I just looked over my last post and was happy to see that we'd taken a few pictures which show how he likes to hold his tongue on the left side of his mouth. Strange, but consistent.

One of the things I brought back with me from our trip to Denver was a set of 6 Sesame Street figures that a friend gave me in high school. He loves them and can pick out Big Bird and Cookie Monster from the group which also includes Grover, Ernie, Bert, and Oscar. More than anything he likes the plastic container I brought them home in. He places the figures in the container and shakes it vigorously until the figures fly out. He closes his eyes for most of the shaking. Good thinking since you never know where those monsters will land. In the picture you can see Cookie Monster heading for adventures unknown.

He also seems to like the snail rocker we bought him for his birthday. In the picture I can't tell if he's giving it a hug, or rucking over it. It was definitely worth a picture though. It also has a secret compartment in the back of his shell where we hide, and then quickly find and throw out, the Sesame Street characters.

This past week was my first as a part-time employee. It was wonderful. LR and I went grocery shopping on Wed, to the park on Thur, and to a new park in Arlington with his friend on Fri. His friend just started walking, but looks like he's been riding a horse for 18 hours. It is terribly cute to see a baby cowboy. LR can walk, but doesn't seem to be very inspired to do it. He'll take a few steps here and a few steps there. He is happier just walking while holding our hands. While playing on the slides with his friend, LR discovered he could scoot forward by himself to initiate the slide. It was pretty cool. I'd set him up at the top of the slide and he'd wiggle forward holding the sides until he was ready. Every few slides he'd roll to his side at the start of the slide and grab onto the side, halting the slide. Not sure if he was scared or just trying out something new. I'd help him back to the top and he'd come down again.

Friday we celebrated his birthday again. Gigi baked him carrot cake cupcakes and after dinner we let him at one. To explain the photos, he had already smeared his face with mashed potatoes, so the cupcake icing was just an accent color really.





Seriously guys, who took my icing?







A real birthday boy smashes cake into his mouth with both hands.








Today we went to Jasper White's Summer Shack in Cambridge. LR loved the cornbread they set on the table before the meals came. Much like his cousin Bud, LR left a pile of cornbread crumbs beneath his high chair. Then his shells and cheese arrived. Whenever LR eats, his face gets itchy. It must since every meal he rubs his eyes and nose, but only after they're covered in food. He started the meal with just a pomade-like streak of cheese over his ear, but within minutes his eyebrows were white with cheese and his eyelashes were dotted with cornbread crumbs. The wipes they provided were nowhere near the hosing that was required to clean him off. When we got home we immediately went to the park thinking that we'd get all the dirty stuff done first. Sure enough he went straight to the sand pit where he dug around for a few minutes. Then he played a game with Daddy. It's called "I'll bet I can get the sand into my mouth faster than you can bat it away." Pretty funny game.