Cheetos! (and adventures in other junk food)

There are very few things in this world that Anthon can/will eat with reckless abandon. Despite Anthon being formerly of the "failure to thrive" ilk, I wouldn't say he's a picky eater - he's just more of a reluctant eater. We often have to cajole him into eating. One of the more effective techniques has been for me to take a spoonful of his food and "drop bombs" into his mouth. We do this by simulating a falling bomb noise (usually me whistling) whereupon I would make an exploding noise upon "impact" of said food in Anthon's mouth. That has since given rise to even greater explosions, with me blowing myself back into walls, over couches, etc. The latest trick is making the bombs travel around the kitchen before exploding into Anthon's mouth. Anthon seems to like making me jump through hoops. But it is working! We can usually extend lunch or dinner a few extra bites before Anthon catches on.

We're also in daily negotiations with Anthon to eat. We know what he loves eating - Cheetos being at the top of the list - and so we'll say, "Anthon, do you want Cheetos?" He inevitably answer "Yeah." To which we'll respond, "Ok, five bites of your dinner." He'll whine and refuse to eat, but he sees that the carrot on the stick is worth it if it means getting to his Promised Land that are those Cheetos. But I feel like Monty Hall on "Let's Make a Deal." Whenever we babysit we're constantly amazed at other kids who eat what's put in front of them without any thought.

Anyway, here's a quick video of Anthon showing how much he loves his Cheetos and cupcakes.

A Short Trip to Seattle

Our family went up to Seattle this last weekend to meet up with Shelley's parents and visit Ed's Mom, Shelley's Grandma, and Anthon's Great Grandma...all one person in case you didn't already figure it out. This was the first time that Anthon has seen his third Great Grandma. Since Shelley and I hadn't been to Seattle before, we made a long weekend out of it...spending one day in the city and driving through some of the islands in the Puget Sound, and then spending a day hiking around Mt. Rainier.

Shelley and I really liked Seattle. We found ourselves saying, "could you live here?" And by and large I could. Now we were there when it was the hottest four days of the year. And rain was nowhere to be found. But you can't beat the views of the Sound and the mountains.

Most importantly, it was great seeing family - his Grandparents and Aunt Rachel as well as the three new relatives he met for the first time, Great Grandma Emily, Aunt Patty and Uncle Barney.

Please click on either picture to take you to a small gallery of photos from that weekend.

iPod redux: Low-Fidelity

So, I've talked about how Anthon loves Shelley's iPod. We snapped a shot of Anthon listening to the iPod as Shelley was listening with my cheapo low-fi speakers. I look at this picture and think that maybe Anthon will turn out to be that guy who walks around town carrying a boom box against his ear.

Anthon and his Grandpa Daetwyler

While we were in Indiana, Anthon's Grandpa Daetwyler treated him to a lot fun activities: catching worms, fishing, playing in the water and hanging out with the horses. It was good bonding time.

Click on the thumbnail to the right for a funny video that you won't want to miss. Halfway through the video, there is a minute-long segment that involves Anthon a hose, water, increasing water pressure and screaming.

From 1 Mile to a 5K...

On the 4th of July, Shelley did something she's never done before, run a 5K. Shelley never really liked running, but she's warming up to it. She hated running when all she knew of it was the treadmill at our local 24 Hour Fitness. But she ran a mile race in May and she thought that it wasn't so bad. So she decided to work her way up to a 5K. She did it by running with Megan Marriot and other friends a few times a week.

Anthon really liked it when Shelley trained. She would put him in a jog stroller and Anthon would feel the wind in his face and say, "Running! Fast!" After Shelley would run a mile or two, and was really tired and out of breath, Anthon would pat his fingers together and say, "more more running." It actually inspired Anthon so much he's been doing a lot more running around the house. He's running laps around our kitchen, and running back and forth in his crib...he just loves to run fast like his Mom now.

Anyway Shelley and Megan ran a 5K in Redondo Beach and they did it in good time. The weather was overcast and cool. Perfect running weather. I was totally proud to see Shelley accomplish what I think will be the first of many races. My only fear is that she will want to somehow ring me into the running thing. I'll have to start coming up with a reserve of excuses!

Click on the thumbnail to the left to see the pictures from the run. The thumb on the right is of a short video I took. I tried to get some video of Shelley and Megan running, but they ran by me too fast. So most of the video is of Anthon running after the runners and cheering them on, screaming "Go! Go!!!" at the top of his lungs. That's pretty amusing.

5K Photos

5K Video

Our trip to Evansville, Indiana

As I said in a previous post, Shelley's younger brother Mike is leaving on a mission to Madrid, Spain. We used his farewell talk in church as an opportunity to spend time in Shelley's home town of Evansville, Indiana.

As we often do with Anthon, before we go anywhere and see anyone we try to set his expectations and get him excited. We'll say, "Anthon, we're getting on a plane and flying to Grandma's house!" Anthon last saw Shelley's parents when we went to India in March. And when he heard that we were going to Indiana, he listed off a few words that he associated with his stay there: "cookie dough" and "nay". Shelley's Mom ingratiated herself with Anthon forever by giving him cookie dough ice cream, which he now loves. And "nay" is what the Daetwylers horses say (of course!)when they took him riding.

This time around our week was full of swimming, tennis, boating, fishing, eating and lots of family time.

Click on the thumbnail to the left to see the pictures from our trip. I'll post a short video clip later.

Photos from Evansville