Look out America, there's a new So You Think You Can Dance contestant in the making! He's no Danny Tidwell (who, by the way, should have won this season) yet, but he practices his newfound art every time he hears anything remotely resembling music, and we've captured a few choice moments for your viewing pleasure. The first part of this video was taken last week, after his second dance class, while the rest of the video was taken this afternoon, after his third class. We like to imagine that we see improvement.
It was a beautiful day today, and since Moose is feeling much better (really he didn't miss a beat) you know where we were... the zoo. In fact, we decided it was time that we made the drive to Battle Creek for our first visit this year to Binder Park Zoo and its friendly giraffes. We can't lie - we weren't nearly as excited about seeing the friendly giraffes as we were about seeing Calvin seeing the friendly giraffes. Unfortunately the day didn't go as smoothly as planned (do they ever???) but after getting a late start and spending 20 minutes in construction traffic we had previously been unaware of, we were pleased to find the zoo busy but not packed, and the weather warm but not stiffling. As per our usual routine we headed straight for the tram to Africa. The trip to Africa made Calvin a little nervous (not upset, just a little uneasy), but the visit with the giraffes was a big hit: he thought they were hilarious. He was a little unsure of feeding them, those are big tongues, after all, but he was a good sport about it just the same. And he had a lot more fun on the tram ride back. Back in the American half of the zoo he got the chance to spend even more time with funny animals in the petting part of the zoo, his favorites being the pigs, the goats coming in a close second. He also enjoyed petting a Ball Python before he got back to the car and headed home to grill dinner and enjoy watermelon on the front porch.
And a quick environmental plug we feel we have to mention - we were pleasantly surprised this evening to see that Kroger is now selling reusable shopping bags. We bought 4 and will buy more if we have to, but it looks like we'll have to find a new (and more environmentally friendly) way to clean up after the dogs. The bags are great and we hope you'll check them out, too.
The kid's got the moves. Clearly he learned more about dancing than he did about love and marriage at the wedding we attended this past weekend because he came home with a new skill. He'll dance to anything, even radio commercials, although techno (in this clip it's Propellerheads) and African rhythms are his favorite. Check it out:
Calvin is a good eater. There isn't anything that we have given him that he has turned down: we tried asparagus, he loved it; beets, he enjoyed them; strong, fancy cheeses, he begged for more. Yet tonight we thought maybe we would stump him by trying him out on artichoke. Nope. In fact, even though we gave it to him sans salt and butter, he loved it so much he laughed and reached for more, which is a lot for a kid who takes his eating so seriously. And tonight marks the first night that he had a plate all his own that looked exactly like his parents' - curried pork, potato, and artichoke. We did have some pureed zucchini and eggplant on hand just in case, and he ate those, too (we think he's growing, he's been a very big eater lately).
And we were so excited about his first time eating a big kid meal, and his love for his first taste of artichoke, that we decided it had to make it on the blog, and so it did. But immediately after dinner he did something else that we would denote as blog-worthy. Maybe it was the lack of pants tying down his legs, or the big kid dinner making him feel so old and capable, but whatever the reason, after dinner tonight he stopped crawling. He's been alternating between walking and crawling for several weeks now, and he is by no means a good walker yet, but tonight he was determined to be a toddler instead of a cruiser, and the footage we got was just so darn funny, we thought we'd better share. We hope it doesn't eclipse our artichoke story.
Yes, our cat and our son have a very strange relationship, and this video gives only a brief glimpse of it. And before start feeling sorry for the cat let us remind you that she clearly hangs around, even coming back for more. Besides, she has a room all to herself where she can get far away from his grabby little hands whenever she wants.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
