Happy Child

I love my son. I can't ever say that enough. He and Katharine made a wonderful Father's Day for me. Hanging out with the two of them is the best thing I could ever ask for.

Here is my beautiful family, after an early Q wake-up call. He was really nice and let me sleep until 6:30 on Sunday. It has been good though, when I don't have to work I can watch the early World Cup match.

Here is Quinlan, thinking he should be wearing his Mom's sandals.

Q always wants to help and be part of the action. Of course, he's started to help me clean the pool.

Part of my Father's Day gift were some requested kitchen utensils. Quinlan thought he was pretty special to inherit the replaced items.

Having a snack after swimming
Quinlan was very funny with an apple. He desperately wanted to eat it on his own and did a good job of chomping off little pieces and chewing them up.

I have heard that people enjoy seeing our little boy and that he is always so happy. I don't want to ruin that impression for you, but I did want to share some authentic baby moments that occur. Here Q wants his apple back, after he had tried throwing it on the floor, twice. He is not very happy.



Of course, that is not all the time. Here he was thrilled to be using the big broom. I can't tell if he is making vacuuming noises (he loves the vacuum) or if he is vrooming like he is driving. Either way, he is having a grand time.

Random video of Q

Most Mondays this past year someone would ask me how my weekend was. My answer was usually the same: I enjoyed hanging out with Q. Of course, most people don't know what that looks like, or how crazy it can be. Most of the time it means playing, swinging outside, reading books, whatever. Some of the time though, it means following Q around while he does whatever he thinks he needs to be doing.

This video is 5 minutes and 43 seconds long, so if you are interested in watching Q wander the living room feel free to watch. There were many little moments that made me laugh, but I particularly like his developing soccer skills.



I've been working on the appearance of the blog. Feel free to comment with any thoughts, good, bad or indifferent.

Q takes a trip to Dallas, comes home, and gets sick

Katharine and Quin took a quick trip up to Dallas. Grandpa Roy and Grandma MJ had a patio put onto their place, and Q enjoyed the new outdoor setting. Of course, the last time we were up there it was snowing. It is always good for Q to get some grandparent time, but the trip coincided with Q's Great-Aunt Vangie and his Aunt Liz heading off on a trip to Ireland. Vangie, sitting in blue, was looking forward to her trip, and Q was glad to see her and Liz before they took off.

In the picture, it looks like Q is sitting on a mini-soccer ball, a gift from Grandpa Roy. Q proudly brought it home with him and loves to carry it around and throw it forward. We'll have to work on dribbling with his feet.

While visiting, Q got to play the piano with Grandma MJ. Soccer phenom or piano virtuoso.....maybe both?

Grandpa shared some tunes of his own with little man. I love his look here, filled with such interest and curiosity.

Today, Q decided that even though he is still taking antibiotics for his ear infection, he would develop a fever. We are hoping it is a little virus of some sort and will pass quickly. He spent most of this afternoon sleeping, but when he was awake he was laying on the floor or, like here, cuddling with his Mom.

He also cuddled the remote control. I let him have it since he was feeling bad. I know, I'm a softie. He held it like it was a teddy bear and didn't want to leave it.

Poor little sick boy.

Summer time . . . .

Not much to say, just some new photos. He is a constant joy to be around, even during his moments of fussiness, which do seem to be happening a little more frequently. He's starting to realize that he wants what he wants.

Here Q is vacuuming with his Grandma while she visited a few weeks ago.

Another picture from Grandma MJ's visit, showing some quality reading time. Notice how Q is ready to turn the pages. It looks like this was one of the many readings of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear," one of Quinlan's preferred books.

On another day, Q hung out with his Mom, reading on the floor. I loved how this picture caught Katharine and Q laying in similar positions reading together.

Q has started giving kisses, usually upon request, although occasionally he does it spontaneously. He generally goes in with a big wet one but also has been practicing blowing kisses too so that he can share those via skype.

Summer weather has settled in Austin. Most days it is hot; some days it is hotter. Soon it will be even worse. Thankfully we have the pool, which Q loves. So far he has been good about not trying to go near it unless we are prepared with suits and the Tobie's Trousers' swim diaper. Though if you are in the water, he thinks it is free game and he can rush over / in. You can see by his smile that he likes it.

