By special request . . .

Here's a picture of all of us.

It was taken by a very strange man but he did a good job. That's actually the biggest Ellie's ever smiled for a picture.

Also, 2 nights ago Ellie had a cup of milk in the kitchen and decided to put it up on the counter herself, 'cause, hey, she's seen Walker do it so that automatically means she has to try it. Yeah, she got it to the edge but then it dumped out all over her face - sort of like the trick with the bucket of water balanced on the top edge of the door. I would have taken a picture but she was near tears so I dried her off instead.

Oh yeah, you know how they say your kids grow up so fast? Well, Walker, all three years old of him, now all but refuses to take a bath. He's decided that showers better suit his sophisticated lifestyle. He also got a Leopard's shirt the other day and was pretty excited. Carla told him he could wear it to the games this season. Walker said, "But Mom, are you sure? I'm too little." Carla had to clarify - he can wear it to watch the games, not to play in them.

A few new kid sayings

Ellie
Hopefully, you can hear her smokey little baby voice in your head while you're reading . . .
May I be excused?: "My all done!"
I'd like to play with this toy alone, if you please: "MMMMINES!"
Oh, hi, Dad, how was your day?: "My mommy comes!" (she doesn't like it all that much when I'm the one that picks her up)
Asking to listen to Pop Goes the Weasel: "Pop a Weasel!"
Singing along to She'll be coming 'round the mountain: "hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh hgeh TOOT TOOT!"
When she sees something new that she doesn't quite understand: "What's this all about?" We have no idea where she came up with that one.
Trying new food: "I YIKE it!"

Walker
Anytime Ellie does something even remotely close to bad: "Spank her, Dad. Spank her. She needs a spanking."
When I tell him I'm not going to spank her: "May I have you spank her please?"
At least he knows to use his manners.

IdleWild Highlights

Yes, it's been over a week since we were there and, no, I don't remember all that much but here goes. We left last Friday afternoon for the 3 hour trip to IdleWild in PA. Carla kept the kids awake till I got home so the first half of the trip was quiet and mainly involved Carla flipping flopped heads back into position in the back seat. After they woke up and listened to "Eddie Music" for a while we stopped at a rest stop for me to stretch my back and the kids to use the potty (well, for Ellie to use her diaper). We got inside and Ellie said "My tummy hurts" right before she did what's apparently a new hobby of hers. Carla caught most of it in her hand (glad I was over looking at the map) and Ellie ate a cracker and was fine. We got to the hotel an hour later, checked in, and went straight to the park where we ate dinner then the kids rode rides for a couple hours till it got too dark.

Ellie's favorite: The "Bidycles"

Here's them driving a car:

On the ferris wheel (shortly before Ellie got up).
Walker was really nice to her, trying to get her to sit back down but she decided to try as hard as she could to rip the door open as their car crested the top of the wheel. The operator brought them around and let Ellie out. She ran over to us crying and Walker just rode the rest of the time while Ellie watched:
Just had to type something between her head and her feet so it didn't look like I cut a picture of her in half . . . Apples, Alfred from Batman, The Office, Homeland Security, Boston Baked Beans, Jeep Patriot, Born on the 4th of July and other random thooughts to take up space . . .


Next they rode the dinosaur ride, which goes up in the air all of 7 feet. Ellie didn't like that either.

We didn't even try her on the Airplanes, but Walker loved them, especially the next morning when he rode them again and figured out how to make the thing lift off the ground by pulling back the stick (our camera battery was dead by then).



And a few more I thought were cute:


Ellie had a lot more fun the next day. We went to story book forest in the morning because no rides were open yet. It was basically like going to the Akron zoo except there were mostly farm animals. I guess it was more like going to the Akron farm. They both liked it there but wanted to get back to the rides. Carla and Ellie rode a couple rides while I took Walker miniature golfing, doubtless his biggest highlight of the trip. We could have done that in East Canton . . . The kids rode some more rides and I mainly limped around to try to keep my leg loose. It was about 1 o'clock before we (and, coincidentally, everyone else in the entire park) decided to eat lunch but we managed. The kids were getting pretty tired by then but we stayed long enough for dessert, ice cream for Walker and a cookie the size of her head for Ellie, doubtless her highlight. She ate all around the outside of the cookie pretty much until she fell asleep in the stroller. Carla and Walker rode the big Ferris wheel, which he loved, while I limped a sleeping Ellie around the park 14 times. When the ride was finally over, we loaded them up and headed for home. Literally one minute after we got in the durango, Walker fell asleep. He was one very happy, very tired kid. It was a pretty quiet ride home, too.

Here I sit all broken back-ed

Sorry it's been so long. We lack the awesome power of the weally wide web at home so I can really only post at work. I haven't been at work in a while, either. Until today, I'd been pretty much laying on my living room floor reading and watching weekday afternoon TV. What happened? Well, it's a long story but somewhat humorous for everyone but me so I'll tell it.

Early Friday morning I woke up with a searing pain in my back after I rolled over in my sleep. That was it, I just rolled over with poor form, I guess. I took advil (smart) and put on a heating pad (stupid) and felt pretty good in the morning so I went to work (stupid). By noon, I was in too much pain to sit in a chair so I went home, which, for me of course, involves sitting in a chair for 45 minutes. When I got home, I took more advil (smart) and said "sure" (stupid) when Carla said "are you ready to take the kids to IdleWild?" I took more advil (less smart) and sat in the durango for 3 hours driving to PA. We learned a couple things about Ellie on the trip: She gets car sick and she hates ferris wheels. She's more and more like me every day. But more on IdleWild later, lots more, with pics and everything, I promise.

IdleWild involves a lot of walking which really hurt my leg, which is what actually hurts when you hurt your back. Something about nerves. I don't know, look it up. So, I took more Advil (bordering on Stupid). We spent the night there and got up and went back to the park for a long time and then drove back Saturday evening. A long drive after a long day of walking calls for more Advil (now very, very stupid). Your body has lots of neat ways of rejecting drugs, even the seemingly harmless ones. One of the more entertaining ways is that you just up and pass out. I, or course, passed out near a wall so the top of my head hit that and my forehead and nose hit the floor. When Carla woke me up my entire head was numb like when your leg falls asleep. She said it took a full minute to wake me up which means roughly 3 or 4 seconds but all I remembered was feeling dizzy then waking up on the floor with an aching head, back, and leg. Mom said the passing out was a reaction to a bagel I ate or something but I'm pretty sure it was the advil.

So, in my long weekend of laying on the floor, I learned a couple things:
No matter what I tell the kids, me laying on the floor means it's time to wrestle.
Hokey Pokey Elmo apparently cheers daddy up when he's sick. In my half paralyzed state, I couldn't even swat it across the room, which actually would have cheered me up.
Walker thinks I'm a total wuss - Dad, why does your back hurt? Oh I hurt it a long time ago and it just hurts sometimes now. Well, how did you hurt it the first time? Picking up a weight. It was too heavy but I tried to pick it up anyway. Oh, maybe Cory can pick up your weight for you. Because he's eighteen and he's strong. Uh, don't you think I'm strong? (Laughing) No.

A little more on vomit

Well, I spoke too soon Thursday about Ellie doing better. She woke up from her nap and I thought she was fine. I put her in her car seat and I thought she was fine. About 4 minutes from home it became quite apparent that she was not fine. No chunks this time because she hadn't eaten anything but the poor girl was literally soaked in throw up from the chest down. When she was finally done, she looked at me and, in the most pitiful little voice you could ever imagine, she said, "Daddy fix it". I, of course, felt like the worst dad ever because I had to get her home before I could fix anything so she sat strapped in her pukey car seat for another 4 minutes. Finally, I got her home, stripped, bathed and settled down and she's been much better ever since. But, of course, there was still the car seat . . .

For anyone who doesn't know, me being a pukey car seat cleaner-upper is a lot like Carla owning a pet mouse, or Mom becoming a snake handler, or Andy swimming in spiders, or Grandma Walker becoming a Sherpa, or Steph being a storm chaser, or Bill performing open-heart surgery, or Bryan judging a soggy cereal eating contest. But, to my eventual delight, I took that car seat apart, cleaned it, washed the cloth covering, and reassembled it. I liked the reassembly the best. And of course I came in and Ellie was happy and playing.

Friday, she did so good that we decided go camping with Bob and Kay and Mark and Ann down by Salt Fork. Ellie did great, Walker did not. I won't go into that too much, though, because, as they say on Friends, he went a little south of throwing up. I'll just say that there was more clean up involved. At 4 in the morning. Other than that, great weekend.

Thankfully, No Pictures This Time

Ellie was sick last night. Really, really sick. She started crying for Mama shortly after midnight. For some reason I (Kurt) was still awake reading, which is rare for me when I have work the next day. Also rare, because she's very good at getting herself back to sleep, I decided to go check on her. She started gagging as soon as I got to her room and, as soon as I picked her up, she started to, well . . . you know, all over my shoulder/back/leg. She, well . . . you knowed 3 more times after that. I did 2 loads of laundry (chunks dissolve, right?) while Carla comforted Ellie. She's better today but still running a fever.

We thought it best to keep Ellie away from Walker so she didn't give the flu back to him - he just had it last weekend - so today, I sit in the basement at Bob and Kay's while Ellie sleeps. I was thinking about throwing in a movie but the selection here is less than desirable. I could watch Saw, Saw II, Saw III (I hate those kinds of movies), Princess Diaries 2, 13 Going on 30, Miss Congeniality 2, Glitter, or Mean Girls. Yes, Glitter, and remember, these are movies that they actually own. Well, I guess I'll clean up a little and then either play a round of Wii golf or watch The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants for the 7th time.

We have a daughter too . . .

I feel bad because we usually just write about Walker. We'll write about Ellie a lot more once she starts saying funny things. For now, a few cute things she does:

Whenever she gets really excited, she throws both arms up in the air and yells, "ELLAAAAA!"
Says, "Mommy hold you" or "Nuggles" whenever she wants to be held/snuggled.

Tries her best to get stuck in anything and everything.

Wrinkles her nose when she's happy, sad, sleepy, hungry, or pretty much any other emotion:

Really, really likes apples (daddy's girl)

Anatomy Issues

Walker and I(Carla) were sitting at the kitchen table reading the Sunday paper and having a snack. He was looking at the ads when he looked up and initiated the following conversation:
Walker (seeking some reassurance): Mommy . . . Ellie's a girl so she can have the same thing you have.
Carla: What same thing, Walker?
Walker: You know, on your belly.
Carla: A baby?
Walker: No . . . (thinking how to explain) . . . Let me see up your belly and I'll show you.
Carla (really perplexed): Okay.
Walker (proceeds to lift up my shirt and point to my bra): See, that.
Carla (smiling): Ohhhh . . . Yes, Ellie can have one of those when she gets bigger.
Walker: But boys don't.
Carla: You're right, they don't. Who told you this, Walker?
Walker: Grandma Kandel
Carla: (thinking to myself) I'll have to talk to Grandma Kandel and see what else she's been telling you :)

After our little chat was over I was wondering what sparked this thought to begin with. Low and behold, as I looked down to the ads Walker was flipping through, the JCP one was opened to the bra and underwear page!

Indians and Cheerios

Walker's really into sports lately but he's still having trouble getting them all straight in his mind. Last night we were listening to the Indians game and Ryan Garko singled in a run. A delighted Walker yelled, "Yeah, Garko! You're really tackling C. C. Sabathia!" I thought about trying to explain but decided it would be too hard. Sabathia wasn't even pitching. I just smiled to myself as I pictured Garko jumping the bullpen wall and blindsiding his teammate.

That reminds me of another funny Walker story: A couple weeks ago, Carla had Walker and Ellie at the grocery store. Walker was looking at all the food and asked Carla: "Mom, hey mom, mom, mom . . . do I like these Cheerios with meatballs?" When Carla looked down she saw he was pointing at a can of Spaghetti-Os (she bought 'em, he liked 'em). I wonder why that's never been tried, though. There's all kinds of cereal/meat possibilities . . . Corn flakes and brisket, Count Shrimpula, honey bunches of meatloaf, couscous puffs. Hey, couscous isn't a meat, it's small granules from semolina flour rehydrated and typically served with meat or fish. Yeah, I know, served with meat, so it counts.

Also, Ellie had her first haircut last night and was so tired that she actually sat still for it. Missy kind of braided her hair when she was done and Ellie looked in the mirror and said "Pretty girl". She did look cute. I'll post a picture when I get the chance.

I got the chance. I never said she liked it.