Daddy and Emilyn do when I'm in my bed. But I'm sure it's not important.

After a while, I wake up and practice my moving. I roll over and back. I wiggle sideways. I try to sit up. I can't always do what I want, and it starts to make me mad. I start yelling. Daddy eventually comes to get me.

Then I get to have another bottle. Did I mention how much I like bottles? Sometimes we go outside to watch Emilyn ride her scooter. I like the trees and the grass. I watch Daddy wash the car, or mow the lawn. He's very interesting.

Sometimes Daddy gives me a bath. Sometimes Emilyn comes in, too. She's even more fun as a water toy. Then it's time for my cereal and a vegetable. I like sweet potatoes and squash and peas and green beans. Carrots are not my favorite.

Around quarter to 8, I start to give Daddy the signal that I want to go to bed for good. He changes my diaper, and we play "Monkey Feet" again. Got it, Daddy! He changes me into some snuggly pajamas with feet. Sometimes he reads me my favorite books. I get to have a nice, big, warm bottle. Some days, Mommy puts me to bed. She says some words from a book that Emilyn reads to me: "Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. Every day from here to there, funny things are everywhere."

Ha! She's right!

The perils of motion

A new milestone: Allen now moves enough to be a danger to himself. He got a painful lesson in physics today after he toppled headfirst out of his bouncy seat, onto the bathroom floor. Not 30 seconds after Mommy got in the shower. Not 15 seconds after Mommy thought: "Man, he's so wiggly that I've got to start strapping him into that seat." Not 3 seconds after Mommy squeezed her shampoo into her hand.

So, I hear the thud and he's crying and I'm out and I pick him up, getting him all wet and soapy... But he was OK. He didn't fall from more than 6 inches up. But he does have a small purple bruise in the center of his forehead. It looks a little worse than the red mark he got when Emilyn knocked the rocking chair over onto him. "How are your pupils?" I asked him. "Equal and reactive?" He said yes, and all was well.

Bruce Hornsby, live at the Sheldon

This is the part where it's all about me, me, me. Sorry, but no kids were present Sunday night when I went with my good friend Lisa Eisenhauer to see my musical hero, Bruce Hornsby, at the Sheldon Concert Hall in Grand Center. Man, is that place cool! I can't believe I'd never been there. Without a doubt, I'll be back. Steve and I may try to take in some bluegrass shows there. They say it's "acoustically perfect." And, for just a man and his piano, I'd have to say they're right.

http://sheldonconcerthall.org

Bruce was introduced by his pal, Cardinals' skipper Tony La Russa. The crowd gave Tony a standing-O... And he thanked them by saying, "It's good to see you all have such short memories..." That afternoon, the Cards got shellacked by the Cubs, 7-3. "I'll tell you, losing is bad," he said. "But losing to the Cubs is the worst."

So, that was funny. Lo and behold, right after Bruce comes out on stage, the usher shows Tony and his friends to their seats ... four rows in front
of us! And with him was Cardinals bench player Scott Spiezio (left). And an attractive young blonde, who we think was Scott's wife. She's a Playmate. (Later, at intermission, we had another sight-em in the lobby: Cards GM Walt Jocketty! As seen with Tony, at right. A star-studded event! But these are just pictures from the Web, I'm sad to say. I had no camera.)

So, the show was just Bruce and his piano. He said he does about five public solo shows a year, so this was a rare treat! Just as he sat down, somebody's cell phone went off... He said, loudly, "I hear a cell phone." Then, aside, laughingly, to the rest of the crowd, "Turn that damn thing off." We all went nuts. The phone owner must have been mortified! He played some notes that sounded like ringtones, then said it was a "dodecaphonic," or 12-tone, piece by Anton Webern. Wow, that was obscure, and he acknowledged that. Next time you have some time, Google ol' Anton. They say he encoded nuclear secrets in his music... Hmmm.

So, Bruce opened with "The Way It Is," which I think strayed into Mozart a little bit toward the middle. It was amazing. Then, he told us about the country club girls in his town getting "knocked up," so we knew it was time for "The Valley Road," which he played in a nice boogie-woogie style. Sometimes he plays it bluegrass. But either way, it's cool.

