W's First Zoo Visit (in pictures)

Wilder and Papa stroll through the zoo.


This picture of a gorilla's bagunkagunk was the only decent one I could get.


The only monkey we could get Wilder interested in.


But wait ... something's caught his eye! Look over there Wilder ...

Flamingos! (NOTE: Flamingos STINK in large groups.)


Mama takes this opportunity to reinforce: "Nice kitty kitty Wilder. We don't hit kitties, right?"


What could possibly have finally gotten kiddo this engrossed in the zoo?


Elephant! This one was really active while we were there.


A creepy pic of an otter sleeping (there were four total) in the otter hovel.


The zoo is fun!!!


I even got a monkey to take home with me!!


And these two monkeys had fun too!

Duck of Death!

Surely every child needs one of these to make bathtime more ... err, horrifying? Still, it's pretty awesome. There's also a James Brown duck and, as my friend Sherry pointed me to, a Mr. T duck. Still, best duck ever? Right here.

Hey, What's Up With Wilder?

Just a quick update of what's going on with the kiddo:

1. Giving us the most reason for joy is that Wilder has now gone three solid weeks without being sick. Can we get a hallelujah?! Wanted to post the first week, but thought, 'Nah I'll just jinx us.' Thought same second week, but I think it might be safe now to say that either we've built up a little immunity or those other cootified baby flesh monkeys at his daycare stopped cramming their germs down my kid's throat. I know, I know: It's the former.

2. TEETH! We finally have them, as in plural. For weeks he had half a tooth at the bottom. Now the one next to it has not only broken through, but caught up, and there are two more at the top. And I think another one or two might not be far behind. I'm happy to report our little trooper has barely uttered a peep of displeasure. Big Strong Wilder!!

3. Walking!! As the post below attests to, the Wild Child is no longer content with crawling or baby-stepping to and from whatever he can grab ahold of. He wants to walk and he wants it bad. I'm almost positive by this time next week he'll have it almost mastered. I, on the other hand, will have mastered the delicate art of cracking open a cold one in relief each time his cute little head hits the pillow.

4. Hair. It's filling in and, in doing so, is getting increasingly BLONDER. I never doubted he was gonna be a little tow-head, but he might even veer toward the platinum range. Clearly, Jerry is stomping me in the battle of dominant gene poolage.

5. BIRTHDAY!! We cannot believe that Wilder's first birthday is around the corner. Seriously, when did our gelatinous little blob of wailing, pink-skinned baby turn into a smiling, giggling, kiss-blowing boy? It went too fast, but we're psyched about all the fun stuff going on, so I refuse to get misty-eyed about it (unless I'm cracking open a cold one ... tears and beers just go together, right Hank?). Anyway, we've slated his birthday party for Saturday, Oct. 21 (the next weekend will be devoted to Halloween -- man, I cannot even imagine how much more fun having Wilder around is gonna make Halloween, which is already one of my top three holidays). We'll post lots of pictures and video for those of you who can't make it!

That's pretty much all. I was going to lament how we can no longer patronize restaurants w/o feeling like we've brought along Baby Tarzan, but hey, what parent doesn't right?

Love to all,
K,J&W

Baby Becomes Ambulatory, Parents Screwed

Here's a little clip of Wilder cruising the living room with the help of a walking toy. This was a few days ago. As of today he's attempting to walk without help EVERYWHERE. Most times he takes four or five steps and falls down, but he's quickly making progress. Dear God, help us.

Rubber Duckies Galore!!

We've had these Google AdSense ads on our blog here for quite some time. I find most of them boring and uninspired. But this one is absolutely awesome:

http://www.pricehot.com/rubberducky.html

On it you can get any kind of rubber ducky that some bath-toy designer can dream up. My favorites so far:

Punk Deluxe Duck
Rock Concert Duck
Devil Duckies
... and the somewhat ironically named Hunting Duck (Any idea what this little guy would hunt? Please visit the comments section and fire away.)

Anyway, if you're in the market for any rubber duckies, check it out.

TO COME LATER THIS WEEK:
A video of Wilder — looking like a drunken marauder — pushing his new walking toy around our living room
An update on teeth, health and the latest phases (at least we pray to God they're phases)
A date and theme is finally agreed upon for Wilder's first birthday party

Rumblin' & Tumblin'

Just a clip of Wilder cruisin' the house a bit. In a display of what is sure to be a skyrocketing IQ, he's taken to carrying a rubber ducky around in his mouth. As you can see, he's gotten quite mobile. Though still not an ounce of what you'd call grace.

Parents' Night Out

So Jerry and I have our first official overnight babysitter tonight: Judy. She works with me, and is much more than a babysitter. She's a good friend and as close to a Dallas-based grandma as Wilder has. She adores him, I'm pretty sure, and few people bring a smile to Wilder's face like she does.

Anyway, what this means for us of course is a night out with friends (though sadly it's a goodbye party for four of them that we're headed to) followed by a night at one of Dallas' cool boutique hotels, the Belmont, which is a Dilbeck-designed mid century modern little joint with a swanky bar and funky little rooms. I'm hoping we can somehow cram dinner, party, drink at bar and dip in pool all into this one tiny night. I'm sure that's unrealistic, but a temporarily kidless girl can dream, right?

