[April 22] Zoo

The Choob was out of school so we thought a trip to the Zoo would be fun.  Everyone in San Diego thought the same thing too. It was good Friday and Earth Day and Easter Weekend so there was not a single spot in the entire parking lot.  

Rather than turn around and head home, I drove to the exit of the zoo and asked some guy if he was leaving and if I could please follow him to his parking spot.  

No shame.  

While he was walking the half mile to his spot, about three or four cars also asked him the same thing but I had dibs allready.  I have never seen the zoo that busy in all my 30 years!

While most of the excitment at the zoo is found in the playground and the nachos/chili dogs, we did see a few other cool things:

1.  The snow leopard spraying the entrance to his cave.

Snow leopard is at the top of the stairs on the right

We have been to the zoo so many times we know how to avoid all the hills and still see all the animals.  Upon realizing my double stroller wouldn't fit up the escalator, we began the steep trek UP Bear Canyon which we NEVER do.  It led us to some other cool things:

2.  Grizzly bears swimming!

Wet Grizz

All in all a fun Good Easter Friday-Earth Day!

[April 21] Tano Rolls Part 2

[April 21] Rollin Over

 

[April 21] Two Firsts in One Day!

This not so little 17 lb. Tano Kitty doesn't roll over.  Either way.  Like doesn't roll at all.

Front to Back........  No.
Back to Front........  Heck No.


On the bright side, she does a killer Sea Cucumber impression:

Slug  Find it....Found

We have been practicing and teaching and helping and coaxing her to roll over for the last month.  One time I walked into the kitchen and heard Dan say, "Come on Tonns, use your thunder thighs!  They're your best hope!" as he was practicing her PT exercises with her. 

She's in this position ALL THE TIME because of her Tortise:

Leading one to think she'd roll over by accident and then just learn how after a few times.  

Wrong.

Instead she just collapses, screeches and flails her arms till someone assists her like this:

But that all changed today.

At 5.75 months old she rolled over for the first time.....BOTH WAYS!

Unexpected and out of the blue and amazing this little kitty figured it out.


She's been rollin ever since.

Way to kill two birds with one stone Tonners.  

We are so proud of you!  Videos for the grandparents to follow.

[April 21] Skidmarks

Every Thursday we have a standing playdate with one of my oldest and dearest friends and her little ones.  For privacy's sake I will not mention their names but all three of us look forward to hanging out with these guys at different parks.  Luke has a friend, I have a friend and Tano has a nap.....most of the time.

The boys are getting REALLY good on their bikes.  

What?  The Choob rides a bike?  

Heck ya he rides a bike!

We have been bringing the blue hornet along on park day for about a month.  Yup that is what he named the bike Santa brought him for Christmas.  

The Blue Hornet is not just any bike.  No no.  The Blue Hornet is a blue star wars bike with a horn and a "dinger like Dennis the Menace" just as he requested in his letter to santa.  Dreamy.

Luke learned how to do skid marks for the first time today!  I didn't get any pictures because my heart was in AFib watching him pick up speed and slam on his brakes all willy nilly.  

Here are some pictures of the boys a few weeks ago:

This kitty is named "Dutchie" and is usually lurking in the bushes at the park when the boys ride.  Choob LOVES him and talks about him all the time.  Poor kid needs a pet.

When the hornet first came out, Choob was timid at best and constantly looked back to make sure I was walking right behind him.  Now he doesn't even bat an eyelash as he goes zooming by me, lays down a couple of skid marks, laughs, and then rides off.

This little girl LOVES baby Lainey.  She is so cute with her and is going to make the best mommy someday.  I love to watch her interact with the Tan.  What a sweetie.

We love you guys!

[April 20] Tano Discovered Her Toes...

 And immediately Tried to eat them.

[April 20] Choob's School Pictures Came Today

 

No he didn't wear blush to school.  

It's what he looks like when he's on steriods for croup.  

Hilarious!

[April 19] Attack of the Soccer Momma

A few of The Choob's friends were playing soccer and loving it.  I figured any sport that involves running would be a good thing for him so we went to sign him up.  

