A Good Natured Son

Rob and I have both had spring fever pretty bad. I think we've been feeling cooped-up in general; we're still learning how to function as parents, and still maintain who we are. It's a tricky balance, this business of caring for a little one. We're used to being able to run off to foreign countries on short notice and have fabulous adventures. While trans-Atlantic travel may be on hold for a while, we have been finding other ways to enjoy ourselves. Today we took advantage of the lovely sunshine to load up the baby and the dog and head out to the woods for a walk.
All I could think while wearing TJ in the pack is how much better it felt to carry him this way, versus in-utero. Ugh. I did this same walk several times at the tail-end of my pregnancy. I enjoyed it SO MUCH MORE today (Mom, this is the same little walk/hike we went on when you were here).

TJ enjoyed eating the buckles of the pack, while Rob and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Arkansas is such a lovely place in the spring-time.
TJ had to come with me to the last consignment sale I went to (the dog is an unreliable and lousy babysitter; I suspect he would just watch TV and eat rubbish the whole time). He was starting to get a little bit fussy, and I wasn't done shopping yet. There was an aisle of different Exersaucers and walkers for sale next to the rack of baby clothes I was going through. I decided to put TJ in one of the Exersaucers to see if I could buy myself a little extra time... and he loved it so much I ended up buying the Exersaucer! I'm generally not a fan of battery-operated lights-and-obnoxious-sounds baby toys; I have to admit to removing all batteries and blinking lights, and even about half the toys (if you've ever seen one of these things, you know how over-done they are). TJ didn't mind at all. In fact, he is quite enamoured of his new toy. I wondered if it was just the novelty of it all, but we've had it for about 2 weeks, and he still plays in it about an hour every day. Which means time that mom can get things done. Now that was money well spent.

And now: a super-funny clip of how TJ is driving the dog bonkers: