Aplin Farms

As a follow-up to our infamous "Candy Shot" last Halloween, the girls and I were eager to find another fantastic photo op to celebrate the Fall season and, if necessary, Halloween. We emailed for weeks about possible ideas, and finally someone (I think it was Mary) came up with the idea of Aplin Farms (frequently called Alpin during our online conversations). Aplin Farms is a farm/pumpkin patch about 10 miles west of Dothan. Though several members of our usual group couldn't make it, we managed to make pretty good use of our free Saturday morning.

We arrived at Aplin Farms around 10:00 a.m. and made plans to do just about everything. After checking out the boxes of produce at the front of the farm . . .

. . . we began studying the various activities we could do. The farm offered a train ride, hay ride, corn maze, sunflower picking, petting zoo, jumparoo . . . basically anything that would get you either looking or smelling dirty. Thankfully, the people running the farm knew better than we did. Instead of paying for everything up front, we got a little yellow ticket. As we went to each activity, we had the person in charge stamp our ticket. When we had done everything we wanted to do, we simply returned the card to the cashier and paid for those activities in which we participated. Remember how I said we were going to do everything? By the end of the morning, our ticket had only 1 stamp!

The Train Ride. And it was completely worth it.

Canon absolutely loved it. He spent most of the ride just like this, looking out the "window."

After that, we just kind of wandered around the farm. We did visit the Petting Zoo, but thankfully Canon was as interested in that as I was, so we left fairly quickly. I think the animals made him a little nervous. They made me a little nauseas.

Canon found a pig made out of a hay bale, and they quickly became friends. We ignored the sign saying "Please do not touch or ride pigs." I don't think they really meant to put those there. How can you expect a one year-old not to touch a big pink hay bale? Surely they meant for us not to touch or ride the live pigs that were wandering around the farm somewhere but that we never saw.

As you can imagine, it was then time for a snack. This is one of my favorite pictures of Canon and me together.

Before leaving, we had to take advantage of some photo opps. I managed to get one of Canon and Ava before the Yates' family headed home.

She's already playing hard-to-get.

And here's the rest of the Farm Crew: Colt, Julia, Alex, and Canon. Not bad for three one-year-olds and a big brother!

Park Fun

One of Canon's favorite things to do is to play at the park. One of Barry and my favorite things to do is visit our friends in Birmingham. Who says you can't do both?! Laura and JD live just a couple of blocks from a public park, so Laura, Canon, and I took advantage of a chance to get outside while the boys watched back-to-back football all day.

Of course, Canon fell OFTEN! Once, after a particularly rough face-to-woodchips contact, Canon stood up to dust himself off. Something to mention here is that Canon has had a runny nose for weeks now. Something else to note is that runny noses cause stickiness on the whole upper lip. So you can imagine that when Canon jumped up after face-planting into the dirt, some of that dirt stuck to the sticky goo on his upper lip. Laura and I couldn't control our laughing long enough to grab the camera and take a picture of Little Hitler.

Canon especially loved sliding with Laura, who is currently a mother-in-training. Her son is due on Canon's second birthday!

He let me slide with him a couple of times. After looking at this picture, I can see why he didn't want me to go with him too much. Do you think I dislocated his shoulders or broke his hip bones first?

And, of course, Mr. Independent loved to slide by himself.

Even I Can Call Myself a Martyr for This One

Earlier in the week, Barry said that he really wanted to take Canon to get his haircut. He had been talking for weeks about the fact that he wanted to let Canon's hair keep growing so that he would eventually have a Mullet. So you can imagine my excitement when he mentioned wanting to cut it!
Not to be outsmarted, however, I told Barry that since he was taking Canon to get the haircut (meaning that he got to decide how it was going to be cut) that I should get something out of it as well. I began scheming so as not be outdone by one of Barry's crazy ideas. Barry responded with a very non-chalant answer - I can't remember what his exact words were, but they led me to believe that my mature husband would return my still-a-baby son to me with a somewhat regular haircut. Some women never learn! I forgot who I was married to.
When I left work on the Big Day, I called Barry to see where he was. He was on his way back to the hospital with Canon, and he said that I should meet them there. When I arrived, this is what I found:

I am proud of myself for not screaming, crying, or even losing my temper. In truth, I really didn't say too much, except that I hated it (in a very calm tone) and that I couldn't believe he buzzed my toddler's hair (again, no aggression shown). And yes, I said "he buzzed" as in "Barry buzzed." After taking Canon to a legitimate hair salon (nicer than the one I use) and witnessing his uncontrollable screaming and uncooperativeness in the chair, Barry decided to have the stylist explain to him how to cut a child's hair into a Mohawk. He then took Canon home, stripped off his clothes, tuned his IPhone to an episode of Dora the Explorer on Netflix, and proceeded to use clippers to cut Canon's hair.
That night, I made Barry buzz the rest of the back off and tried to get him to let me trim the top just a little. After two snips, he told me to put the scissors down and leave it alone. He liked it just like that. I still can't believe I actually put them down. At least now we know what he's going to be for Halloween . . . something involving a spiked Mohawk.
Since then, Barry has come up with other rather ridiculous haircut ideas, especially for a one-year-old. I am still dealing with the notion that this is one of those battles that I am probably going to end up choosing not to fight. Instead, I will just have to live with the consequences of the decisions of an adult bald man living vicariously through a lustrously-haired young boy.

Another Lake Season Comes to an End

This summer might mark the most times we've frequented the lake since we've lived in Dothan. If there was ever a weekend with no plans, plans were made to travel north.
It turned out to be a very eventful lake season as far as Canon is concerned. He has had many firsts in the last few months.
He skiied for the first time . . .

. . . and hated every minute of it.
He tubed for the first time, and loved it. During this ride, he fell asleep.

This was also his first summer with cousin Xan.

Finally, Canon was a part of his first illegal act - riding in a boat without a life jacket.

Hopefully there won't be too many more of those kinds of incidents, but we'll love him anyway.

Baby Drag Racing, and Other Fun Things Kids Do

It's becoming a Fall tradition that friends drop by our house early on Saturday afternoons and stay through the evening to watch as much football as possible. In years past, I would have enjoyed the games, eaten way too much (I still actually do that), talked a lot, and stayed pretty relaxed the entire day. How the times have changed! This Fall, it was all about the babies, and they loved every minute of it.
Our neighbor, Kelly, recently turned two years old, and for his birthday, he got a motorized John Deer Gator. This toy soon became the envy of every child who ever came to play on our street, and most days there is a lot of biting, hitting, yelling, and pushing to be the one who gets the driver's seat. You can imagine our amazement, then, when this particular Saturday, we got four kids not only just to sit in the Gator but also to be fairly happy about it.

Kelly and Canon are more aggressive toward one another than the others, so we were especially happy to get this photo.

And, of course, we have to have one of Canon with his first girlfriend, Ava.

As usual, we eventually had to put the Gator away just to keep the peace, but that is when the real fun started. Baby Drag Racing! I'm not exactly sure how it started because I came upon the scene long after it began. What I do know is that it kept these toddlers happily occupied for longer than any other activity we have found since.
Baby Drag Racing goes a lot like this:

Line three cars at the top of a slight hill, count backwards from three, and let them roll. Luke, being the oldest and definitely most advanced of all the babies, could do the countdown by himself with no mistakes. Canon, the next in line, had the tone right for each number, but they all sounded like "uh" or "ooh."
It was so much fun watching them roll. The adults definitely had more fun than the kids. Sometimes the cars would be set up at a slight angle, and two cars would collide. Occasionally, a child would hit the grass at the end of the sidewalk going too fast, then fall over forward on his face. Because it didn't hurt, it was hilarious! I'll just have to show you . . .

Good night!

Monkey See, Monkey Run

Our friend, Sam Dean, is very involved with a camp for children living with cancer. It's called Camp Smile-A-Mile, Camp SAM for short. (He's still hoping one day that someone will admit they named it after him!). Every February, we attend the Camp SAM Red Nose Ball to raise money for the camp and for cancer research. This year, we added to our events schedule by running in the Monkey See, Monkey Run 5K in Birmingham with several of our friends. Here is at least most of the crowd.

This is Matt and Sally Register, Sae and Leslie Evans, Sam and Alicia Dean, and JD and Laura Powell.
I was shocked when Barry agreed to make it a family event. He usually shies away from those kind of things. This time, he not only agreed to take Canon along with us, but also to push him in the stroller! He must want something . . .
This is, I think, the fourth picture ever taken of the three of us.

Barry, Canon, and I finished somewhere between 28 and 30 minutes. Sam's mom says it was about 28:30, but Barry thinks he saw some time after 29 when we crossed the finish line. Neither of us really cared, of course. I was just proud that we finished and, of course, that we helped raise money for kids with cancer. Sam would like me to include here that no matter what time we finished, it was still behind him!
After we finished, we hung out with friends . . .

. . . watched the other racers cross the finish line . . .

. . . and reloaded with some post-race carbs. This is Canon choking on the banana that I gave him. I promise that I didn't just let him choke while I found a camera and snapped the shot. I didn't even notice that I got one of him choking until I looked at them later. It makes for a pretty hilarious picture though.


When everyone finished, we went to Cracker Barrell and had the typical I'm-feeling-really-good-about-myself-for-helping-kids-and-burning-calories-so-I'm-going-to-stuff-my-face-with-extra-grease-and-carbohydrates-to-celebrate-how-great-I-am-today post-race meal. It was delicious . . . and totally deserved!

Fun with Nonna and Poppa

During the last week of August, Canon spent yet another week with Nonna and Poppa in Winfield. I'm losing count, but I think this is the fourth week he's spent with them in just 17 months of life. Barry and I somehow managed to find ways to occupy our time, and from the pictures Nonna took, Canon had plenty to do as well.

He spent one afternoon in Birmingham, eating lunch with Nonna's lady friends and playing at the Summit. Canon has recently started acting very bullyish. He pushes the girls at school, bites, hits, and does whatever comes to him during his frequent, but (thankfully) mild temper tantrums. While at the Summit, Nonna told him to hug one of the stone statues. He really is hugging the statue here, but it looks more like choking to us. It only confirms our suspicions that any future siblings have no chance with this kid.

The rest of the week was spent visiting Poppa at work, hanging around the house, and running errands around town with Nonna. Nonna is always really good about taking lots of pictures, and here are some of my favorites.

Have you ever seen anything cuter?

I see some resemblances between these two . . .

This is becoming a traditional Fall Photo. We got one last August when Canon visited Winfield, but he has definitely changed since then.

Of course, he clung to Poppa, which Canon says with an Italian accent, pu-PA!

We met Canon, Nonna, and Poppa at the lake for a long Labor Day weekend before bringing him back home. As always, we enjoyed our week of "freedom" but felt put back together when all three of us were back home.

Developmental Update

I realized recently that, while I try to write about various stories and events that our small family experiences, I haven't done much in the way of telling about Canon's Can Do's.

Vocabulary

While Canon's vocabulary is not quite where we thought it would be by now, he's had a 10- to 15-word vocabulary for a couple of months now. His favorites are:

"Ma Ma?" and "Da Da?", used interchangeably to describe Barry, myself, or any other object he might want but can't quite get his hands on.

Shoes and Juice, both pronounced "joozs?" We just offer one after the other until we figure out which one he's intending.

Ball, pronounced pretty much like it should. He uses it to describe any round object, including the oranges in the produce section of WalMart.

Hot, pronounced "Ha?" which he says everytime he sits down to a meal. Apparently, my microwaving skills are not too stellar.

Light, pronounced "La?" once used everytime we passed a switch, but now much less frequently.

Bubble and Bye Bull, both pronounced "ba bul?" He usually speaks it specifically to Bull when we are leaving, but occasionally he'll say it in the bathtub as well. Which reminds me . . .

Bath, pronounced somewhere between "bah?" (as in "bah, bah blacksheep have you any wool?") and the actual word "bath." He'll get it right one of these days.

Bye, Bye is a new one and is pretty much pronounced correctly but not always used when it should be. Canon uses it more often to let us know that he's ready to go rather than to actually bid farewell to our hosts. This has made for some embarrassing situations, but it's also been quite convenient when we, too, are ready to leave. "Well, I guess if Canon's ready we should probably head out."

You may have noticed that all of Canon's words end with a question mark. This was intentional and not a typographical error. I realized not long ago that Canon's words usually come out as questions, and even more annoying than that . . . I always answer him. "Joozs?" "Yes, that's your juice." "Joozs?" "Yes, I see your juice." "Joozs?" "I get it Canon. Your juice is right there." "Joozs?" "Yes, I see it. It's your juice. How exciting!" It takes a surprisingly long time for me to realize that he's not really questioning the existence of the juice, just relishing in the fact that he can finally say something he's been wanting to say for months.

Identifying Body Parts

We've got all of the facial features nailed down: eyes, nose, ears, tongue, teeth, and hair. There are a few other body parts that we're well-practiced in: fingers, knees, foot, belly, and (on occasion) elbows. Our favorite thing to do is to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and have him point to all of these parts in turn. I've gotten him from the peak of a hysterical fit in the grocery store to the happiest, most charming child in the entire store just by singing this song. I'm beginning to think I've overused it, however. I can't be sure, but I think I caught him rolling his eyes the last time I started the opening chorus, as if to say, "Not this again, Mom! Can't you think of anything more original?" Sadly, the answer is "No."

This is a video I took today. It shows him performing for us.

Food

While Canon should be eating the same things that we do, I've really found my weakness as a parent in the meals that I prepare. We typically have a rotation of grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas, pb&j sandwiches, and chicken nuggets with a side of bananas, strawberries, grapes, peaches, cheese, or green beans (though the green beans aren't as eagerly accepted as they once were). Of course, when we go out to dinner we try to introduce some interesting things to him. He typically tends to stick with any bread-and-cheese combination. He loves french fries and smoothies - I see a future in making a "Super Size Me, 2" documentary.

Activities

Canon has moved from walking to running, and it's pretty hilarious to watch. He leans forward on his toes, then lets the weight of his head carry him forward. His knees don't bend too deeply, which means that he still falls . . . a lot. He's also gotten into picking up his bigger toys. You know, like the ones he's supposed to ride on. Our neighbors have a battery-powered miniature four-wheeler that he tried to lift today. Last night he picked up Bull's oversized pillow-bed and ended up falling and hitting his head against the metal frame of our bed. What can you do? I'm hoping the rules of adaptation will work double-time for Canon and allow his skull to quickly turn to steel before too much brain damage is endured.

He and Barry play fairly roughly, but nothing worse than what you would expect a dad and son to do. They wrestle on the bed, and Canon will "push" Barry off. Last night I learned that Barry had taught Canon how to head-butt him. Now the head-butting is a little more than I'm comfortable with but everything else seemed perfectly fine. Until Canon's teacher told me that he has been "pushing and tackling" the other girls in his class. Today, he scratched a girl on the cheek (yes, with all four major philanges) and pushed and hit another.

Ok, I have to put this picture in now just to show that Canon can be kind and respectful to girls. This is Ava. Her mother and I took the kids to Mellow Mushroom (ok, we took ourselves to Mellow Mushroom) and Ava fell asleep on the way back home. It was so precious to see Canon trying to pet her.

Canon is also climbing on lots of things. He likes to climb up in the den chair or on the bench in our bedroom and watch cartoons. He really is just a little man.

I think this might be all you need . . . or want to know about Canon these days. I could write all day, but that just wouldn't be fair to his future girlfriends who, I'm sure will eventually read this. If Barry would let me, I would at this point attach of picture of Canon in the buff!

School Days

The time has finally arrived. We knew sixteen-and-a-half months ago that this day would come, but I was not prepared. Canon begins his first year in daycare today.

He will be attending Evergreen Presbyterian, a very highly recommended and reputable place. Having said that, I can't quite figure out why I am so worried about it. Several of the teachers I work with sent their children to this very school, and they were all very pleased. Their children were well cared for and well prepared for Kindergarten. I'm so excited that he will be around several other children all day (he could definitely use the social development). Everything will be great, but somehow I just don't feel great.

Maybe we just had too much fun this summer and I hate to see it all end, or maybe I'm just in denial that we've already made it through our planned one year with NaNa (Sharon), and now the three of us have to really grow up. Whatever the case, our summer fantasy is over and reality will have to set in for the next ten months.

This is Canon just before we left for school. He is just too precious!

I promise I dress him in those super cute bubbles and smocked John-Johns, but I have to admit . . . I love the plain old shorts-and-a-golf-shirt look on him.

Of course, I had no idea what to do to make sure he was prepared. I was embarrassed to ask too many questions because it seems like it should be simple, but in the end, I called the daycare office early in the morning just to make sure I had everything I needed. If nothing else, it made me feel a little more comfortable leaving him there. That is, until I actually left him there.

We found his classroom, and I was so relieved to also find that he has too incredibly sweet teachers, "Miss" Tamara and "Miss" Cindy. They were very helpful in helping me get him settled but also eager to get me out of there. They were right. Before I left, Canon was already trying to steal a toy from the only other child in the room, a little girl named Beatrice (one of my favorite names in the whole world no matter how old-fashioned and old lady it is). As I'm watching him take this toy, I am sure that I should be the one that reprimands him for this behavior, but Tamara and Cindy are sure that I should leave quickly. Again, they were right.