Not only does he like being in the water, he seems to enjoy putting his face in and making his own bubble attempts. He will certainly be our little fish.

Another day of fun

Q is having a great week hanging with his Grandma MJ. They have been going to the park daily, and today they made an outing to the store, which Q always loves.

Grandma has obviously encourage the little bugger to ride his giraffe; he is really getting the hang of it and balancing better now.

Grandma MJ cleaned blinds today, something that Mom and Dad never do. Q got to help by playing with the rod that turns to open and close them.

Quin really got a kick out of bouncing the rod up and down. It was that fun state of matter: a non-rigid solid structure. It swung all over before it got rehung with the blinds.

Today, Jared finished up his last week with students during his first year as an AP. It was a great first year, filled with many interesting moments. For this final week, Mr. Stevenson paid up to the fifth graders for performing well on their state assessment tests. The incentive was for 80% to pass, and our fifth graders had a 90% passing rate, which is a phenomenal. When I came home after "paying up", it was funny to see Q. He stopped during his normal "open the door reaction" to Daddy to then process that it was me, even though I looked a little different. He was all smiles after the initial pause, when the moment of recognition occurred.

Jared in the process of getting trimmed.

The follow-up was colored hair spray.
A small price to pay to get over 150 students very excited and happy.
Plus, it will grow back. :)

More Fun at Q's House

Katharine and I entertained a couple of friends Sunday evening. While we prepared for dinner, we let Q be the director of operations from the kitchen island. He loves trying to help us, especially while cooking. At least it feels that way, though I spend more than normal amounts of time playing with food in the kitchen, so it could be a disproportionate.

Here you can see him giving directions to Katharine as she preps some guacamole. I got the camera out right after he grabbed the salt shaker and decided to salt the chopped up avocados. They clearly needed some salt.
Q learns a valuable kitchen lesson. While cooking, prepping food for cooking, helping with the food, or really just hanging out and watching it get made, you get to sample things. I always said the reason I like to cook is because I like to eat. I'm sure Q will agree.

Q read his new favorite book to Katharine. Notice the elements of food left the kitchen and entered the living room. Quinlan loves going through all the things The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats and sticking his little finger into the hole the caterpillar made. Hmmm......one slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami . . . sounds good to me.

Monday brought a special visitor: Grandma MJ arrived for a visit with Q. She came with a box of little books just for Q to read. Here he is, sharing one with whomever will grab it.
Grandma MJ also brought Q a Frisco Rough Riders hat. I guess the Phillies are his pro team and the Rough Riders can be his minor league team. Here he is, sorting the mini-books back into their box, an activity he seems to enjoy. Quin is very excited about his coming week and all the fun he will have with his Grandma MJ.

Just hanging out

It's so easy to find joy in all of the little moments we experience with Quinlan. We wanted to share some random photos from the last week or so in the life of Q.

Here he is, starting the morning with some Cheerios.

Sometimes he likes them with a spoon, and other times he likes to put them on the tines of a fork. It is a little like crafting: he threads individual Cheerios onto each separate tine.




We love that Q loves his books.

We don't love putting all of the books back on the shelf every day, but if that is the price we have to pay, I guess we can handle it.

Q sits and reads each page individually.

Katharine took this photo one day before they left in the morning. He was getting in his morning reading time. No one told him the words make more sense right-side up, but he especially likes the books that give him something to touch.
He has a few favorites, and they tend to change from day to day. Several of his books have specific pages that he likes the best - ones with pictures of dogs or ducks or our favorite, the tiger (that he roars with).

I tried a new recipe last week. Katharine wasn't feeling great that afternoon, so it was Daddy and Q time. Q ate enthusiastically with me and seemed to really enjoy the wraps.
He got leftovers in his lunch the next day, just like Daddy.

Smiling behind the wrap

He is a veggie lover. The wrap was grilled asparagus, zucchini, and onion with roasted red peppers, arugula, spinach and basil, with a homemade spicy bean paste on a tortilla. Scrumptious!

I am all for encouraging Q to start cleaning.

I left the Swiffer out, with the hope that I would do some more, and he decided to try it out.
I was a little slow getting a new cloth on it before he lost interest, but he seemed to think it was pretty cool. It won't be too long before he can take on bigger tasks, like mopping.