I'm also planning to sleep in, but something tells me I'll pop out of bed at 7:15 a.m., saying, "Honey, let's go get Peanut. I miss him," while picturing this in my head:

Bathtime

Clearly I'm going for a b&w series here. Our nightly baths always make for good photos because the kiddo's so damn happy when he's in the tub. Or any water for that matter. I could put him in a gutter puddle and he'd happily splash around while all manner of detritus backed up against his back side. Anyway, I couldn't pick just one:

Coffeehound

This is but one in a series of photos in which Wilder was trying DESPERATELY to get a drop of coffee out of my empty cup. Maybe I should have cut back during the pregnancy ...

Blair Witch Baby?

Swingtime

I tried to take a bunch of cool black and white photos of Wilder swinging in our front yard, and some of them turned out OK. But none of them do I like better than this one of Jer showing me a ripe cherry tomato from our garden with the kiddo swinging in the background, checking out what Papa's got in his hand. Though it looks like he's just sitting there, the swing was actually in motion, and I just love the way it turned out. And, for those of you who know him well, you can see he's got his signature kicked back posture: right ankle crossed over left. What's amazing is he was doing that in his ultrasound at 20-something weeks, and to this day if you see Wilder just sitting there, he's got his ankles crossed.

As an aside, this is the first year Jerry and I have been able to grow things in our garden, mostly because we moved its location from the shaded patch of crappy soil in our back yard to some cedar boxes we built on the side of the house in our driveway, where we control and soil content and the sun shines brightly a good portion of the day. I'm thinking we can still do better, but for us, a few ripened tomatoes are a victory over the Texas climate.

And, back to Wilder, the women at daycare tell me they have a little competition going on which baby will walk next. Wilder's up, with the general feeling being it'll happen by September 1st. We'll see ... I asked if they're usually right, and they tell me they are. So I guess we should be prepared for the scrambling to begin here soon.

Love to all,

kJ&W

Word Verification for Comments

Some of our blog visitors leave comments, and we love them. It's great to know friends and family are reading and enjoying the pictures and stories we post. So thanks for the encouragement!

From now on, though, you'll have to complete a word verification to leave a comment. I've been getting mercilessly spammed by comments -- upward of 10 a day -- from advertisers who're looking to get noticed. These all go into my email inbox and junk up the comments section for those of you who actually like to see real people posting real stuff. The word verification is a quick step that only takes a few seconds. Sorry to do this, but the spam was getting to be too much, and I'm hoping this takes care of it and we can go back to being a blog of insiders. ; )

Thanks and love to all,
Kris

Naptime

We of course love Wilder in all his forms. But there's something about a sleeping baby that's just so compelling, and not just because he's not demanding a bottle, a diaper change or for someone to put the kitty in front of him -- stat! -- so that the tempting furry tail can be yanked on and sticky palms can be made into furry ones. Like just about everything Wilder (and all babies, I guess)does in life, he just sleeps with so much commitment. So in the moment. Not a care in the world. His face becomes one big expression of Zen.

And then, of course, there is that peace and quiet thing. : )

The Kid at his first hotel on this trip. Little did he know how many different places we'd expect to sleep in over the next seven days. Mwahahaha! 

Wilder didn't always like riding in the car ... 

... but not to worry, he had the indominatable Blue to keep him company.  

Peanut plays in the pool at Grandma's. We were out there almost every day for a bit and he loved it. The sun and chlorine also made for some nice long naps.  

Mmmm, fudgesicle. 

Grandma Teri fixes Wilder's lovely curls, apparently inspiring a psychopath-like glare. (Seriously, I think the hairplay just vegged him out, but that look is hilarious.) 

Wilder tries to figure out this whole life-vest, moving-fast, wind-in-my-face lake experience.  

Jerry on the lake 

Cuddling with mama on the lake. Nice pot belly Wilder! (And thanks for camoflauging mama's!) 

Having duck with Grand-dad, Dad and Uncle Mark at Ty's house.  

Spiffed up and looking devilishly handsome at Uncle Ty's party. 

This photo will go down as one of my father/son favorites. Look how handsome both my guys are!  

Kiddo gets his splash on. 

The next four pics were taken at Jer's sister Leigh and Trent's wedding reception, which was beautiful and so much fun. This one shows Wilder and Aunt Cati at sunset.  

Wilder loves his Grandma!  

The beautiful bride Leigh and her nephew (who took quite a shine to her). The twinkling lights in the background were floating candles in the pool. 

Final party pic. Four generations: Papa, Teri, Jerry and Wilder.  

Wilder on a Cracker Barrell rocking chair. Something we didn't know prior to this moment: Wilder rocks (rawks!) like he'll never get the chance to rock again.  

About an hour before we get home, Wilder finally decides a lifetime in the car isn't so bad afterall. AND bonus! He decides to show off his first yoga move.