I catch Canon's eye as I walk out and wave "Bye, Bye." He immediately starts crying and runs to the door with his arms in the air. I tell him it's ok, then walk away quickly before everyone sees me crying as well. All I can hear is Canon pounding on the door as I walk away. I'm still crying when I get in my car and back out of my parking spot, nearly hitting the car pulling into the spot next to me. And for the next five or six hours, whenever anyone asks me about it, the tears start pouring again. What is wrong with me?!?

Fortunately, one of my fellow third-grade teachers also took her four-year-old to Evergreen that morning, and she left just a minute or two after me. She assured me that Canon had stopped crying when she passed by his room and that one of his teachers was holding and loving on him. God bless her!

Surely tomorrow will be easier.

Child Prodigy

MyGoo and Doc have been working for some time (I'm talking years) to clean out their attic space upstairs. Each of the four siblings have had to take their turn going through boxes and bags of memories to separate the junk from the keepsakes. My turn was last summer, but thankfully, MyGoo and Doc know me better than I know myself. They saved a precious object of which I had completely forgotten - my keyboard.

I took piano lessons for several years in my younger years, and I received my keyboard as a gift during some point in that phase. It's a pretty nice one, too. I say "nice" because it has lots of buttons and lots of different sound options. Basically, you can make the keys sound like all of the instruments I've ever heard of . . . and many I have not.

Barry and I have played music for Canon since we brought him home from the hospital. Both of us want him to have a hearty appreciation for it. So, when MyGoo and Doc reminded me of my keyboard when I was in Greenville recently, I was so excited. I knew that I would find plenty of time to play with it, but I was also excited that Canon could experiment a little as well. He had his first try at it today, and while his attention span didn't last more than two minutes at a time, he returned to the keyboard several times to push the keys (and the many buttons!).

This very short video will give you a taste.

Coon Dog Day

Every July, the people of Saluda, North Carolina - and thousands of other people from around the country - gather together to celebrate the rabid-beast-hunting mutts we call Coon Dogs. The population of this tiny town grows exponentially for one weekend only as people come to watch the parade, compete in the Dog Show, eat man's unhealthiest concoctions, and witness the treeing of a coon. It truly is an unbelievable sight. A few years ago, I watched a 400 lb. bearded man in a gray t-shirt and overalls hold the index finger of one hand to the tip of his coon dog's nose while the other hand straightened the dog's tail out behind him. Meanwhile a judge with a clipboard slowly circled the duo, clearly impressed. With what, I cannot be sure. Were it not for the lack of Cavalier Spaniels and other pure bred lap dogs . . . oh, and some sophistication . . . I'd have sworn we were at Westminster.

Canon and I joined MyGoo, Doc, Ann Steiner, Jason, Amelia, and Ceil for this year's Coon Dog Day. Because I had the little man, I wasn't able to take pictures of all of the festivities, so you won't get to see a picture of the slightly overweight 17-year-old beauty queen who rode in the parade in her bikini. What you will see are pictures of the family - ok, mostly the children - enjoying being together.

Amelia and Canon fell in love immediately. She is so great with him, and he pretty much lets her do whatever she wants. Ceil shows her love a little more aggressively, but it's obvious how much she loves him, too.

On the way home on Sunday, MyGoo, Doc, Canon and I stopped by G-G-Mama's to visit. Of course, no camera again, but lots of sweet memories of G-G-Mama trying to coax Canon over and him being too shy to comply. He did perform for her, though, showing her all of the body parts he knew and trying to climb on her motorized stair chair. She was delighted, of course, which always delights everyone around.

A Botanical Morning

As we linger here in the middle of our summer vacation, I'm seeking out new things
to do with our time. We've had a couple of unusually "cool" days - and by cool, I mean less than 95 degree temperatures - so today we decided to explore Dothan's Botanical Gardens. I think the pictures will show it best, but I must warn you. This was really an opportunity for me to try to take some half-way decent pictures of Canon, so expect to see more of him than anything else . . . as usual.

We had a snack on the lawn first. Canon really enjoyed his Cheetoh Cheese Puffs.


Then we began walking around the gardens, stopping at fountains, bridges, and benches as we felt the need.




And, of course, the post-excitement nap that we never miss!