Nuther toofy

If you're keeping track, that's six, six beautiful teeth in our little boy's smile. This latest one is on top, just to the right of his center two teeth. And he keeps chew-chewing on those fingers... sometimes so hard he cries! So I'm sure many more are on the way!

"Allen's Feet"

I sing so many songs to Allen throughout the course of a day. In fact, it's hard for me to come to work and not sing in my daily conversations... I often think I should write down some of these songs. Here's a good one we came up with today (sung to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus"):

Allen's socks go on his feet
Ain't that neat
Can't be beat
Allen's feet would look so sweet
With socks on Allen's feet.

Get well, Will!

I spent part of this afternoon at a tough place... Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. Tougher for Amy and Brian than for me... Will is there with meningitis. It doesn't appear to be the serious, bacterial kind. It appears to be the mild, viral kind, and he should be allowed to go home Tuesday. We're crossing our fingers! A boy so brand new should be home where it's warm, happy and safe. Not where it's so cold, sad, sterile and pointy! (He had a spinal tap Saturday, and has the robo-IV arm thing you can see in this picture. Amy and I both noted how our old epidural sites have been zinging and singing ever since that boy had to get stuck in the back, too! Yikes!)

Allen's 12 mos. checkup

We went to see Dr. Cohen today for a checkup and some shots. Here are all the "particulars," as Mike Shannon says on the Scoreboard show...

Length: 30 3/4 inches. Up from 27 1/2 at 9 months.
Weight: 23 pounds. Up from 19 pounds, 2 ounces at 9 months.
Head circumference: 47 cm. Up from 45 cm 9 months.

Dr. Cohen says we should start Allen on whole milk now, and drop the formula. Which we will do after we finish this very expensive can we just bought. And he really isn't very much into his bottles anymore anyway. He'd much rather eat real food.

There's lots of fun stuff to do at the doctor's office! Here's Daddy and Allen reading "One Fish, Two Fish" while we wait for the doctor's henchwoman to come in with the pointy stuff. This time, we didn't give the baby a chance to eat his Band-Aid!

Paddlin' at the park

Daddy wanted to pedal, and we wanted to paddle. So, he rode his bike 20 mi. to Forest Park, and we met him there. Then we rented a paddle boat. Some guy was on Art Hill with a parachute, just running around. There are surely some beautiful views from the Grand Basin on a nice fall day! Enjoy!

Paddleboat at Forest Park

Kangaroos and puppies... Oh, my!

It's official: Allen is brilliant, just like his big sister. He knows a kangaroo goes "hop, hop, hop" (which he signs by tapping on the floor or his chest). He knows a puppy pants (which he does with his tongue hanging waaaaay out). He knows an airplane when he sees one, or hears one, or gets a feeling that one might be anywhere nearby. He understands so many words! He's learning so fast, it's hard to keep up!

Glass in the garden

We never like to waste a day off from school... So on Friday, teachers' professional development day, Emilyn, Allen and I spent the morning at the Missouri Botanical Garden, enjoying the exhibit of glass art by Dale Chihuly. What beautiful stuff! And it's all over the garden, right amid the plants, so it looks like a magical, twinkling kingdom of glass and green.



The camera got another big workout. Emilyn was even inspired to rush right home and make her own Chihuly garden:



We also got the chance to explore the new Children's Garden, built with the theme of a Missouri frontier village. We played in the general store, a cave, a riverboat, log cabin... the works. It's like the Magic House, only outside!





If you've never seen the garden, you've got to go. And Chihuly's glass will be there until Oct. 31! (Blow up each picture as big as it will go... there's detail in each that you've got to see to believe!)

Our trip to see Chihuly at the garden

Through Emilyn's eyes

Emilyn wanted her own post, with just the pictures she took at the garden. So, here they are! Beautiful work, kiddo! P.S. The photographer says, "Please read the captions I wrote on some of my pictures!"

Emilyn's shots at the garden