Next came "A Night on the Town," and that was neat because I noticed you could see his hands on the piano reflected in the polished wood wainscoting that is everywhere at the Sheldon. Next he played "The End of the Innocence," which he wrote with Don Henley... He joked that it was OK that it brought Henley all the fame, because he gets half the royalties anyway. During that piece, he mixed in a little of Song C, D, or F. I'm not sure which one it was.

He joked then about some Bob Dylan bootlegs, and said Tony was giving him moonshine backstage. Then he launched into "Hooray for Tom," which he said was Tony's favorite. He tweaked the lyrics a bit for the crowd. "Teach me long division, so I can figure out baseball stats. Batting average, fielding percentage and all that" became "... so I can figure out Cardinals stats. Pujols' batting average, Eckstein's fielding percentage and all that." It's a great song. Then he played a hilarious joke version, "Hooray for Tony," which he wrote for Tony's 60th birthday last year. I've got to find the lyrics for that... I think you can get the DVD of the whole party at mlb.com.

Then he joked again about playing bad hotel bars for bad hotel bar crowds. Ramadas and Sheratons. "Spider Fingers" is a song about that, and he broke into a disco medley whenever he thought he was losing the hotel crowd. "Shake Your Booty" and "Play that Funky Music, White Boy." It was hysterical.

Rounding out Act One was "The Dreaded Spoon," a nifty spoof of Bruce's dad and how he always used to steal the kids' desserts. I think that's coming out on the bluegrass CD with Ricky Skaggs.

At intermission we chatted with Nancy Miller, another friend from the Post, who had front row, center, seats. I told her I'd been listening to Bruce Hornsby since I was 14 -- 20 years! -- but yet she still didn't want to trade seats with us. I didn't understand that.

Bruce opened Act Two with another jab at the people who straggled in after intermission -- "Here come the drinkers!" -- and launched into "Country Doctor," another of my favorites. Then, with dispatch, came "Sticks and Stones," "Jacob's Ladder" and "Halcyon Days" (before which Bruce apologized that he couldn't sing as well as Sting). "Halcyon Days" bled into "Standing on the Moon," which was the lone Grateful Dead song of the evening. The Deadheads, by the way, cleaned up pretty nice for the Sheldon. They kept clamoring for Bruce to play more Dead tunes, but he put them in their place. "I already played a Grateful Dead song..." he said. "I came a long way..." And all the true Hornsby fans in the audience went wild! Yeah! Tell it, Bruce!

Lots of stuff from the "Halcyon Days" album. It's a great album. If you've actually
read this far, and you don't already own this album, buy it. Or you iPodders out
there, download some of it. Guest artists are Elton John, Sting and Eric Clapton. Every adult under 60 has to like at least one of those people, right?

Next, Bruce sang a new song, "The Low Country," which hasn't been recorded yet. It, too, was pretty funny. Then, a lady behind me yelled out "Rainbow's Cadillac!" And he played it right away. After that, he acknowledged selling out to corporate America, because Lowe's uses "Changes Made" as their new jingle. Next time you see a Lowe's commercial do listen for it. He said he'd even gotten some nasty e-mails. I say, gotta send Russell and Keith to college, right? He played that one, then added a funny new verse that he said was about "whoring for airplay." Neat.

People kept yelling out requests, which Bruce appreciated... So in short order came "I Will Walk With You," "Fields of Gray" and "Mandolin Rain," which he actually played twice. The new version, which is on the Skaggs record, sounds kind of dark and medieval. Can't wait to hear that on CD. Also, halfway through the first version, Bruce broke into a little "Scarborough Fair." Wild!

Then, Bruce left the stage, and we all called him back for an encore. I held out hope that he'd play "Resting Place," but instead he broke into "King of the Hill," which was almost as good! He played half that in the lotus position. He pacified the Deadheads a little by throwing in a little "Big Boss Man" in the middle. Then, he closed with the jazzy cover "We'll Be Together Again," after promising that he would be back to St. Louis soon. Can't wait!

Who's-a so HANDSOME?

If there's one thing I'll miss when I get my digital camera, it's blowing the end of the roll with a photo shoot in the grass. I did this with Emilyn, too. I have dozens of photos of her sitting in the grass, just making her faces. She, as you'll remember, was excellent at sitting still.

