All Grown Up (Weep!)

Mike and I have a running mock-argument: Is Donovan a boy or a baby? I argue that he's still a baby. Mike says he's a little boy. I counter with the He'll Always Be Our Baby routine. As with any joke, there's some truth at the bottom of it all. He's my baby but...

Now that the cooler weather is here I got out the coat and hat that I bought for Donny at some crazy sale at Kaufmanns: it was something like, everything is half off and if you buy 3 things you get an extra 20% off, if you buy 4 you get another 50% off. At any rate, the sale made it possible to get Donny this great little peacoat and earflap cap set. Having dressed him in it for about a week now, I'm thoroughly enjoying the tongue in cheek design: a real peacoat is itchy, scratchy, dryclean only wool. This baby version is soft, machine washable, indestructible polarfleece. Pretty clever, I must say. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't like all the oohs and ahhs he's been getting. Its definitely a throwback look--very John-John.

ANYhow, you see him above all decked out and ready to go on his big adventure today: To get his first haircut. We went to Supercuts on Highland and, at 5pm on a Saturday night, we were the only people there.
One of the stylists put Donny on a booster seat in her chair and I warned her that he does not like new things and there would probably be screaming and crying. She brushed that off and started wetcombing his hair. She got the scissors out and snipsnipsnip--had it all under control. When I complemented her on her baby hair cutting prowess, she said, "I have 26 nieces and nephews." That would explain it. Donny proved me wrong and was a perfect little customer--no crying, no squirming, nothing! And when it was done, he looked so grown up.
I did'nt actually get teary but I will admit I had no idea he would look like that and it did throw me for a loop.

Tomorrow we're going to Ohio for a one day visit, mainly because my Mom's birthday is today and she needs some grandbaby lovin'. Also, my Dad is back in a nursing home to gain back some strength after having a heart attack and pneumonia. He's doing very well but he's all kinds of pissed off that he needs to be in a nursing home again. Sounds like he needs some baby therapy as well.

Not the Gourds! Please! Not the Gourds!!!

First, if you are like us and still need to get a pumpkin for your Halloween altar, I would like to draw your attention to this fine public service. Mike and Donny and I are going to Ohio this weekend and I don't know if we'll have time to go looking for pumpkins but its nice to know where we could look if we do.

If we do take him to the pumpkin patch, I hope it goes better than his trip yesterday to the farmers market. Everything was fine until I took him over to a crate full of festive gourds. You'd think I'd asked him to stick his hand in a laundry mangler. I keep reading about how important it is to have kids experience the outdoors and/or to connect what their food is to where their food is coming from. All very noble ideas, unless your kid only seems to connect with empty yogurt containers and a melamine lunch tray he keeps dropping on the kitchen floor so it sounds like bombs are falling in the backyard.

The other thing to mention is that I got out the old sewing kit this weekend and put two darts in a pair of 6-12 month pants for Donny. They are a little short on him but he's so skinny that they slide right down. Even with two darts he's still got a little bit of Pampers Plumber Butt going on but we can hide that with his shirt.

Friday Fotos OR Phriday Photos

Just a quick entry posted during my lunch hour: I had amassed a little pile of photos on my phone that I wanted to post and Friday seems like a good day for that sort of thing:

Baby's first Hot Chocolate!
Donny had on a really good outfit that afternoon but he never stood still long enough for me to get a good photo. This is at the little fishpond in front of his daycare. Note the big goldfish and note also the big head of big loopy curls
I took this yesterday morning. Makes me sleepy just looking at him...

Our neighbor Eric came over one day with this toy tool bench for Donny. He'd found it at a garage sale and thought of the boy, which was super sweet of him. As with all his toys, it had to sit in his general vicinity for a couple of weeks before he warmed up to it but now its part of his In The Kitchen ritual. The action shot is my son wielding a plastic hammer. We can't get him to hammer with it yet, he just likes to throw it.

Tomorrow is Saturday! A Saturday with Mike off of work! Will we make it out to a pumpkin patch? Stay tuned...

And the First Word Is...

"MINE!"

Ms. G at daycare said that one of the kids was saying "Mine!" about everything all day yesterday and all the other kids picked up on it, including Donny ("We all said, 'Did he just say what I think he just said?'") We tried all night for a repeat performance but it was not forthcoming.

"Mine!" That does not bode well. My Mom thought it was the funniest thing ever but I'm a bit worried. Its like that one character in one of the Faulkner books. The first time you see him, he's a little boy running with his hands in his pockets and you just know this character is going to grow up into a tightfisted, moneygrubbing study in greed.

Maybe I'll try to work on his next word being, "Yours!" or "Seriously--take it!"

His Secret Life

For a great photo and a brief write up of Donny's date with Sheryl, go to her blog If you click on the photo, it will take you to a whole set she's taken of the boy. Nice work, Aunt Shirley!

Quick update and some Phone photos

A very quick entry on worktime just to let you know that things here in Donnyland are fine. It was a busy weekend, which included a trip to the Waldorf School here in Pittsburgh for their open house. Donny is on their daycare waiting list and we wanted to go look at the space, which is in the lovely old Ursiline Academy building in Friendship. Its not quite the starry eyed wonderland of the Cyert Center but it certainly has its charms and I'd love for Donny to be involved there. Fingers are crossed.

Before we went to the open house, we stopped at Coldstone Creamery for Mike to renew his Free Birthday Icecream coupon (I'm sort of a coupon geek and I signed Mike, Donny and I up for a variety of birthday freebies). Donny continued not being interested in icecream, tho he did like looking over the table and out the window at all the traffice on Forbes and Murray (see above photo). After the open house, we thought he'd fall asleep in the car but that was not going to happen. I gave him a book and he read to himself for awhile, which just proves he's genetically connected to me.And now, I get back to work. Hope you all had a good weekend.

Faint Echoes from the Ossuary

Hello Friends--please forgive the recent silence: I've been recovering from whatever it was I had.

I was trying to hold out until we had new photos of Donny to put up but that will have to wait a day or two. Just wanted to let everyone know that things are fine in Polish Hill. Yesterday was trash day and the sheer avalanche of used Kleenexs were cleared out. The house almost looks normal.

No real news on the Donovan front, tho Mike did email me that, at daycare dropoff, Donny was "mobbed" by Abigail and a couple other kids from his class who started petting him. He has that effect on people.