Gunnar and I went upstairs to the roof deck this afternoon. It was raining so he got a chance to put on his new raincoat (I know I'm his mom and I am biologically required to feel this way, but is he not the most beautiful baby boy in the whole entire world?! Okay, okay, it's true. He could look like a baby mole rat and I wouldn't know the difference.)
He played with wet leaves and I did a little snipping. It was fun until he decided to eat the leaves. Those count as fiber right?
And check out out azalia bush! I had to stop looking at it because my retinas started to hurt.
We just got back from a quick trip to Utah. Chris' niece, Samantha, and my brother, Andrew, both graduated from BYU last weekend (good job guys). So, we flew out to see them and to get a lot of business done too. Unfortunately, we kept forgetting our camera...
(Samantha, holding Gunnar last Thanksgiving)
(Andrew, looking the way he always looks all of the time, for real, I'm not joking)
Both Chris and I are BYU grads ourselves and we both have fond and interesting memories of our days there. It's a great school. Standards are high, tuition is low and we're hoping a lot of the kids we work with apply there. It really is an amazing university.
Even when you can't find one single fluid ounce of caffeine anywhere on the entire campus and you really need it because your baby was up all night with explosive poo and you're sitting in a warm, crowded room where the graduation speeches are extremely long and way to inspirational to stay awake through. BYU is still awesome.
Take a look at Gunnar's crib. It would appear we have a little rodent in the house, chewing on the rails.
Nope. It turns out Gunnar's new favorite thing to do when he wakes up is gnaw his teeth in to the faux maple wood on his crib (trust me, it's better than the screaming - which used to be what he liked to do when waking up).
I have now stopped calling him Gunnar and call him "Chompers." Look at those things.
FYI, there is popcorn popping on the Callery/Bradford Pear tree. We had to change the words to the song a little bit but Gunnar still digs it. We're also working on some new verses to the 'People In Your Neighborhood' song, so as to include some of our more interesting neighbors, like the loiterers, tranies, aspiring rappers, Columbia students and the crack dealers, etc.
Spring is my favorite time of year. I love seeing everything come into bloom and going out in weather cold enough for a light sweater but warm enough for no socks. Plus, winter just plain sucks.
So, last weekend me and my two favorite Peterson men went for a long walk outside. Chris donned his flip-flops and camo shorts (the summer uniform) and Gunnar didn't even need a little blanket. He's finally at a point where he enjoys seeing our surroundings more than seeing me, (big slap to my ego) so we flipped his stroller seat around so he can check things out.
While we were out, we got hungry and decided to go to a French restaurant for some lunch. Unfortunately, both Chris and I realized too late that we were craving hamburgers. Never let the French cook you a burger. Anyway, Gunnar's started drinking out of a 'big boy' cup (he refuses the bottle and only toys with his sippy cup). But for some reason, every time he takes a drink he tries to lick his chin or something. Who know's why. He's a funny kid/puppy.
Last night I went out with all of the teenage girls in our church to Amy Ruth's. It's a soul food restaurant here in Harlem with some of the best chicken & waffles (or as their menu calls them, 'Reverend Al Sharpton') in the city. The Ludicris is 4 fried chicken wings and the Afrika Bambatta is fried Whiting.
Every Friday we have an activity together. We usually do service projects, work on personal goals or try to teach the girls different skills. But every once in awhile we do something just for fun. So last night we decided to introduce the girls to a different kind of food. Even though almost all of them have lived in NYC all of their lives, none of them had ever tried soul food. One of the girls had never even been to a "real restaurant" before. It was fun.
Sometimes I think these girls should get more rewards like this. They're pretty amazing young women. They don't drink or smoke or do drugs. They don't have sex. They dress pretty modestly. They TRY not to swear. Many of them go to early morning seminary every day. Some come to church alone because their parents don't come with them.
More than that though, and almost even more surprising, is that they are all so kind and loving in a city that is sometimes so hard, especially on youth. These girls are really special. They deserve all the chicken, waffles, grits, collared greens, cornbread and BBQ ribs in the whole entire world.
Is it a violation of child labor laws to have your 9 month old baby clean house? If not, I'm thinking of posting his skills to craigslist under the services section.
Gunnar is such a funny kid. When we came home from the doctor's office today he just decided that he wanted to clean for awhile. It was a nice change from his usual activity of causing entropy in our home. Not all of you may know this but Gunnar Canute Peterson was sent to this earth with a purpose: to destroy it.
Anyway, he got right to work, pulling wipes out of the diaper bag and scrubbing the floors and walls (remind you of anyone else in our family?) He does windows too but not as nicely. His cleaning process there usually involves his tongue and lots and lots of saliva. Now that he's crawling better I'm thinking of sewing sponges to all the knees of his pants.
Yesterday Renae blogged about buying groceries online. Fancy. I have something fancier. Feeding a dozen of the youth from our church after an activity.
When we came home from traveling there was nothing to eat in the whole entire house. You know how it is. The only thing in the fridge is ketchup, sour cream and salad dressing and the only thing in the cupboards are croutons, water chestnuts and frijoles. My sister-in-law, Jessica, could probably make something gourmet and delicious out of those ingredients but not I.
Anyway, instead of pushing a miniature grocery cart and getting elbowed by strangers in our tiny NYC markets (most grocery stores here are only about 1000 square feet) I bought my groceries online. I place my order: produce, diapers, marinated meat etc. And then the next day 2 guys in a truck come and deliver everything in boxes. I love it.
We don't eat a lot of fast food here in NYC but whenever we're in California we HAVE TO eat at In-N-Out. If you've ever eaten there, you know why. While we were in Pasadena visiting family, we stopped in to stuff our faces.
