Liam had his first parent conference at daycare last week. He got good marks for being a good eater. It was no surprise that he failed tummy time. It's becoming obvious to us that he will learn to crawl about the same time he starts to walk. He's getting really good at scooting on his bottom while never leaving a seated position. It's like he's bopping along to a tune that only he can hear. He's also showing signs of being able to hold his own bottle, but he's not quite determined enough to do it for more than a few sips. He seems perfectly content letting you hold the bottle for him.
We had a nice overnight visit to Cleveland two weekends ago. We saw a lot of Robenalts at Morgan's graduation party, and Charlie got to ride on Uncle Tom's new boat. It was a short ride, but memorable. Of course, Charlie would tell you that he was really sad that he didn't get to drive the boat, because he wanted to drive.
Last weekend we enjoyed being home at last after a series of trips away. Liam had his first haircut, and we made a trip to the pool. Charlie had fun running with me in the rain when we went out to fetch breakfast from Panera. We've had lots of thunderstorms and showers popping up, it's been so HOT this summer. But it hasn't been enough rain to keep the front yard from going brown. Last year I kept to a regimen of watering the front, and it turned out to be a pretty wet summer with the grass was growing long past August. This year I didn't even try to keep up, given all of our travel schedule, and wouldn't you know it, it's on the normal pace to brown up in the next few weeks.
Liam was sent home this past Monday with a strange rash on his back and part of his stomach. I had given him baby food with corn in it for the first time on Saturday, and the rash appeared sometime by Sunday. He had the food again on Monday and it was about the time the rash was spotted at daycare. I feared a food allergy or reaction of some sort. The pediatrician didn't think it was anything to be concerned about, but did order blood tests to check for allergies.
While John took Liam to get his blood test that evening, Charlie and I went to the UPS depot to ship a birthday package to the Brewoods. I also had a small envelope to return to Amazon. Charlie proudly carried the envelope for me, and put it up on the counter. While I paid for the box to be shipped, Charlie took interest in the process. I noticed he was watching anxiously as the box went down the conveyor and through a little doorway back into the warehouse. So I explained to him that the box was going to be put on a big truck that would take it all the way to Kansas.
I told Charlie we should go back outside and look at the trucks. I pointed out the big trucks like the one that would take the box to Kansas. And then we looked at some of the dark brown local delivery trucks. I explained that one of those trucks would take the box to Nathan and Briana's house, and that the driver would knock on the door and tell them that they had a package. Some drivers walked by just then, and one of them waved to Charlie. Charlie wanted to wait and see our box be put on the truck, so I had to explain that the truck going to Kansas might not leave for a while. On the way home, I told Charlie that it would take three days for our box to get to Kansas.
About the time that the birthday gifts reached the Brewood house, we learned that Liam's blood tests came back negative. No allergy to corn (or wheat, soy, milk, or even peanuts, amongst other things). What a relief! Given his eczema and seemingly sensitive skin, it's possible that the rash was just a reaction to some stain remover I had used on his clothes. Now if we could just figure out what is causing the rash on his face-- just like Charlie has had. In fact, when we went in to the pediatrician last week, everyone assumed that the rash we were there for was the one on Liam's cheeks. We're due to take him in to Charlie's dermatologist, but not until October. Unfortunately he counts as a new patient, but luckily there was a cancellation and we don't have to wait quite as long to get him in to see her as we did with Charlie.
It's time to watch the Cards play the Cubs on ESPN. For the first time since I've lived in Cincinnati (now 18 years), the Reds and the Cards are both in contention. I've always been able to pull for the Reds, except when they played against the Cards. But now I have mixed feelings, when the two teams have been trading back and forth between first and second place in the NL Central. I guess I'll just have to think positively-- it's looking very likely that I'll have a team to cheer for in the playoffs no matter what happens!
