As you become more adept at crawling and cruising (walking/standing while holding onto things) and climbing, Mommy and Daddy have been able to spend more time watching you and less time standing beside you to cushion every fall. The exception is around edges and drops; you don’t yet understand why going head-first over edges is a bad idea. Daddy has been practicing with you at the mall play area to climb up things, then turn around to go over edges on your belly. Today, you finally did this on your own. You climbed up onto a platform, crawled over to the edge, turned around, and slid off onto your feet. You only did it once but that is a good sign for days to come.

Houston, we have a heavy baby…

We took uncle Rob to see the Houston Space Center today, which included a tram tour of the NASA campus and several awesome museum exhibits of space stuff. Mommy and Daddy thought they would save themselves some hassle by leaving the stoller in the car and having you in the baby carrier/sling. You were happy with this…for about 20 minutes. Then you wanted out of the carrier. This meant that we were carrying a-want-to-touch-and-see-everything squirmer who got heavier by the minute. Next time, we will either bring the stroller, or make you walk, cause these free arm rides are exhausting and not many places allow crawling.

Daddy’s friend and one of your godfathers, Rob, flew in from Seattle to visit this weekend. Today, he and Daddy made a pilgrimage to the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, TX. (Dr. Pepper is Daddy and Rob’s favorite soda flavor…or more precisely, flavors.) They tried to find you an “I’m a Pepper” onesie yet had to settle for a classic Dr. Pepper advertisement print to decorate Rob’s apartment and a sew-on patch for a bag for Daddy.

You and Mommy spent the day going on walks, napping, and cooking, with breaks to read books and “fold” laundry.

Now for a history interlude…

Mommy started writing this post in January, then stopped until she could get more information. As she has learned, if you wait until you have all the info before going forward, you’ll never get anywhere, so…here is what there is so far:

We got to learn more about one of the men you were named after: Daddy’s father’s (Don), father’s (Cyril), father (Alonzo). Grandpa Don was very little when his grandfather died and doesn’t remember him, but his cousin, Phyllis, shared some of her memories with us, as well as some family history she learned about Alonzo’s parents.

Alonzo Oliver Brewer was born in Tumwater, WA (near the capitol of Olympia). His parents Oliver P. Brewer and Margaret C. Stevens Brewer had come over the Oregon Trail from Arkansas with Oliver’s family right after they were married in 1853. His father was a farmer, teamster (person who drove wagons and took care of draft animals), and part-time local Methodist pastor.

Alonzo’s nickname was “Lonnie.” He had one sister, Sarah, and three brothers: Wright (real name Milton), Theodore, and Loren. His family moved around a lot, living in several places in Washington including Tumwater and Elma. For a while, he and his brothers owned a livery stable in Elma; they were known for their nice singing voices. He married your great-great-Grandma Helen Halliday Brewer on June 5, 1893 (114 years and 11 days before Daddy married Mommy). Her nickname was “Nellie” and he thought she was “pretty as a picture”.

Alonzo spent most of his life at his fruit orchard in Grandview, Washington where he grew Red Delicious apples and other crops. Alonzo loved to read. He was very kind, making sure that anyone who visited his farm had something to eat even if they didn’t have any money (during the Great Depression, many people had trouble finding jobs and buying enough food). He believed that girls should be able to learn the same things as boys (for example, he taught Phyllis how to shoot) and he insisted on doing the chores around the house that he thought were the most unpleasant so that the ladies of the house did not have to do them.

Murphy’s Law #ump-teen-whatever: a child’s illness will always progress from manageable to nerve-wracking shortly after the pediatrician’s office closes for the weekend.

You had had cold-like symptoms for a day or so when you decided that breathing normally was too difficult with all that mucus. Daddy and Mommy had taken you to the mall to keep you calm and entertained while ill. 15 minutes after calming down from a screaming car ride there, you were still breathing twice as fast as normal and your stomach muscles were doing a good frog impression. Two hours of this and Mommy and Daddy decided to call the doctor, then take you to Children’s Hospital (you didn’t have one of their emergency department ID bands in your collection yet…). Some poking, prodding, suctioning, screaming, flirting with nurses, fussing, sleeping, inhaler treatments, screaming, and feeding later, we took a much more comfortable you home in time to watch the clock change to April 14th. Doctor’s office visit to follow up on Monday (i.e. regular hours).

New addition to our rules of thumb (such as car mechanic trips = $500 per trip): ER visits = 5 hours per trip (we don’t want to think about the $$ yet).

Just when you think you have a system down, you will probably have to change it. This is how Mommy feels about making your food; she’s got the puree thing to a science. As you get better with your pincer grasp, however, you want to do more of the work yourself. So, on to learning how to make and dispense bits…and having you figure out that getting the bits in your mouth is not enough–you have to swallow them before you can put more in your mouth!

It is considered common knowledge that if you want to know how big a puppy will get, you look at how big their paws are. If that applies to you, Mommy AND Daddy will be looking up in the future. You have well outgrown your baby socks (rated at 0-6 or 6-12 months), so we went to buy you bigger ones. We couldn’t find 12-24 months; all that was there were 0-12 months and 2-3 years (and not just at one store either). With children, the rule of thumb is you buy the bigger size because…well…they grow…a lot. Imagine Mommy’s surprise then when she noticed that your new “toddler” socks don’t look so big on your feet, and in fact, for most pairs, they fit quite well.

Someday I hope you have the opportunity to watch a child of your own sleep after they are old enough to roll over amd generally move around. The positions you end up in while asleep are amazing: mostly on your stomach with your head close to a corner of the crib, sprawled over and tangled in your blankie, a limb or two sticking  out between the bars, your knees underneath you and your little behind up in the air. All of this and you still spoil us further by sleeping straight through from 8:30 pm to 6:30 am, and meet us with smiles and snuggles.

From when you were one week old until you were nine months old, Mommy had little trouble keeping up with your milk demands. In a few cases, there was even enough for you to share with little babies in hospitals. That has not been the case recently. Mommy and Daddy were not worried about this because they had kept a stock of formula on hand just in case. Turns out, you are a milk snob: you refuse formula bottles outright (complete with offended glares, and even squawks, at the service), and blends have not fared much better under your scrutiny. The closest we can get is formula blended morning cereal heavily disguised with your favorite fruit purees. We can feed you almost anything out of a dish (this week you even opened wide for steamed, pureed okra!) but put it in a bottle and call it milk…

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

There is something particularly special about adult baptisms, being able to watch someone who understands and appreciates what is happening as the Holy Spirit does his work. Our church in Houston chose Easter as their usual baptism day to coincide with Christ’s resurrection. We were there to witness a girl about Mommy’s age receive a very emotionally moving, full body baptism in a large tank. (This is not to say that a tank is necessary for baptism, but it does add a level of physical sensation to the experience for the recipient, the pastor and the sponsor in with the recipient, and the congregation watching.) Around one side of the tank were members of the girl’s small group bible study, and around the other side were members of her family, with the Sunday school classes (including you) up close to watch. What a blessing that we could be there.

After church, we had one of our friends from church, E.T., over for a laidback meal of Japanese take-out, deviled eggs, and Mommy’s first attempt at a Brewer bunny cake (see pictures). You, the good napper that you are, slept through all this in your three-piece suit until it was time to remove the bunny’s biscotti ears and carve it up: head, back legs and body (which sounds kind of gruesome when you put it that way). We were equally amused and horrified to send the head piece of cake home with E.T. in a box. Mommy and Daddy can’t wait till you’re old enough to help design the bunny cake…strange colors, strange bunny anatomies, Zombie bunnies…