But Allen and I make quite the pair when we do this: Me, squealing my now-famous motherly affections at him, trying to get him to smile. Him, lunging at me, trying to eat the camera. Some of the endearments he likes kind of sound like hog calls. The title of this post, "Who's-a so handsome?" is one. Here are some others:

*****

• "Who's-a doin' it so easy?"
• "Sa-WEET and BOO-tiful tooKIE!"
• "How's-a my HAPpy man?"
• "How's-a my SUweet man?"
• "This is Mommy's good boy... this is Mommy's sweet man... my sweet man. My sweet, happy man." That one's actually more of a song.

Anyway, these are pretty heart-melting pictures, and clearly his best work to date. So, fire up those printers, gang!

A new Busch for the Birds

Easter Sunday was our big outing to the new Busch Stadium. And man, was it cool! Unfortunately, it was hot in our seats, right in the sun in left field. (But, thanks, Mike, for the tickets!) So, when we moved over a few rows, into the shade, we met a nice couple, and the gentleman took this picture of us. Thank you, Don Snyders of Jerseyville! I'm always the one behind the camera, so this'll be a rare picture of all of us together!

Allen didn't get to have a pretzel, sadly. He was a little bit too squirmy for a ballgame. But the rest of us had hot dogs, nachos and lemonade... the same stuff we always had at the old Busch, and it tasted just as good! But the new stadium has a lot of new stuff to eat: Mexican, Italian... We just didn't get a chance to sample those. Fear not: There'll be many more chances to partake in the House that Albert Built.

Turns out we got to see the two innings that really counted. This is Albert Pujols, our superstar first baseman, getting mobbed at home plate after he hit a walk-off, two-run homer, his third dinger of the game! Note the umpire at left trying to see if Albert actually got a chance to touch the plate... I think he got the benefit of the doubt on this one!

(I didn't take this photo either. We weren't that close to the game. For this one, you can thank Chris Lee of the Post-Dispatch.)

Here are some pictures that I did take:

Here's Emilyn and Allen in the grass at home before we headed off to the game. Check out those Redbird togs! Thanks to Grandma for Emilyn's Rolen shirt and to Lisa for Allen's swell Cardinals suitie.

Here they all are, in the seats we ended up at, Section 160. Steve Parker, my friend who has season tickets one section over, says he once saw a bunch of models sitting here. Which explains why he was scoping this section out, saw us instead, and came by to say hello.

There's a nice view of the Arch from the new park. They sell this as a big plus, which it is. But now they plan to build "Ballpark Village," retail and residential sites, right out there where the old Busch used to be. Will you still have that great view? Stay tuned.

New Busch vs. Old Busch

Exterior: The new park sure is neat to look at from the outside. The old park, of course, was a concrete donut. But it still evoked a lot of memories for people. The new park? No memories yet, unless you count Albert's three dingers on Easter Sunday!

Interior: At the old Busch, when you were walking on the ramps, you could always either see outside or inside. It was never really enclosed. The new Busch kind of feels like a catacombs. Or a parking garage. There are plenty of places where you can see neither inside nor outside. So you feel maybe like you're walking through an airport terminal. Only, those have windows. What is cool is the outfield concourse area, which is wide open, to the sky and to the field and everything. And there are plenty of places to stand and watch the game. If you like standing, that is.

Amenities: There sure are lots of things to eat and lots of things to do. The atmosphere is great for millling around and not paying any attention to the game. Many people like this. Maybe what will be good is that the rest of us can pay attention in the stands while those people amenity-shop. There's a zillion different kinds of food, and the team store, and the family pavilion, and Build-a-Bear, you name it. Game, what game?

The field: Once you get out to the field, though, it's nice. And I can't complain about the view, because this time we had ridiculously fancy field-level seats. I didn't get up to the nosebleeds, which is what I would normally be able to afford. So I don't know what the view was like from there. But from the field level, it was great. And other than not being round, it kind of feels a lot like the old park.

The fans: This is a tough one. There's a running controversy here that the fans are more cranky at the new Busch. Like, we were these well-behaved, civilized, loving people in the round park, but put us in the new one and we turn into drunken louts. Some say that only rich, obnoxious people can afford to get into the new Busch. I'm not so sure this is true. I mean, it's true that many fans feel alienated because tickets cost more and are harder to get... And we are booing some players pretty early in the season, when we usually embrace them with love and understanding, kind of like we would with 5-year-old children, and say, "That's OK, buddy! You'll get 'em next time!" But now, with the new park, I think we've morphed into something more like East Coast fans. We demand results. They got their new park, they got their millions. Now we want stellar baseball. Nothing less will do! But the park still ought to be a nice place to take your kid and enjoy the day. So, anybody who's obnoxious to their fellow fan ought to knock it off. But we didn't experience any such thing.