We arrived at the office and it was locked but one of the coaches was in the parking lot and introduced herself and attempted to meet Luke while he hid behind his sisters car seat making peeping sounds.  

She seemed nice enough and then she told us that he could try the first class for free and it was starting in 20 minutes.  

Score. 

He was having a ton of fun while Coach Colleen was setting up for class, running and kicking the balls all over but as soon as it became an organized event he pretty much did this:

Remember he is DRESSING HIMSELF these days.  Pick your battles people.

Stood on his blue rubber dot not doing anything.  He had a bad case of the pouts.

By this time Dan had left work early and arrived to see "Choobs first big soccer practice" which turned out to be "Choobie and momma's first big fight over a sporting event" 

After five minutes of him choosing not to participate, I went into full soccer mom mode and told him if he didn't want to participate we would just go home.   

I thought for sure this threat would make him jump up and start running with the class. He decided that going home would be a fine option.  

FINE.   

Off to the car seat we stormed.

Dan & I were discussing if I should sign him up or not and when we both came to the conclusion that this was a sport we were not willing to invest the money in,  the waterworks started from the backseat.  Crying and begging for "another chance" Dan took Choobie back to practice while I went home with Tano.

Turned out he went back and had a fun time and "wants to do soccer every time now."

Getting all the "Sea Turtle Eggs" into the den

Great!  Wonderful!  Something fun for him to do with other kids!

 

We'll see how practice next week goes when I tell him he has to wear his uniform.  

Cross your fingers.

We Have Internet Again!

Happy Easter!

[April 19] A Tortise No More!!

Lainey graduated from Physical Therapy today!

  

"What?" you say.  "Why was she going to Physcial Therapy?"  Well let me tell you:

Lainey had tortise neck.  

The proper term is Torticollis but it is hard to say and spell so I just call it her "tortise". 

A few months ago i was whining to my good friend that Lainey would only nurse on one side and she suggested to have my doctor look at her for tortise neck.  Then Auntie Shelly came to town and we looked at Lainey's head and sure enough, she was Flatty McGee on one side.  I just never noticed it because of her hair.  WILD I tell you.  But when we wet it down there was a definite drop off on her left side.

If I go back and look at her baby picutres her head is most ALWAYS tilted to the left.  I just thought she was really bad at holding her head up but it turns out there was a reason for the floppiness!

I made an appointment and sure enough she had the tortise.  I actually asked the doctor if we could skip the PT and go straight to the helmet people because 

1) A helmet would be really nice when she starts to crawl/walk/fall 

2) it would cover up her current hairstyle that gives Donald Trump a run for his money.

We actually refer to her hair as "the Tonald".  Please look at the patch she has rubbed off on the back since she acts like a thresher shark whenever she is laying on her back.

My doctor told me helmets were quite pricey and my insurance probably wouldn't cover it.  Darn.

Off to Physical Therapy we went.  

They measured her head and turned those measurments into a ratio.  

Then they used the CVAI (Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index) to see where she was on the scale.

At her first appt she was a 5.3 (somewhere in the moderate range)

We were assigned a myriad of stretches, special holding positions and strengthening exercises and I literally NEVER layed her flat on her back except in the car and when she slept because yes, I am that cheap.  Granted I may need back surgery from hefting around that 17 lb tano cat for the last few months.

But it was all worth it because Today she GRADUATED!!!!


Her tortise is gone and she is aligned and measured a 1.6 which is well withing the normal range.  Hooray!


Now it's just maintenance for the next year.  Good job Tano. 


Next order of business....a new hairdo.

The World May Never Know

I've decided to start blogging in real time.  Imagine that!  

The Good news: You won't have to read about what was happening with us 6 months ago

The Bad news: You won't get to read about what happened for the last 6 months.

Which I think is actually a good thing.  In fact I am still trying to repress it.  Lets just say it was nothing short of Richard Preston's The Hot Zone.
 

So.....blogging will commence with life THIS WEEK with the goal of going back in "my spare time" (which we all know if I have any it will be spent sleeping) and playing catch up on blog posts.


Exciting I know.  Go ahead and check your pulse.  You know you want to.  :)