I've got a little sand in my pocket...

... two weeks after I left the beach! Is there anything better than that?!

Well, one thing that's just as good is looking back at your photos from the beach. And here are some:

Emilyn and Allen would like to welcome you to our fancy beach home. Here, they are lounging on our balcony. OK, it's not our balcony. Some kind folks just rent it to us for the week. But we get a king-size bed, Emilyn gets a queen and her own bathroom, and we eat nothing but seafood, pizza and microwave popcorn. Needless to say, we hate coming home.

* * * * *

Here's the reason we ever went to the Gulf Coast in the first place... The Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola -- Daddy's second-favorite airplane museum! Here, Emilyn and Allen are at the controls of a helicopter. Scary! No, they have a room full of cockpits that kids can climb in. They love it!

* * * * *

Stunt professional. Closed course. Do not attempt.

It's never a good idea to actually put your baby in a jet intake.

* * * * *

Daddy and Allen at the beach, with Emilyn testing the surf in the background. Beautiful water. There's a reason they call it "the Emerald Coast." Emilyn calls the ocean "Kerploosh, the Sea Dog." She feeds him sand biscuits that he laps at with his wave tongue. This year, Emilyn said Kerploosh was angry because "Mrs. Kerploosh dumped him." Interesting! A girl and the sea.

* * * * *

One new thing we got to do this year was take the ferry to Dauphin Island. That's a neat place, with a cool aquarium. But it's darn tough to find food on that island. There's one restaurant, all the way over by the causeway bridge to Mobile. So, my advice: Eat before you get to Dauphin.

* * * * *

Emilyn and Allen are sitting in the grassy area just under our balcony... This year, the grass and trees were in, and the pool was open. The elevator worked! I guess it took about a year to get back to tiptop shape after nasty Hurricane Ivan. This year, instead of piles of rubble everywhere, there were nice empty sand lots with "For Sale" signs. "For Sale. $3.5 million." Yeah! Let me get my checkbook.

* * * * *

Here's Allen, trying hard to eat some sand while I take the picture. I put him down in the wet stuff so he couldn't get so many grains into his little cracks. He really didn't spend too much time at the beach, though. He preferred sleeping with Grammy Shark and Grammy Fishy.

* * * * *

Emilyn fed the seagulls every morning. Allen usually watched and listened, before he went back inside for his mid-morning nap.

* * * * *

Thanks for coming along with us on our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama! We'll see the seagulls, Kerploosh and all the rest next year.

Heeeeere's Mommy!

Allen likes the "Tonight" show theme song. The old "Tonight" show theme song. This all started when he used to fuss in his bouncy seat while I took a shower. When I was done, I'd draw aside the curtain and shout cheefully, "Heeeeere's Mommy!", then break in to some Doc Severinsen. Now, there are several versions of lyrics to the tune. The shower one goes: "There goes my mommy, she's nice and clean. There goes my mommy, she's peachy keen!" But we have others for mealtime: "I love bananas, they're so yummy to me! I love bananas, they grow on a tree!" You get the idea.

Here are some of Allen's other favorite things:

Favorite books: "Hand, Hand, Fingers Thumb," "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and pretty much any other book that's about making noises. He loves noises.

Favorite toys:
--Kitty-fishy. This is a rattle he got from Grandma for Christmas. It's a Dali-esque little thing with a cat's head and three fish rattling around what would be the cat's esophagus, I think. It's creepy, but he loves it.
--Grammy Fishy. This is a stuffed goldfish that Grammy gave him. It's at least 3/4 his size and very soft and squishy. In fact, it's called a "Flip Flop: Extremely Relaxed Animals." We were lucky enough to find a shark by the same company when we went to the beach. This is now Grammy Shark. I hear there is a Grammy Lobster, Octopus, and more. We will have to check this out. But we must avoid the rampant infestation of stuffed animals that Emilyn has allowed in the house...
--Sweet Teddy Bear. Emilyn always called this one her Sweet Teddy Bear. Allen likes it, too. It's nice and small, with a swell red bow.

Gratuitous towel shot

I don't want to start a trend of naughty stuff in here... But everybody has a naked baby photo of themselves floating around, and now this one's in cyberspace!

This picture's mainly for Darlene, to show her how much Allen enjoys the crocheted mat that Aunt Dot started and Darlene and cousin Louise finished. It's beautiful, and soft, and he often lounges there as we read books. We miss Aunt Dot and Mom often, but it's great to be surrounded by so many of the beautiful things they made. As Mom often said, "There's love in every stitch." Or hook, or purl, or whatever...

(Yes, he is spitting up peaches in this picture. But he's happy about it.)

A half-year of progress

Allen just had his 6-month check-up on Monday. I think I may have told many of you that he was getting longer, not heavier. A mother knows! He gained a little less than a pound, but grew over an inch and a half. He's now in the 75th percentile in length but only the 45th percentile in weight. Can you say, "long and lean like Emilyn"?

Dr. Cohen looked inside Allen's diaper (where everything checks out, I might add), and asked, pointedly: "Has he discovered himself yet?" "No, not yet," I replied... But no sooner than his bath that night, Daddy reports... He found something more fun to play with than his yellow shell cup.

And he got four shots, so his legs are sore and red... He didn't even cry until the second shot! Now, that's tough! He did come home and take a long nap, though. I mean, who wouldn't?

Allen is now cleared to eat anything his little gums can mash, save for nut products and honey. We're taking this slowly, though, of course. He will be eating a pretzel at the new ballpark this Sunday, though. I guarantee that. Emilyn got one on her first trip to the old ballpark, when she was about this age. It was then that Steve and I vowed to have "an army of toothless pretzel-eaters." Well, OK. Maybe not an army. These two are good enough. Emilyn also slept through the last three innings that day. We'll see if we'll be that lucky this time. Check back next week for the story of that trip !

It's a jungle out there

Here's a blast from the recent past... Many of you don't know about this, but the Sorrento Springs Girl Scouts had a daddy-daughter dance for Valentine's Day, the week before I went back to work. As you might expect, the prospect of this had Steve less than thrilled. But he caved in and did his fatherly duty. And look how cute they were! There was a jungle theme, so Steve dressed up like Indiana Jones, and we went to the resale store to dig up some animal prints for Emilyn. All of the little girls in her troop were so cute!

This was no day at the beach...

... It was a week at the beach! And what a week it was! This happy guy really enjoyed lounging in the king-size bed. Actually, he most enjoyed sleeping in his playpen. He took three naps a day!!! And we'd been trying to get him to take a decent nap for three months now?!? We figured it was the soothing sound of the ocean and the seagulls. Anyway, the good news is he's taking naps now at home, too. So he's pretty much happy like this all the time now... at least, when he's awake!

We'll have more pictures soon from the beach, so stay tuned!

A "Great" visit

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma were here this week. It was great! Great-Grandpa was an instant hit with Allen. I mean, instant! And the baby warmed up pretty quickly to Great-Grandma.

And talk about kismet: Just as they were in town, there was a Czech Festival going on! So, Steve took them and the kids down to south St. Louis for an afternoon of goulash and polkas, and stuff like that. Emilyn learned some great Czech phrases.. none of which were dirty! I think!

The Rencs also got to be here for Emilyn's SWAPS night... That's Girl Scout-ese for "Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere" -- and that's just what they are... Emilyn has a hat now covered with them. One of them has a little tic-tac-toe board, and Great-Grandpa taught her how to win every time.

Great-Grandma also bought Emilyn some "Magic Tree House" books, so that little girl was happy as a clam. I'm thinking about setting up a log-on for her soon, so she can post her own stuff here. As you know, she has her own voice!

Welcome, all!

Ever hear of second-child syndrome? Allen's too young to feel it now, but wait until everyone tells him that Emilyn had her own Web page... for a while at least. Well, we don't want to scar him for life, do we? So, now you can see and read about Allen -- along with that big sister of his -- via the Web.

Plus, people use these blogs, I hear, kind of like journals... and I can use a little bit of that. Since Mom died, I find I've lost my most reliable audience -- the person that always wanted to hear what I had to say. Now, I'll let it all out here... You won't have to read it, but you'll certainly be welcome to!

So, if I can figure out how this works, you should all get e-mails telling you when I've put new stories or pictures up on the site. And you should be able to share comments of your own! I certainly hope you do. I'm looking forward to using this site as another way to help stay in touch.